The 2023 Geek Pride Story Event: Official Support Page

[Kumquatqueen]

I've just started a story that fits this perfectly! Aiming for something short and silly, but I'm not so good at short!

Submissives of Catan - Trades in board game get more interesting than usual.

"I'll swap you a brick for a sheep."
"I'll give you a brick and a rock for a sheep."
"I'll give you a brick and a blow job for a sheep."
"Hey! That's not fair!"
"Sure it is - I'll accept a blow job off any of you..."

 

[gunhilltrain]

It's a challenge, not a contest, so it shouldn't matter, but @ChloeTzang is the head wrangler on this herd of cats, she should have the final say.

It's a bit difficult to understand exactly what structure that is. It sounds like you could have a single story with three chapters, or three stories with different titles. (But not a numbered series with three parts.) Did I understand that correctly?

 

[Djmac1031]

I've got at least one very silly, tongue in cheek idea for this.

But it's just a concept at the moment; I need an actual plot lol.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I've got at least one very silly, tongue in cheek idea for this.

But it's just a concept at the moment; I need an actual plot lol.

I was surprised when I came up with a idea for this a couple of weeks ago (like overnight) and I was able to start writing it. It's really going to be in full-geek mode with a lot of details, but I hope people find it funny too. At least I'm enjoying it.

 

[silkstockingslover]

Every year I tell myself I will write for this and every year I never finish.

Perhaps this year I finally will. Just need the right idea.

 

[Duleigh]

I'm going back to my roots and draw up a fan fiction again. This time it's geekier than last years Anime fan fic, this year its 1980's Swords & Sorcery & Footnotes.

 

[gunhilltrain]

LOL. Pretty much. As long as there's an element of geekiness in it, that works. I doesn't have to be SF. Mine isn't at all, it's a high school Chess Club. THAT is geeky, when you think about it.

Except on this site they all better be seniors.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I've just started a story that fits this perfectly! Aiming for something short and silly, but I'm not so good at short!

Submissives of Catan - Trades in board game get more interesting than usual.

"I'll swap you a brick for a sheep."
"I'll give you a brick and a rock for a sheep."
"I'll give you a brick and a blow job for a sheep."
"Hey! That's not fair!"
"Sure it is - I'll accept a blow job off any of you..."

Just curious: how do you define "short?" Everybody has different standards. For fiction, I guess 4,000 - 5,000 words is on the short side. I have one non-fiction essay that is just over 1,000 words.

 

[minski]

Geeky. Yeah, I think I can manage that.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Just curious: how do you define "short?" Everybody has different standards. For fiction, I guess 4,000 - 5,000 words is on the short side. I have one non-fiction essay that is just over 1,000 words.

Personally, for a story on Lit, under 10k. I start getting interested in my characters and then write more. Non-fiction is way easier.

 

[Duleigh]

Personally, for a story on Lit, under 10k. I start getting interested in my characters and then write more. Non-fiction is way easier.

It's easier because you have facts to back you up. I've done plenty of nonfiction, railroad history and technical documents, the problem for me is that I can't get as creative as I want. But my hat is off to you and other nonfiction writers, that genre can be difficult, and nitpickers can be vicious trolls.

 

[gunhilltrain]

It's easier because you have facts to back you up. I've done plenty of nonfiction, railroad history and technical documents, the problem for me is that I can't get as creative as I want. But my hat is off to you and other nonfiction writers, that genre can be difficult, and nitpickers can be vicious trolls.

You could probably slip some railroad history into Reviews and Essays if it wasn't too esoteric. I did that with the Phoebe Snow essay. I also got some into a couple of fictional stories. One former Amtrak employee even commented on one of them. So, they'll probably publish it and you might be surprised that more than a handful of people will read it. For the various pieces of non-fiction I have here - I think there are eight of them - I don't remember any nitpickers and I certainly didn't get any trolls. I probably will have a couple more later this year.

I remember that Geek Pride a few years ago was where one of the fictional pieces was submitted.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Personally, for a story on Lit, under 10k. I start getting interested in my characters and then write more. Non-fiction is way easier.

Usually, if I'm that invested in the characters, I will attempt to make a series out of it. Of course, there has to be some plausible "break point" between chapters, usually some gap in time. It could be merely overnight, or it could be a few days or weeks. I've added also sequels I never planned for, which in effect becomes a series. That's also because I liked certain characters so much.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Personally, for a story on Lit, under 10k. I start getting interested in my characters and then write more. Non-fiction is way easier.

I don't know if non-fiction is easier, just different. In order to write about the first time I saw a movie in a theater, I was lucky to find that the film was entirely on YouTube. So I had to do some research by watching it and comparing it to my childhood impressions. I also had to do a little research on the historical event depicted in the movie.

