test content
  • Games
  • Social
  • Arc News
  • Support
  • Zen
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
Forums > Home› Ten Forward

Literary Challenge #63 Discussion Thread

pwecaptainsmirkpwecaptainsmirk Member Posts: 1,167 Arc User
edited May 2014 in Ten Forward
Literary Challenge #63: Nightmare Anomaly
This is the comments thread for Literary Challenge #63.
We also have an Index of previous challenges HERE.

Feel free to link directly to the entry you are commenting on. And please remember: we're not here to tear each other up. Do not troll your fellow Captains, give feedback! Let the others know what you liked and disliked. Maybe they can even go back then and tweak their entries!

Let's get those creative juices flowing! :cool:
Post edited by Unknown User on
«134567

Comments

  • worffan101worffan101 Member Posts: 9,518 Arc User
    edited April 2014
    WOOHOO, new LC!!!

    Thanks, Smirk!
  • jonsillsjonsills Member Posts: 10,360 Arc User
    edited April 2014
    Thank you, Smirk. One issue, though - you forgot to sticky these threads. (I know, I know, we're never satisfied...)
    Lorna-Wing-sig.png
  • worffan101worffan101 Member Posts: 9,518 Arc User
    edited April 2014
    jonsills wrote: »
    Thank you, Smirk. One issue, though - you forgot to sticky these threads. (I know, I know, we're never satisfied...)

    Patience, man...

    Look, he just stickied them!
  • pwecaptainsmirkpwecaptainsmirk Member Posts: 1,167 Arc User
    edited April 2014
    Yup, there is always an immediate edit that has to be done to these threads cuz I have to create the posts before I can cross link them, so it takes a minute or two before I have double checked to make sure everything is good, and then bam! Stickytime!

    Have fun everyone!

    ~CaptainSmirk
  • takeshi6takeshi6 Member Posts: 752 Arc User
    edited April 2014
    Interesting challenge, Smirk.

    Not sure if I'll be able to come up with an idea for this thing, but as always, I'll definitely look at everyone else's entries when they make them. :D
    76561198160276582.png
  • ambassadormolariambassadormolari Member Posts: 709 Arc User
    edited April 2014
    Is it just me, or does this premise remind me a lot of Event Horizon?

    No ideas are coming to mind for this one yet. Even if I don't do this one, though, there are plenty of LCs that I missed that I'd like to go back and revisit.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • moonshadowdarkmoonshadowdark Member Posts: 1,899 Arc User
    edited April 2014
    Nightmare anomaly?

    /sigh

    I'll go get the night lights and rubber underpants for everyone who needs them afterwards...
    "A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP"

    -Leonard Nimoy, RIP
  • worffan101worffan101 Member Posts: 9,518 Arc User
    edited April 2014
    Mine is up. Warning, Hakeev.

    Thoughts?
  • ambassadormolariambassadormolari Member Posts: 709 Arc User
    edited April 2014
    What, already? :eek:

    Good god, man, whatever you drink to keep yourself creatively energized, I want some!
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • aten66aten66 Member Posts: 654 Arc User
    edited April 2014
    @worffan101 : Awesome, especially the descriptive nightmares, though it's too bad Three wasn't...yeah, actually, I think it would be scarier if you did Three...*shudder* Moon could I borrow a nightlight? I think my imagination got the better of em there for a second...

    @Smirk: Thanks again Smirk, I feel honored!
  • grylakgrylak Member Posts: 1,594 Arc User
    edited April 2014
    OH OH OH!


    I actually did this in game. I flew into 'Blue Hell' as it's known in the gaming world. Oh yes, a scientific follow up to the Blue Dimension. Awesome!
    *******************************************

    A Romulan Strike Team, Missing Farmers and an ancient base on a Klingon Border world. But what connects them? Find out in my First Foundary mission: 'The Jeroan Farmer Escapade'
  • starswordcstarswordc Member Posts: 10,963 Arc User
    edited April 2014
    I started out annoyed that we didn't get the "captured and tortured" one (even had a rough outline for Morgan), but then I remembered Eleya's recurring nightmare that I've already written. Maybe I can do something with that.
    "Great War! / And I cannot take more! / Great tour! / I keep on marching on / I play the great score / There will be no encore / Great War! / The War to End All Wars"
    — Sabaton, "Great War"
    VZ9ASdg.png

    Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
  • worffan101worffan101 Member Posts: 9,518 Arc User
    edited April 2014
    ambassadormolari wrote: »
    What, already? :eek:

    Good god, man, whatever you drink to keep yourself creatively energized, I want some!

