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Literary Challenge #63 Discussion Thread

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  • worffan101worffan101 Member Posts: 9,518 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    starswordc wrote: »
    Well, it's spelled "Brokosh", two 'o's, no 'a', but other than that, pretty funny. Might have to return the favor.
    Ah, yeah, that was a typo, my bad. I'll fix it when I'm done with the next chapter of "Invasion".
    starswordc wrote: »
    I find it a very handy worldbuilding tool, although Sturgeon's Law definitely applies. Some of the other stuff on it is plain damn weird.

    I like weird, myself. But I guess you mean the "squicky/stupid/just plain dull" weird, not the "interesting/thought-provoking/fun/creepypasta" kind of weird. ;)
  • hawku001xhawku001x Member Posts: 10,758 Arc User
    edited May 2014
  • cmdrscarletcmdrscarlet Member Posts: 5,137 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    @ryan218 - I did not have any concerns with your finished entry. Although long for my tastes, it was a complete story well told :)

    SO ... I'm interested in using another site to house my stuff. Memory Gamma or Star Trek Expanded ... poll?
  • starswordcstarswordc Member Posts: 10,963 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    worffan101 wrote: »
    I like weird, myself. But I guess you mean the "squicky/stupid/just plain dull" weird, not the "interesting/thought-provoking/fun/creepypasta" kind of weird. ;)

    Actually, all of the above, depending on the article. There's this one group that took the Warship Voyager holosimulations in VOY: "Living Witness" and ran with it as an alternate timeline version.

    But, some of it's as stupid as "Threshold".
    SO ... I'm interested in using another site to house my stuff. Memory Gamma or Star Trek Expanded ... poll?
    ST Expanded requires citations, and I don't think they host the fics themselves (could be wrong). Mem Gamma, not so much, and they do host fics.

    There's also always deviantART and FanFiction.net. I've got Bait and Switch and Red Fire, Red Planet on all three sites in addition to here.
    "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/
  • jonnaroslynjonnaroslyn Member Posts: 50 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    @jonnaroslyn - I really liked the aftermath perspective. Although the ending leaves me wanting MOAR. So bring it :P

    whoops, didn't see this for the longest time, glad you enjoyed it! I was thinking of writing another entry of what actually happened, but just don't have the time for it now :( Pretty sure it will get a mention or two in another LC though.
  • cmdrscarletcmdrscarlet Member Posts: 5,137 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    Well, I already use blogspot. I think I would prefer a "wiki" type platform though.

    @danqueller - Those are some terrible nightmare for your crew - my favorite was of the Borg ship. Maybe it's my personal repulsion for the Borg that makes that scene particularly "bad".

    @starswordc - I like your firebrand of a Captain. No nonsense and to-the-point. I think, Kathryn would make the same choice of a solution given the circumstances. How can Q be such a negative-nancy yet be so upbeat about it?!
  • ryan218ryan218 Member Posts: 36,106 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    How can Q be such a negative-nancy yet be so upbeat about it?!

    He's Q...

    :D

    /10 chars
  • starswordcstarswordc Member Posts: 10,963 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    Been reading the other entries (only one I'd read previously was worffan's), and I very much enjoyed shevet's.
    @starswordc - I like your firebrand of a Captain. No nonsense and to-the-point. I think, Kathryn would make the same choice of a solution given the circumstances. How can Q be such a negative-nancy yet be so upbeat about it?!
    Oh, for heaven's sake, for a while there I thought by "Kathryn" you meant Janeway. Didn't see your sig. :D

    Yeah, I've always looked at Eleya as a Sisko type: The kind of captain who can be counted on to make a practical decision with as little mumbo-jumbo as possible. Part of it is, she's a mustang from a working-class family, a lot less aristocratic than, say, Picard (high-class wine family with famous ancestors). And she definitely wouldn't put up with Q's TRIBBLE.

    Speaking of which, Q was something of a last-minute addition and I was really hoping I got the John de Lancie portrayal right.
    "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/
  • cmdrscarletcmdrscarlet Member Posts: 5,137 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    Unless specifically stated otherwise, every Q portrayal *is* John de Lancie in my mind. And I think your dialogue for Q fit perfectly. Frankly, I appreciated that section.
  • worffan101worffan101 Member Posts: 9,518 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    New LC tomorrow. This one's been great, lots of fun entries.

    Heading to bed soon, hope to see a stimulating prompt before 8 PM or so tomorrow (since I'm at swimming from 8:30 through 9:30).

