May / June 2016 Short Story Contest

I also use an older laptop that couldn't handle games. I also have an app that disconnects me from the Internet for however long I choose. There's also the write club if you want to write with someone.
 
@norm I know your pain, video games have taken away so many hours over so many years. Fortunately for me I tend to 'drop out' for long periods so when I do game it's a concentrated enjoyable effort..until I begin to get a bad conscience about it again. I was, and am, a huge fan of dungeon crawlers (my first encounter with fantasy, D&D, and dungeon crawlers was Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon which remains a favorite) and of fantasy-themed exploration and story games (everything from Baldur's Gate, particularly the original to more recent fare like The Witcher 3). Naturally and regrettably these are precisely the kind of games that consume time and lots of it. Over the last six months or so I've barely played a game, though, even though I kind of itch for it. Life is just not as easy as it used to be :)

@Facing What kind of app is that? One where you punch a number of minutes you force the PC to stay offline?
 
R.J. said:
@norm I know your pain, video games have taken away so many hours over so many years. Fortunately for me I tend to 'drop out' for long periods so when I do game it's a concentrated enjoyable effort..until I begin to get a bad conscience about it again. I was, and am, a huge fan of dungeon crawlers (my first encounter with fantasy, D&D, and dungeon crawlers was Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon which remains a favorite) and of fantasy-themed exploration and story games (everything from Baldur's Gate, particularly the original to more recent fare like The Witcher 3). Naturally and regrettably these are precisely the kind of games that consume time and lots of it. Over the last six months or so I've barely played a game, though, even though I kind of itch for it. Life is just not as easy as it used to be :)

@Facing What kind of app is that? One where you punch a number of minutes you force the PC to stay offline?
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The app is called freedom and yep, you set it for however long you want. I often go for four hours office at a time. My language gets pretty colourful but there's no going back without restarting your computer.

One thing dungeon crawls have going for them is that you can typically save anywhere. So, you can bash bugs just long enough to take a break from a difficult scene.
 
I've managed to drop out of gaming and out of the internet without the apps so far. Hmmm.. I wonder what that means.

1400 words out before Memorial Day festivities begin. I've got my character breaking in to Act II for my anthology submission.
 
All right, I have an outline, I have the characters, one of them has clothes, and I have some fancy concepts (at least I hope they will come across as fancy); now for the hammering of keys and the out-ironing of a story...¨
June is almost upon us!
 
If I'm being honest, the ongoing More Than Meets the Eye comic run from IDW. The writer of that series, James Roberts, is telling the best Transformers story ever and making it legit sci fi. No foolin'.
 
I went and saw AudioForge at Nuit Blanche in London last night. I have an idea. :) Now I just have to see if I can turn it into an outline for a story.
 
Facing said:
I went and saw AudioForge at Nuit Blanche in London last night. I have an idea. :) Now I just have to see if I can turn it into an outline for a story.
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Was @JonLaidlow there?
:D

I can't believe you went to London just for that!

Anything for the story, the research I guess....
 
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TheWriterWithNoName said:
Hello all, just wanted to pop up and say hi. This heavy metal short story contest sounds intriguing, thought I'd sign up and give it a go. :)
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Welcome to the forums, I look forward to reading your entry!

So how are everyone's entries coming along?

My story is currently hovering near the 5000 word limit; I still have scenes to add, and scenes that need to be cut down. Having to write with my phone has been more of a help than a hindrance, I think. I did an entire rough draft with pen and paper first, which is something I never use to do; I always used to edit as I wrote, which I think was the main reason why I'd often quit on my stories. I would re-read them a thousand times before I had all of the scenes figured out, and end up getting sick of my story half-way through. At least with a rough draft, I essentially have a full story, or the blueprint for a story, before I get bogged down with the editing.

I've had to look elsewhere for some of the features that I had with my desktop writing software; namely a word-counter website (which is great because it also counts how frequently I use certain words) and a text-to-speech app, which I'll use for final edits.

I think I should hopefully have my entry posted in a week or two, depending on how much trouble I have getting the story within 5000 words.
 
norm said:
I've had to look elsewhere for some of the features that I had with my desktop writing software; namely a word-counter website (which is great because it also counts how frequently I use certain words)
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What are you using for that? Does it do Reading Level?
 
I'm pretty sure I'm going to get an idea tomorrow, I sent off for one from the P.O. Box.
Then there's only the writing to do.
 
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