May 2008 Daily Writing Competition Topics

INKsters Daily Writing Competition for May 2008

The contest rules and submission requirements are on the bottom of the notecard. Please read them to prevent driving me crazy.

MOST IMPORTANT THING OF ALL: Please hit SEARCH on the bottom of your screen, select the "Groups" tab, and join the INKsters. We're positively intoxicated by the literary community in Second Life and utterly indulgent about crashing your group messages with noteworthy cultural events around our little world. We want you to join us and we want you to create something you're passionate about too and share it with us.

Please take the daily competition topics as starting points. They're designed to expand your mind and suggest a possible direction for you today, rather than being a specific task for you to complete. Please think divergently and create something beautiful, funny, poignant, interesting or informative. If the topic doesn't work for "you," create a character or situation to make it work.

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THEME NOVEL FOR THE MONTH: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
(Go read it if you haven't already. It's super fun!)

May 01: Let's Go!
If you could hitchhike anyplace in the galaxy, where would you go?

May 02: Planet Sized Brain
Your robot is depressed. How will you cheer him up?

May 03: Abbreviation
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is often abbreviated "HHGTTG" or "H2G2." I abbreviate my Second Life name as Ink. You may have seen the "six word autobiography" challenge on the internet. How would you abbreviate who you are?

May 04: Mother's Day Stories Due
Funny yet poignant. Make your mom laugh and then cry.
(Early deadline so it's ready for mom. This contest is worth 500 linden and you may exceed the 400 word limit, but please keep your lengths reasonable.)

May 05: Vogon Poetry
I know I use this topic about three times a year, but it just doesn't get old. The Vogons are reputed to be the worst poets in the universe. Can you beat them?

May 06: Zaphod Beeblebrox
He's the president of the galaxy. He stole a space ship. If you were president of the galaxy, what would you steal?

May 07: Heart of Gold
Who do you know with a heart of gold? Where do they take you?

May 08: Trillian
Tricia McMillan, better known as Trillian, is the only other survivor of the destruction of Earth when the Vogons clear it out to make room for an intergalactic super highway. If you could pick one other person on this planet as your only survivor, who would it be and why?

May 09: Forty-two
What is your ultimate answer to life, the universe, and everything?

May 10: The Question
What is your ultimate question?

May 11: Guidebook Entry
They've called you up to write an entry in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy about a place you know better than anybody else. Write the entry for us.

May 12: My Alien Friend
Arthur Dent didn't know his best friend was an alien. Which one of your friends is most likely to be from another planet?

May 13: Mice
Mice may be calculating the ultimate question even as we speak, but I bet you have a memorable encounter with a mouse in your past. Recount it.

May 14: The Right Number
When first published, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy sold a quarter million copies in the first three months. That's a pretty good indication the author created something valuable. How do you know when your writing (or other artistic endeavors) is having a meaningful impact? How do you gauge success?

May 15: Space Tourism
Virgin Galactic Airlines will make routine sub-orbital flights into space for anybody with the fee. The cost is $200,000 USD. Would you pay that for the chance to go? If you had that amount of cash rolling around in your pockets, what would you love to buy?

May 16: Parallel Universe
Who lives in your alternate universe? What do they do there? What is better and worse in the universe running along side the one you live in?

May 17: Babble Fish
To understand each other in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, people simply put a Babble Fish into their ear. What languages do you know? Which ones would you like to learn? What forms of communication do you use that are better than spoken language?

May 18: Sentient Computers
Do you want technology to play a bigger role in your life? What would you like machines to take care of for you?

May 19: Radio Script
They've just handed you the microphone. Say what you have to say, but say it as if it is being broadcast over AM radio on a Sunday to everybody in your local area. Select a topic you're passionate about in your home town and speak from the heart.

May 20: Mostly Harmless
Are you? What makes you partly harmful?

May 21: Don't Panic
Describe a scene in your life when you out-and-out panicked. What caused it? What was the result?

May 22: Hitching
They've just closed down your town due to an outbreak of something horrible. You need to leave with only the clothing on your back. Where will your thumb take you? Where would you begin again?

May 23: Comic Book
An illustrator from DC Comics is on the phone. He's drawing the cover art to a comic book about your life. He needs to know what imagery you'd like to use. Type out the conversation for us.

May 24: Yum!
You and your current lover have been invited to dinner at The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. It's a formal evening and should be the fanciest night of your life. Just as you arrive and are being announced, you see a former lover has also been invited. Then you discover you'll be sitting at the same table. You know what happens next, right?

