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SGI Workshop 1.5 Topic Suggestions
Pending admin's desire to run another one of these, I'd like to make a suggestion on the "format" rather than the content.
Perhaps we try a 'short story' workshop depicting a specific scene (e.g. bank robbery, transformation) and set a minimum length (e.g. 1000 words).
Slightly disappointing in my mind is the number of new authors which I understand will slow, by definition, over time. Nevertheless, I think sometimes that maybe some people 'do not have enough time' because of the length of story they may think necessary. Dunno....maybe I'm totally wrong, but wanted to throw it out there to see what people thought....
LF
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- lfan
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I do have an idea for the next "full" topic, as I'm sure others do too, but I'll hold onto it until it's time.
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- marknew742
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LF
That would be fun. No reason not to have a little exercise that would focus on the "best part".
I do have an idea for the next "full" topic, as I'm sure others do too, but I'll hold onto it until it's time.
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- lfan
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Perhaps we try a 'short story' workshop depicting a specific scene (e.g. bank robbery, transformation) and set a minimum length (e.g. 1000 words).
How about a workshop theme along the lines of the "Super Professionals" gallery featured on SGI? Authors would submit a vignette depicting a superwoman using her powers (secretly or openly) in the workplace. Example: You take your car to a new mechanic. An attractive woman comes out of the garage, wiping grease off her hands. "What seems to be the problem?" You're not sure -- something to do with the transmission, you think. "Well, let's take a look." Placing a hand underneath your car, she casually lifts it over her head and inspects the underside of the chassis. "Okay, I'll see what I can do."
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- argonaut
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I was going to suggest a slightly longer time limit. How about 3 or 4 months to write each story instead of 2? For some of us who are new and slow when it comes to writing, it might give us the additional time we need to get it done.
Of course, then the complaint becomes that there aren't enough workshops, so maybe we could overlap them. ie Start a 4 month workshop every 2 months, so there is one ending every 2 months, but we get 4 months to write each story. The more prolific writers would probably participate in all of them, while those of us who are slower would probably only participate once in a while.
As for themes, I'm not sure if you're still looking for those suggestions, too, but I've got one: creative sources of power. In other words, we could see who can come up with the most original idea for an origin story.
YAGS
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- YAGS
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Admin might wanna chime in on this, but with a few exceptions, most stories are always handed in on the last day, and I suspect its usually cause people were working on them right under the final bell --- or in my case, after the bell.
I personally have no problems with the overlapping suggestion. While I question its effectiveness, I have been wrong before. Well, I'm usually wrong, but what I'm saying is I'm game to give it a go as well....
Any other thoughts on the matter?
LF
While trying to write a shorter story, or just a scene, might be an interesting exercise, I don't know if that'll be the solution to your problem.
I was going to suggest a slightly longer time limit. How about 3 or 4 months to write each story instead of 2? For some of us who are new and slow when it comes to writing, it might give us the additional time we need to get it done.
Of course, then the complaint becomes that there aren't enough workshops, so maybe we could overlap them. ie Start a 4 month workshop every 2 months, so there is one ending every 2 months, but we get 4 months to write each story. The more prolific writers would probably participate in all of them, while those of us who are slower would probably only participate once in a while.
As for themes, I'm not sure if you're still looking for those suggestions, too, but I've got one: creative sources of power. In other words, we could see who can come up with the most original idea for an origin story.
YAGS
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- lfan
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I like the idea of a shorter piece - Lfan did you mean minimum 1000 words (as you typed) or maximum? Maybe we should set a range, say 500-1500. Anything that gets more people involved is great. We could make it a single scene: Transformation, Origin, Discovery or a particular scenario - solving a problem with superpowers, the use of specific powers etc. etc.
I also like the competitions overlapping idea. We could do a "short" workshop every 2 months and a long one every 4, but I agree with Lfan. I tend to do everything when the deadline looms - no matter if I'd had 2 months or 2 days or 2 years... But we could set Workshops 1.5 (a very short one with 2 month deadline) and 1.6 (longer - 4 months) at the same time. (Admin - is this possible?)
What's depressing is anticipating entries from great genre writers who say they're in and then they're not. If doing single-scene stories ("vignettes" sounds too much like a salad dressing...) and having longer deadlines fixes this, then I'm all for it.
What does everyone else think?
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- conceptfan
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Also, I don't mind a longer deadline but can we set the topics within the next couple of weeks. Summer is my prime writing time.
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- marknew742
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The author of the story that gets the most votes normally sets the next topic - if we are doing 2 topics, we will need to work out who decides what...
The poll closes next Tuesday (1 week after it opened) so we won't have a winner (i.e. topic picker) until then. Meantime, people should get their suggestions for the next topic(s) out in the open as soon as possible.
admin.
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As for the 1,000 limit, I was just throwing that out.....500, 1000, 2000, whatever, just something under 26,000!!
I like the short/long overlap idea where the short one might be a "scene" and the long might be more of a "story"
Admin, can we do? If so, then, what are the topics du jour? Let's hear some suggestions
LF
We've hardly stopped typing for Workshop 1.4 and ALREADY Lfan wants to talk about 1.5! I can almost hear the sound of a whip cracking (which is fine if it's being cracked by Mrs. Cf., but significantly less so when it's Lfan.)
