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Literary Challenge #64 - The New Frontier - Discussion Thread

pwecaptainsmirkpwecaptainsmirk Member Posts: 1,167 Arc User
edited June 2014 in Ten Forward
Literary Challenge #64 - The New Frontier

This is the comments thread for Literary Challenge #64.
We also have an Index of previous challenges HERE.

Feel free to link directly to the entry you are commenting on. Please be respectful of your fellow participants! Do not troll your fellow Captains, give them constructive feedback! Let the others know what you liked and disliked about their stories, and respect their rights to change their entries as they see fit.

Good luck Captains!
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments

  • worffan101worffan101 Member Posts: 9,518 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    Well, this is...different.

    I still prefer the old format, but I could get used to this!
  • ryan218ryan218 Member Posts: 36,106 Arc User
    edited May 2014

    This is the comments thread for Literary Challenge #64.
    We also have an Index of previous challenges HERE.

    Feel free to link directly to the entry you are commenting on. Please be respectful of your fellow participants! Do not troll your fellow Captains, give them constructive feedback! Let the others know what you liked and disliked about their stories, and respect their rights to change their entries as they see fit.

    Good luck Captains!

    Hmm, not really getting anything from these prompts, but I may have a go.

    If I do the first prompt, it'll likely be from Daya's PoV or from Soval's...
  • grylakgrylak Member Posts: 1,594 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    Ha! Ironically, I was thinking of doing similar to the first one anyway.
    *******************************************

    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'
  • worffan101worffan101 Member Posts: 9,518 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    Mine is up.

    Thoughts?
  • aten66aten66 Member Posts: 654 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    worffan101 wrote: »
    Mine is up.

    Thoughts?

    Did you just type that up, or did you just happen to have this already written up and stored somewhere. Lol, I thoroughly enjoyed it, seeing a male Three. I liked the Horta-Vocalizer, I've always wondered why the Horta Doffs had snippets of text, this would explain it so well.

    Poor Crewman Fred, the first time we hear him speak, he ends up sending Three to an alternate universe.
    **

    So Smirk, for prompt #3, are we rewriting it from our characters POV, or the Enterprise-D's perspective?
  • azniadeetazniadeet Member Posts: 1,871 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    I actually like the new format. We get 150% the LC topics, and a more open-ended timeframe in which to write them.

    I'm going to stop whining.
  • worffan101worffan101 Member Posts: 9,518 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    aten66 wrote: »
    Did you just type that up, or did you just happen to have this already written up and stored somewhere. Lol, I thoroughly enjoyed it, seeing a male Three. I liked the Horta-Vocalizer, I've always wondered why the Horta Doffs had snippets of text, this would explain it so well.

    Poor Crewman Fred, the first time we hear him speak, he ends up sending Three to an alternate universe.
    **

    So Smirk, for prompt #3, are we rewriting it from our characters POV, or the Enterprise-D's perspective?

    Just wrote it.

    Yeah, I actually got the concept from a DS9 novel I vaguely remember.

    Eh, Fred redeemed himself by fixing the mess. Still, it WAS kind of embarrassing...
  • jonsillsjonsills Member Posts: 10,354 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    Ensign Fred speaks and acts?

    Somebody call the Foundation - SCP-423 has broken containment. Again. <sigh>

    :D
    Lorna-Wing-sig.png
  • worffan101worffan101 Member Posts: 9,518 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    jonsills wrote: »
    Ensign Fred speaks and acts?

    Somebody call the Foundation - SCP-423 has broken containment. Again. <sigh>

    :D

    *cracks up*

    Hilarious! But unintended.
  • gulberatgulberat Member Posts: 5,505 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    I'm considering one of the prompts, but not yet sure whether to play it for laughs, play it straight, or some combination of the above...

    Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-)
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  • pwecaptainsmirkpwecaptainsmirk Member Posts: 1,167 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    aten66 wrote: »
    Did you just type that up, or did you just happen to have this already written up and stored somewhere. Lol, I thoroughly enjoyed it, seeing a male Three. I liked the Horta-Vocalizer, I've always wondered why the Horta Doffs had snippets of text, this would explain it so well.

    Poor Crewman Fred, the first time we hear him speak, he ends up sending Three to an alternate universe.
    **

    So Smirk, for prompt #3, are we rewriting it from our characters POV, or the Enterprise-D's perspective?