    It's called Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette Kowal.

    They are truly brilliant and inspiring authors.
  • worffan101worffan101 Member Posts: 9,518 Arc User
    edited April 2014
    aten66 wrote: »
    @worffan101 : Awesome, especially the descriptive nightmares, though it's too bad Three wasn't...yeah, actually, I think it would be scarier if you did Three...*shudder* Moon could I borrow a nightlight? I think my imagination got the better of em there for a second...

    @Smirk: Thanks again Smirk, I feel honored!

    --Best to not even go there. Three tortures people for fun; anything that scares HER is going to be unimaginably awful.

    --Dude, it's a great prompt. It definitely deserved to be run.
  • marcusdkanemarcusdkane Member Posts: 7,439 Arc User
    edited April 2014
    worffan101 wrote: »
    Mine is up. Warning, Hakeev.

    Thoughts?

    Excellent :cool:

    The Criminal One :D

    I know exactly what's going to be happening here, I just hope I can write it before someone else does the same thing... :P All other projects are off till I get this down :D
  • worffan101worffan101 Member Posts: 9,518 Arc User
    edited April 2014
    marcusdkane wrote: »
    Excellent :cool:

    The Criminal One :D

    I know exactly what's going to be happening here, I just hope I can write it before someone else does the same thing... :P All other projects are off till I get this down :D

    Thanks!

    Yeah, I wondered how a bunch of devout Odoians would think of Quark...

    Cool. *insert emoticon here* Do you want me to draft some stuff up for "Invasion" while you're doing this and send it to you via email?
  • marcusdkanemarcusdkane Member Posts: 7,439 Arc User
    edited April 2014
    worffan101 wrote: »
    Thanks!

    Yeah, I wondered how a bunch of devout Odoians would think of Quark...

    Cool. *insert emoticon here* Do you want me to draft some stuff up for "Invasion" while you're doing this and send it to you via email?

    Sure, I can certainly tweak and revise anything that needs it, I just need to give this full attention before someone else posts the idea I've had... :cool:
  • worffan101worffan101 Member Posts: 9,518 Arc User
    edited April 2014
    marcusdkane wrote: »
    Sure, I can certainly tweak and revise anything that needs it, I just need to give this full attention before someone else posts the idea I've had... :cool:

    Awesome, can't wait to see what you come up with. :cool:

    I have some great images, I'll write 'em up in Word and send them to you.
  • marcusdkanemarcusdkane Member Posts: 7,439 Arc User
    edited April 2014
    This idea came to me once the challenge was posted. A bit of a DEM ending, and some 'mature themes' within, but please enjoy :)

    For ease of reference/visualization, here're the actors I would cast if I was filming this tomorrow...

    Ael - Faith Wladyka
    Salis Kazanak - Peter Gallagher
    Brandon Meyer - Chris Carmack
    Cecil Bernardez - Diego Boneta
    T'Reya - Emily Ratajkowski
    Scolak - Sacha Baron Cohen
    Marcus Kane - Matt Bomer
    I'sH'd - Alexander Skarsgard
    A'sh'Rh - Claire Coffee
    Ael t'Kazanak - Cobie Smulders
    S'rR's - Amy Smart
    Bellic Chanos - Vin Diesel
    Meliden Bowen - Eve Myles
    Elyse Fisher - Emily Blunt
    Brandon Mayer - Jason Lewis
    Claire - Lacey Chabert
  • worffan101worffan101 Member Posts: 9,518 Arc User
    edited April 2014
    marcusdkane wrote: »
    This idea came to me once the challenge was posted. A bit of a DEM ending, and some 'mature themes' within, but please enjoy :)

    For ease of reference/visualization, here're the actors I would cast if I was filming this tomorrow...