    I SHALL keep my streak of being the first to post in LCs alive...
  • jonsillsjonsills Member Posts: 10,354 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    It's occurred to me - the real-world reason is due mostly to my taste for underdog characters, and the luck of the draw in my BOffs, but Grunt's crew tends to be pretty well packed with oddball people that maybe shouldn't have been in Starfleet at all, much less all in the same place. I mean, the captain is a Ferengi, a race widely thought of as weak and cowardly; the first officer and science officer is a discommendated Klingon; the engineer is a Pakled, of all things; the CMO is a Romulan refugee; the security chief and former tac officer is a revenge-driven psychotic; the new tac officer is another Ferengi; the chief helmsman is a neurotic with severe family issues; the comms officer has libido issues that make Kirk look tame - the only relatively normal one in the bunch is the ship's counselor, which is probably a really good thing.

    Now, in-universe this may be due to random chance - then again, perhaps someone in Command is deliberately grouping all the "losers" together. If the latter, would it be in hopes that they would fail? Either to embarrass Grunt specifically, or to "prove" that none of them belong in the Fleet? Or could it be an experiment - to see if radically-diverse crews might be even better than the more homogenous crews normally seen?

    I may have to explore this in fiction at some point - but just thought I'd throw it out there for now, in case I never get around to writing about it...
    Lorna-Wing-sig.png
  • starswordcstarswordc Member Posts: 10,963 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    jonsills wrote: »
    It's occurred to me - the real-world reason is due mostly to my taste for underdog characters, and the luck of the draw in my BOffs, but Grunt's crew tends to be pretty well packed with oddball people that maybe shouldn't have been in Starfleet at all, much less all in the same place. I mean, the captain is a Ferengi, a race widely thought of as weak and cowardly; the first officer and science officer is a discommendated Klingon; the engineer is a Pakled, of all things; the CMO is a Romulan refugee; the security chief and former tac officer is a revenge-driven psychotic; the new tac officer is another Ferengi; the chief helmsman is a neurotic with severe family issues; the comms officer has libido issues that make Kirk look tame - the only relatively normal one in the bunch is the ship's counselor, which is probably a really good thing.

    Now, in-universe this may be due to random chance - then again, perhaps someone in Command is deliberately grouping all the "losers" together. If the latter, would it be in hopes that they would fail? Either to embarrass Grunt specifically, or to "prove" that none of them belong in the Fleet? Or could it be an experiment - to see if radically-diverse crews might be even better than the more homogenous crews normally seen?

    I may have to explore this in fiction at some point - but just thought I'd throw it out there for now, in case I never get around to writing about it...

    You ever read Aaron Allston's run in the X-Wing novels (the Wraith Squadron books, in other words)? Kinda the same thing. Wedge Antilles intentionally forms a fighter squadron out of the rejects of Starfighter Command, folks sometimes within a hairsbreadth of being dishonorably discharged or otherwise thrown out of the service for various reasons, because he wants people that are going to come up with outlandish or insane, and therefore unexpected, ideas to solve problems that an ordinary unit might not come up with. (The Wraiths are supposed to be a special ops group, commandos who can also fly, rather than pilots with useful ground skills.) Maybe the same thing's going on there.
    "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/
  • aten66aten66 Member Posts: 654 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    Ok so don't hate me, I'm writing on an iPad here...

    Azniadeet: loved the 2009 reference and liked how you adapted cannon to it. I'm actually surprised we haven't met Daniels yet. But amazingly written.

    Dan: Gripping, amazing, and one of the two best next to ^ I really liked reading it.

    Starsword: Was interesting with the living anomaly. Liked it.

    ***
    So any thoughts on mine before we move on to the next LC?
    Sorry I haven't said much this time around, work and my drivers keeping me from playing STO , have bummed me out. Ah well such is life.
  • takeshi6takeshi6 Member Posts: 752 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    jonsills wrote: »
    It's occurred to me - the real-world reason is due mostly to my taste for underdog characters, and the luck of the draw in my BOffs, but Grunt's crew tends to be pretty well packed with oddball people that maybe shouldn't have been in Starfleet at all, much less all in the same place. I mean, the captain is a Ferengi, a race widely thought of as weak and cowardly; the first officer and science officer is a discommendated Klingon; the engineer is a Pakled, of all things; the CMO is a Romulan refugee; the security chief and former tac officer is a revenge-driven psychotic; the new tac officer is another Ferengi; the chief helmsman is a neurotic with severe family issues; the comms officer has libido issues that make Kirk look tame - the only relatively normal one in the bunch is the ship's counselor, which is probably a really good thing.

    Now, in-universe this may be due to random chance - then again, perhaps someone in Command is deliberately grouping all the "losers" together. If the latter, would it be in hopes that they would fail? Either to embarrass Grunt specifically, or to "prove" that none of them belong in the Fleet? Or could it be an experiment - to see if radically-diverse crews might be even better than the more homogenous crews normally seen?

