The 2021 Geek Pride Story Event: Official Support Page

[Payne_Hall]

Castlevania is one of my top 3 video game franchises. And the Netflix show was effing brilliant. I'm waiting with bated breath for the inevitable Symphony Of The Night season.

https://youtu.be/STFAzuCxAXE

I would like to offer this video link because it’s Castlevania beauty.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Submitted in EC.

Good luck, all

 

[MisterWildCard]

My wife heard me screaming from the basement all the way to our top floor when "Bloody Tears" started playing during the castle fight. Everything in the previous two seasons was worth it for that moment.

Is that the name of the song that plays in episode 2/7 "For Love", when the trio are taking on the Vampire horde in the castle foyer? LOVE that song.

 

[PoisonPen33]

Is that the name of the song that plays in episode 2/7 "For Love", when the trio are taking on the Vampire horde in the castle foyer? LOVE that song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djR3eMsOHVI

It's a trademark song throughout the franchise beginning with Simon's Quest.

 

[Blind_Justice]

I have my ten song titles. Also, 80% done. One major plot reveal and a huge fight scene to wrap it all up. Maybe an epilogue and another, smaller sex scene to send the crowd home happy. Still five days left and my editor has almost the whole draft checked. It's gonna be close, but not "three all-nighters in a row" close.

I... I've probably jinxed it now.

 

[LoquiSordidaAdMe]

I might still be in this. Nobody is more surprised than me.

I had a sort of weird, out-there idea for a fairy tale that I started last year and thought I could flesh out for GPD. But then I got stuck at about 2k words and then I got frustrated and then I hit a slump where I didn't write or read much of anything for several months. I had pretty much written off GPD.

Then last week Blind_Justice wrote to me out of the blue and reminded me I still have two weeks left. I don't know what clicked, but suddenly the story came together and the words started to flow. I had told ElectricBlue66 about it when I first had the idea and he'd agreed to look it over. Once I got up to a full Lit page, I sent him what I had. He said it was good and asked for more.

I'm up over 14k words now (which is a lot for me, thank you very much) and I only have three scenes left to write. There is an outside chance that I might finish this weird little fairy tale in time.

Fingers crossed.

 

[MisterWildCard]

I might still be in this. Nobody is more surprised than me.

I had a sort of weird, out-there idea for a fairy tale that I started last year and thought I could flesh out for GPD. But then I got stuck at about 2k words and then I got frustrated and then I hit a slump where I didn't write or read much of anything for several months. I had pretty much written off GPD.

Then last week Blind_Justice wrote to me out of the blue and reminded me I still have two weeks left. I don't know what clicked, but suddenly the story came together and the words started to flow. I had told ElectricBlue66 about it when I first had the idea and he'd agreed to look it over. Once I got up to a full Lit page, I sent him what I had. He said it was good and asked for more.

I'm up over 14k words now (which is a lot for me, thank you very much) and I only have three scenes left to write. There is an outside chance that I might finish this weird little fairy tale in time.

Fingers crossed.

That's awesome! YOU CAN DO IT!

 

[MisterWildCard]

I have my ten song titles. Also, 80% done. One major plot reveal and a huge fight scene to wrap it all up. Maybe an epilogue and another, smaller sex scene to send the crowd home happy. Still five days left and my editor has almost the whole draft checked. It's gonna be close, but not "three all-nighters in a row" close.

I... I've probably jinxed it now.

Good luck!

Also... song titles? I think I must've missed something.

 

[PoisonPen33]

Good luck!

Also... song titles? I think I must've missed something.

Blind_Justice likes to sprinkle song titles throughout their stories.

 

[MisterWildCard]

Blind_Justice likes to sprinkle song titles throughout their stories.

**blinks**

How in the world did I not notice this before?

 

[Blind_Justice]

Blind_Justice likes to sprinkle song titles throughout their stories.

Not all my stories, mind you. The last story I tried this with was "Mud & Magic 1-3" and most of the references in there were RPG and video game related. I went to great lengths to make it as fun and challenging as possible and got zero takers. Here's what I put in there if you'Re curious:

1) Mirrin, the name or Rhys' sister, is from the video game "Embers of Mirrin", a (sadly) pretty generic 2D puzzle platformer about a magic fox-thing. Played the demo, didn't like it that much. But the name stuck.

2) Mercy: The faiths in my world have purposefully chosen, generic names, to avoid infringing on any copyrights. "The Trickster", "Lady Desire", "The Chaos Queen" and so on, with Our Mother of Mercy being mentioned, but never actually shown. When it was time to do so, I blatantly stole both the look of her icon and her holy symbol from Blizzard's Overwatch.

