You do it every day. You talk to your friends, your coworkers, your pets or (heaven forbid) even your family. Dialogue is an integral part of life, and as such, an integral part of writing a good story. So, as Brevet-Challengemaster, I am honored to announce the Dialogue Open Challenge (DOC). The rules are as follows:

1. Entries must be at least 500 words in length. Feel free to ballpark it.

2. Entries must be entirely dialogue. Yeah, that's why it's called a 'challenge'. It's supposed to be 'challenging'.

3. Entries must have the prefix (DOC) before the title.

4. Entries must be in before midnight, EST, July 30th.

That's it. Go wild. No topic in particular, write dialogue about what you want. Blame JebusSaves and Herr Wupy for the rules...I mingled theirs from the competition thread pretty good.

Frequently Asked Questions:

1. Do I have to be a writer to participate?

Damn no. You can post to the Short Stories section without being a writer. Hell, if you decide to participate, you'll get Writer status.

2. What do I get if I win?

Points, mainly. There's a nice bounty for first, second, third, and some discretionary points for people who we think did above and beyond, presenting us with excellent, innovative stories that deserve recognition.

3. But I'm not sure. I'm not that good...

C'mon, it'll be fun. You have nothing to lose by participating. This is for fun, remember? It's supposed to be a writing exercise.

So, writers, go to. Enjoy yourselves. Talk away!

DE

[edit on 31-7-2006 by DeusEx]

OMG, can I use joint language? If so, this will be killer. Funniest story ever.

As long as the judges can understand what's written, Intrepid...go wild. I expect something that'll give me a hernia from you.

DE

Originally posted by DeusEx
I expect something that'll give me a hernia from you.

DE

383 magnum. Lift that, it should do it.

I've gotta add, joint languge CAN peal the paint off of your Grandmother's kitchen.

Originally posted by DeusEx

That's it. Go wild. No topic in particular, write dialogue about what you want. Blame JebusSaves and Herr Wupy for the rules..
DE

Oh yea, blame it on me. I'll take the fall

I personally would have went for the short story. It would have went like this:

"You're WHAT?

Who among us could not understand the situation being discussed there?

OK, off to write some dialogue.

wupy

So we just type it up and post it here or do we u2u one of you with the entry?

Not saying I'm gonna do it, but considering it, have some down time this week.

Is the um expressive nature of our writing still bound by the general T&C or are we given creative license for an F bomb or two.

Just curious, never done a writers challenge before.

Spiderj

Spider, post a new thread in the Short Stories forum with your entry. Join the fun.

As for censorship...well, we play a little fast and loose with the rules here.

DE

Can we post as many entries as we want or is there a limit?

I hope there's no limit.

Thanks Deus I'll check it out.

Spiderj

The rule of thumb is two works per author. Sorry guys, but the judges have lives too. Two of your best only, please!

DE

We already have 4 good entries for everyone to read. Amazingly, they are as diverse in topic as I hoped they would be. Great stuff.

You don't need writer status to enter this contest and you can also enter twice to double your chances at winning. Best of all, you have 4 good examples to use already and you still have plenty of time to get creative.

I wish to be a judge in this contest and, for that reason, won't be submitting a dialogue of my own. No biggie

Good luck to all who enter.

Masqua, being a judge never stopped me. C'mon, enter even though you can't win.

As for the rest of you, this is shaping up to be quite the contest. We're getting great entries. Come on, don't be shy!

DE

Originally posted by DeusEx
C'mon, enter even though you can't win.

DE

I've already gotten something together which I'll post soon. Just like the last contest, I'll title it without the (DOC) so that it disqualifies me as a contestant.

I enjoy playing with the different themes.

So remember, contestants...put that (DOC) into the title so we know it's for the contest.

Wow, get sick for a few days and look what happens, nearly miss the start of a new contest. I'm in, this should be fun, looks like heaps of good entry's already.

I am SOOOO glad I didn't volunteer to be a judge in THIS contest. The entries so far are way above and beyond and the number of entries is getting out of hand. The thing is you still have weeks left before the end of it.

I'd change the scoring system to make it easier for those that are the judges. Each story gets a score between one and ten. No comments allowed. At the end of the month they can all be averaged out.

This is the kind of participation i've always enjoyed on ATS. When everyone wants a piece of the pie.

To the judges, I offer my sympathy

wupy

I was having my second daughter , thing's were going just great, we went into the delivery room and we had to go thru the prob.'s. My the future wife was experiencing severe pains and the doctor's ahd no choice but to give her an "Ememergency Scisarion" (SP?)
I seen the in sides of my future wife, watched the water pour out of her like a "Dumped bucket" the doctor asked me if I would like to see? I didn't hesitate.
I watched my daughter being extracted from my beatiful future wife's belly.
I Cringed at the sight, but felt very relaxed at the same time.
I held my daughter fort he first time,sje smiled at me when I told her "I have been waiting so long to meet you 'Bumpergut'." (My nickname for her mother while she was prego.Dr. Haagenaugh, "Great Doc." She asked me if I wanted to take blood samples for total DNA conclusion's. I replied" Not nesseccarry Doc." and then she asked me if I wanted to watch the 'Physical' on my new daughter? I Told her "No."
She baided me with "Happy Congradulations", and I went to breakfast with her godfather.Shilo Saurencson.
When I returned, the doctor's were crying and tey were gathered around my future wife's hospital room.
I asked "What is going on here?" she could only reply,"Your daughter is dying, and so is your pheanca'e(SP?)"
I waited for 12 lonely week's, going to work everyday, trying to maintain the sympothies, and basically didn't know why.
"See, my daughter was born with Strat-B, which is an infant killer, she had less than a 7% chance to live, but she lived.
To this day she still is my "Bumpergut" and she love's the nickname. But still if I had to try to fit all of this story into this little option of ATS, "You will never kniw of the miracles that took place that day, "
She is my miracle Baby Daughter...

Pork chop sandwiches!

This contest is SPLODING. It's really impressive. Everyone, keep writing. Or if you aren't already, join in! This is shaping up to be an epic contest.

DE

[edit on 8-2-2010 by DeusEx]

Oh man i seriously feel sorry for the judges of this one. They'll need a month to sift through all the entry's.

An awesome collection of story's.

Originally posted by mojo4sale
Oh man i seriously feel sorry for the judges of this one. They'll need a month to sift through all the entry's.

An awesome collection of story's.

Awesome is right...I never expected so many deserving entries already!

To all those who are thinking of entering at the last minute...I hope you're not legion, because then we will be reading for a month.

Barely a week left in this contest, folks.

Time to spell-check the story which is languishng on your word-pad and cut/paste that chunk of dialogue into the mix.

I'm amazed at the entries so far, BTW...great effort by all so far.