(Please see post 8 for the first assignment! [smile] ) I was thinking I might hold a new writing contest of some sort. I would be the judge this time, and try to run the contest in an educational way, such that the challenge would have a writing-lesson aspect and the judging would be constructive criticism, and all entrants would also have to give constructive criticism on the other submissions. So, who would be interested in participating, and what should the subject of the contest be? I was vaguely thinking a myth, since I've been doing so much myth analysis lately, but I'm open to other suggestions. A whole game plot outline would probably be too much, and I doubt people would appreciate it if I gave an assignment requiring the use of Dramatica or some other specific software or worksheet... [Edited by - sunandshadow on July 14, 2006 1:14:23 AM]

Anything but fantasy or scifi.

I'm interested in participating, any subject is worth it in my opinion (a myth, a premise, a character description or background...)

Could be fun. What about a modern myth contest themed contest that centers around dialog? One thing I've noticed about many of the writers here myself included is that they are weak when it comes to writing dialog so work shop/contest around that could be really useful.

I'm in whenever you start...

Quote: Original post by TechnoGoth
Could be fun. What about a modern myth contest themed contest that centers around dialog? One thing I've noticed about many of the writers here myself included is that they are weak when it comes to writing dialog so work shop/contest around that could be really useful.

Erm, except that myths usually don't have much dialogue. The way to really test dialogue is with a banter scene - two people who feel strongly about each other in some way verbally sparring, usually in front of an audience they are trying to impress. Myths on the other hand are great for working on plot and theme because they are a very small complete plot with all non-symbolic details stripped away so that the theme is clearly revealed.

We could always do more than one contest, perhaps a banter scene would be a simpler one to do first and a myth a more complex one to do second.

Quote: Original post by oscar maris
Anything but fantasy or scifi.

I will try to make the genre completely optional, that's a good idea, most people only like to write 2 or 3 genres so requiring a genre would probably make a lot of people not want to participate.

Hmm, no more input huh? Guess I should make a decision then. And this will probably be a small group, but that will make it easier for everone to give detailled feedback on everyone else's stuff.

Okay, here's what w're going to do. We're going to write a banter scene, but first we're going to study a little personality theory, since that's important to cunstructing emotionally logical and dramatic dialogue.

Step 1 - Everyone, unless you already know what your myers-briggs or kiersey-bates personality type is, please go here and take this test. Write down your four-letter code, and if any of them are ambiguous (around 50%) or just seem wrong to you, mark those so you can check and make sure they're right in the next step. I, for example, usually score ambiguously on the thinking vs. feeling axis, but when I read the descriptions thinking describes me much better. I am an INTJ.

Step 2 - Go here and read about your personality type, make sure it's the one of the 16 personalities that fits you best. You will have to read all 16 descriptions for this exercise anyway. (Hint: if you hover over the title in each box you will see that these are the two middle letters of the code, so start by picking the one which matches the middle two letters of your test score, which will give you another grid where you pick the one which also has the correct first and last letter. I have no idea why they did it this confusing way, sorry.) The idea is to pick two of these personalities, one of which may be your own if you like but the two must be different from each other, to be the two characters between whom the banter scene will happen.

Step 3 - Post your personality code, your thoughts on this personality type system as a whole, and which two you would like to write an argument between here. This is the first part of the contest assignment and will be considered in the contest grading. The next phase will start on monday the 17th, so I would prefer that you have the first assignment done before monday, but I will not penalize people who join late.

Go! [grin]

Hay, as long as it isn't about hermaphroditic dragons, I'm in.

Quote: Original post by Programmer One
Hay, as long as it isn't about hermaphroditic dragons, I'm in.

Lol it's perfectly up to the participants what species and gender their characters will be, and since I'm not entering, only moderating, I think it's unlikely any hermaphroditic dragons will crop up.