So far I see 'scare us' 'teleport us' and 'arrest us' for horror, sci-fi/fantasy and crime genres.
List your ideas for events here.
How about 'woo us' (romance) 'thrill us' (suspense/thriller) 'inform us' (short essay) ... even 'seduce us' if erotica is an accepted genre here. (I'm new, so if it isn't, hope I'm not stepping on anyone's toes!)
How about 'surprise us' for those stories which do not fit comfortably into any of the classic genres?
Seduce Us. Oh my god. That needs to happen. All about it. Can we start a petition or something? I feel like you should post this on the community board so that Nathan guy who knows everything about everything sees it. I've never read erotica but I want to write some...it sounds like fun.
I'm sure 'Seduce Us' has been suggested before, but it's a great idea. Perhaps mention it to Nathan here.
We'll be wrapping up Arrest Us in the scarily near future, so I'm all about thinking on the next event idea. Suggest away, and I'll keep an eye on this thread when we get ready to start researching our next contest idea.
"Tickle us" for comedy? And I can't think of a good title for this, but a contest for children's short stories, which would be a broad age range for MG and YA or something.
How about Drug Us? Cause, you know,it's a much safer way to roofie someone.
"Displace us" for those of a 2 minutes in the future bent.
"Intoxicate us" for those of a buzzed bent. Ok that ones a joke.
"Genre Jar Us" for those of a spaceships out of place but there in contemporary Nashville bent. This used to be one of my favorite things. Nothing like a Time Machine in a University of 2015. I'm really not sure of anything good, the last two were jokes. The first a half joke.
"Stagnate Us" for those of a distant future with contemporary tech bent. That one is closer to being serious.
I'm open really.
Anna! What are you doing on a forum?? That's awesome! What about...yeah, wow, I don't know. Raise Us? Enlighten Us? What the fuck is YA supposed to do exactly? Inspire Us?
Oooo... Drug Us could be fun. I just started read Jesus' Son and am now and have always been all about the heroin. I still think my vote is for Seduce Us, though.
What about one focusing on creating dynamic female characters? That could be interesting since this site, as well as the literary world in general, consists of mostly male writers. Could be interesting, maybe?
^This, I want to read some of that.
I need to try out what's available, I'm so unused to themed competitions.
Baffle Us
I'd love to see people mix it up with absurdism.
Seduce Us is a definite in my book. My suggestions are:
Invade Us - war stories
Wiretap Us - spy thrillers
Disturb Us - bizarro stuff
Disappear Us - magic or something
Survive Us - post-apocalypse
OMG Aud ... "Feminize Us." WOOHOO!
And I just recently started forum hopping after you mentioned in a PM about posting something on here. Didn't you see my "Tonight, instead of writing ..." post about no pants? It was the bomb diggity.
Oh, crap. Did I really just say "the bomb diggity?"
Haha I probably did but I don't remember... I just read it now though and I have to respectfully disagree with you. Flannel pajama pants are my preference. Pantslessness would get cold, man! But I'm so glad you're here now!
MindFuck Us - For stories that defy genre conventions, and while seem confusing actually make upon a second reading.
My favorite genre before Dystopia.
Oh shiiiit, Drug Us. That'd be so cool, I love writing about drugs.
Embarass Us for stories that make your cheeks red? Ranging from bizarre accidents to like akward social situations.
I'm wondering if Intoxicate Us would be a companion time competition?
Here's a list of twenty off the top of my head for good measure. Enjoy.
1. Lose Us - Stories so disjointed and meandering that the reader will inevitably get lost
2. Baby Us - Dirty Dancing Fan Fic (see what I did there?)
3. Commit Us - Stories from the psych ward
4. Deliver Us - Stories about birth
5. Lick Us - Stories whose protagonist is a dog
6. Date Us - Stories about first dates and/or dating in general
7. Bite Us - Vampire stories
8. Supersize Us - Stories that take place at a fast food restaurant
9. Indoctrinate Us - Stories involving cults (personally, I really like this one)
10. Kill Us - Stories about serial killers
11. Medicate Us - Stories involving medicine or medicating
12. Forget Us - Stories of amnesia
12. Forget Us - Stories of amnesia (again, see what I did there?)
13. Build Us - Stories whose main focus is world building
14, Bling Us - Stories about wealth and the its lifestyle
15, Dream Us - Stories about dreams
16, Exorcise Us - Stories of demonic possession (I like this one too)
17. Imprison Us - Stories that take place in prison
18. Divorce Us - Stories about divorce
19. Marry Us - Stories about marriage
20. Hypnotize Us - Stories of hypnosis (think The Manchurian Candidate)
And finally, 21. Fuck Us - Penthouse style erotica (come on, we were all thinking it)
Dirty Dancing Fan Fic.