May 25: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Towel Day
Always bring a towel, especially on the 25th. What do you do to be prepared?

May 26: Unhelpful
You've been invited to offer some unhelpful remarks about something you've written. You'll be presenting your unhelpful remarks to an audience of people who are smarter than you. What will you tell them?

May 27: Sci-Fi Character
For the next five days, I'll challenge you to create an outline of a full-blown science fiction short story (or novel or epic poem). If you're into fantasy, or gaming, or something related to the science fiction genre, it's okay to go in that direction instead. Create a main character for your story. As with most main characters, your leader should be relatable, conflicted, and fascinating.

May 28: Sci-Fi Setting
For day two of the challenge, describe one or more settings where your action will take place. A bar on a remote planet, a mythical forest, a cave with relics from a forgotten civilization, or a space ship with a sexy alien co-pilot all make lovely settings. Be detailed. Consider how your location will affect the story.

May 29: Sci-Fi Plot
Okay, here's the bare bones no frills attached plot outline. You only have 500 words, so picture today's entry on the back cover of your book. What happens in your story?

May 30: Sci-Fi Round-up
You know your main character and where he or she will be located and you even know what they will do. Take time today to describe other characters, other important aspect of the story, your themes, your point of view, or anything else you think will help serve as a reminder of what you want to accomplish for your reader in this story.

May 31: Final Project
Do NOT turn in your completed story. Today's entry should be up to 500 words out of your story. The real story! Do your best job of crafting your sentences and bringing your imagery to life. Maybe it's the first 500 words. Maybe it's the 500 words when we meet your main character in the story, or take a look around your setting for the first time. Just make sure you are happy this is your BEST effort at bringing together your elements you've been working on this week.


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HOW TO ENTER:

1. From your Inventory, select the Create menu and then begin a New Note. Write your entry onto the notecard (or Control-V to paste it onto the card from your word processor). Your entry should have your name at the bottom. Rename the description on the notecard to be the same as the competition name and date. Save your notecard in your inventory and you MUST rename the notecard with your name first, then the title of the competition, then the due date.

2. Next, from your saved notecard in your inventory you MUST right-click on the notecard select Properties. Make sure the toggle boxes at the bottom are checked to allow future owners to modify, copy, AND give/transfer. I must have full permissions from you to place the notecard in our anthologies.

3. Teleport to the INKsters Mailbox:

and drag and drop your finished notecard into our mailbox. Then send me an IM to let me know you've completed your entry. If you have any technical difficulties, please let me know and I will help you.

THE RULES:

1. You have until 11:59 p.m. Second Life time on each day to write one entry in English related to the topic. I reserve the right in my sole discretion to grant a wee bit of wiggle room when necessary for late entries (but don't count on it bub!).

2. Your entry must be NO MORE than 500 words. If it's a little over, I won't disqualify you; if it's a lot over, I will. Brevity is the soul of wit, so please stop when you're done!

3. An illustration, photo or texture usable in Second Life to accompany the story is strongly encouraged, but not required. Please drop your illustration onto your notecard (make sure the properties are set to full permissions).

PRIZES:

I award L$25 to the best entry. If I decide none of the entries are a winner, I reserve the right to award no prize on a given day. I also reserve the right to award more than one prize if I have ants in my pants.

I am occasionally asked, "What are you looking for?" Short answer: Quality writing. I don't care if it's poetry, prose, fiction, essays, journalism, or alleged non-fiction. If your writing is the best today, you'll win. Also, please note the vagaries of competition: Sometimes your most beautiful work ever is overlooked in the judging process, and sometimes a total piece of poop wins, and those of us who've been writers for a long time are so used to this we don't even notice it anymore. We hope you understand completing and submitting your writing makes you a champion. The competition is a motivational tactic to help all of us feel a sense of urgency to create something beautiful from nothingness.

PROCEDURAL MUMBO JUMBO:

I publish the writing prompts monthly. William Shakespeare in the INKsters Headquarters will always know what's what. Touch him, like he's touched you.

There is no fee to compete. All times are Second Life time. By entering, you grant me the permanent right to use your story in our Second Life anthologies and on our blog related to Second Life on the internet.

http://slinksters.blogspot.com/

You retain all other rights. I encourage you to submit your writing to other people and places in the real world and in Second Life.

Good Luck!

ItsNaughtKnotty Cannned