I like the idea of a shorter piece - Lfan did you mean minimum 1000 words (as you typed) or maximum? Maybe we should set a range, say 500-1500. Anything that gets more people involved is great. We could make it a single scene: Transformation, Origin, Discovery or a particular scenario - solving a problem with superpowers, the use of specific powers etc. etc.
I also like the competitions overlapping idea. We could do a "short" workshop every 2 months and a long one every 4, but I agree with Lfan. I tend to do everything when the deadline looms - no matter if I'd had 2 months or 2 days or 2 years... But we could set Workshops 1.5 (a very short one with 2 month deadline) and 1.6 (longer - 4 months) at the same time. (Admin - is this possible?)
What's depressing is anticipating entries from great genre writers who say they're in and then they're not. If doing single-scene stories ("vignettes" sounds too much like a salad dressing...) and having longer deadlines fixes this, then I'm all for it.
What does everyone else think?
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- lfan
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Superwoman shows a man what real strength is.
Superwoman gets annoyed and "acts out."
Superwoman confronts a reluctant lover.
Superwoman confronts an unfaithful lover.
A cocky adversary thinks his weapon can stop a superwoman. She shows him what she thinks of his idea.
A man is proud of some accomplishment. A superwoman is patronizingly supportive.
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- marknew742
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"Uh oh, my wife/girlfriend/lover has just become super!"
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Also, like the previous suggested idea of best origin/transformation. Often, I wrestle with "how" to empower the girl and have used:
Magical Transfer (Zupergirl)
Potions (Formula 149)
Lightning (Superjen)
Ray/Radiation (Lara)
I really admire when someone pulls off something original. Could be a neat challenge thinking up something new. Of course, the old favorites are still pretty good too!
LF
For the short, short story, here are a few ideas:
Superwoman shows a man what real strength is.
Superwoman gets annoyed and "acts out."
Superwoman confronts a reluctant lover.
Superwoman confronts an unfaithful lover.
A cocky adversary thinks his weapon can stop a superwoman. She shows him what she thinks of his idea.
A man is proud of some accomplishment. A superwoman is patronizingly supportive.
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- lfan
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For the longer story, here's an idea I've been thinking about:
"Uh oh, my wife/girlfriend/lover has just become super!"
I like it -- in fact, I have an outline for such a story in my ever-growing notebook of story ideas -- but would it have to be "Uh oh"?
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- argonaut
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- marknew742
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Admin, can we do?
Yes.
admin
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"Conspiracy against ubergirl", the bad guys are uniting themselves and looking for a way to get her out of the way.
This makes way for some highly charged/suspenseful scenes/situations as the ubergirl of the writers choices would have to prove, and defend herself against some bad and powerful enemies.
It's not all that new, but hey, it has a classic touch to it and also there is the "boom bang" factor which I really love!
greetings
somat
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For the longer one, I like Mark's idea, but would suggest a slight loosening of the topic to make it more flexible.... How about: "Someone's wife/girlfriend/lover becomes super."
I also think somat is on to something. "Ubergirl vs. Conspiracy" is full of potential. I mean, it doesn't have to be about bad guys plotting against a superheroine... it could be good guys plotting against a supervillainess, right?
For the shorter (single scene) workshop, I like:
"The moment a girl becomes an ubergirl" This would be an origin/transformation/transfer scene. It'd be great to read people's original ideas for powering up...
Then there's "Superwoman shows a man what real strength is." and "Superwoman confronts an unfaithful lover." both of which offers plenty of scope for fempower. Of course, the second has the added spice of the girl being less than happy with her lover...
"Superwoman confronts a reluctant lover." So many ways folks could take this. Does she make him fall in love with her inner "good girl" beauty? Seduce him with her superhuman allure and body? Does she take advantage of her superior strength at any point?
Possibly my favourite short scene suggestion so far, though has to be: "A cocky adversary thinks his weapon can stop a superwoman. She shows him what she thinks of his idea." I'd like to see it in more generic terms like: "Someone has a weapon they think can stop a superwoman." Then it's up to the writers how cocky or not the individual/organisation with the weapon is, and also how successful the weapon is (or isn't.)
Overall, anything that gets as many people involved as possible has to be good.
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- conceptfan
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So, it seems we're looking for themes for a "full-length" workshop and for a "short" workshop.
I also think somat is on to something. "Ubergirl vs. Conspiracy" is full of potential. I mean, it doesn't have to be about bad guys plotting against a superheroine... it could be good guys plotting against a supervillainess, right?
Yes conceptfan you can put it in any way you want to, but my idea, of course was to let the bad guys, go against the "good" ubergirl, somewhat giving her a real challenge, putting something against her, she cannot defeat that easily,
something that at least temporarily defeats, her a theme full of suspense and tension, as the reader isn't so sure about how the story will actually end!
The writer can decide if she makes it or not, the only real condition, would be that her enemies(regardless if she's good or bad, or whatever), would be almost if not completly even with her when it comes to powers, this could be expressed in any way the author, wants to put it- pure physical strengh, as well as "magic", telekinetics, anything which comes, to his(hers) mind!
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- somat
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So how about a workshop with the topic of superwomen with unusual powers? I think this would work better with full length stories, rather than the shorter "scene" type of thing that we're thinking about doing this time around, so maybe file this one away for later.
Just a thought,
YAGS
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Any writer who wants to continue an established story might consider adding a chapter to one of the interactive stories on this forum ...
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- argonaut
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Ubergirl withstands/overcomes powerful force of nature (avalanche, volcano, thunderstorm, typhoon ... )
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