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NeoGAF Creative Writing Challenge #164 – “Discipline”

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M

Mike M

Nick N
PX158.jpg


Theme - Discipline

Word Limit: 2,000

Submission Deadline: Friday, April 24 by 11:59 PM Pacific.

Voting begins Saturday, April 25, and goes until Monday, April 27 at 11:59 PM Pacific.

Optional Secondary Objective: The Full Hemingway

Hemingway was famously sparse in his descriptions, which some people (idiots who have apparently never read Hemingway, mostly) have mistakenly interpreted to mean that he never used adjectives at all. This is of course patently false--“Hills Like White Elephants” has one right in the title, for crying out loud--but makes for an interesting experiment. Can you successfully write something that has absolutely no adjectives or adverbs?

“Mike, your secondary objectives are the worst!”

“STFU, it’s optional you whiner. Now drop and give me 50.”

Mandatory Tertiary Objective: The deadlines are the deadlines. Stories posted after midnight next Friday will not be eligible. Votes posted after midnight the following Monday will not be counted. Worried about your ability to get something written and submitted? Don’t think you can read it all and get your votes in on time? Maybe you need some discipline.

Submission Guidelines:

- One entry per poster.
- All submissions must be written during the time of the challenge.
- Using the topic as the title of your piece is discouraged.
- Keep to the word count!

Voting Guidelines:

- Three votes per voter. Please denote in your voting your 1st (3 pts), 2nd (2 pts), and 3rd (1 pt) place votes.
- Please read all submissions before voting.
- You must vote in order to be eligible to win the challenge.
- When voting ends, the winner gets a collective pat on the back, and starts the new challenge.

NeoGAF Creative Writing Challenge FAQ Previous Challenge Threads and Themes
 
S

Sethista

Member
Definition of discipline, to help get the brain juices flowing.

Discipline
[dis-uh-plin]
Spell Syllables
Synonyms Examples Word Origin
noun
1. training to act in accordance with rules; drill:
military discipline.

2. activity, exercise, or a regimen that develops or improves a skill; training:
A daily stint at the typewriter is excellent discipline for a writer.

3. punishment inflicted by way of correction and training.

4. the rigor or training effect of experience, adversity, etc.:
the harsh discipline of poverty.

5. behavior in accord with rules of conduct; behavior and order maintained by training and control: good discipline in an army.

6. a set or system of rules and regulations.

7. Ecclesiastical. the system of government regulating the practice of a church as distinguished from its doctrine.
 
M

mu cephei

Member
Hemingway only has one m. Am I missing a joke?

I love the secondary. I'll give this a shot, because I need discipline.
 
C

Cyan

Banned
So apparently it's now possible to create persistent Google Hangouts? I'm looking into this a bit more, but it'd be convenient to have a standard link we used every time, so if I was MIA or late in posting, the hangout could go forward without having to coordinate someone else to manage it.

Edit:
Ha! Apparently you can just straight up reuse hangout links now. All hangout links work forever, instead of turning into "this hangout is over" after a certain point. Good to know!
 
T

timetokill

Banned
This topic comes at an interesting time considering what I've been writing lately...


Cyan said:
So apparently it's now possible to create persistent Google Hangouts? I'm looking into this a bit more, but it'd be convenient to have a standard link we used every time, so if I was MIA or late in posting, the hangout could go forward without having to coordinate someone else to manage it.

Edit:
Ha! Apparently you can just straight up reuse hangout links now. All hangout links work forever, instead of turning into "this hangout is over" after a certain point. Good to know!
Click to expand...

Cool! That's definitely helpful.
 
D

Dandy Crocodile

Member
I'm getting in my own head regarding the secondary objective.
I can drop standard adjectives and adverbs easily (big, red, quickly, often) but then I'll write not or never and start feeling like I'll give myself an ulcer if I try to adhere too closely. :p
 
N

Nezumi

Member
Ah, discipline! My old enemy. So we meet again.

Funny enough though, the tertiary should be no problem for me for a change, since I'll be sitting on a plane when the deadline strikes, so I HAVE to get my story in earlier anyway.

Other than that Japan might actually be the perfect place to find inspiration for the theme :)

That secondary though... I'll definitely try but I can see this going to be quite a challenge.
 
S

Sethista

Member
I will think about it for a while, but drop the secondary for sure.cool one tho.

Now that i am thinking about it, discipline is pretty far reaching. Curious to see where everyone takes it.
 
