Co-Authored Stories

This contest is inspired by Piccola's two-poet-composition contest over on AllPoetry. The basic contest is simply to co-write a story with another SW member. Ideally you should have equal parts in writing it, however you want to work that out.

Since the contest inspiring us had a specific theme (romance) we who are making the contest (Lion-Serpent and intoothandclaw) have decided to give this one a theme too. Acrually, you can choose from one of these three because we don't want to limit people *too* much and we know our tastes are ... idiosyncratic.

1.) Gorror. Intoothandclaw is in the mood to read graphic, emotive, intelligent, blood-soaked supernatural horror, a genre he likes to call "gorror". Prewrites are accepted for this option, provided that intoothandclaw has not already commented on them. If that is the case he'll comment again and let you know. He is specifically curious how this genre will manifest with two authors working on one story.

2.) There are two versions of this option. Prewrites aren't allowed here unless they really fit.

2a. -- Each cowriter creates and writes for a separate character or characters, acting out the scene between the two of them. Essentially, roleplay out a scene or two or a few with your characters, then convert them into a story.
2b. -- Each cowriter takes turns authoring, going sentence by sentence, paragraph by sentence, or however else you decide. That is, the first author writes something, then the next writes something in response, and so on. This works a lot like the shared-story section of SW, except you get to enter it in a contest when you're done.

3.) This is the big challenge. No prewrites are accepted for this option. Write about drugs or some other behavior seen as criminal in your society. This one has a twist, though. You have to write about drugs, or shoplifting, or murder, or whatever you choose, from a perspective directly opposed to your own. You may choose to write about someone who has a good or bad experience with drugs, or about someone who has a negative or positive attitude about murder, or whatever. It just has to be the opposite perspective from your own.

Rules:

a.) All entries *must* have two equal co-authors. Note your co-author in Collaborators at the bottom of the page. If you fail to do this, one of the judges will comment and prompt you. If you haven't noted a collaborator by the end of the contest, your entry will be disqualified. (And please don't just stick a co-author's name in there randomly just to enter a prewrite you like. If we feel like we have to, we'll start checking with the named co-author.)

b.) For the third option, please be conscious of the difference between portrayal and promotion. We are asking you to *portray* a viewpoint, a perspective on a specific aspect of life, that is radically different from your own. We are *not* asking you to *promote* that viewpoint as right and good. Make sure to differentiate between showing something and supporting it. Intoothandclaw has had a contest get deleted before because that line wasn't clear enough, so we want absolutely no confusion on that point. The purpose of the exercise is to stretch your creativity and your writing skills, and also maybe to make you think a little bit. It is not to promote theft, genocide, murder, rape, and drug abuse as good and valid lifestyle choices. Please keep this in mind and write accordingly.

c.) This isn't a rule so much as a hint: If you edit and improve your story after we comment, you're more likely to get a trophy. This is especially true if your entry is a first draft. This isn't because we think we know everything about writing or anything; it's just that revising and editing a story tends to improve it. We'll be reading everything once more before the final judging, and any positive changes will be noticed.

That's pretty much it. Go to it!

-- Lion-Serpent
-- Intoothandclaw