Fan Fic Contest - Are you the best writer?

[TheAverageFan]

Certainly unexpected. I'll likely read this (and reread EL's) at work tomorrow and post the results then. Unless anyone else suddenly comes swinging in.

~TAF

[TheAverageFan]

OK done. I'm not gonna lie, I kind of forgot about the most recent prompt and was still thinking of the prequel one. But I've gone over the correct prompt and both stories and have reached my verdict.

Second and First Place:

Spoiler Alert!

Second Place: EL: This one threw me for a bit because it has two unlikely pairings: between Veidar and his wife and also Giuseppe and Vitruvius. It's mostly a pretty short affair with Giuseppe and Vitruvius arguing about how to best build a bridge, and while some of the logistics of architecture is r/woosh on me there is still a classic sense of the comedy you get when two pompous geniuses are thrown together into the same space. Some of the language choices are pretty funny, such as the "There was clearly no getting through Vitruvius’ thick balding skull by yelling at him." and "Giuseppe snapped, his fragile ego with it". It makes good use of condensing by adding character to the simple explanations. That being said, it was very fleeting and just... odd at times. Why is so much of this small story spent with Veidar and Allison if the pairing is Giuseppe and Vitruvius, or vise versa if the unlikely pair in the prompt is meant to be the former? And why do these old Europeans use inches? I'm not sure.

First Place: TGRF: On the other side we have our winner TGRF's entry. I am a fan of the story-told-via-journals format for short stories—obviously being used to great effect in Heroscape lore itself—and it is mostly used well here. When Ullar says he's expecting to reach the island tomorrow, and then the next letter is dated two days later it immediately makes me the reader intrigued because an important day was missed. It also allows the short format to cover a lot of ground because all the setup can be sped through in a single letter or two. And it was also neat to see what happened to the Haukeland voyage in DoD, though that can't be considered for the placement. I will say the prompt itself is hurt by the format somewhat, as we can only hear about Ullar's unlikely relationship with Narv rather than really experience it. But it's a moot point: the prompt never said the unlikely allies had to go on a deep character-driven journey together. The story was neat and told in a neat way, and the inclusion of Heroscape elements such as Glyphs and Valkyrie's elements such as Kyrie innate magic was welcome. I think it's the clear winner.

And there you have it. You may deploy a fresh prompt whenever

~TAF

[TGRF]

Spoiler Alert!

Originally Posted by TheAverageFan

First Place: TGRF: On the other side we have our winner TGRF's entry. I am a fan of the story-told-via-journals format for short stories—obviously being used to great effect in Heroscape lore itself—and it is mostly used well here. When Ullar says he's expecting to reach the island tomorrow, and then the next letter is dated two days later it immediately makes me the reader intrigued because an important day was missed. It also allows the short format to cover a lot of ground because all the setup can be sped through in a single letter or two. And it was also neat to see what happened to the Haukeland voyage in DoD, though that can't be considered for the placement. I will say the prompt itself is hurt by the format somewhat, as we can only hear about Ullar's unlikely relationship with Narv rather than really experience it. But it's a moot point: the prompt never said the unlikely allies had to go on a deep character-driven journey together. The story was neat and told in a neat way, and the inclusion of Heroscape elements such as Glyphs and Valkyrie's elements such as Kyrie innate magic was welcome. I think it's the clear winner.

I'm glad it worked, because I felt like the letter format killed the tension quite a bit. In the outline, I was trying to really build up the enmity between the two parties and specifically the suspense they felt about the possibility of an attack - that kind of seemed to go away when Ullar kept relating things in the same tone. Then again, maybe I'm just that out of practice (also possible).

I had the idea for this short story ever since I wrote DoD - the prompt was actually live back then, so I always knew it would be a good fit if I could figure out how to do it. I wasn't sure exactly what happened at Haukeland, but I liked the idea of exploring the possibilities. And now of course there's the question of what happened to Ullar, and how he got back to Valhalla to join in the war. More material for sequels...

At any event, I will give myself a few hours to consider what would make a good prompt, and release it likely later today.

~TGRF.

[TGRF]

A few hours, right... more like a few days. Ahem, sorry for the tardiness.

At any event, I've finally gotten my act together and given this some thought. As I'm sure many of you know, I like designing things. I also like reading about interesting new designs I had never thought of. Thus, that is your challenge:

I want you to come up with a design, the more original the better. The design can be for anything: new soulborg, new summoned unit, previously unseen fortress, mysterious magic system, whatever you can come up with. The design can be the setting of your story, the main obstacle, or even the main character.

Your true challenge will be to come up with a design, craft a story to show it, but not sacrifice the story for the design. Ultimately I still want a solid story, only centered around a design. Not a design with a story on the side.

I realize a 'design' might be a bit open-ended, so here are some examples off the top of my head:

Spoiler Alert!

• A strange new warrior summoned to Valhalla, composed of mist and shrouded in mysterious magic...
• A giant soulborg planet-destroying machine, which forces all of Valhalla to band together to stop it...
• A hidden fortress guarding a Wellspring, where the walls seem to keep moving and the halls somehow never end...
• A terminator-style juggernaut which seems unstoppable, rampaging across Valhalla...

I'm basically looking for something new which will make me think 'huh, that's something cool I've never thought of.' The design doesn't necessarily need to be spelled out, as long as there's enough of it to let me speculate on what it is, or how it works. Let me know if you need more details. Deadline pending entries. Word limit 10,000.

~TGRF.

[TheAverageFan]

I'll see what I can cook up, although a clever design will need a clever story to go with it, and both will need time to think up.

~TAF

[Elven Lord]

Originally Posted by TheAverageFan

I'll see what I can cook up, although a clever design will need a clever story to go with it, and both will need time to think up.

~TAF

I wouldn't worry about it too much. The last one only took two years to resolve.

[TheAverageFan]

Originally Posted by Elven Lord

I wouldn't worry about it too much. The last one only took two years to resolve.

You underestimate my powers

~TAF

[Elven Lord]

Originally Posted by TheAverageFan

You underestimate my powers

~TAF

How's yours coming along TAF? Mine's about 3/4 done.

EDIT: Also I just noticed the word limit 10k? What does TGRF want, a novella?

[TGRF]

Originally Posted by Elven Lord

EDIT: Also I just noticed the word limit 10k? What does TGRF want, a novella?

The last word limit was also 10k. FREEDOM!!

~TGRF.

[TheAverageFan]

Bro I'm still in the ideas phase. But once all is figured out, it ought to be a pretty quick write-up I'm sure. But we'll see.

~TAF

[Elven Lord]

Originally Posted by TheAverageFan

Bro I'm still in the ideas phase. But once all is figured out, it ought to be a pretty quick write-up I'm sure. But we'll see.

~TAF

PFFFF, planning. Just write!

Jk, I'm cheating a little bit like TGRF using an existing world build

[TGRF]

Originally Posted by Elven Lord

PFFFF, planning. Just write!

Jk, I'm cheating a little bit like TGRF using an existing world build

It's only cheating if you use something you've previously written. Using a previously established world or character is a perfectly acceptable loophole.

~TGRF.