FAWC 5: Line, Please!

[slyc_willie]

Well, if it's a timed thing, then I think the added challenge would be to make it at least 4,000 words, so as to be a minimum of one Lit page (yes, I know, a Lit page is around 3,750 words, but to insure the stories were at least a Lit page, 4k would pretty much guarantee that).

A maximum of one Lit page would be it's own FAWC, especially if the topic was suitably, deviously, complex enough to make brevity a real challenge.

Hmm. Might just have the next two FAWCs planned out now . . . .

 

[sheablue]

I like it!

Well, if it's a timed thing, then I think the added challenge would be to make it at least 4,000 words, so as to be a minimum of one Lit page (yes, I know, a Lit page is around 3,750 words, but to insure the stories were at least a Lit page, 4k would pretty much guarantee that).

A maximum of one Lit page would be it's own FAWC, especially if the topic was suitably, deviously, complex enough to make brevity a real challenge.

Hmm. Might just have the next two FAWCs planned out now . . . .

 

[sr71plt]

I don't see why the requirement couldn't be that it wouldn't spill over onto the second Lit. page. 3,700 words max would ascribe to that (and you can tell if it will by previewing it).

 

[slyc_willie]

I don't see why the requirement couldn't be that it wouldn't spill over onto the second Lit. page. 3,700 words max would ascribe to that (and you can tell if it will by previewing it).

That would be the second challenge I listed above.

 

[patientlee]

Damn. I wish I hadn't submitted that 752 word story already.

 

[sheablue]

Damn. I wish I hadn't submitted that 752 word story already.

WAH-wahhhh ...

 

[sr71plt]

WAH-wahhhh ...

If you take out the hyphen and keep the elements separate, there are two words. And if you use a publisher's ellipsis ( . . . ), there would be three more words in a computer count.

 

[stlgoddessfreya]

72?

I worked with a theater company for several years that always did a New Year's Eve 24 hour play festival. Six original one-act plays all written, rehearsed, and produced in a 24 hour window. On a set we built from scratch every year in 24 hours with a hundred dollar budget.

They were always the best work we did all year.

This makes me want to do the timed challenge for FAWC 6. "Here's the topic. You've got 72 hours. Go!"

 

[sheablue]

If you take out the hyphen and keep the elements separate, there are two words. And if you use a publisher's ellipsis ( . . . ), there would be three more words in a computer count.

Ha! That's funny. See? This writing thang ain't so hard . . .

 

[patientlee]

I worked with a theater company for several years that always did a New Year's Eve 24 hour play festival. Six original one-act plays all written, rehearsed, and produced in a 24 hour window. On a set we built from scratch every year in 24 hours with a hundred dollar budget.

They were always the best work we did all year.

Now THAT'S a challenge.

 

[stlgoddessfreya]

Now THAT'S a challenge.

It gets worse. To make sure nothing came in canned, the six writers didn't know before 8PM on the night before the show how many actors they had or their genders. We used to match writers to the six directors by having them choose from an array of ridiculous props in separate rooms. You're the writer who liked the giant slip-on Hulk hands? Have we got a director for you! Some years they had to use the prop prominently in their piece, some years we gave them a phrase they had to use or a particular style of theater.

Limited time, limited budget, and at most three actors available for each piece led to some amazing results. Pick of the festival from the second-to-last one we did was a pitch-perfect Tennessee Williams parlor drama between two sisters, one played by an actress, the other by a big, creepy doll with the male director doing a voiceover. I once had to deliver a lecture on safety procedures when handling a raw chicken on stage.

 

[patientlee]

It gets worse. To make sure nothing came in canned, the six writers didn't know before 8PM on the night before the show how many actors they had or their genders. We used to match writers to the six directors by having them choose from an array of ridiculous props in separate rooms. You're the writer who liked the giant slip-on Hulk hands? Have we got a director for you! Some years they had to use the prop prominently in their piece, some years we gave them a phrase they had to use or a particular style of theater.

Limited time, limited budget, and at most three actors available for each piece led to some amazing results. Pick of the festival from the second-to-last one we did was a pitch-perfect Tennessee Williams parlor drama between two sisters, one played by an actress, the other by a big, creepy doll with the male director doing a voiceover. I once had to deliver a lecture on safety procedures when handling a raw chicken on stage.

You will LOVE FAWCking!!

 

[Swilly]

You will LOVE FAWCking!!

Doesn't everyone? Well, except for JBJ.

