What Happened Next Writing Contest (WHNWC)

This contest is open to the Entire Membership of ATS. That would be members, mods, supermods and admin (hint hint). You do not need writer status to enter.

Judging will commence on March 2nd and run for 2 weeks. It will be voted on by the entire membership whether you submitted a story or not. 1 post with 3 votes for the best stories per member. You can even vote for yourself, if you dare. (nudge nudge wink wink) After 2 weeks is up, I'll tally the votes and announce the winner. And, if you don't trust my math, you'll be able to do the count yourselves.

Note, use of a sock puppet for duplicate voting will cause the immediate disqualification for your entry (if you made one) as well as deletion of all your vote posts.


This contest will run until March 1 after which all submissions will have to be accompanied by wheelbarrows full of points to be split between worldwatcher and myself. (no guarantees of entry though)


The Plot

The story needs to be based on a factual bit of information which is linked in the 1rst paragraph. This could take the form of a recent news story or any other 'bit of reality'.

The story needs to be peppered with real-life places and events, to augment the 'believability' of the fiction. The best would be to research Google Earth for a place, find street names and build an adventure knowing at least some facts about that place.

Build an adventure around the link in the 1rst paragraph and play it out on the field of the location of your choice...anywhere on this planet.

Examples

1- A news link about a ship going to the South Pole to search for the hole which leads to the strange landscape of the Hollow Earth theorists, using lots of googled information such as real Antarctic Bases, etc

2- A report of an archaological finding in the Middle East which leads the hero on an expedition there to find that it is the Seventh Seal which was discovered and that you broke it when you dropped it, which ,of course, leads to a whole apocalyptic episode which Mel Gibson will likely want to do a movie about.

Character/s

It can contain 1 main character who is either written in the 1rst or 2nd person. In other words, write it like you are the main character, or you are writing about the main character.

There can be other characters in your story, but none of them should be continuously present...it's mostly about 1 persons journey and anyone else only makes appearances.

The adventure should go from place to place (in a city or globally), but never have 'the crew' with the hero (or klutz)

Length

I'd like to see 10,000 characters at least. Any story less than 5000 characters will be disqualified.

I'm looking for length here. Take the time to build a good story and remember this bit:

Tragedy...things start badly, get progressively beter and better, but things then start to go wrong after which everyone dies.

Comedy...Things start out great, but then some things start to go wrong, which slowly work themselves out and everybody lives happily ever after.

Pick one of these and build a plot to reflect those templates.

The Winnings

1rst Prize 15,000 points
2nd prize 10,000 points
3rd prize 5,000 points

There will be additional awards for 'runners up'

Notes...
Use the following in your title; (WHNWC)

Post it in the Short Stories found here

ALL entrants will receive 'Write Status'

Please keep the censor circumvention to a minimum, but use mild vulgarities where needed for artistic effect. The 'F' bomb will disqualify you, but 'crap' or 'bloody hell' will not.

Since the story is about a loner having an adventure, a sexual laisson would be distracting and likely steal our heroes 'vital fluids' ala Dr Strangelove.

Please post any questions to this thread


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spelling edits (allowed)



[edit on 16/12/06 by masqua]

ooooo. Sounds exciting.

I have to think about this one, but I'll definitely have my people call your people.

Seriously though, my new year's resolution is to enter more ATS contests and maybe play some games too - so I will put something together.

Excellent

I thought you'd like this idea, sofi...a chance to really let the imagination work on possible outcomes for a very real threat.

I'm looking forward to re-e-eally lo-o-o-ong stories.

If anyone feels 6 weeks is too short a time, say so, because it can be lengthened.

For ideas on news stories which could be used, it might be as easy as a visit to ATSNN

Or it could be something from another website such as NASA or APOD for those space enthusiasts.

The best thing is to use something very real, from a good reliable source, and then weave as fantastic a story around it as possible.

No-ones going to criticize a crazy story based on a few hard facts in a fiction...that's the fun of it. You can 'go wild' without the resultant flaming.

Look how well Dan Brown did with the same idea

The wilder the story, the better...

Kewl beans

I've been waiting for the next writing contest so count me in. How many entries do we get?????

Lets see if I've got this straight. A hero, a personal journey in the first or second person, Use facts and locations liberally, make it a long story.

I'll start writing it tonight.....just let me go find a link to something I can build upon.

This should be fun. (Keep that in mind folks.)

I look forward to seeing everyones entries.

wupy

Originally posted by mrwupy
How many entries do we get?????

The usual 3 entries per member is allowed.

Let me make a small statement here. A large part of this idea is from member Justin Oldham who I profusely thank for his involvement in helping us form a really neat idea for a contest.