    I may have to explore this in fiction at some point - but just thought I'd throw it out there for now, in case I never get around to writing about it...

    As starswordc mentions, the Wraith Squadron X-Wing Novels did the same thing.

    Still, I definitely think it might be fun for you to do that - you could type it up as a redux of the Freestyle LC, and stick it in the LC 60 Thread. :D :cool:
    76561198160276582.png
  • ironphoenix113ironphoenix113 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    Done with mine. Kinda had to rush it toward the end there, but it is what it is. Anyways, let me know what you all think!
    Vice Admiral Bryan Mitchel Valot
    Commanding officer: Odyssey class U.S.S. Athena
    Admiral of the 1st Assault Fleet
    Join date: Some time in Closed Beta
  • syrdethsyrdeth Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    Ok, here's my entry:

    Captain's Log

    I wanted to see if I could follow the rules as closely as possible. Could I tell a story with just log entries? I don't know if I succeeded, but the attempt was rather challenging. And fun. :)

    I probably could have broken up the paragraphs a bit more, edited it for length, but, I finished it just this morning. *shrug* :o
  • starswordcstarswordc Member Posts: 10,963 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    syrdeth wrote: »
    Ok, here's my entry:

    Captain's Log

    I wanted to see if I could follow the rules as closely as possible. Could I tell a story with just log entries? I don't know if I succeeded, but the attempt was rather challenging. And fun. :)

    It's an old technique called an epistolary novel. Pretty nifty way to tell a story when it works, and it definitely works here. The part where the captain snaps and starts talking about fruit cracked me up.
    "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/
  • cmdrscarletcmdrscarlet Member Posts: 5,137 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    @ironphoenix113 - Veyy nice! If anything this LC has done for me is highlight my "hatred" for the Borg. Coupled my my RL fact as a parent makes Valot's nightmare truly terrible.

    @syrdeth - I like this style. I considered using it this round, but am working against it to save it for another LC. Good entry :)
  • ryan218ryan218 Member Posts: 36,106 Arc User
    edited May 2014
  • zidanetribalzidanetribal Member Posts: 220 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    I usually don't end things on a cliffhanger, and if the LC isn't updated today, I hope to wrap up my entry.

    The Undine incursion into the Alpha Quadrant forces the crew of the Lord English to revisit a place they don't want to revisit.
  • worffan101worffan101 Member Posts: 9,518 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    Smirk, I hate to be a bother, but it's Wednesday, two weeks and a day since this LC was posted, and we do not have a new prompt.

    If you're having trouble, please do go ahead and pick another prompt from the community thread; it is there to cook up ideas, after all.
  • pwecaptainsmirkpwecaptainsmirk Member Posts: 1,167 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    It's actually something entirely different.

    Starting this Thursday, 5/15, the Literary challenges will be knocked down to once a month.

    Forums participation has gone through a reworking and the LC has been added to the list of things to axe completely.

    As I don't want to cut this out for those of you who really enjoy it, I have kept it alive, but it will now only begin on the 15th of every month. That is all that will remain within our new guidelines.

    There will be a new event placed on the calendar starting 6/1 that will allow for other forum folks to participate in. It will open up a chance for different talents to be showcased.

    Sorry for the bad news folks! These LCs have had a great run, but from now on I have been given new marching orders to focus more on in-game events and engagement that keeps players in the game vs in the forums.

    A New LC will be here on Friday, and keep your eyes peeled for the all new challenge starting 6/1.

    Thanks everyone!

    ~CaptainSmirk
  • grylakgrylak Member Posts: 1,594 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    Oh I pressed the button!
    *******************************************

    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'
  • azniadeetazniadeet Member Posts: 1,871 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    Well... that blows.

    I suppose there's no reason we couldn't run the LC ourselves.
  • worffan101worffan101 Member Posts: 9,518 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    It's actually something entirely different.

    Starting this Thursday, 5/15, the Literary challenges will be knocked down to once a month.

    Forums participation has gone through a reworking and the LC has been added to the list of things to axe completely.

    As I don't want to cut this out for those of you who really enjoy it, I have kept it alive, but it will now only begin on the 15th of every month. That is all that will remain within our new guidelines.

    There will be a new event placed on the calendar starting 6/1 that will allow for other forum folks to participate in. It will open up a chance for different talents to be showcased.

    Sorry for the bad news folks! These LCs have had a great run, but from now on I have been given new marching orders to focus more on in-game events and engagement that keeps players in the game vs in the forums.

