Battle of Genre

Short Story Tournament - Discussion Thread | Mechanics and whatnot

== ROUND TWO || ACTION/ADVENTURE || ==

Welcome one and all to the first short story tournament in Stickpage! Here you will do written combat against your fellow writers with only a pen (or more accurately, the keyboard) and your creativity to fight with. This will act like a hub for all questions and links to the rest of the rounds.

Tournament Mechanics
Much like Hewitt's tournament that came before, I will use a Points System to track your progress. You will accumulate these points over the course of the tournament, rounds are won by points earned in that round and total points grant you the title of Master of Genres (ergo CHAMPION).

This will be a half Round Robin tournament (since a full one would be 15 rounds.) So each participant will have a 50/50 chance of going against every other one. Brackets will be revealed during each of the rounds, so stay tuned. I will be using a Round Robin Tournament generator for this.

So far, we have the Golden Sixteen. The would-be Masters of Genre:



Here is the list of rounds:



Rounds last for at least 3 weeks. 2 weeks for the actual writing process and then a week for the polls.

Next up are the points.

Votals
Very simple. After the end of each round, I will tally the number of votes for each participant. Each vote is 5 points.

The Challenges
Each round, a player may challenge himself by posting on the Round's thread [It will be linked here if you happen to get lost]. Once issued, I will PM the challenge to the participant and will remain hidden the entire round. Only myself and the participant will know of it. This is to prevent CnCs that revolve on: "You didn't do the challenge, etc." or votes that do the same.

Challenges are worth 10 points. If you happen to fail, you lose the same amount.

Comment and Critique
We are here not only for friendly competition but for the learning experience. Who better to help than our fellow writers? As opposed to Hewitt's version I will separate its scores. For each CnC and for a maximum of 3, I will award 1 point to that participant. Saying its good in this part, or you liked that but disliked this is Comment on its own and awardable but those with substance, those that deliver points that that writer can reflect on will be awarded an additional point for that CnC. At the end of the tournament, I will tally everyone's CnC Score and the participant with the highest score will claim an additional Steam Key courtesy of Xate and Hewitt.

The Dos for each Round
1. When the round is up, POST. Acknowledge your participation by saying who you'd be fighting against and post if you'd like a challenge to go with it.
2. When you've finished your entry, post it in the ROUND thread in spoilers. Not here. To remove all errors in spacing, I'd like you all to simply post it here, prim and proper already. No GDocs or any other of its ilk.
3. Once both participants have submitted their stories, I will create the thread. A week of voting will come by with it. Be sure to vote and CnC!

Story Requirements
1. Be sure it ain't flash fiction. Words must not be below one thousand but cannot exceed twelve thousand.
2. Adhere to the round's theme and if you administered a challenge, do it.

What happens at the end?
I will compile all your works, categorize them into their respective genres and compile them into one thread for the Original Literature. This will be its major boom in a long time.

The Tiny Library of Stickpage will hopefully house 16 stories from all 8 genres in the tournament for a grand total of 128 stories for anyone to read.

Frequently Asked Questions
I'm assuming we're using our current wRHGs for this?
-All up to you but as said in the post, I discourage the use.

Can we turn the stories into an interconnected/episodic type for each round?
-I've thought of that, and it could be awesome for you guys to merge all genres in the tourney into episodic pieces but its up to you. Try not to use the same character as the main.

I was just wondering if we're posting our characters here once the OP is completely fleshed out, or does it not matter when we post it so long as it's up before the tourney actually begins?
-No.

You will have to introduce the characters to us via storytelling. No sheets. Some may opt to use different characters per round anyway, so making sheets will just clutter up the thread.

You say a maximum of 3 CnC's that you'll give points for. Is that 3 for each round or three in total?
-For each round. If each of those are substantial, they'd become 30 points instead of 15. So yeah. Help each other.

Quote from Azure

Is... is that an innuendo?

Quote from Cruel

Put...put your dick in it.

Update:
Shuffling has been activated!
Haru and Vern have dropped the tournament! devi and Chromium have been pitted against each other in R1!
Hewitt has dropped out! He is replaced by TheOrganization.

I'll give it a shot. I'm assuming we're using our current wRHGs for this?

Quote from Kamiroo Wolf

I'll give it a shot. I'm assuming we're using our current wRHGs for this?

Quote from ErrorBlender

It will discourage the use of wRHGs. Branch out. Use new characters, expand your written arsenal.

For a writer, do you read? It was even in bold. Come on.

Quote from Kamiroo Wolf

I'll give it a shot. I'm assuming we're using our current wRHGs for this?

...
It will discourage the use of wRHGs. Branch out. Use new characters, expand your written arsenal
You saw that, right.
Anyway, I am in.

Quote from Kamiroo Wolf

I'll give it a shot. I'm assuming we're using our current wRHGs for this?

All up to you but as said in the post, I discourage the use.

Quote from RichardLongflop

For a writer, do you read? It was even in bold. Come on.

Wow, I must have skipped right over it three times '-'

My mistake :P

Don't know man, I'm afraid I might be genrelizing.


Count me in yo

Depending on the length of time we'll have, I'll be joining too.

Alright, we have five. A few more and we can have a proper tournament then I can flesh this out further.

I'm not sure if I'll have the time to participate, but if I have I will. (Lots of class tests ahead) Count that as a maybe.

Quote from ErrorBlender

It will discourage the use of wRHGs. Branch out. Use new characters, expand your written arsenal.

Sounds great! But uh... that said, are you implying that we may enter with a wRHG/original character under the presumption that we will constantly be asked to shift away from this character throughout the tournament, or are you saying that those with existing characters and universes must abandon them completely?