3) Celeste: A spontaneous choice for the cleric's name, but I was aware of the 2D jump'n'run game of the same name, so I made it an official reference

4) "Sworn to carry your burden" - When you have a follower in Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and demand they carry some of your junk, that's one of the phrases they say. Much less obvious than "I once was an adventurer like you, but then I took an arrow to the knee" everyone else uses

5) Dara - that's a bit tenuous, but I made it official because I like the games that much. In the "Fable" RPG series, one of the cool things was the ability to practically seduce everyone, even the beggars on the streets. Plus, their accent has that typical 'Ye olde English' with a touch of Highlands I used for her.

6) Scorching Ray - that's the first and only direct D&D/tabletop reference. Scorchy Ray is one of the very few (and useful) level 2 arcane combat spells.

7) nails, boards, tools and the circuitous ways to get them: I've played a lot of the old point'n'click adventure games in my youth, like "Monkey Island", "King's Quest' or "Day Of The Tentacle". The whole way Rhys had to jump through hoops to finally get the stables done was a conscious nod to these games.

8) 'alakazam' - I like a lot of music, from heavy metal to electronica to some pop to hip hop. Recently, I felt kinda nostalgic and, in a nod to my deceased father, bought the "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack. Compared to today's Top 40 bullshit, the music is awesome! One of the songs which stuck with me, despite the obvious earworms, was "Open Sesame" by Kool and the Gang, arguably a bit of proto-hip-hop, with the mostly spoken lyrics. When I looked for a word a non-magic user, in this case Dara, would use to describe a spell being cast, the song was a goldmine. I picked 'alakazam' over 'abracadabra' or 'hocus pocus'.

9) 'kakel bakel' - This is taken from an obscure late '80s RPG called "Knights Of Legend", made by the folks who later made Wing Commander or Ultima Underworld. My brother and I played it when we were young on our C64. Eight double-sided 5 1/4" discs, a brutal difficulty and a large, open world to explore. Very clunky to play without a mouse too. Anyway, in this game, a dwarf asks the party to kill goblins for him, so he can make 'kakel bakel', a stew made from, amongst other things, cooked goblin fingers. Only fitting for my angry dwarf to use that phrase.

10) Idunn's axe - Another Elder Scrolls nod. The "Bound Weapon" spells are a staple in these games, including "Bound Battleaxe". I did change the look to fit Idunn's personality though.

11) "You won't like him when he's angry" - the cookie and most obvious one. Other people talking about the Hulk. And yes, Galdor could turn green - but he'd rather die than look like a goblin

12) "Bad stew. Back, back I say!" - It's a slightly mangled quote from Diablo III, when the Skeleton King confronts Deckard Cain. Everyone knows "Stay awhile, and listen!"

13) Borna's whole look: http://img.myconfinedspace.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/1-12.jpg I've taken most of "female Diablo", added a few touches and turned her into a true hermaphrodite underneath a loincloth.

14) The naked barbarian in the Hall of Portraits - https://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Golden-Axe-2-780x620.jpg He's a nod to Ax Battler from the Golden Axe series of video games. Along with Conan and Raven, one of my key influences when it comes to heroic barbarians

15) Hilgrun - https://www.diabloii.net/gallery/data/510/medium/d3_f_barb_wall1.png She's technically two references in one. First, her look and speech are modeled on the female Diablo III barbarian player character. Also, and that's what got me her name, when you create a character in the game and don't input anything, the game chooses for you. Hilgrun is one of the names in that list.

16) Bottled Knowledge - Initially, I was tempted to call the item "Potion Of Literacy", a nod to the roguelike video game Ancient Domains Of Mystery, where an illiterate character can earn this item as a quest reward. My lady love said that it was WAY too obvious, so I chose this instead. 'Bottled Knowledge' is a card in the WoW trading card game.

This time, it's ten rather simple song titles for you to find.

 

[Rounding_Third]

I'm ready!

Just submitted my story (hopefully I did it correctly). Can't wait to read everyone's hard work!

 

[ElectricBlue]

I'm up over 14k words now (which is a lot for me, thank you very much) and I only have three scenes left to write. There is an outside chance that I might finish this weird little fairy tale in time.

Fingers crossed.

Don't compromise it just for an anthology. But by any definition, you're on a roll!

 

[SimonDoom]

It's not going to happen. Oh well. Another deadline missed.

I'll still work on it and submit it independently from the event. I need to publish this story for the title alone.

 

[Blind_Justice]

It's not going to happen. Oh well. Another deadline missed.

I'll still work on it and submit it independently from the event. I need to publish this story for the title alone.

