Gather writers for individual genres horror/mystery/romance/etc. and have them duke it out for a chance at the each literary genre pedestal.
Just a thought if anyone would be interested in hosting it.
I nominate you
Haha had I not still had the idea of running the Duo Comp. I would, but I haven't done that yet.
I wouldn't mind helping, but I wouldn't be able to do it alone. Sounds like a lot of fun -- this isn't an idea I want to fall through the cracks.
What is going on with the Duo Comp? I came back and thought I'd missed it since no one was talking about it.
This is bigoted against people like me who have no idea what genre they are. I demand a recount! Or a chicken sandwich boycott! Something!
How would you think to organize this?
I'm genreless as well.
@ Renee Maybe they can have a Special Olympics for people like us.
I'd like to take a crack at doing something big. I'll nominate myself.
Either way, I love this idea and I'll participate if it this happens.
Stacy--you and I can be on the Women's Directionless Literature Team.
:P
Pretty much an idea to throw around and see who wants to take it up.
I thought picking a genre you like or think you would do well in could work.
Let me suggest, to keep it easier for voting...
We could use like 5 or 6 different genres to compete in.
Example: Fantasy/Sci-fi, Horror, Neo-Noir, Erotica, Transgressive
Point being we don't use sub-genres and slow the process down with confusion.
I'd call Neo-Noir and Transgressive sub-genres of Crime and Literary respectively, though Transgressive is more a singular characteristic than anything like a genre. Whatever descriptor is on a sign at a bookstore would make sense, so Romance in place of Erotica. I'd suggest these:
Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Horror
Mystery/Crime
Romance
Literary
Humor or Memoir maybe?
Would people be able to compete in multiple categories? Would there be prompts? What would the judging be like?
I wouldn't mind taking charge of a contest like this with some of you guys to organize and judge it.
That whole not knowing what you write thing, I never really understood what that means or how that could happen to someone who writes and reads fiction. Even if your stories are all over the place it's probably easy to know what other popular stories it shares traits with, genre being pretty self-explanatory. Not to deride that condition, just don't get it. Or if you really don't know just call it Literary, it's basically a catch-all anyway.
Definitely gotta include Memoir in there somewhere, or Narrative Non-fiction if you don't want to write about yourself, but do want to write about a real person or situation.
I'm all for participating in this but I don't have the time to help organize right now. My girlfriend is moving in with me, so much of my time has been taken with that. Still, I'd love to join in the fun once this gets figured out!
I promise I would not help with this. Not even a little.
Sounds like a fun idea, but I'm stretched pretty thin at the moment. Which sort of kills my soul becuase I love to organize things and make people follow rules that I make up.
I nominate Panda or Utah.
Let's get the ball rolling.
This sounds like fun. Unless ...
We should consider keeping the genres very broad so that we don't have two people in each of the (hyperbolic) twelve categories. Think of it like movie genres -- you'll find movies like Requiem for a Dream in "drama," Employee of the Month in "comedy," and Drag Me to Hell in "horror" even though they're all three transgressive. Most sub-genres exist because a transgressive story could be so many different larger genres.
And when it really comes down to it, is there a single genre that doesn't fit into one of the three mentioned above? Crime is drama, memoir can be any of them (Sedaris in comedy, Eggers in drama), etc. It also solves the problem of genre-less writers.
My suggestion would be four categories: Horror, Comedy, Drama, and Sci-fi/Fantasy.
We'd have a much larger base for each genre that way, and if it got too large, sub-genres can easily be discerned. I've no doubt that there would be a ton of both noir/crime and literary writers in drama. So if we got past a certain number of people, we could easily split them into those two camps, or whichever two camps are most widely represented; otherwise, we could do it backwards, by having a bunch of sub-genre options and merging them if there aren't enough people. We could easily fill a transgressive branch, but if not enough people sign up for romance, they'd get shuffled to drama.
I'm just throwing out ideas, of course. I'd like to volunteer to both help organize and be a part of the competition, but I can't say with certainty yet.
