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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Challenge Dear Diary Challenge 2017 | 11/30: 2018 Challenge Discussion Now Open

Discussion in 'Fan Fiction and Writing Resource' started by Diary_Challenge_Sock, Dec 3, 2016.

  1. Diary_Challenge_Sock

    Diary_Challenge_Sock Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Oct 23, 2007
    August 2017—Discussion and Mini-Challenge

    Here are some last-minute items for August, provided by Kahara.

    Discussion: Time Travel

    If your character could time travel to anywhere, any time in the history of the galaxy, where would they go? Assuming that they were willing to jump in a time machine... ;)

    Mini Challenge: Mysterious Objects

    Your character finds something they don't recognize. Explore how your character reacts to this find, whether they investigate it or not.
     
  2. Lady_Misty

    Lady_Misty Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 21, 2007
    Discussion: Time Travel Ah, Linza might go back eight hundred years ago so she could see the events of the War of the Stars. David on the other hand is a little tricky. There are several time periods he would love to visit but he'd be worried about accidentally changing the Past and maybe wiping out a huge chunk of history.

    Mini Challenge: Mysterious Object This might be easier than I originally thought but a lot of my fic is centered on mysterious objects. Hm.
     
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  3. DARTH_MU

    DARTH_MU Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 9, 2005
    List of OCs

    Lintai Skywalker: Taking the time machine to the time before the Killik mission. Around 30 ABY
    Xin Skywalker: Same
    Honor Tur-Hazy: Take the machine to 26 ABY to Chusan X to stop Jedi Academy massacre.
    Nisha Windrider: Take the machine to the the Flagship of Grand Admiral Sloane and kill Snoke.
    Kebin Windrider: Take the machine to 9 ABY, the Stardestroyer Murderer, to save his sister from the Jedi
    His sister is alive, and his fiancee, the Snoke agent Lael, (Is Lael her real name?) lied to him
    Daire Dhu: Take the machine to 1000 ABY to Syned and wake herself up.
    Haster Zhor: Take the machine to 1000 ABY to Ruusan to fight the Jedi.
    Lady Lees Azedio: to 27 ABY Corulag prison, break herself out, and start smuggling to make profits. The take the machine to Naboo where she runs her own bounty hunter agency.
    et al.

    Too long, didn't read: Get the machine and start correcting past wrongs, and then start enjoy life. Maybe.
     
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  4. Diary_Challenge_Sock

    Diary_Challenge_Sock Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Oct 23, 2007
    September 2017—Discussion and Mini-Challenge

    Here at the penultimate minute of the month, and presented by Pandora.


    Discussion: Changes

    Change. As a certain wise woman once said, you can no more stop it than you can stop the suns from setting. At this point, your narrator has no doubt experienced changes in their life—both minor and significant, and for the better, and for the worse. (And after all, change is generally considered necessary for good fiction.) Let’s talk about them.

    *

    Mini-Challenge: “Unleaving”


    Your narrator is grieving/over Goldengrove unleaving. Literally or figuratively.
     
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  5. Lady_Misty

    Lady_Misty Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 21, 2007
    Well Linza learned that there is life in the galaxy and is adjusting to all sorts of new revelations (she also thinks the first alien she met is hot). ;)

    David is going to break a few laws to get Linza to Coruscant; something he would never do but it is the right thing to do.
     
  6. Jedi_Lover

    Jedi_Lover Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 1, 2004
    I think Talon Tantiss' greatest changes involved the women he loved. He fathered a child with one woman who hid the pregnancy from him until two years later when he discovered the truth. He also married Karrde's daughter Zylie which probably surprised him more than anything since they were both at each other's throats as children.

    The biggest anticipated change for him should happen this year. He will find out the truth about everything that was hidden from him and afterwards he will be given two changes that he had hoped for, but never thought he would acquire.
     
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  7. Ewok Poet

    Ewok Poet Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014
    So...Diary_Challenge_Sock, Kahara, Pandora ...and everybody else, really.