    For #3 from the perspective of the TNG crew. But you could write one of your characters into it if they fit into the storyline. I will let you all play with that.
  • aten66aten66 Member Posts: 654 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    For #3 from the perspective of the TNG crew. But you could write one of your characters into it if they fit into the storyline. I will let you all play with that.

    *rubs hands together evilly*

    MUAHH HAH HAH HAHAHHA HAAAA

    *Grins*

    Yes...yes... it will do perfectly....

    Yep starting on mine right now... he he he
  • pwecaptainsmirkpwecaptainsmirk Member Posts: 1,167 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    worffan101 wrote: »
    Mine is up.

    Thoughts?

    Yeah... your entry is not at all PG-13. The discussion of anatomy, adult publications and the description of your characters "needs"... plus honestly, saying someone is "gayer than George Takei" ... are you trying to get complaints? :)

    This is either going to have to be edited on your part, or deleted on mine.

    Sorry Worffan, but this is exactly the reason why the LCs are on the chopping block, and this being the first entry for the new format will draw a lot of bad attention to this remaining a sponsored event.

    I'll leave the editing up to you, but please don't push the TOS rules in future posts. I don't want to have to come in heavy handed in the future for those who enjoy the LCs, including you, but this entry....

    ~CaptainSmirk
  • takeshi6takeshi6 Member Posts: 752 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    Yeah... your entry is not at all PG-13. The discussion of anatomy, adult publications and the description of your characters "needs"... plus honestly, saying someone is "gayer than George Takei" ... are you trying to get complaints? :)

    This is either going to have to be edited on your part, or deleted on mine.

    Sorry Worffan, but this is exactly the reason why the LCs are on the chopping block, and this being the first entry for the new format will draw a lot of bad attention to this remaining a sponsored event.

    I'll leave the editing up to you, but please don't push the TOS rules in future posts. I don't want to have to come in heavy handed in the future for those who enjoy the LCs, including you, but this entry....

    ~CaptainSmirk

    Yeah - I had that problem all the way back in LC 5 - content just wouldn't fit the ToS, so I had to completely re-do it.

    Anyway, interesting new format.

    I'll need to keep an eye on this, see if I can come up with anything. :D
    76561198160276582.png
  • gulberatgulberat Member Posts: 5,505 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    I don't want to lose the LC's...I may not write every time but I think I have fairly good judgment.

    If I do do the entry I have in mind, though--based on this I am definitely going to play it straight. Even though I think the humor would've been just fine, I don't want to risk somehow ruining it for everyone else somehow. :(

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  • worffan101worffan101 Member Posts: 9,518 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    Yeah... your entry is not at all PG-13. The discussion of anatomy, adult publications and the description of your characters "needs"... plus honestly, saying someone is "gayer than George Takei" ... are you trying to get complaints? :)

    This is either going to have to be edited on your part, or deleted on mine.

    Sorry Worffan, but this is exactly the reason why the LCs are on the chopping block, and this being the first entry for the new format will draw a lot of bad attention to this remaining a sponsored event.

    I'll leave the editing up to you, but please don't push the TOS rules in future posts. I don't want to have to come in heavy handed in the future for those who enjoy the LCs, including you, but this entry....

    ~CaptainSmirk

    Huh. I could've sworn that I kept stuff fairly tame...

    Aaaaw, man, and it was such a fun story, too. :( Deleted because I was out getting some swimming in.

    Not rewriting that in any way, shape, or form. Guess I'll just pass on this entire LC and start up the player-driven ones on the 1st of June.

    And how is "gayer than George Takei" a breach of TOS? I genuinely do not understand.
  • gulberatgulberat Member Posts: 5,505 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    Worffan, this is just a piece of advice to you...I think you will do better not just yourself but for the entire writing community if you file a support ticket to discuss that one, if you really don't get it. :-/

    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.
  • worffan101worffan101 Member Posts: 9,518 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    gulberat wrote: »
    Worffan, this is just a piece of advice to you...I think you will do better not just yourself but for the entire writing community if you file a support ticket to discuss that one, if you really don't get it. :-/

    Still not getting it. But alright, I'll try to figure this out.

    I hope that someone saved a copy of that story before it got removed. Seriously, it was a fun story, and I'd hate for it to be lost forever because I was out for a couple of hours working my butt off in the pool.
  • sander233sander233 Member Posts: 3,992 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    I'm not really feeling anything off these prompts.