 

[MisterWildCard]

One idea that jumped into my head earlier today was doing something with the concept of "Truck-kun" -- basically that a disturbingly large number of anime protagonists get their start by being run over by a truck and then reincarnating into a fantasy world. Or in one infamous case, the "Magical girl" show MINKY MOMO ended with her character getting run over by a truck as a rather abrupt end to the show. The "Truck-kun" meme posits that it's ALL BEEN THE SAME TRUCK.
...Which then got me wondering... what if Truck-kun had their own adventure?
I haven't yet decided if the truck is somehow alive magically, or if this would be the adventure of whomever has been driving the truck, that sort of thing.
Eh, I'll figure it out.

 

[Duleigh]

You could probably slip some railroad history into Reviews and Essays if it wasn't too esoteric. I did that with the Phoebe Snow essay. I also got some into a couple of fictional stories. One former Amtrak employee even commented on one of them. So, they'll probably publish it and you might be surprised that more than a handful of people will read it. For the various pieces of non-fiction I have here - I think there are eight of them - I don't remember any nitpickers and I certainly didn't get any trolls. I probably will have a couple more later this year.

I remember that Geek Pride a few years ago was where one of the fictional pieces was submitted.

Phoebe Snow? I LOVE that train. Although I'm from Western NY, my heart is in Anthracite country. My favorite train, the one I love but never saw is the Black Diamond Express. I grew up just yards from the Lehigh Valley RR and the scent of partially burnt diesel fuel would blanket our village as those ancient Alcos rattled along the Niagara Falls branch. I still remember how it smelled. I may slip one of those in, A Paean To Bankruptcy...

This is not the Black Diamond, this is the John Wilkes​

 

[gunhilltrain]

Phoebe Snow? I LOVE that train. Although I'm from Western NY, my heart is in Anthracite country. My favorite train, the one I love but never saw is the Black Diamond Express. I grew up just yards from the Lehigh Valley RR and the scent of partially burnt diesel fuel would blanket our village as those ancient Alcos rattled along the Niagara Falls branch. I still remember how it smelled. I may slip one of those in, A Paean To Bankruptcy...

View attachment 2219054
This is not the Black Diamond, this is the John Wilkes​

I described quite a bit about that, and the advertising campaign that created Phoebe Snow. (Sort of like the Betty Crocker or Ronald McDonald of railroads.) Then Phoebe Laub was looking for a stage name, and she saw boxcars in her home town of Teaneck, NJ that still had "The Route of Phoebe Snow" on the sides. That was fun to write, because it seems so random. Not that I'm a huge fan of her songs but, hey, everybody's had to make a living. She passed over ten years ago,

 

[gunhilltrain]

They had a huge number of variations on that advertising theme that they used for decades. This is one of the few ads of any company to have Black people in regular roles, but I guess it's relatively respectful for that era.

 

[Duleigh]

Anthracite is very clean burning coal, but it required a furnace that could provide a lot of oxygen. It only comes from south eastern PA and northern WV, the railroads that went through the Anthracite fields and burned Anthracite were called the Anthracite Roads. I have been a member of the Anthracite Roads Historical Society. They were the Deleware, Lackawanna & Western, Erie, Lehigh Valley, Reading, and Central of New Jersey. They all went through this small area and picked up that clean burning coal, and like the Lackawanna Road, they made a big deal out of it. On a regular Bituminous burning railroad you'd get off the train covered in soot, it was a thing of the time, everyone expected it, but with the Anthracite roads you got off the train clean. It was a real eye opener.

 

[Duleigh]

I described quite a bit about that, and the advertising campaign that created Phoebe Snow. (Sort of like the Betty Crocker or Ronald McDonald of railroads.) Then Phoebe Laub was looking for a stage name, and she saw boxcars in her home town of Teaneck, NJ that still had "The Route of Phoebe Snow" on the sides. That was fun to write, because it seems so random. Not that I'm a huge fan of her songs but, hey, everybody's had to make a living. She passed over ten years ago,

Poetry Man is so sad, it's her auto biography. She gave up everything for him, had his daughter, and died still singing about him.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Poetry Man is so sad, it's her auto biography. She gave up everything for him, had his daughter, and died still singing about him.

Who exactly was this guy? The only thing I read about all of that is very vague.

 

[Duleigh]

She never said but one biography I read said it was her guitar player, another said he played saxophone

 

[gunhilltrain]

We certainly brought out some geekiness in this thread! Maybe it will inspire more people to write for the event.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Question:

I wasn’t planning on doing anything bar a stand-alone story, but I use the chapter structure to also group stand-alone stories by theme. E.g. stories from when I was at college, fantasy stories etc. Will it be problematic if I use this structure?

Em

It's not a competition, so just go ahead

 

[MisterWildCard]

Made some nice progress today with my Pro Wrestling story. Should be ready in time.