Utah's picture
Moderator
Utah from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry December 14, 2012 - 6:00pm

And here we go!  This is the beginning of Round 3, and shit's going to get intense in The Pit.  Winner's Bracket goes to a one-week-writing/one-week-voting schedule from here out.  The Pit will now be 4-days-writing/3-days-voting, with 1200 word stories.  If you want to stay in the game, you're going to have to shake that ass.

We have lost our first WARriors.  If you're gone, know that many people would not even have attempted the kind of writing you've done in the last six weeks.  Be proud of yourselves and see me in six months for WAR3.

In honor of the fallen, I give you heavy metal:

 

And check this out:  Your New Bracket.

Matt Attack's picture
Matt Attack from Richmond, Va. is reading As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner December 14, 2012 - 6:08pm

I am Jack's brutal death in The Pit. Prepare yourself Mr. Taylor. This is payback for a certain shitty ThunderDome prompt.

TomMartinArt's picture
TomMartinArt from Amherst, MA December 14, 2012 - 6:15pm

Uhh... so is "the pit" a different bracket, or is it just another term for the entire competition?

wickedvoodoo's picture
wickedvoodoo from Mansfield, England is reading stuff. December 14, 2012 - 6:16pm

Utah - much as love you, man, Five finger death punch are not good metal. They are barely even metal at all :-P

Rock on to all the winners. Commiserations to all the losers.

Can't wait to see some pitfighting

TomMartinArt's picture
TomMartinArt from Amherst, MA December 14, 2012 - 6:17pm

Utah - much as love you, man, Five finger death punch are not good metal. They are barely even metal at all :-P

I didn't want to say it.

Renfield's picture
Renfield from Hell is reading 20th Century Ghosts December 14, 2012 - 6:18pm

Who is a metal?

R.Moon's picture
R.Moon from The City of Champions is reading The Last Thing He Wanted by Joan Didion; Story Structure Architect by Victoria Lynn Schimdt PH.D; Creating Characters by the editors of Writer's Digest December 14, 2012 - 6:18pm

Are those of us that are completely out of War still allowed to vote?

JEFFREY GRANT BARR's picture
JEFFREY GRANT BARR from Central OR is reading Nothing but fucking Shakespeare, for the rest of my life December 14, 2012 - 6:19pm

I would like to add my vote that 5 finger fiddle fuck be left off all future internets. 

Sound's picture
Sound from Azusa, CA is reading Greener Pastures by Michael Wehunt December 14, 2012 - 6:24pm

Damn, Rian, you're out too? Shit.

I don't think we're even allowed to post in this thread anymore. 

R.Moon's picture
R.Moon from The City of Champions is reading The Last Thing He Wanted by Joan Didion; Story Structure Architect by Victoria Lynn Schimdt PH.D; Creating Characters by the editors of Writer's Digest December 14, 2012 - 6:26pm

Yeah, I'm out. Awesome battle against Meredith, though. Came down to one vote. She wrote a great story. 

ReneeAPickup's picture
Class Facilitator
ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig December 14, 2012 - 6:30pm

You're allowed to vote, Moon. Just don't vote wrongly.

Jonathan Riley's picture
Jonathan Riley from Memphis, Tennessee is reading Flashover by Gordon Highland December 14, 2012 - 6:50pm

YEs, many people were voting in the first rounds who were not even in war. As long as you have a workshop memborship you can read, comment, and vote. And I would encourage it but understand if you don't want to. I Think I predict a Sound vs. Moon Thunderdome in the near future!!!!

Utah's picture
Moderator
Utah from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry December 14, 2012 - 6:50pm

If you're a workshop member, vote.

If you don't like my 5FDP, fuck yourself.

See you next round, WV, and I'm going to cut your literary nuts off in honor of this fantastic fucking song.  JGB, I hope you last long enough for me to do the same to you.  Chump.

Laramore Black's picture
Laramore Black from Joplin, Missouri is reading Mario Kart 8 December 14, 2012 - 6:52pm

Props to TomMartinArt. Hell of a match. I might be out, but I still plan to do some reading for the next month.

TomMartinArt's picture
TomMartinArt from Amherst, MA December 14, 2012 - 6:56pm

Thanks y'all.

R.Moon's picture
R.Moon from The City of Champions is reading The Last Thing He Wanted by Joan Didion; Story Structure Architect by Victoria Lynn Schimdt PH.D; Creating Characters by the editors of Writer's Digest December 14, 2012 - 6:56pm

@Sparrow: What you're saying is vote for your story? Got it! Now, let us rock out to some RBF!!!!