    It's November 09th and I have ten entries to post until the end of the year. How would you go on about that, if you were me? I don't want to lose readers.
     
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  8. Briannakin

    Briannakin Former Manager star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Feb 25, 2010
    There's what, 8 weeks left in the year? 1 update a week, plus a bonus one for the 31st, then you either post 2 updates together (something I'm going to be doing since my update schedule kinda got messed up, but I have an update that is only 400 words so it works) or do a random bonus update.


    Also, off topic, someone remind me to write up my thoughts on the whole multi-character narrator rules that we tried out this year.
     
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  9. Kahara

    Kahara FFoF Hostess Extraordinaire star 4 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Mar 3, 2001
    Ewok Poet, making a few extra posts towards the end seems unlikely to be a problem -- at least, it wouldn't bother me. :)
     
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  10. Ewok Poet

    Ewok Poet Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014
    I guess I have to get off my butt (huh-huh, she said "butt") and get down on it, then...
     
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  11. Briannakin

    Briannakin Former Manager star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Feb 25, 2010
    Okay, now that I have a minute (and I hope this isn’t too early to give my final thoughts on this experiment) here are my thoughts on the multi-narrator rules that we introduced this year. I think they should remain as is. First, it is completely do-able to write 48 entries in a year. The first few weeks are a bit scary, but if you have enough material, you can do it. I feel like part of the original spirit of this challenge is to write 24 “updates” from a single character’s POV and the updated rules still apply. I could have put my two diaries in two different threads, but that just would have been a headache for me and my readers.

    Overall, as someone who has done this challenge 6 times now (and the 2 years I failed were mainly a result of outside events), it’s nice to have a bit of a change and a bit more of a challenge if I wanted it. Will I ever attempt a multi-narrated diary again? Maybe. I’m a bit of a sucker for the DDC. My muse kinda wants me to do something similar for my 2018 diary using 2 OCs. My muse also gave me the idea for a 4-person narrative DDC using 4 OCs (over like a 20 year timeframe). I am tempted to do it, but I also want to live to see 2019, so it isn't happening.
     
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  12. Ewok Poet

    Ewok Poet Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014
    You're good! I would not dare to try that - the 52-entry + epilogue DDC with a single narrator in 2016 was quite a challenge and this year, a 36-entry one proved to be a challenge, too.

    That said, I have made a resolution that I need to stick with - no DDC in 2018. I need to focus on my epics and, well, DRL, so I hope that I won't be tempted. If I do so, stop me, for I would be working against myself and my own good.
     
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  13. Briannakin

    Briannakin Former Manager star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Feb 25, 2010
    It was my first "long" NSWFF to boot, so I'm really excited that I wrote 48 entries (plus a epilogue). But I had so much fun, the muse is going with a double narrator in a similar style with OCs for 2018. I already have a sheet full of ideas and I can't wait to start.

    But I also get the need for the break from the DDC. It can be a real time commitment - which can be a good and a bad thing. My DDC this year was really my only "long fic" but I'm happy I got to tell the story I wanted to.
     
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  14. Diary_Challenge_Sock

    Diary_Challenge_Sock Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Oct 23, 2007
    November 2017—Discussion and Mini-Challenge

    Kahara here with your discussion and mini-challenge for barely-still-November. I apologize for how long it's been since the last one!

    Discussions about next year will be beginning soon, so watch this space. :)

    Discussion: The Hardest Test

    Tell us about the most difficult task that your character has faced in their life so far. How do they feel about that experience now, and has it made them more or less confident going forward?

    *

    Mini-Challenge: Guest Starring...

    Feature a side character from your character's diary thus far, and give us a chance to see how your character thinks about them.
     
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  15. Ewok Poet

    Ewok Poet Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014
    Discussion: The Hardest Test
    Tell us about the most difficult task that your character has faced in their life so far. How do they feel about that experience now, and has it made them more or less confident going forward?