N

Neeener

Neo Member
Only now realizing how much I suck at grammar. Have had to look up the definition of adverbs and adjectives twice now.
I'm going to leave the secondary objective this time in the interest of being able to do the tertiary objective!
But I'm using this as a trigger to finally get a copy of Elements of Style.
 
oxrock

oxrock

Gravity is a myth, the Earth SUCKS!
Something about this challenge tickles me just right, I'll most definitely be participating. All I can say is "thank god the second objective is optional." It would be a fun experiment I think but not if I want to get quality work out any time soon.
 
C

Cyan

Banned
Ok, I'm going to reuse the link from the last hangout, and see how that works. Here's the link (quote to see):

As always, the format will be ten minutes chat followed by thirty minutes writing, rinse and repeat for two hours. And there will be a timer!

I will be on the hangout when it officially starts, at the hour.
 
L

LaMagenta

Member
Hey guys. Just checking in to let you all know that I will be MIA for awhile. I'm going back to school for a Masters while keeping my ft job, so I prob wont have a lot of free time. But i'll check in every once in awhile. It's been fun and hope to be joining in from time to time. :)
 
R

Red

Member
I'm also back in school and should practice discipline by focusing on study. I think I'm sitting this week out.
 
S

Sethista

Member
FlowersisBritish said:
In a weird way, this was very inspirational? Like a school teacher or your mom telling you to give up
Click to expand...

and I imegine the mom would be real coy and sutil too

"why dont you come eat some cookies and forget about this writing stories for a while?"
then you can take a nice nap, watch some tv, and look for a job tomorrow."
 
A

Ashes

Banned
karenq0506 said:
Hey guys. Just checking in to let you all know that I will be MIA for awhile. I'm going back to school for a Masters while keeping my ft job, so I prob wont have a lot of free time. But i'll check in every once in awhile. It's been fun and hope to be joining in from time to time. :)
Click to expand...

Good luck with your Masters.
 
R

Red

Member
I'm going to be busy the next few weeks. Bought a house, need to do some repairs before moving in. This weekend I'm taking the wife on a babymoon. Won't be back until late Sunday. And I started a post-baccalaureate program a few weeks ago that's starting to pull into gear. I will do my best to provide feedback, and will hope it won't be long until I can enter again.

For a long time I felt like I was putting other things in the way of writing, but now it's like all I want to do is write and I need to keep telling myself no, there are other things that need done. I keep churning out treatments for this theme and throwing them into the rainy day fund.
 
N

Nezumi

Member
Had a hard time coming up with something for this challenge. So I went on a little shopping spree in a stationary store. One fountain pen, a notebook, and two bottles of ridiculously expensive ink later I've got myself an outline :)
 
D

Dandy Crocodile

Member
I've been having trouble with this one too. I abandoned my first idea and the one I've been working on the past week has taken three drafts to get to one where the words don't feel like I'm pulling teeth to get a single sentence.
Gotta have discipline!! :p
 
N

Nezumi

Member
Halfway through my story I realized that I totally forgot about the secondary... It kind of bothers me, since I try to always do the secondary, then again I'm not gonna go back and change it...
 
M

Mike M

Nick N
I kinda gave up on the secondary. It's still sparse on descriptors, but I can't eliminate them : /

Also:
the_final_day_by_uniquelegend-d5p2g1u.jpg

17 hours remain.
 
C

creatchee

Member
Nezumi said:
Had a hard time coming up with something for this challenge. So I went on a little shopping spree in a stationary store. One fountain pen, a notebook, and two bottles of ridiculously expensive ink later I've got myself an outline :)
Click to expand...

If that doesn't work, pluck a feather and bring the Quill back.
 
M

Mike M

Nick N
FlowersisBritish said:
haha i was just thinking how I had all night to finish mine, and then I remembered the tertiary. Better get my errands done so I can write.
Click to expand...
No, no, don't rush. I probably don't really mean I'll DQ anything posted after the deadline. CWC-GAF has a long and storied history of flagrantly ignoring them, why would this week be any different? Besides, even if I did drop the hammer, I'm sure you could just appeal your case to Cyan and have him overrule me with his mod powers.

You've got time.

All the time in the world.
 
N

Neeener

Neo Member
Ack... this thread is stressing me out. Something about the very concept of discipline gives me the hives.

And given we have a week and a half to do it, why is cutting those extra six hours making me want to hyperventilate??
 
S

Sethista

Member
I had the idea for mine the sescond day, but I simply did not have time to write anything until alst night, when i wrote 900 words.

I will do my best to finish and submit. I like how hard this is for everyone, makes me think about the level of feedback this time around
 
M

Mike M

Nick N
All y'all need to relax and drink some camomile tea or some shit. It's not as though some maniacal participant is on his seventh draft already or anything, right?

Take a nap. Go to bed early or something. Destress a bit.
 
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