    Ael - Faith Wladyka
    Salis Kazanak - Peter Gallagher
    Brandon Meyer - Chris Carmack
    Cecil Bernardez - Diego Boneta
    T'Reya - Emily Ratajkowski
    Scolak - Sacha Baron Cohen
    Marcus Kane - Matt Bomer
    I'sH'd - Alexander Skarsgard
    A'sh'Rh - Claire Coffee
    Ael t'Kazanak - Cobie Smulders
    S'rR's - Amy Smart
    Bellic Chanos - Vin Diesel
    Meliden Bowen - Eve Myles
    Elyse Fisher - Emily Blunt
    Brandon Mayer - Jason Lewis
    Claire - Lacey Chabert

    Claire, Claire, Claire, you naughty AI...

    Yeah, very DEM ending. It also seems sort of clipped and short; but then again, so does mine. A limitation of the medium.

    Overall, a good if sometimes creepy read.
  • marcusdkanemarcusdkane Member Posts: 7,439 Arc User
    edited April 2014
    worffan101 wrote: »
    Claire, Claire, Claire, you naughty AI...

    Yeah, very DEM ending. It also seems sort of clipped and short; but then again, so does mine. A limitation of the medium.

    Overall, a good if sometimes creepy read.
    I wanted to try and avoid the solution taken in the original novel, and figured in this case, some subroutine within Claire would simply make her take the most direct course of action... Only problem with that being, once it was done, so was the story...

    Glad you enjoyed it though, and it was suitably disturbing :cool:
  • gulberatgulberat Member Posts: 5,505 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    I remember that book! Nice tribute to it! I have to say, though...you seem to have added more evidence to the need for a ship AI ban...

    Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-)
    Proudly F2P.  Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
  • marcusdkanemarcusdkane Member Posts: 7,439 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    gulberat wrote: »
    I remember that book! Nice tribute to it! I have to say, though...you seem to have added more evidence to the need for a ship AI ban...

    I think it was the first TNG novel I read, and I figured that perhaps those aliens sent more than one museum out onto the universe, and perhaps Data never got round to releasing his interpretation of their legacy for it to be public knowledge (bearing in mind that as Elyse is the ship's Section 31 presence, she has reason to know obscure stuff like that ;) )

    And yes, Claire somewhat overstepped the mark here in terms of independent action, although that is effectively what the Vanguard was designed to do, and she took the most logical course of action...

    I am somewhat disappointed by the abruptness of the end, but as mentioned, once she decided to take action, the story was essentially over... :(
  • worffan101worffan101 Member Posts: 9,518 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    Another minor quibble, marcus: The Meyer scene is...creepy, and not in a good way.

    I think that it might've worked better if you'd used vaguer language, and focused more on Meyer's visceral gut reaction. And maybe a bit of Meyer rebelling against the nightmare and beating up the TRIBBLE, but that's just me. :cool:
  • marcusdkanemarcusdkane Member Posts: 7,439 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    worffan101 wrote: »
    Another minor quibble, marcus: The Meyer scene is...creepy, and not in a good way.

    I think that it might've worked better if you'd used vaguer language, and focused more on Meyer's visceral gut reaction. And maybe a bit of Meyer rebelling against the nightmare and beating up the TRIBBLE, but that's just me. :cool:
    Tweaked it a bit, although to be honest, I did want it to be disturbing... To be fair, Mayer did fight back against the nightmare, and the event was not one which actually happened in his presence, but a subconscious reaction to what he knew Bernardez had done to Ael (and which he could do absolutely nothing about) Same as I doubt I'sH'd truly thinks his wife will murder him...
  • worffan101worffan101 Member Posts: 9,518 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    marcusdkane wrote: »
    Tweaked it a bit, although to be honest, I did want it to be disturbing... To be fair, Mayer did fight back against the nightmare, and the event was not one which actually happened in his presence, but a subconscious reaction to what he knew Bernardez had done to Ael (and which he could do absolutely nothing about) Same as I doubt I'sH'd truly thinks his wife will murder him...

    Looks better now, IMHO.