For the example here, let's say I were to choose an old wRHG of mine known as Mainframe, who is a sentient computer virus. If the list of genres turn out to be, in this order, Action, Horror, Romance, and Mystery- the following overarcing storyline could be composed; for Action, Mainframe wipes out an entire city's power grid as a part of some sort of conflict, a robbery and murder as the town goes to crap for Horror, the meeting of two strangers for Romance, and the simultaneous discovery of the incident's cause (or the discovery of something far more sinister; the basis for yet another story) for Mystery. Each story could very well exist as a standalone piece- but the stories, existing together, could form a much larger one.

Mainframe himself, then- would only be prominently featured in one story- the first, while every other story, spanning multiple genres, would be through the eyes of the other characters. But Mainframe's inclusion- or the inclusion of any character/plot device that could be continually referenced throughout each story- would yield the whole set of stories a sort of connective tissue.

I understand that for some, this element may not be something they wish to pursue- and I can certainly see how certain genres would have a tough time melding- such as going from Western to Sci-Fi, and I'm not saying that you should always feel the need to try and connect everything, but just leaving the door open to the possibility of short stories being in some way connected can go a long way.

And I also feel that using old characters as a jumping-off point to take existing stories to new heights can go a ways just as lengthy.



However, for any of this to work- we'd need one thing; a list of genres.
It would certainly help if the list was in order- though it wouldn't necessarily have to be.
But if it isn't in order... that'd be good to know beforehand.

Get me a list of genres, an idea of the order in which they'd appear, and you can count me in.

I have this character

He's called Max Langford

I would use him instead of Handyman.

Thaaaat's... that's about it. I'd post a small profile of him so people could understand his basics. Then I'd use him. Use a char that you could, well, use. For varying situations. Not something you have to think hard about.

Quote from Chromium7

Sounds great! But uh... that said, are you implying that we may enter with a wRHG/original character under the presumption that we will constantly be asked to shift away from this character throughout the tournament, or are you saying that those with existing characters and universes must abandon them completely?

Well, I am only stating the discouragement since so far, most tournaments have required its use. You may enter with a wRHG. Throughout the tournament, I will have a set number of genres and depending on how much people wish to join, I can increase the rounds which increase the genres in play. I will be able to get you the list when everything is set. That said, I forgot to place a deadline here: November 1.

Quote from Chromium7

For the example here, let's say I were to choose an old wRHG of mine known as Mainframe, who is a sentient computer virus. If the list of genres turn out to be, in this order, Action, Horror, Romance, and Mystery- the following overarcing storyline could be composed; for Action, Mainframe wipes out an entire city's power grid as a part of some sort of conflict, a robbery and murder as the town goes to crap for Horror, the meeting of two strangers for Romance, and the simultaneous discovery of the incident's cause (or the discovery of something far more sinister; the basis for yet another story) for Mystery. Each story could very well exist as a standalone piece- but the stories, existing together, could form a much larger one.

Mainframe himself, then- would only be prominently featured in one story- the first, while every other story, spanning multiple genres, would be through the eyes of the other characters. But Mainframe's inclusion- or the inclusion of any character/plot device that could be continually referenced throughout each story- would yield the whole set of stories a sort of connective tissue.

I understand that for some, this element may not be something they wish to pursue- and I can certainly see how certain genres would have a tough time melding- such as going from Western to Sci-Fi, and I'm not saying that you should always feel the need to try and connect everything, but just leaving the door open to the possibility of short stories being in some way connected can go a long way.

I've thought of that, and it could be awesome for you guys to merge all genres in the tourney into episodic pieces but its up to you. Standalone or Episodic (or in Chromium's case, Vantage-Point-esque), it doesn't matter but of course this still all falls to the community vote and Episodic pieces are a good way to keep them following and waiting for your piece.

Quote from Chromium7

And I also feel that using old characters as a jumping-off point to take existing stories to new heights can go a ways just as lengthy.

However, for any of this to work- we'd need one thing; a list of genres.
It would certainly help if the list was in order- though it wouldn't necessarily have to be.
But if it isn't in order... that'd be good to know beforehand.

Get me a list of genres, an idea of the order in which they'd appear, and you can count me in.

So far, I plan to use these: No order as of yet. I'm not sure as of now since some of these branch out in their own tiny genres like Sci-fi could easily be turned into Steampunk or Space Travel. I might use the subgenres as additional prompts if necessary or their own rounds.

Action (Spy, Wuxia, Western, Supers, etc.)
Adventure (Fantasy/Sci-Fi)
Fantasy
Sc-Fi
Comedy
Horror/Thriller (Occult, Paranormal, etc.)
Mystery (Crime, and some above)
Romance

EDIT:
For the sake of those who wish to go the Episodic route, here is the most likely list I will have. Assuming we'd have 8 rounds:

R1: Sci-Fi
R2: Mystery
R3: Action
R4: Comedy
R5: Romance
R6: Horror
R7: Tragedy
R8: Fantasy

Likely to change if the number of participants is lower than expected. Additional prompts will be made as challenges like Sci-fi must be Steampunk, or Mystery be Murder.

you know what ill join. Writing short stories is what I excel at and I have been reading a lot of the late Roger Zelazny's short stories so I have all kinds of inspiration. though I do seem to have a full schedule ahead. but count me in.

I need all of you to reconfirm here so that I may start. Some of you said you were maybes and since we're eight [a good number for tourneys], we can begin. I will flesh the tournament out once all has confirmed again.

This does not mean we are locked with 8. Anyone else can join even when I flesh it out.