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 Forum index » Diversions » TimeWasters
[EXPERIMENT] Competitive Canon
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AtionSong
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Joined: 29 Aug 2006
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 		 [EXPERIMENT] Competitive Canon
An experimental competitive-writing extrrrrrrrrravaganza
Alright, so this section seemed the most appropriate place to try this idea out, so here goes. This is a little experiment in, I suppose, interactive fiction that I came up with today. I call it Competitive Canon.

"Canon", as it's referred to here, references the canon of a fictional universe. For those unfamiliar with the term, canon refers to the idea of what is "true" in a fictional universe - i.e. within the fictional universe, what is accepted as the way things occur(ed). An example would be the work J.R.R. Tolkien put into constructing the universe of "Lord of the Rings" - the fictional histories, alphabets and languages, genealogies, etc. that comprise the "canon" of Middle Earth.

So, as for the Competition part of my idea, I plan for it to go like this - by posting below in this thread that you would like to participate in this competition, you are signed up as a writer. A bracket will be composed, posing one writer against another in each round. Together, the writers will be designing a fictional universe and, yes, its canon. This will be done by writing a story taking place in this universe, with each chapter adding to the canon.

In the first round, each pairing will be assigned a different character in the story, and a short prompt about the character's motivation for the first round writing piece. Both writers will then write a piece encompassing the plot outlined in the prompt. They are free to introduce whatever characters, locations, etc. that they see fit in the writing, as the prompts will be very vague.

Then, once every competitor has finished their writing (by PMing it to me), other forum members get to vote on which piece is best within each pairing (I'll figure out how to best do the multiple polls later). Then - and here's the first exciting part - all of the winning pieces (the piece in each pairing with the most votes) become the official canon for the universe - all people, locations, inventions, etc. that have been created by all of the winning writers become a part of the canon, and writers are both allowed and encouraged to integrate other writers' canonical ideas into their next round writings.

Though ideas of the losing entries of course can, with permission of the authors, be integrated into pieces for the next round, if any piece is found to violate the official canon, it will a) be forced to be rewritten or b) disqualified, so paying attention to the official canon will be very important for the writers.

The other exciting part takes place in the following rounds. For the second round, the winning writers for two separate characters must once again write pieces that will go head-to-head in voting. The difference, however, is that the pieces must now integrate the plot, motivations, and canon from the previous characters of both writers in the pairing. So if, for example, Writer 1 had written about Albert and Writer 2 had written about Brenda, in this round, they both need to write a piece that continues both the story of Albert and Brenda.

This will continue until only two writers remain, who will both write their potential endings to the story, integrating all of the characters into it, and one of which will be voted on as the official canonical ending.

So there you have the idea. I think it will be fun, but I don't know if other people have any interest. Right now, I'm thinking of having 16 writers for bracketing purposes. If you're interested in participating (tentative starting date August 27), post below. Also below, please post suggestions or critiques of my idea/rules.
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 7:15 pm
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TheIllustratedMan
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Joined: 13 Jun 2008
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 		This actually sounds like a pretty cool idea. I (and several others from here) are participating in something somewhat similar over at www.cerebrumachine.com . The difference is that over there, you're provided with a situation, and you describe what your character is doing.
I mention this because of my main question: what kind of time frame are we looking at here? Allowing, say, a week for each round would give ample time for the writers to come up with their submission, but that means that we all need to wait a week to read anything. I, for one, get impatient having to wait a day for updates, feedback, etc. Maybe do open submissions in the thread so that as submissions come in they can be read by all? Possibly come up with a posting format such as:
Quote:

Chapter 1 - written by ThisAuthor9
Bracket A - opposing SomeOtherAuthor2000
Attachment: Chapter 1 - ThisAuthor9(A).txt

Putting the chapter as an attachment would keep the thread short, and allow everyone to read whichever pieces they want at their leisure.

Next, what kind of length are we looking at? Will each piece be a chapter in a longer story, or are we talking about complete stories, all taking place in the same world?

The idea of having characters carry to the next round is a good way to integrate everyone's ideas, but that means that the last story is going to have to incorporate every character ever written about all down the line, which could get a bit cluttered. Maybe instead have it mandatory to include at least one of the characters from each writer's story. That would make it less cumbersome in later rounds.

Just some thoughts, sounds like a cool idea, I'd be interested.
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 8:31 am
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Will 2.0
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 		definitely interested. Just gotta spend more time on here really....
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 11:22 pm
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AtionSong
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Joined: 29 Aug 2006
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 		@TheIllustratedMan:

TheIllustratedMan wrote:

I mention this because of my main question: what kind of time frame are we looking at here? Allowing, say, a week for each round would give ample time for the writers to come up with their submission, but that means that we all need to wait a week to read anything. I, for one, get impatient having to wait a day for updates, feedback, etc. Maybe do open submissions in the thread so that as submissions come in they can be read by all?