    "New Frontier" gives me ideas, but nothing that needs to be told more than anything else on my plate now.

    I don't think a gender-bent universe would be all that interesting, because I don't see anybody's personality changing all that much. I actually got a look at what Jesu LaRoca would be as a woman while working on another story. I liked what I saw, but she wouldn't be all that different from the irrepressibly informal admiral we know. The only real difference I can see, would be if Sway and Naja's genders were reversed, because then they wouldn't be romantically involved, or at least not with momma Ssharki's support (due to Gorn views of reptilian dominance.) But even that's not enough for me to write a story around.




    [*Spoiler Alert for anyone who hasn't seen "Night Terrors" yet*]




    "Night Terrors" is one of my favorite TNG episodes. I think I was five or six years old when it first came out - it was one of the first Trek episodes I saw and it gave me nightmares of my own. If I was writing it I wouldn't change much, except for maybe expanding Troi's dream sequences, possibly leading to a different solution to escape the Tyken's rift. Blowing it up seemed rather inelegant.

    I definitely look forward to seeing what aten66 comes up with for this new challenge!
    16d89073-5444-45ad-9053-45434ac9498f.png~original

    ...Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you / Oh, I can hear it callin 'me / I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?...
    - Anne Bredon
  • sander233sander233 Member Posts: 3,992 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    Yeah... your entry is not at all PG-13. The discussion of anatomy, adult publications and the description of your characters "needs"... plus honestly, saying someone is "gayer than George Takei" ... are you trying to get complaints? :)

    This is either going to have to be edited on your part, or deleted on mine.

    Sorry Worffan, but this is exactly the reason why the LCs are on the chopping block, and this being the first entry for the new format will draw a lot of bad attention to this remaining a sponsored event.

    I'll leave the editing up to you, but please don't push the TOS rules in future posts. I don't want to have to come in heavy handed in the future for those who enjoy the LCs, including you, but this entry....

    ~CaptainSmirk

    I didn't get a chance to read Worffan's entry, but if it involved Unit Three and her usual shenanigans in a gender bent universe, I think I can guess at where that went.

    I can't offer other comment on Worffan's work having not seen it, but Smirk, you could have picked a safer topic yourself. Combining that particular topic with Worffan's well-known enthusiastic penchant for pushing the envelope was just asking for trouble.

    There are plenty of player-suggested topics with a lot less potential for someone to take in the wrong direction.

    And Worffan, while the line "Gayer than George Takei" was doubtless hilarious in context, removed from that context it quickly becomes offensive. And well-intentioned people do tend to pick things like that out of their context and use them as cause for complaint.
    16d89073-5444-45ad-9053-45434ac9498f.png~original

    ...Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you / Oh, I can hear it callin 'me / I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?...
    - Anne Bredon
  • worffan101worffan101 Member Posts: 9,518 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    sander233 wrote: »
    I didn't get a chance to read Worffan's entry, but if it involved Unit Three and her usual shenanigans in a gender bent universe, I think I can guess at where that went.

    I can't offer other comment on Worffan's work having not seen it, but Smirk, you could have picked a safer topic yourself. Combining that particular topic with Worffan's well-known enthusiastic penchant for pushing the envelope was just asking for trouble.

    There are plenty of player-suggested topics with a lot less potential for someone to take in the wrong direction.

    Honestly, that was my thought process, too. People KNOW how I write Three, it was an already...interesting topic; I figured it was OK.

    Besides, Three didn't do anything X-rated. Just a bit of sunbathing, a little surfing of women's magazines (the kind that has pictures of nude men), and some complaining about the dearth of partners in the gender-bent 'verse. She was on a short leash the whole time, because while I am comfortable writing racy humor, creepy psychology, and Bourne-movie-level violence, I don't write TRIBBLE. Period. Both because I lack the personal experience to do so accurately, and because I just don't feel comfortable going into graphic detail with TRIBBLE.

    Anyway. Not going to rant, but I'm frankly surprised and disappointed.
  • shevetshevet Member Posts: 1,667 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    Hmm. I'm not greatly grabbed by any of the three challenge prompts, myself... and I didn't read @worffan's entry before it was removed... but I can't help feeling that the gender-reversal prompt would be pretty darn difficult to address without involving some mention of, as it were, the bits that got flipped. Any sort of realistic consideration of the issue is bound to touch on non-PG-13 themes.... Given this, was it wise to set this particular topic as an LC?