Keep going! You still have almost 96 hours to go!

 

[SimonDoom]

Keep going! You still have almost 96 hours to go!

I can't rush it. I've been tinkering with this story for three years. I want to do it right. Deadlines don't really matter to me, anyway.

I did recently finish my Halloween story, after three years of writing. So it's ready to go for October. If I don't meet any other event or contest deadlines, at least I'll meet that one.

 

[PennameWombat]

Well, it's submitted. Is it the best work I've ever done? Probably not. But I think it'll be entertaining.

It's for those folks who like to take their erotic tales of virgin geeks and the predators who prey on them long. And I do mean long.

I came up with a cast of characters that was possibly a bit too large... and just too many of them demanded screen time.

Oh well. Let 'er rip!

 

[LoquiSordidaAdMe]

I did recently finish my Halloween story, after three years of writing. So it's ready to go for October.

That takes a special kind of willpower. I don't think I could sit on a finished story for that long. I'd never do anything else but fiddle with it until it was finally time to submit. It would drive me mad.

 

[LoquiSordidaAdMe]

Nearly done, but out of time tonight. I've written the end, but I need to go back and fill in a couple of transitions between sections. Erinaceous was kind enough to offer to proofread it for me since there won't be enough time for a full edit. As long they don't find anything horrifically wrong, I really think I can make it.

In fact, I'm confident enough to share my title, teaser, and the opening nursery rhyme I wrote for it...

A Faery Affair at a Faire
Elves and brownies and trolls hold summer court at Renn Fest

Beware, my child, the good folks' song, the music in the glen,
For if ye dance in Faeryland, ye'll ne're be seen again.

Take no sup and drink no wine the good folk offer ye,
For if ye dine in Faeryland, they'll ne'er set ye free.

Trust no word the good folk speak, the truth can still deceive,
For if you're fooled in Faeryland, you're ne'er going to leave.

The good folks' gifts and favors given, ye always must repay,
For if ye've debt in Faeryland, ye'll ne're get away.

The good folks' pride and honor, must ne're be brought low,
For if you're rude in Faeryland, they'll ne'er let ye go.

The queer ways of the good folk, are nae for us to ken,
But if ye dance in Faeryland, ye'll ne're be seen again.

 

[Voboy]

That takes a special kind of willpower. I don't think I could sit on a finished story for that long. I'd never do anything else but fiddle with it until it was finally time to submit. It would drive me mad.

I do that pretty routinely. I finished last year's Nude Day entry about six months prior.

The trick is to go through, get it all finalized, and then ignore it. Going back and tinkering isn't something I spend time doing. When I hit SUBMIT, I didn't even need to reread it first. I knew it was done.

This year's Geek entry, same thing.

 

[SimonDoom]

That takes a special kind of willpower. I don't think I could sit on a finished story for that long. I'd never do anything else but fiddle with it until it was finally time to submit. It would drive me mad.

It's an erotic horror story that culminates at a Halloween party. It wouldn't make much sense to publish it now. I also figure it will get more attention if it's part of the right contest. Plus, I have so many incomplete stories to work on I don't have to think about it.

 

[LoquiSordidaAdMe]

It's an erotic horror story that culminates at a Halloween party. It wouldn't make much sense to publish it now. I also figure it will get more attention if it's part of the right contest. Plus, I have so many incomplete stories to work on I don't have to think about it.

Oh yeah, it makes sense. I just couldn't do it. I start having fits if I have more than one story in progress at a time. I'm envious of writers (or anybody really) who can multitask like that.

 

[PennameWombat]

It's an erotic horror story that culminates at a Halloween party. It wouldn't make much sense to publish it now. I also figure it will get more attention if it's part of the right contest. Plus, I have so many incomplete stories to work on I don't have to think about it.

My intended entry for last year’s Halloween contest just wouldn’t gel in time. But rather than letting it gestate I reworked it as this year’s Valentine’s entry. It’s ‘climbed’ lately to 4.00 but I’d have been better off doing as you’ve done and setting it aside for this year’s Halloween entry.

But it’s odd for me. I’ve only ever entered one Halloween contest (2019) but I have a few stories, including my just-submitted Geek Pride story, that involve a Halloween party. But this latest one, Important Plot Stuff happens at the party (and maybe some sex) but it’s not the culmination.

 

[TxRad]

Noway am I finished this novel before next years contest.

 

[Blind_Justice]

DONE!

51k words. Not sure if this will be "Erotic Horror" or "SF/F". Now for a final round of editing and I can finally go to sleep with time to spare. Halle-fucking-lujah!