I don't consider drama a literary genre exactly. I'd replace it with literary. If it were me. And I were involved. Which I'm not.
Does transgressive just mean edgy?
Does transgressive just mean edgy?
LOL!
According to Wikipedia, Transgressive means this:
Transgressive fiction is a genre of literature that focuses on characters who feel confined by the norms and expectations of society and who break free of those confines in unusual and/or illicit ways. Because they are rebelling against the basic norms of society, protagonists of transgressional fiction may seem mentally ill, anti-social, or nihilistic. The genre deals extensively with taboo subject matters such as drugs, sex, violence, incest, pedophilia, and crime.
So yeah... Edgy.
Transgressive fiction is a genre of literature that focuses on characters who feel confined by the norms and expectations of society and who break free of those confines in unusual and/or illicit ways. Because they are rebelling against the basic norms of society, protagonists of transgressional fiction may seem mentally ill
So basically any Zooey Deschanel character is transgressive.
I'm pretty sure she has cerebral palsy.
So basically any Zooey Deschanel character is transgressive.
I'm pretty sure she has cerebral palsy.
- Cerebral palsy or not, I want her to be my future ex-wife.
I think this answers your question:
I don't consider drama a literary genre exactly.
from my post:
Think of it like movie genres
I want her to be my future ex-wife.
I second that.
Why don't we incorporate this into Thunderdome? When you challenge someone, you can challenge them to a genre battle. 2 competitors, 1 genre.
@Court: Do you want her to be your ex-wife or my ex-wife? We could go all polygamy on this and everbody wins. lol
Think of it like movie genres
Well it is prose so probably better to stick with standard prose genres.
@R. Moon: Polygamy all the way. I wouldn't want your sloppy seconds.
@Renfield: I didn't intend for the suggestions to be taken as a this-is-how-we're-doing it post; it was a quick jot-down of a random idea I had. I was using movie genres to make a point. I think switching drama to literary would be a great idea for the competition. Literary wouldn't have made sense in the context of my post.
No biggy, I didn't take it that way really, I was just trying to see the other side of that idea. I'm sure my comment came off more caustic than I intended but tone is a hard thing to convey on the internet.
@Courtney - yeah, I guess what I meant was, I don't like the idea of making them movie genres for a writing thing.
EDIT: Also, I think Jacks idea of making this part of Thunderdome would be good.
The other most workable option would be to make this a one time only deal. Only allow five contestant per category and Make one big ass poll with all five. I would say have more contestants, but when you have a larger poll with that many options, clear winners are very difficult to pick out and the results get very skewed. I would say at most you could do ten, but that is really pushing it.
Otherwise this could be a huge monstrosity of a contest.
Yeah, I think I sounded more bitchy than I meant as well. I'm also terrified of people thinking that I'm asserting dominance and taking over. I was thinking along the lines of movies and really meant the entire post to be a hypothetical, movie-related post...
I agree with the cap, definitely.
Could do two rounds with the top 5 spots making it to round two.
Could do two rounds with the top 5 spots making it to round two.
I think rounds would definitely be the way to go with this. Who did the War thingy that happened a while back?
That whole not knowing what you write thing, I never really understood what that means or how that could happen to someone who writes and reads fiction. Even if your stories are all over the place it's probably easy to know what other popular stories it shares traits with, genre being pretty self-explanatory. Not to deride that condition, just don't get it.
One genre just isn't enough for some of us. This is how I described my first Workshop submission:
"[I call it] Xmasploitation—a borderline bizarro avant-garde literary blend of fantasy, satire, melodrama, and good old-fashioned suspense-thriller payback..."
I've often thought that genres are artificial and subjective labels.
Genres are definitely subjective, but they serve a distinct purpose. If you don't know what you write, you probably dabble in a lot of genres. I don't think you can call one single story undefinable, though.