    A New LC will be here on Friday, and keep your eyes peeled for the all new challenge starting 6/1.

    Thanks everyone!

    ~CaptainSmirk

    ...

    ARGH!!!!!

    WHOSE FAULT IS THIS??? :mad:

    Are we free to set up our own "Shadow LC" or "Black-market LC" series? Or something?

    Why do you guys want to cut down forum usage? I can say personally that my forum time is actually positively correlated with my game time; the more I'm on the forums, the more I'm playing the game.

    Most importantly, does this mean that the forums are going to be downsized?
  • leviathan99#2867 leviathan99 Member Posts: 7,747 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    It's actually something entirely different.

    Starting this Thursday, 5/15, the Literary challenges will be knocked down to once a month.

    Forums participation has gone through a reworking and the LC has been added to the list of things to axe completely.

    As I don't want to cut this out for those of you who really enjoy it, I have kept it alive, but it will now only begin on the 15th of every month. That is all that will remain within our new guidelines.

    There will be a new event placed on the calendar starting 6/1 that will allow for other forum folks to participate in. It will open up a chance for different talents to be showcased.

    Sorry for the bad news folks! These LCs have had a great run, but from now on I have been given new marching orders to focus more on in-game events and engagement that keeps players in the game vs in the forums.

    A New LC will be here on Friday, and keep your eyes peeled for the all new challenge starting 6/1.

    Thanks everyone!
    ~CaptainSmirk

    Can I make a suggestion?

    Costume contests? Maybe since we've had issues getting costumes added to the Foundry tailor but had fewer issues getting new prefab contact costumes, the winner of the costume contest gets immortalized as a Foundry contact and included in a database for the devs to use in game.
  • zidanetribalzidanetribal Member Posts: 220 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    It's actually something entirely different.

    Starting this Thursday, 5/15, the Literary challenges will be knocked down to once a month.

    Forums participation has gone through a reworking and the LC has been added to the list of things to axe completely.

    As I don't want to cut this out for those of you who really enjoy it, I have kept it alive, but it will now only begin on the 15th of every month. That is all that will remain within our new guidelines.

    There will be a new event placed on the calendar starting 6/1 that will allow for other forum folks to participate in. It will open up a chance for different talents to be showcased.

    Sorry for the bad news folks! These LCs have had a great run, but from now on I have been given new marching orders to focus more on in-game events and engagement that keeps players in the game vs in the forums.

    A New LC will be here on Friday, and keep your eyes peeled for the all new challenge starting 6/1.

    Thanks everyone!

    ~CaptainSmirk

    I think, without the two week deadline, I get caught up in procrastination. I mean, I still haven't finished my LC63. Must... push... myself... but... no new LC...
  • pwecaptainsmirkpwecaptainsmirk Member Posts: 1,167 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    I will fill you in on the new contest later this month. For now I don't want to get into the details ahead of schedule.

    Tune in on 5/16 to see the new set up for the LC, and we can discuss it more afterwards.

    Thanks everyone!

    ~CaptainSmirk
  • worffan101worffan101 Member Posts: 9,518 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    I will fill you in on the new contest later this month. For now I don't want to get into the details ahead of schedule.

    Tune in on 5/16 to see the new set up for the LC, and we can discuss it more afterwards.

    Thanks everyone!

    ~CaptainSmirk

    I do have some questions not pertaining to this new contest that I feel are rather pressing:
    1. Who decided to make the forum changes/downsize the forums/downsize the LCs?
    2. May we players get a player-driven "shadow LC" series going to replace the ordinary LCs? Many writers are unable to complete stories without a deadline to help fight procrastination.
    3. Why was the decision to downsize the LCs made? Many LC writers are active players as well as Forum users; and logically speaking, when you have an active community like the LC community, you support it instead of cutting off its food supplies.

    Thank you in advance for any answers you are able to provide.

    Best wishes,
    worffan101
  • sfc#5932 sfc Member Posts: 992 Bug Hunter
    edited May 2014
    worffan101 wrote: »
    I do have some questions not pertaining to this new contest that I feel are rather pressing:
    1. Who decided to make the forum changes/downsize the forums/downsize the LCs?
    2. May we players get a player-driven "shadow LC" series going to replace the ordinary LCs? Many writers are unable to complete stories without a deadline to help fight procrastination.
    3. Why was the decision to downsize the LCs made? Many LC writers are active players as well as Forum users; and logically speaking, when you have an active community like the LC community, you support it instead of cutting off its food supplies.

    Thank you in advance for any answers you are able to provide.

    Best wishes,
    worffan101
    They aren't cutting off the LC's, they're just shortening how many there are each month.
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