Jonathan Riley's picture
Jonathan Riley from Memphis, Tennessee is reading Flashover by Gordon Highland December 14, 2012 - 6:58pm

@Moon, she means vote for her story next round!!!

R.Moon's picture
R.Moon from The City of Champions is reading The Last Thing He Wanted by Joan Didion; Story Structure Architect by Victoria Lynn Schimdt PH.D; Creating Characters by the editors of Writer's Digest December 14, 2012 - 7:03pm

Yeah, I figured that. 

Sparrow: Here, have a beer on me... :-)

ReneeAPickup's picture
Class Facilitator
ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig December 14, 2012 - 7:10pm

Yes!!! BTW have you heard the new album? It's killer.

Gordon Highland's picture
Gordon Highland from Kansas City is reading Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore December 14, 2012 - 7:11pm

Praying for survival so I don't have to change my username to "Flash" Gordon Highland. Which is my longtime nickname, but … well, I'd like to keep that one extra "life" in my pocket a while longer.

Wonder Woman's picture
Wonder Woman from RI is reading 20th Century Ghosts December 14, 2012 - 7:13pm

The Pit is another, more intimidating, name for the losers bracket. 

R.Moon's picture
R.Moon from The City of Champions is reading The Last Thing He Wanted by Joan Didion; Story Structure Architect by Victoria Lynn Schimdt PH.D; Creating Characters by the editors of Writer's Digest December 14, 2012 - 7:17pm

@Sparrow: No, I have not. I will have a listen, though. I'm trying to gather up some old friends I haven't seen in awhile. All my ska/punk friends. If I can round em up, I will make a video for you of my friend Pike skankin' to RBF! Short, pudgy guy skankin'! Nothing better...

Jonathan Riley's picture
Jonathan Riley from Memphis, Tennessee is reading Flashover by Gordon Highland December 14, 2012 - 7:18pm

I mean the round after she battles me MOON! Remember this!

ReneeAPickup's picture
Class Facilitator
ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig December 14, 2012 - 7:22pm

@Sparrow: No, I have not. I will have a listen, though. I'm trying to gather up some old friends I haven't seen in awhile. All my ska/punk friends. If I can round em up, I will make a video for you of my friend Pike skankin' to RBF! Short, pudgy guy skankin'! Nothing better...

Oh, Lord, please let this happen. Amen.

I mean the round after she battles me MOON! Remember this!

 

In your dreams, man! My story is going to be so good people are going to campaign for the ability to vote for it TWICE.
 

Utah's picture
Moderator
Utah from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry December 14, 2012 - 7:28pm

QUICK UPDATE:

It has been brought to my attention that prompts for The Pit indicate a 2500 word limit on the stories.  That is incorrect.  The word limit is 1200 words.

Carry on.

Renfield's picture
Renfield from Hell is reading 20th Century Ghosts December 14, 2012 - 7:32pm

Praying for survival so I don't have to change my username to "Flash" Gordon Highland. Which is my longtime nickname, but … well, I'd like to keep that one extra "life" in my pocket a while longer.

Was the name first bestowed on you perhaps by an ex-girlfriend in a fit of perturbation?

TomMartinArt's picture
TomMartinArt from Amherst, MA December 14, 2012 - 7:41pm

Uhh... and how do we know if we're in the pit or not? More to the point, am I in the pit?

Utah's picture
Moderator
Utah from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry December 14, 2012 - 7:46pm

TomMart:  Take a look at the bracket.  If you're in the lower half (and I think you are, not because you lost but because that was where we needed the alternate when you came in) then you're in The Pit.  Or, look at the prompt I just sent you.  If it says your story is due on the 18th, you are in The Pit.

Gordon Highland's picture
Gordon Highland from Kansas City is reading Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore December 14, 2012 - 7:47pm

Was the name first bestowed on you perhaps by an ex-girlfriend in a fit of perturbation?

No verbal complaints in the stamina department thus far. Though "I promise you won't feel a thing" is a terrible line to get a girl into bed.

I do love that Richard Branson Virgin Mobile commercial by the way, where the girl's lying in bed unsatisfied, talking about his speed.

jyh's picture
jyh from VA is reading whatever he feels like December 14, 2012 - 7:53pm

Time to participate.

I was driving home, having slept about three-point-five hours in the last forty-eight, and got pulled by a lady trooper for skirting the solid white. "I can assure you, I've had nothing but coffee to drink. No ma'am, no beer. No, I didn't steal those menus in the passenger seat."

Jonathan Riley's picture
Jonathan Riley from Memphis, Tennessee is reading Flashover by Gordon Highland December 14, 2012 - 7:53pm

Tom Martin, You started after round one and you were randomly thrown into the pit with one loss If I remember correctly.

dufrescm's picture
dufrescm from Wisconsin is reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep December 14, 2012 - 8:02pm

damn autoplay...