Thread over. R.Moon wins.
I'd love to see Seduce Us, Imprison Us or Disturb Us. Especially Disturb Us.
A non-fiction one would be cool, like essays or memoirs or whatever.
^^^ Good idea ^^^
Your choice of hyponotize us was my favorite.
Plus it reminds me of the 96 film The Trip. Though that's more Drug Us.
There's not been much talk of this for a while. Does anyone have any idea when the next one will be?
R.Moon was a big fan a noir. Perhaps...Hardboil Us
^^^ This would be cool.
Also, I think it'd be awesome to see another WAR. With Thunderdome actually keeping a small but relatively consistent momentum these days, I think there's enough interest for something more officially competitive, like WAR.
I forgot about war. That would be cool
Or a transgressive contest. Surprised that hasn't been done.
@SConley - If you are being 'transgressive' as part of a organized thing aren't you missing the point?
Drive us - Stories from the open road and/or travel.
Kill us - Stories regarding dealing with your own mortality.
Hit us - Stories of violence.
Slap us - Stories of domestic violence.
Rob us - Stories of heists.
Sail us - Stories on the water.
Betray us - Stories of backstabbing.
Heal us - Stories of doctors and hospitals.
Burn us - Stories of fire.
Eat us - Stories of cannibalism.
Drop us - Stories of falling.
Long for us - Stories about missing someone.
Lol
Sail us and drive us sound like they'd be fun as long as it doesn't turn into a collection of I went to europe after highschool and found myself stories
Depends on how it was done. I'd love to see that well written, but I'd admit the odds are low.
I'd say High Contrast Us? Exploring cultures duality between the present urban 21st and historical rural 19th centuries? Magic Realism Us has less of a ring to it. And Hallucinate Us edges close to Drug Us, which I think was already done?
@Jimothy
Agreed, although I've never really understood how people find themselves on those European excursions. But I'm biased. Because mine would be, I went to Europe for two weeks and came back frustrated and confused and broke and hungover.
Sounds like a terrible experience, but it was a blast.
I know I've been gone a long time and everything and everyone has changed but I'm bumping this because something seriously needs to happen with it already, please. I mean, I can't be the only one who thought Arrest Us was a wildly good time. Why can't we have another wildly good time? It'd probably be fun or whatever.
We need an us!
Stump Us!
Hey everyone! Just wanted to give an update on where things stand:
We're very happy to see this level of enthusiasm for another contest. And Nathan has been staying on top of us, to make sure we know how important it is to everyone.
We'd like to do another one soon. The problem is that it's a huge time commitment--and a lot of us are so buried, we can't commit the same amount of time we did in the past.
One of the ways to rectify that--which we've explored--is to hire someone to handle the workload. We realized two things: It takes a lot of time and effort, and the site can't afford to appropriately compensate someone for all that time and effort. This ain't exactly a champagne-and-caviar operation.
So, for as much as we want to do one, it comes down to two issues: Time and money.
That's not to say it's off the table. We're currently hashing out details for this year's AWP (we might be hosting a really cool party; more on that soon, hopefully). Once we've got all that settled, we can circle back.
I will tell you the genre we're thinking about, and we're not married to it, but maybe to spark some discussion:
Erotica.
Perhaps a cross-breed of what was proposed earlier.
Creative non-fiction erotica.
Invade us erotica.
Transgressive erotica. (How do you transgress something that is, in itself, a crossing of boundaries? Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, anyone?)
Or would these be too narrow? OR ... narrowing down the field will limit the submissions, meaning less commitment, but if they are run more often, spread it out, say one a month or every other month, then, the following year, you repeat the ones that really got people pumped and you come up with new ones for the ones that kind of flopped.
February is erotica; March, War (march forth ye young warriors to glory and death or death); April, Magic and Tricks; May, Space (obvious); June, nothing, because it's too hot to work; July, Romance; August, Endings; September, Culture (kids go back to school); October, Hmm, what could be in October; November, Betrayal; December, myth and spirituality; January, Overcoming the elements.
Or something like that .... but you keep a flow, keep it diverse, you can plan ahead, hire help as necessary, (I'm sure you can get a hold of some universities and hire interns only seeking references, which gives them a leg up and you get the unpaid help you may need).
Maybe turn this into a church, us the congregation, skip the taxes, etc.
And I should get back to work instead of finding more ways to not do work...and wasting y'all's time.
Maybe go the other way with it? Anti erotica, anti Valintines day. Sexual excitement varies so much by person (gay erotica won't do nothing for me, pretty girls nothing for a gay guy, romance nothing for asexuals, etc) but it might be possible to do something that disgusts everyone.
Am I wrong in thinking of erotica as porn in the written form?