Good points that you bring up. I like the idea of having running submissions, but don't want to give writers advantages or disadvantages based on when they submit. Perhaps the way it can work is that there is a period of 3-4 days at the beginning of each round where writers are free to post their work-in-progress in the thread for feedback and suggestions, etc. Then there is a "submission window" of 2-3 days where the final submitted works are posted in the thread. Then, all of the round's entries are collected and voted on.

Quote:

Possibly come up with a posting format such as:
Quote:

Chapter 1 - written by ThisAuthor9
Bracket A - opposing SomeOtherAuthor2000
Attachment: Chapter 1 - ThisAuthor9(A).txt

Putting the chapter as an attachment would keep the thread short, and allow everyone to read whichever pieces they want at their leisure.


I agree with this. Attaching it will keep the thread readable, and a general format similar to this should be used with the submissions for ease of collection.

Quote:

Next, what kind of length are we looking at? Will each piece be a chapter in a longer story, or are we talking about complete stories, all taking place in the same world?


I was thinking more the length of a chapter, but I hesitate to put any length requirements or restrictions, stifling creativity. I would guess the length might be between 1,500 and 2,500 words depending on the author, but that's just the way I envision it. Others may need a lot less or more length to tell the story they want to satisfactorily.

Quote:

The idea of having characters carry to the next round is a good way to integrate everyone's ideas, but that means that the last story is going to have to incorporate every character ever written about all down the line, which could get a bit cluttered. Maybe instead have it mandatory to include at least one of the characters from each writer's story. That would make it less cumbersome in later rounds.


The reason I included the idea of characters carrying over between stories was so that the storylines of losing authors' characters don't instantly end, leaving the reader out to dry. But I didn't think about how difficult it could become to write the conclusion... do people think that this would be too difficult of a task? If so I'm sure there are workarounds...

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions!
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 6:16 pm
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TheIllustratedMan
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AtionSong wrote:

Good points that you bring up. I like the idea of having running submissions, but don't want to give writers advantages or disadvantages based on when they submit. Perhaps the way it can work is that there is a period of 3-4 days at the beginning of each round where writers are free to post their work-in-progress in the thread for feedback and suggestions, etc. Then there is a "submission window" of 2-3 days where the final submitted works are posted in the thread. Then, all of the round's entries are collected and voted on.

That would work fine, I think.

Quote:

I was thinking more the length of a chapter, but I hesitate to put any length requirements or restrictions, stifling creativity. I would guess the length might be between 1,500 and 2,500 words depending on the author, but that's just the way I envision it. Others may need a lot less or more length to tell the story they want to satisfactorily.

I guess I didn't really mean length so much as should it be:
A) a full story that concludes (ie. a beginning, middle, and end)
or
B) a section of a larger story
Sounds like you were thinking B, which I tend to like better myself.

Quote:

The reason I included the idea of characters carrying over between stories was so that the storylines of losing authors' characters don't instantly end, leaving the reader out to dry. But I didn't think about how difficult it could become to write the conclusion... do people think that this would be too difficult of a task? If so I'm sure there are workarounds...

Well, I wasn't really concerned about the difficulty as much, but the complexity. Instead of one main character, or even a couple, we would end up with (if 16 writers started out) 16 main characters to incorporate into one ending that is readable and makes sense. What I'm concerned about is it ending up sounding like the text at the end of "based on real events" movies, where it tells in a sentence or two what happened to each of the characters after the movie ends. I DO, however, like the idea of 16 seperate storylines all converging into one throughout the (story/novel/whatever this ends up as). That could make for some very interesting storytelling.

Quote:
Thanks for the feedback and suggestions!

No problem! Thanks for the super idea. Now if only more people were interested...
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 8:45 am
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Agent Lex
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 		I would be interested, but I suck at writing Razz

I take it you've already accounted for this, but something that would be helpful is giving out the setting before the contest starts. we don't want to have to somehow integrate one person's sci-fi extravaganza with another person's 1920's lit noir with a third person's fantasy and a fourth's modern-day thriller!

PostPosted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 8:06 am
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TheIllustratedMan
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Agent Lex wrote:
I would be interested, but I suck at writing Razz

I take it you've already accounted for this, but something that would be helpful is giving out the setting before the contest starts. we don't want to have to somehow integrate one person's sci-fi extravaganza with another person's 1920's lit noir with a third person's fantasy and a fourth's modern-day thriller!


Aww, why not? Razz

Yeah, I took it that he, or someone, would provide a really brief prompt, which should at least give you the year and location, I would imagine.

But hey, who cares if you suck at writing? If you enjoy it, join in! (not that there's much to join in on just yet...) Very Happy
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 8:56 am
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Rotation
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 		I'd be in on it. Sounds like fun. I do like the idea of a prompt though, it might get a bit hectic without one.

PostPosted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 9:44 pm
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