posted
I am considering reviving the hook challenge at the begining of the new year or perhaps during the holidays.
For those who don't know what I am talking about. The 13 hook challenge was a popular recuring thread in the Writing Challenge section. It was based on the theory that editors would rejected the majority of the scripts they received based on the first page of a script. With the standard, expected, submission guidelines (Title, author information, correct font size, double spacing, and a sufficent amount of space before your first line) that amounted to 13 lines. Every challenge a volunteer would write a synopsis for a plot idea. Anyone wishing to participate would come up with their version of a opening based on that synopsis. All submissions would be sent to the moderator and he(she) would post them all, anonymously (so no one would know who wrote what). An allotted amount of time would be granted for writers to think of an opening. Once that time ended, submissions would be closed and everyone would vote on the top three choices and favorite title.
I found the exersize useful, as many others did. Some very entertaining openings came out of that challenge. We had, at one point, over 20 entry's for one challenge.
What I would like to know is...
1) Is anyone still interested?
2) Is there anything you would like to be different this time?
3) Are you comfortable with one person adminstrating the challenge or should it be rotated?
If you can think of anything else to add to this discussion, by all means. I am all ears.
[This message has been edited by snapper (edited December 11, 2008).]
posted
I think there would be more participation if the premises were kept shorter. If I have to read 2 pages of background in order to write the hook, I'm less likely to participate. But if it's kept at a paragraph, leaving more room for my own ingenuity, then I'm more willing, etc.
Posts: 2195 | Registered: Aug 2006
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posted
My schedule is often hectic and changes without much notice so I would be happy to allow/force you to do all of the work creating the contest. There is no prize other than the satisfaction of as job well-done, so conflict of interest is not an issue to me. I will participate when it is feasible and inspiring. I agree with Zero; I never participated last year because of the length of some of the premises/didn't want to work that hard I guess.
Posts: 340 | Registered: Jan 2008
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posted
I've been missing it. I still hadn't quite mastered the right amount of information to put in a 13 line challenge. The hardest part for me was the critiquing. I'm a slow critiquer, as some of you are figuring out. Still, practice makes perfect, right? Melanie
Posts: 938 | Registered: May 2008
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posted
I've been coping with bouts of insomnia lately, so maybe this idea will seem stupid in the morning, but at 3 a.m. it seems totally brilliant.
Maybe we could spend a month doing the 13 lines contest, and then a month doing TaleSpinner's Flash Fiction contest and then a month doing something else (my genius doesn't extend to knowing what that "something else" is.)
The month's could fuzz into each other--we could get 4 13 line competitions done in a month and still be critiquing the last one during the first week of the flash fiction contest, and still be doing the critiques for the flash fiction piece while we embark on the third month's adventures.
That might help eliminate some of the stress for those of us who want to do everything. Melanie
posted
We could save a month for Nanowrimo or have a month devoted to WOTF, or a contest for submitting to a publisher, or writing a cover letter.
Posts: 938 | Registered: May 2008
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posted
I dont know much about it (other than what's posted here), but it sounds challenging. I'd be interested
Posts: 171 | Registered: Oct 2008
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posted
I'm a rank newbie here but I like the sound of this. Assuming I can remember my password...if it wasn't for flashbacks I'd have no memory at all... Posts: 11 | Registered: Dec 2008
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posted
For those that have never participated or seen a hook challenge here is how it worked. This is from one of my favorite ones. The winner I felt wrote the best opening we had. This is the fourth installment, it carried on to 18 challenges before it finally ran out of steam.
posted
I am a little hurt, Snapper. While you didnt have to pick one I had won, but one of my worst, jeez. Thats no way to go about getting offers for syposises. Just kidding, when the list comes out put my name down.
Posts: 1168 | Registered: Mar 2008
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posted
I will probably put up a synopsis before christmas. In case you are sitting around on christmas day, getting sick of kids that are jealous because they believe their siblings got the better deal, and bitter that your spose really didn't put much effort into buying you something you wanted, and tired of the tension of gathering with the rest of your family for dinner, and wishing the day away from work would seem more like the day off it is supposed to be, then you can escape from reality and show off your true gift by diving in the world of imagination that you family could never truely appreciate.... Where am I going with this?
Oh yes, I'll probably put something out between the holidays to take advantage of the extra time off most of us get.
posted
I just wrote a synopsis. If enough people can't wait I'll post it immediately. If not, I'll sit on my hands for a week.
Posts: 3072 | Registered: Dec 2007
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posted
Snapper, I understand it is awful hard to write or drive while sitting on your hands. I can wait, but be careful out there.
Posts: 2003 | Registered: Jul 2008
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