First Official Facepunch Writing Competition! Fabulous Prizes! - General

[QUOTE=Epic Lul;23678857]I was going to try but I dont think I am that good a writer. Im no stephen king or anything. I have a first little bit so im just going to post it. Tell me if I should continue or not. Be warned I am writing it at 5 AM in the morning so some small spelling errors might be in there. [B]Rate agree if I should continue Disagree if I shouldnt.[/B] A crack. All that was heard before the world as we know it ended. But that was years in the past by now. See, our story does not focus on the apocalypse itself, but the life of a regular teenager growing up in this new, sad world. Not much has changed despite the apocalypse. There was still bullies, there was still that cute girl you liked, you still had best friends, you still had to deal with all of these social pressures. Benjamin was a very nervous paranoid young man. You see, because of the apocalypse he has become afraid of the world around him, and even of other people. This is just a regular day as normal. He awoke off of his cold steel cot. He slowly pulled himself up out of bed. His head was throbbing with pain, he had a hangover from last night. “Fuck I shouldnt have drank that much” he murmed to himself. Again, the apocalypse still had its share of social problems, peer pressure still existed, and so did stupid ass parties. He slowly turned his head to look at the time. “ Shit!” He shouted. It was 8:48 in the morning and he needed to get to work, guarding the Village from bandits. You see in the apocalypse, Shool did not exist. Men guarded the Village and Women made clothes, and raised the children.[/QUOTE] dont put too much weight on my opinion but... apocolypse and nothing changed doesnt exactly sound right. the world youre creating sounds... interesting, i guess, but youre not being descriptive and it seems overly casual. but thats just my view. im not gonna rate though because i really dunno.

The best advice I can give to everyone is to get a book out of the library and read the fuck out of it, then rewrite your story, then read another book closely, then rewrite your story again, etc. Posting an old story I have in the OP.

Reading alot of books doesnt make you a good writer but it can help you get a more defined writing style I suppose. I read a lot of damn books and as you can see from above I am not the best writer.

Please define 'drama'. Seriously. Does it really have to play on strong emotions and nothing else? Are we just going to be writing spin-offs of [I]Neighbours[/I] with zombies and mutants? Also, can we do fanfictions? In any case, I'll give it a go.

[QUOTE=Epic Lul;23678962]Reading alot of books doesnt make you a good writer. I read a lot of damn books and as you can see from above I am not the best writer.[/QUOTE] Just reading them does nothing. You need to read them closely, thinking about how they achieve what they do and what they tend to avoid. It's just like looking at, say, a program written by someone else and learning all the nuances and techniques that make them a good programmer. You can just run the program, but if you start thinking about the inner workings you'll notice stuff you never suspected was there.

Hey Nigey Nige with my current story do I have any chance at all? Be honest.

[QUOTE=/Syntax;23678965]Please define 'drama'. Seriously. Does it really have to play on strong emotions and nothing else? Are we just going to be writing spin-offs of [I]Neighbours[/I] with zombies and mutants?[/quote] Drama basically means "srs business". Anything that isn't silly slapstick comedy or really science-fiction or fantasy-heavy. The main element of drama is character interactions and emotions. [quote]Also, can we do fanfictions?[/QUOTE] I would advise not, since fan fiction is restrictive in the kind of characters you can create. Ultimately, it's your choice, but it's probably a good way to get the Tara Gilesbie. If you've read [I]My Immortal[/I] then you'll know what I mean. [editline]10:13AM[/editline] [QUOTE=Epic Lul;23679012]Hey Nigey Nige with my current story do I have any chance at all? Be honest.[/QUOTE] It's hard to tell with such a small sample, but it's not really grabbing me. There's no real setting beyond just "the apocalypse" and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere so far. Follow my two step program and submit it when it's finished: [code] Step 1) Read a book; Step 2) Rewrite; Goto 1; [/code]

[QUOTE]Drama basically means "srs business". Anything that isn't silly slapstick comedy or really science-fiction or fantasy-heavy. The main element of drama is character interactions and emotions.[/QUOTE] But it doesn't have to be totally realistic, I presume? As in, setting it a few years in the future won't be rejected on the grounds of 'science fiction'?

Meh I guess I am not going to continue my little story. I could spend the time to establish a setting and such but considering how many people are entering already I dont think I will have much of a chance.