For example, your synopsis -- it includes bizarro, avant-garde, fantasy, satire, melodrama, and suspense. Melodrama and satire can be in any genre, so kick those out of your description. Avant-garde is the same way. Fantasy and bizarro are similar, but while fantasy can be bizarro, bizarro isn't fantasy. Do you get what I mean? Basically, the genre that can't be comprimised is the one that defines it.
Say I write a true story but add a ghost into the mix and then have the ghost murder my friend, and the murder becomes central. Since crime can be fantasy but fantasy can't be crime (because crime suggests realism), it's a fantasy story.
Am I making any sense?
Maybe in an effort to keep this from just devolving into another "what is my genre/I don't know what my genre is/what exactly is transgressive-southern gothic-slipstream anyway" idea perhaps this should be conceived of differently, to keep with the spirit of competition and olympic... stuff. Instead of genre being the events, use actual prompts and challenges as the "events":
- talking head scene: a measure of keeping interest primarily through dialogue
- describe an object/setting under certain circumstances: sort of like the "describe the garden from the perspective of a war veteran without mentioning the war" exercise.
- surface action scene: a scene/story with no speaking or thinking, only action and physical description
- some plot structure exercise: write a scene with an effective ticking clock, maguffin, or hidden gun
- the 1500 word dash: write a cohesive story under a deadline in one draft
- the marathon: check in and write a certain number of words per day for the entirety of the events
- relay race: team of writers write one sentence after the other, passing the story between them to the finish.
- 3000 word free-style: minimum
- 500 word free-style: maximum
Stuff like that. Challenges that span across genre. Things that are difficult for all writers, no matter what they write.
Genres could be like the countries/teams. Each team would pick their best writers for each event in hopes of getting the most golds for their genre. So that even people without a genre could at least be on a team with other people without a genre. And if you were really gung ho about it you could be your own multi-genre-nationality and represent bizarro-literary-fantasy-satire-suspense-thriller genre in every event. And it would still be individual based: writers winning medals with their individual work, but representing their team and sharing some of the weight and responsibility. You know, some thriller writers really suck at dialogue, and some don't, so they know who to send for the dialogue event.
Otherwise this could be a huge monstrosity of a contest.
Oh... well then, nevermind.
I guess we could also just do some research and see how they handled it when art was actually in the olympics, like when Aale Tynni (of Finland) won the Gold medal in Poetry at the '48 summer games? Remember that?
Instead of genre being the events, use actual prompts and challenges as the "events":
• talking head scene: a measure of keeping interest primarily through dialogue
• describe an object/setting under certain circumstances: sort of like the "describe the garden from the perspective of a war veteran without mentioning the war" exercise.
• surface action scene: a scene/story with no speaking or thinking, only action and physical description
• some plot structure exercise: write a scene with an effective ticking clock, maguffin, or hidden gun
• the 1500 word dash: write a cohesive story under a deadline in one draft
• the marathon: check in and write a certain number of words per day for the entirety of the events
• relay race: team of writers write one sentence after the other, passing the story between them to the finish.
• 3000 word free-style: minimum
• 500 word free-style: maximum
I really like this idea and second it. It's like excercises that can really push us out of our comfort zones and help us improve as well as display our talents. Thumbs up for this idea, XyZY. Now change your display name.
Well the inventor of the modern Olympics won the poetry category so we know how much bullshit that is.
I actually really really like your thinking about the categories, Xyzy, though I think it'd be easier for people to understand and have interest in if it were allocatedd into genres instead of challenges, so non-regular members could see "Horror" and be like I DO THAT! such as in the site's current main event. Maybe if it were to do prompts they could be challenges specific to the genres?
"the 1500 word dash: write a cohesive story under a deadline in one draft"
My event!
I third XyZy's idea.
This sounds great! How would the opening ceremonies be handled?
Ideally, I see this happening in real time, with each of the "genre/countries/teams" (as coined by XyZy) fictionalizing their idea of carrying a torch through their countryside and then handing it off to the next one on the route.