    (Now I'm trying to think of ways you could do it while keeping it harmless. Bah. If I come up with an even half-way sensible idea, maybe I should try.... )
    8b6YIel.png?1
  • gulberatgulberat Member Posts: 5,505 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    I think I will be able to do it...I'm going to write and see how it works out for me, but I am pretty sure that I can write for the genderbending topic and keep it harmless yet interesting. I already have a handwritten start on it in my journal.

    It is actually not my first time navigating this particular challenge: a few months ago I wrote a fic titled "That Which We Call a Rose" involving a genderbent JJKhan and I actually thought it went well. So I am fairly confident in my ability to pull this off.

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  • aten66aten66 Member Posts: 654 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    shevet wrote: »
    Hmm. I'm not greatly grabbed by any of the three challenge prompts, myself... and I didn't read @worffan's entry before it was removed... but I can't help feeling that the gender-reversal prompt would be pretty darn difficult to address without involving some mention of, as it were, the bits that got flipped. Any sort of realistic consideration of the issue is bound to touch on non-PG-13 themes.... Given this, was it wise to set this particular topic as an LC?

    (Now I'm trying to think of ways you could do it while keeping it harmless. Bah. If I come up with an even half-way sensible idea, maybe I should try.... )

    *Muah...muah..ha...ha..muahhaaaaaa*

    *Cough* *cough*

    Yah, it is a bit of a stretch, but it is doable. I'm pretty confident with what I'm oging for, but it will be a week or so, since I'm starting with prompt #1...

    *Muah..ha..ha..*

    :P
  • pwecaptainsmirkpwecaptainsmirk Member Posts: 1,167 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    Just to clarify, this Star Trek Comic book is the inspiration for why I chose to pick the player suggested LC topic of gender swapped characters. It has done well for this comic book series topic, and thought the idea would appeal to writers here in the forums.

    I seriously doubt the focus of this comic book is on a cataloging of "the bits that got flipped." In fact, that topic is most definitely not the focus of this story. While it is implied, that is all it was. IMPLIED.

    The assumption of Gender Roles and the way in which authority in today's world (and possibly the future) is categorically classified by our genders would be a much more interesting topic to write upon, and give you a chance to "grow" as a writer.

    Again, policing these forum LCs is not the focus of these challenges, so please re-read the TOS and the rules of this challenge in the OP. I have added the basic rule that anything overtly sexual is not allowed, and as far as the TOS goes, anything considered Obscene/Vulgar is grounds for a temporary or permanent ban.

    The complaints I immediately received regarding the first entry were grounds to remove it, and issue a ban to the author. I chose not to issue a ban as Worfan usually does include
    "romantic entanglements" for his characters, and I would like to not regret that decision.

    So if anyone, as writers, cannot approach topic #2 without getting graphic or pressing the TOS, than pick one of the other topics, or wait until next months challenge.

    ~CaptainSmirk
  • gulberatgulberat Member Posts: 5,505 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    I'm into it now...now I have to deliver. ;)



    BTW, what you said about gender roles and how society treats each gender (and how that may not have changed) very much fits one of the reasons I wrote "That Which We Call a Rose." I may have liked the JJVerse movies in the end, but it gave me a chance to really call out some of the obnoxious behavior shown by both male and female characters. I also then appeared at a con as Khatun Noonien Kaur. Very interesting and fun experience, that!

    The concept I've got in mind for this one is not going to be so "controversial," but I do mention "That Which We Call a Rose" because it does show that it CAN be done without being salacious.

    Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-)
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  • worffan101worffan101 Member Posts: 9,518 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    Just to clarify, this Star Trek Comic book is the inspiration for why I chose to pick the player suggested LC topic of gender swapped characters. It has done well for this comic book series topic, and thought the idea would appeal to writers here in the forums.

    I seriously doubt the focus of this comic book is on a cataloging of "the bits that got flipped." In fact, that topic is most definitely not the focus of this story. While it is implied, that is all it was. IMPLIED.

    Again, policing these forum LCs is not the focus of these challenges, so please re-read the TOS and the rules of this challenge in the OP. I have added the basic rule that anything overtly sexual is not allowed, and as far as the TOS goes, anything considered Obscene/Vulgar is grounds for a temporary or permanent ban.