Get writing, mrwupy, because I will be entering into this contest too.

That's what's really exciting about this...because of the fact that the membership is going to cast votes on the stories really makes it available for everyone. Oh, I'm sure that some will be voting for Skeptic Overlord's story (if he enters one) cuz they like tights on guys, but I'm hoping the majority will vote for the story, not the outfit.

Originally posted by masqua

Get writing, mrwupy, because I will be entering into this contest too.

Is that a challenge? Hehehehehehehe......

Originally posted by mrwupy

Originally posted by masqua

Get writing, mrwupy, because I will be entering into this contest too.

Is that a challenge? Hehehehehehehe......

Of course!

I've been thinking about the timing of this contest, since the Christmas holidays are approaching, lots of people are going to be travelling, visiting, loading up on goodies, etc... so... I think it's a good idea to extend the deadline for this contest further back. Let's make it the end of February instead. That gives everyone interested an extra month.

great timing, i'm on xmas break now and was planning to spend some time with the kids, oh well i'm sure i can knock off a couple of stories and still find an hour or two for the family.

thanks masqua and justin for a great plot and rules. mind you there will be tears if nobody votes for me!!

I've made arrangements with my people so that I can go to a secured locaiton and work on this without distraction.

Just to clarify things, Masqua,


You stated the story should have at least 5,000 characters. Is that correct, or did you mean to say 5,000 words? I just want to be sure about this, because there's a big difference.

Also, you said the story needs to be either in 1st or 2nd person. 1st person POV (point of view) is when the writer is telling about himself/herself. 2nd person viewpoint is when the writer is telling about the reader. For example, if I were to address you directly and say "You are writing a biography about JFK." that would be in the 2nd person POV. 3rd person POV is when the writer is telling about someone else, i.e. "Bill ejected the heat shield on his space capsule prematurely."

2nd person POV is quite rare in fiction, because it doesn't work very well.
Did you mean to say 3rd person?

[edit on 17-12-2006 by Flatwoods]

Good point about 2nd person, Flatwoods.

I intended the story preferrably be in 1rst person, so that it's related as if the writer themself is giving telling the story. But I didn't want to have to restrict it to that, so 2nd or 3rd person will be acceptable.

The 5,000 character lower limit, I believe, is what most members start out with for posting. It would be an easy target, since we have the maiximum available before we hit the post button.

Since we are using so many characters, it would be important to use Notepad for writing and then cut/paste it into Short Stories. Chances are, most writers will have to post 2 or 3 times to get their story entered.

All forms of writing is acceptable, though...so if someone wanted to pen an adventure in the style of Gilgamesh, I'd LOVE to see that.

As mrwupy pointed out, this contest now comes pretty close to Valentines Day. As such, a romantic aspect would be reasonable as a part of the plot. However, it should be contained within the limits of the T&C's and not read like a 'penthouse letter', if you get my drift (nudge nudge, wink wink)

Glad to see you aboard as well, Justin Oldham and mojo4sale. I hope you notice the extended deadlines?

Roger that. I am already plotting and scheming. I am talking with a few ATS members about the nuts and bolts of story writing.

I submitted my story in three parts because I'm limited to 4000 characters.

Also I didn't reference the news topic since it kind of spoils the end. See if you like it.

Bob

Originally posted by Wildbob77
I submitted my story in three parts because I'm limited to 4000 characters.

Also I didn't reference the news topic since it kind of spoils the end. See if you like it.

Bob

3 parts is fine, Wildbob77

You should copy/paste the 3 pieces into one thread, though. This would make it easier reading, because they could easily be seperated by other threads.

Only tragedy OR comedy? Will you accept tragi-comedies?

Or dramatic tragedy that climaxes with a hopeful note?

Can I post my synopsis and notes here, for feedback?

Originally posted by soficrow
Only tragedy OR comedy? Will you accept tragi-comedies?

Or dramatic tragedy that climaxes with a hopeful note?

Can I post my synopsis and notes here, for feedback?

Sofi...I was only pointing out the two extremes as plot examples.

A dramatic tragedy with a hopeful note will be just peachy.

I always hated it when all the characters die...but, that's life too.

Ain't it?

OOOOOOOOOOOO!!
I am going to love this one

Don't forget to put (WHNWC) into the title, and, if the story runs 2 or 3 posts or more, add the extra posts onto the 1rst rather than start a new thread for each part.

Glad to have you aboard, ex

My first "he who laughs last" is an attempt at tragedy, i'll have a crack at comedy as well i think, though i'm not sure i'm very funny at all, except to look at maybe!!

great concept as this has certainly got the juices flowing.