NikKorpon's picture
NikKorpon from Baltimore is reading Book and books and books and December 14, 2012 - 8:26pm

I feel like I ask this every time, but where be this brackets is?

jyh's picture
jyh from VA is reading whatever he feels like December 14, 2012 - 8:28pm

I feel like I ask this every time, but where be this brackets is?

Directly under baby Goku.

Gordon Highland's picture
Gordon Highland from Kansas City is reading Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore December 14, 2012 - 8:32pm

First post of this round's thread, up there.

JEFFREY GRANT BARR's picture
JEFFREY GRANT BARR from Central OR is reading Nothing but fucking Shakespeare, for the rest of my life December 14, 2012 - 8:42pm

Utah, you're so sexy when you're defending your buttrock. 

TomMartinArt's picture
TomMartinArt from Amherst, MA December 14, 2012 - 9:07pm

Geez, this 1,200 word limit's really cramping my style. 

wickedvoodoo's picture
wickedvoodoo from Mansfield, England is reading stuff. December 15, 2012 - 3:19am

1200 words is not a tight limit! You can go miles on that. 120 words would have been the chosen number if they'd really wanted to be mean to us.

wickedvoodoo's picture
wickedvoodoo from Mansfield, England is reading stuff. December 15, 2012 - 3:21am

Also - Jeff!!! Where you at. Coming for ya, mister. And I got me a pitchfork.

leah_beth's picture
leah_beth from New Jersey - now in Charleston, SC is reading five different books at once. December 15, 2012 - 5:14am

Went to sleep thinking of new prompt...woke up thinkig of new prompt.

Nothing.

Must run. Far and fast. That will help.

Dino Parenti's picture
Dino Parenti from Los Angeles is reading Everything He Gets His Hands On December 15, 2012 - 7:36am

Tell me about it. I even made the deliberate move of reading the prompt several times before getting into bed, hoping my subconscious would take over. This morning, bupkis. Need coffee and a little morning chill to clear the cobwebs. 

Gordon Highland's picture
Gordon Highland from Kansas City is reading Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore December 15, 2012 - 8:07am

I read that as "morning chili," thinking, dude's gonna be clearing more than cobwebs starting off the day like that. haha

TomMartinArt's picture
TomMartinArt from Amherst, MA December 15, 2012 - 8:29am

I finished my story last night. I want another prompt dammit.

Also, I want five finger death punch to get stomped into a coma by a metal band, but that'll fade once we get to page two. 

Matt's picture
Matt from New Zealand is reading This is how you lose her by Junot Diaz December 15, 2012 - 8:38am

I finished my story last night. I want another prompt dammit.

Seriously? Man, it takes me at least a day, usually two, just to decide what I'm going to write about. And then there's probably a day or two of panic and self doubt before I can even sit down to write. 

TomMartinArt's picture
TomMartinArt from Amherst, MA December 15, 2012 - 8:45am

I had nothing to do and I was pretty emotionally wrecked from the day, so I was ready. 

bryanhowie's picture
bryanhowie from FW, ID is reading East of Eden. Steinbeck is FUCKING AMAZING. December 15, 2012 - 8:48am

I have two stories in mind, but all of them would be immediately identifiable as written by me.

Wonder Woman's picture
Wonder Woman from RI is reading 20th Century Ghosts December 15, 2012 - 8:51am

I'm like you, Matt. I mull it over for a few days, but in The Pit you only get a few days to write, period. I'm good under pressure, though. I'll get there. 

Matt Attack's picture
Matt Attack from Richmond, Va. is reading As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner December 15, 2012 - 9:29am

Normally I am finished by now. Hell, normally I'd have written no less than two alternates. However, I don't have anything this time, which makes me wish I would have left the contest twice before when I requested it. I don't have even the shadow of thought. The prompt is far too abstract for my liking and far too broad to be distilled into a flash piece. A novella, perhaps, but not flash. 

 

In short, I hate you all. 

Jonathan Riley's picture
Jonathan Riley from Memphis, Tennessee is reading Flashover by Gordon Highland December 15, 2012 - 9:47am

Have a cigarette Matt.

Matt Attack's picture
Matt Attack from Richmond, Va. is reading As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner December 15, 2012 - 9:51am

Have a cigarette Matt."

I am 14 days deep. No fucking way. But I like the way you're thinking. 

Matt's picture
Matt from New Zealand is reading This is how you lose her by Junot Diaz December 15, 2012 - 9:53am

I hear day 15 is the hardest.