    The complaints I immediately received regarding the first entry were grounds to remove it, and issue a ban to the author. I chose not to issue a ban as Worfan usually does include
    "romantic entanglements" for his characters, and I would like to not regret that decision.

    So if anyone, as writers, cannot approach topic #2 without getting graphic or pressing the TOS, than pick one of the other topics, or wait until next months challenge.

    ~CaptainSmirk

    --First of all, I apologize to anyone who was disturbed by my story. The intent was to parody...well, everything in the story, to be honest. The very idea of a gender-swapped universe, one character's extremely specific preferences, pick-up artists (such as D'vek), and "Playboy". In fact, I worked very hard while writing the story to keep Three from going...overboard. Which isn't easy, when writing an openly pansexual psychopath who spends all of her self-control on not killing people (and so has next to nothing left for other things, like table manners and appropriate behavior).

    I did not intend to offend anyone; if I had known that people were that sensitive, I probably never would have posted at all. If I had not been busy training for a triathlon when Smirk posted to warn me, I would have just deleted the story, since removing any and all borderline material would have ruined the humor.

    --Smirk, when you say "This is not a slash forum", that raises the unfortunate implication to the unwary reader that all homosexual relationships or discussions of such are banned from LCs. Perhaps clarifying that point to note that explicit descriptions of sexual activity are banned and that no one type of relationship is permissible or not?


    Looks like I'm sitting this entire LC out, for the first time since I started writing in them. The first prompt just isn't giving me any ideas, and I have no interest whatsoever in rewriting TNG, as I can only make a pale shadow of the original. At best.

    Hope this clears things up.

    Edit to add:
    The assumption of Gender Roles and the way in which authority in today's world (and possibly the future) is categorically classified by our genders would be a much more interesting topic to write upon, and give you a chance to "grow" as a writer.
    Well, there's even less point in me trying again now; I have always assumed and made pretty clear in my stories that except for certain alien cultures there are no such things as gender roles in Star Trek. Since I know from personal experience that I can write gender-unequal and gender-equal worlds equally well (and prefer the latter), I have no desire or reason to do this challenge if the above is the purpose.

    I really don't know what I should be feeling right now. :/

    Edit 2.0: Smirk, can you PM me or something so that I know who was upset and why? My intent was never to titillate or disgust people; the whole story was basically an extended joke.
  • gulberatgulberat Member Posts: 5,505 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    Worffan, I don't think the mods have the PM feature enabled. That was the reason I mentioned a support ticket earlier.

    I also do not think he is going to violate the confidentiality of whoever filed the report. That would defeat the purpose (and the safety) of the system.

    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.
  • worffan101worffan101 Member Posts: 9,518 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    gulberat wrote: »
    Worffan, I don't think the mods have the PM feature enabled. That was the reason I mentioned a support ticket earlier.
    Yeah, I filed a ticket last night. Got a response from the Support team (who I must note have always been on the ball) this morning; they said they were going to take it to the CMs.
    gulberat wrote: »
    I also do not think he is going to violate the confidentiality of whoever filed the report. That would defeat the purpose (and the safety) of the system.
    Point. I would at least like to know what these people had issues with.

    And if it was a certain oral hygiene fan and his buddies who complained, well...organized trolls can take advantage of any system. And that fact is no reason to change the system; look how well that worked IRL. :rolleyes:

    Better to have a few known trolls and to let them have their sad little fun, and hope that whoever's in charge gets bored with their antics and sweeps them out, than badger for a change in the system that'll TRIBBLE everyone over.

    Right. Now I need to find something other than grinding old FEs to do for a month...
  • jonsillsjonsills Member Posts: 10,354 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    worffan101 wrote: »
    Right. Now I need to find something other than grinding old FEs to do for a month...
    Try it again, with a less - ah - sexually-obsessive character? Yes, Three's idea of "flirting" runs pretty well roughshod over what most of us consider "sexual harassment", but I'm sure that, for instance, D'trel could have an interesting story that doesn't involve anyone's plumbing...

    Or work with prompt #1. That's going to cause some trouble for Capt. Iain Burwell (who you may remember as the time-displaced ensign from "It's Been a Long Road").
    Lorna-Wing-sig.png
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