Workshop spring 2016 - Cancelled

Fats, I honestly don't see a lot of "negativity" in the comments on the workshop announcement. I mostly see responses from people who want to participate but who would like a little more latitude in the direction they choose to take their story.

I know that you and dkc and Woodclaw (and maybe others) put in a lot of time hammering out the workshop theme, and I hope our comments don't seem ungrateful.

Peace --

Coming up with a theme, is as simple as coming up with a thought, then simply posting that thought. So, I'd rather see a consensus on a theme, rather than a disagreement or lack of participation. So, I think if theres a theme that many of us would agree on.....we go ahead...and if not we wait a bit. Till winter.

And....just curious? Should I even be allowed to participate? You know, maybe give Dru or Shadar a chance to win one =P

Oh relax, I'm just being a little bastard =D

I agree Dru,

Some of the best stories ive read are during workshops. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that some people will read, vote and publicly critique your story....so, obviously more effort is required.

And Work Shops help get the creative juices flowing, and unfortunately I need a dead line or I procrastinate. I suspect many of us are the same way

So, my advice for a worksop....is opening up a new thread. And coming to a consensus of a good WS theme. I joked earlier, but having Dru and Shadar in a WS, among others...is something I look forward to most

The trick for me is having a theme that tickles my inner muse.

I once wrote a story (thankfully unpublished) where a superheroine gained her powers by leeching (sucking) power from men by having sex. No sex, no powers. Lots of sex, lots of power. She started drawing more and more from the men when she was fighting these aliens, and many of her lovers died in her arms.

But she was doing good work, literally saving the world, Trading a hundred men's lives for the safety of billions. A story about relative morality, and the horror of deliberately taking lives so as to save others. How she chose her victims. How she rationalized it all. How she lived with herself. Or not.

But there was no other way for her. She couldn't stop or the world would be conquered by a horrible alien foe intent on using humans for mere food. It was all a test of her resolve and character setup by another group of aliens.

Once I'd half written it, I got kind of disgusted by the theme and my attempts to make her a sympathetic and likable character (think Kara on Supergirl TV but with this leeching affliction), and the challenges of portraying such relative morality in the way I wanted to, and abandoned the story. It felt more exploitive than exploratory after a bit.

The proposed theme of this workshop reminded me of that story, which is why I wasn't interested.

Obviously there are many other stories about power transfer that could be written. Perhaps if the theme was opened wider, with the only caveat being that it has to involve some kind of power transfer, to (or from) the main character of the story, by any method or source.


Examples:
A woman of lightning who powers a hospital when an electrical blackout occurs during a critical operation.

A woman who finds she powers up whenever she's within a certain range of Superman, and loses it when she gets too far away. Which turns her into a weird kind of groupie.

A couple who have power whenever they are together. Or the reverse, perhaps their powers diminish when they get too close, dooming their great love for each other (theme from the Hancock movie).

Anything that involves the sharing, transfer, activation or inhibition of power between characters, which could be human, alien or even android.

My muse likes elbow room.

Shadar

I'm a bit surprised that the WS was canceled this quickly. Nobody seemed to have a problem with the "Power Transfer" theme but rather the "Leeching" part that was added to it. I think the simple solution would have been to remove the "Leeching" restrictions and everything would have been fine.

When you take a look at the previous Workshop Themes , then you can see that none of them were as restricting as this one. But if you take Power Transfer as it is, then it fits right in.

I also have a rant, but I will keep that in my back pocket.

I do apologize if any of my comments on the previous thread were unreasonable. It was not my intention to upset anyone, merely to explore the issues I had with the theme. I know that I can be a little abrasive at times, although I believe my comments in this case were civil and on point.

That being said, I think cancelling the workshop outright is an overreaction. An adjustment to the theme, or even using DKC's original suggestion would have been sufficient to make everyone happy, in my opinion. And previous workshops have had "tweaks" to the rules after being launched, if memory serves.

I thought up the theme because I had recently read jilly milly....classic story, some chapters are hit and miss...but overall one of my faves. That story is what.....nearly 15 years old? Thought I'd see if we could get some new talent to write something comparible, or even better.

Shadar nailed it on the head when he said, a woman who becomes more powerful when she's within range of superman. That's kind of where I was going.

The theme shouldn't be target specific, but it can be.


- Also, I was thinking of a cool idea for a workshop is trying to imagine your a small time movie producer. Kind of like Jess or JonX.....write a story that would work within an obviously limited budget.

I personally think that DKC's original theme (Power Transfer) is still a great idea, as long as there is lots of latitude for interpretation. I've already got a half dozen concepts rattling around that don't involve leeching/draining/sucking/taking.

Anyway, I wait to see what the powers-that-be decide before I go down any particular path. But my muse is starting to stir. Gotta give her something to work with pretty soon.

Shadar