[QUOTE=Epic Lul;23679169]Meh I guess I am not going to continue my little story. I could spend the time to establish a setting and such but considering how many people are entering already I dont think I will have much of a chance.[/QUOTE] Have a go, what's the worst that could happen? At least you'll gain +1 writing skills.

I think I'll probably sit this one out. At least 'post-apocolyptic drama' had some point to it, but just 'drama'... not really my style. Call me when you do a fantasy.

[QUOTE=Simples;23679192]Have a go, what's the worst that could happen? At least you'll gain +1 writing skills.[/QUOTE] Well I have decent writing skills if I put the time into it but I dont want to waste my time. I have other things I can do with my time so yeah.

my reaction to reading this idea :iia: ill get to writing. Oh question. in relation to drama, does the setting have any restrictions? i.e sci-fi/fantasy/post-apoc ?

[QUOTE=/Syntax;23679104]But it doesn't have to be totally realistic, I presume? As in, setting it a few years in the future won't be rejected on the grounds of 'science fiction'?[/QUOTE] Nothing will be outright rejected, each story will be judged on its own merits. So no, it doesn't. [QUOTE=/Syntax;23679269]I think I'll probably sit this one out. At least 'post-apocolyptic drama' had some point to it, but just 'drama'... not really my style. Call me when you do a fantasy.[/QUOTE] Apoc[B]a[/B]lyptic. :eng101:

Well I'm writing a short story for my English class that relates to the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, so I guess that's dramaish. so far I've started by introducing the time and location and a character who I'm still trying to come up with a name for. He's going to be a Japanese fisherman who isn't in the blast zone but lives in a small fishing village nearby to Hiroshima. Any ideas for names? No sexual innuendo please!

[QUOTE=Whomobile;23679440]Well I'm writing a short story for my English class that relates to the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, so I guess that's dramaish. so far I've started by introducing the time and location and a character who I'm still trying to come up with a name for. He's going to be a Japanese fisherman who isn't in the blast zone but lives in a small fishing village nearby to Hiroshima. Any ideas for names? No sexual innuendo please![/QUOTE] Fishing For Nukes? The Bombing of Hiroshima?

[QUOTE=Simples;23679451]Fishing For Nukes? The Bombing of Hiroshima?[/QUOTE] No, I meant names for the main character, but thanks anyway. I probably should have made myself more clear.

I added a bit more to my story above if anyone wants to give some updated opinions. This will prolly be the last I add for a while and will really be the deciding factor if I continue.

I submitted mine, its Fiction, because that didn't happen to me. And English is not my first language. Its not even supposed to be my second language neither. =\

Submitted, not up to my usual expectations though. Eh, I have a pounding headache so I blame that.

[QUOTE=Whomobile;23679440]Well I'm writing a short story for my English class that relates to the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, so I guess that's dramaish. so far I've started by introducing the time and location and a character who I'm still trying to come up with a name for. He's going to be a Japanese fisherman who isn't in the blast zone but lives in a small fishing village nearby to Hiroshima. Any ideas for names? No sexual innuendo please![/QUOTE] John Smith. Native Japanese man named John Smith.

I had an idea, and I am excited about it. Whether or not I'll submit the story when it's finished I can't say, as I won't know whether or not it qualifies as a "drama" until it starts taking shape on paper.

[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;23683104]I had an idea, and I am excited about it. Whether or not I'll submit the story when it's finished I can't say, as I won't know whether or not it qualifies as a "drama" until it starts taking shape on paper.[/QUOTE] I think drama can be pretty much anything with a serious theme.

My reaction to Mike's Lucky Day is as follows: :jerkbag:

Ah I'm very interested, I'd love to join but I probably won't be able to write anything; english is not my native language so my spelling and grammar would most likely be quite screwed up.

The example story is terrible, just to let you know.

[QUOTE=Turnips5;23683267]I think drama can be pretty much anything with a serious theme.[/QUOTE] Indeed it is.

I nominate ACCE69's work of art. See: [url=http://www.facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=976954]his thread[/url].

Done and sent. Was actually quite fun :).

I don't know if I'll enter this but I know a great piece of software if you like writing with few distractions. It's called [url=http://writemonkey.com/]WriteMonkey[/url]. It's a Windows clone of a Mac application called WriteRoom. There are other alternatives available, but from my experience, this is the best.