    And I understand. :cool:

    And, absolutely on the third point.
  • marcusdkanemarcusdkane Member Posts: 7,439 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    worffan101 wrote: »
    Looks better now, IMHO.

    And I understand. :cool:

    And, absolutely on the third point.
    Cool :cool: I nearly wrote the scene between Bernardez and Ael, but knew that really would have crossed a line I didn't want to cross, so did what I did instead, although I have to admit, the scene between Marcus and T'Reya was the most fun to write :o
  • worffan101worffan101 Member Posts: 9,518 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    marcusdkane wrote: »
    Cool :cool: I nearly wrote the scene between Bernardez and Ael, but knew that really would have crossed a line I didn't want to cross, so did what I did instead, although I have to admit, the scene between Marcus and T'Reya was the most fun to write :o

    The Marcus/T'Reya scene came off as a bit of blatant fanservice, but that's a good thing in this case. I likes my fanservice. :cool:

    On the bold text: Agreed. That would've been like me writing Adani's last hours in detail.

    Edit to add: I'm a big fan of Tamora Pierce's Protector of the Small series. The protagonist is EXACTLY the kind of woman I like, and I ship RaoulxBuri (two fairly important characters) heavily (and it's a canon ship, too, so don't look at me like that!). The reason I mention this is because the villain of the fourth book is an evil wizard called Blayse the Gallan. He's a scrawny, nail-biting, ratlike sadistic psychopath who gets his kicks by having his goons kidnap children, treating them like little princes/princesses...and then killing them one by one in a particularly horrifying manner in order to bind their minds and souls to power horrific insectlike war machines.

    I have never enjoyed a villain's death more than I enjoyed Blayse's decapitation at the hands of the protagonist. And I swore to myself that I'd NEVER write anything as bad as Blayse. Seriously, that guy was horrifying.

    Hell, even THREE would agree with me that Blayse is one sick f*ck. Units at least have the decency to kill people to their faces.
  • marcusdkanemarcusdkane Member Posts: 7,439 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    worffan101 wrote: »
    The Marcus/T'Reya scene came off as a bit of blatant fanservice, but that's a good thing in this case. I likes my fanservice. :cool:
    To be fair, I only allow Marcus to appear in dreamscapes or flashbacks ;) (and his connection to T'Reya had been previously established ;) )

    worffan101 wrote: »
    On the bold text: Agreed. That would've been like me writing Adani's last hours in detail.
    And equally, the detail is not always necessary... Sure, Mayer had a nightmare about walking in on a cadet getting r*ped, but the actual details... no way that was getting written... Same as when I wrote the flash of T'Reya's abuse for the Betazoid. Sure, it was pretty obvious what Scolak actually did to her, but I didn't have to actually go into anatomical detail about it... For me, that's where the line gets drawn between what would be say shown in an 18 certificate movie, and what would only be shown in TRIBBLE, and this forum isn't the forum for the latter, IMHO... All the time Enterprise was prepared to degrade Jolene Blalok by making her strip onscreen however, I figure the written word can equally delve into 'adult themes and emotions' (as the TV announcement warns of the Next Generation...)

    worffan101 wrote: »

    Edit to add: I'm a big fan of Tamora Pierce's Protector of the Small series. The protagonist is EXACTLY the kind of woman I like, and I ship RaoulxBuri (two fairly important characters) heavily (and it's a canon ship, too, so don't look at me like that!). The reason I mention this is because the villain of the fourth book is an evil wizard called Blayse the Gallan. He's a scrawny, nail-biting, ratlike sadistic psychopath who gets his kicks by having his goons kidnap children, treating them like little princes/princesses...and then killing them one by one in a particularly horrifying manner in order to bind their minds and souls to power horrific insectlike war machines.

    I have never enjoyed a villain's death more than I enjoyed Blayse's decapitation at the hands of the protagonist. And I swore to myself that I'd NEVER write anything as bad as Blayse. Seriously, that guy was horrifying.

    Hell, even THREE would agree with me that Blayse is one sick f*ck. Units at least have the decency to kill people to their faces.
    That just sounds like something I wouldn't even want to read on multiple levels...
Sign In or Register to comment.