 

[slyc_willie]

I worked with a theater company for several years that always did a New Year's Eve 24 hour play festival. Six original one-act plays all written, rehearsed, and produced in a 24 hour window. On a set we built from scratch every year in 24 hours with a hundred dollar budget.

They were always the best work we did all year.

I would personally love it to be a 24-hour time frame. However, knowing that everyone has numerous other things to do away from Lit would make a 24-hour challenge both unpopular and unfair. So it will probably be 72 hours.

Doesn't everyone? Well, except for JBJ.

Let's not do that again, alright?

 

[stlgoddessfreya]

I would personally love it to be a 24-hour time frame. However, knowing that everyone has numerous other things to do away from Lit would make a 24-hour challenge both unpopular and unfair. So it will probably be 72 hours.

Oh, I would not enjoy a 24 hour time frame at all. 72 hours, though, that's when you really find out which ideas you're willing to trow time into and which ones you'll pass.

 

[slyc_willie]

Oh, I would not enjoy a 24 hour time frame at all. 72 hours, though, that's when you really find out which ideas you're willing to trow time into and which ones you'll pass.

Yeah, that's pretty much how I look at it. Of course, there are people who can turn out a story in 24 hours (*looks around for sr71plt*), but most of us can't. Or wouldn't want to.

 

[sr71plt]

Oh, I would not enjoy a 24 hour time frame at all. 72 hours, though, that's when you really find out which ideas you're willing to trow time into and which ones you'll pass.

It would be good to have it 72 hours from when the author notifies he/she could start, though, rather than from the beginning of the exercise, so they have a better opportunity to be ready for it. I don't see any problem in a 72-hour window.

 

[slyc_willie]

It would be good to have it 72 hours from when the author notifies he/she could start, though, rather than from the beginning of the exercise, so they have a better opportunity to be ready for it. I don't see any problem in a 72-hour window.

That's what I would do. If you're interested in the challenge, you post that you're ready. I would keep checking the thread as often as I can, and would then give you the topic.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Doesn't everyone? Well, except for JBJ.

I posted 2 stories already, and a 3rd will likely go live before FAWC5 dies of old age.

#3 starts with a seagull shitting on a guys head. And features a cameo appearance by God in his LIT debut as Chastity Bono.

 

[stlgoddessfreya]

That's what I would do. If you're interested in the challenge, you post that you're ready. I would keep checking the thread as often as I can, and would then give you the topic.

Exactly! Maybe it would run along the same general time guidelines as previous FAWCs, but every story had to be done, from getting the prompt by PM or e-mail to sending in the completed story in 72 hours. If you wanted to do a second story, maybe it would follow the same initial prompt so it wasn't completely different from the other entries, but there would be an additional rule, like "must be in second person" or "a character in your story must not be able to verbally communicate with the other characters."

 

[slyc_willie]

Exactly! Maybe it would run along the same general time guidelines as previous FAWCs, but every story had to be done, from getting the prompt by PM or e-mail to sending in the completed story in 72 hours. If you wanted to do a second story, maybe it would follow the same initial prompt so it wasn't completely different from the other entries, but there would be an additional rule, like "must be in second person" or "a character in your story must not be able to verbally communicate with the other characters."

In a previous FAWC, we did a "basket" that contained four randomly chosen "ingredients." The idea was that it was like the cooking show Chopped. No one knew what was in their basket until they asked for it and I randomly assigned the ingredients. If they finished the story and sent it to me, they could then ask for another basket.

So I figure a time-limit FAWC would be pretty much the same way. I'd have a list of several topics or scenarios, and when each writer said they were ready, I'd send them a PM with their randomly-selected topic.

 

[phoenixrhys]

This seems like a really fun challenge. I write poetry, mostly, but maybe I'll try my hand and this some time.

 

[Swilly]

I managed to finish my story today. I wasn't expecting to be able to. Final edit and I will email it in. Now...nude day or redo the end of FAWC 4. Hmmm.

 

[slyc_willie]

This seems like a really fun challenge. I write poetry, mostly, but maybe I'll try my hand and this some time.

There's until June 10th for this one, if you want to have a go at it. After that . . . not sure when we'll do FAWC 6. The Nude Day, Summer Lovin' and Halloween contests are all fairly close together, so F6 may not happen until November.

I managed to finish my story today. I wasn't expecting to be able to. Final edit and I will email it in. Now...nude day or redo the end of FAWC 4. Hmmm.

I'll be checking my email, then.

ETA: and we have another one. Not Swilly's (yet), though.

 

[Swilly]

You should have it now.