    Doria Vorr's biggest challenges in times of the DDC were her father Elesandre's death and her boyfriend Porky's attempt to get some in an inappropriate manner and a totally wrong situation. The earlier hasn't quite hit her yet - her mother Maris feels worse about it than Doria does. The latter made her very, very wary of young men and their intentions, to the point where she more or less avoids all of them apart from her childhood friend, Jan Katisver. It doesn't help that her views of family, relationships and friendships in "progressive" Sacorrian society are already warped...

    *

    Mini-Challenge: Guest Starring...
    Feature a side character from your character's diary thus far, and give us a chance to see how your character thinks about them.


    Pantareah "Pan" Steeurpa is a xenobiology teacher at FAIS (First Agricultural Institute of Saccorata - a highly regarded Lyceum) in her mid-thirties. She's average-looking, with short blonde hair and stubby build, but she has a big heart. Unlike most teachers on Sacorria, she appreciates free thinkers. She doesn't mind if her students are not going to study xenobiology at the university, she doesn't pay any less attention to those who are going to major in something else. She loves to engage her students in hands-on projects, she takes care of a couple of simulated ecosystems in the large yard and gardens of FAIS, most notably an experimental fish pond. Pan's mother and grandmother, both called Trudee (and curiously enough, the younger Trudee married a person with the same last name as hers!) were/are xenobiology teachers, too; but Pan was the first in the family who moved from Sublata to Saccorata in order to seek better opportunities. Her handsome boyfriend, Nekolaas Aven'tua works as a professor at the Saccorata Tech and they're about to get married.

    Pan's views of love and relationships are very liberal, too. She doesn't think like a Sacorrian, she thinks like a Vagranite.

    "You have to love your family. You have to find an animal or a plant to connect to. You have to be ready to give everything up for a dear friend. You need to connect to a place and then, and only then, you can find a lover that suits you."

    Doria and Pan have a special connection, almost like friends and not like a student and a teacher. In fact, Doria is more comfortable talking about some things with Pan than she is with her mother. One could say that Doria is Pan's favourite student. She encourages her to help out at the experimental pond, something that most other students are reluctant to do. When Doria is assessed by Sophronim, the school psychologist, Pan dismisses all of it as gibberish and tells Doria that real life doesn't work the way that Seegmon D'Fraud's cult following thinks it does. It's not a spoiler to say that Doria will get the highest grade in xenobiology at the end of the school year. ;)
     
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  16. Lady_Misty

    Lady_Misty Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 21, 2007
    Hardest Test: Linza had to face leaving her home world and travel to Coruscant and testify before the Senate what was being done on her home world. It is the hardest thing she has had to do for the time being. The only thing that could top it is when she returns home informing her people about the rest of the galaxy and helping bring them into the Republic.

    The hardest thing David has had to do for the time being is mutiny against his employer and stand up for a people he knows so little about but it is the right thing to do.
     
  17. Diary_Challenge_Sock

    Diary_Challenge_Sock Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Oct 23, 2007
    The year is rapidly approaching the final day, and it is the time to start thinking about the next year. It will be the eleventh year for this challenge (which would be at least eleventy years in Internet Time) and while the basic challenge structure has served it well thus far, there is always room to consider how it might be improved upon or refined.

    We’re also interested in hearing your opinions on several specific issues:

    Discussions/Mini-Challenges.

    Are you still interested in doing these? If so, would you prefer that they continue to be posted on a monthly basis, or less often—perhaps on a bi-monthly, or even quarterly, schedule. What sort of discussions would you like to see? The sort of random way we have been doing it, or perhaps something more organized; say, like a writer’s workshop type thing.

    Posts Written Before the January 1st Starting Date.

    At the beginning of the year, we shelved this issue for later. Well: it’s later now. As we said back then, we are strongly recommending using pre-written posts as extras, rather than posts counting towards the competition, but we are interested in hearing what you think before we make that an official definition.

    *

    Finally, the Free-For-All: is there anything else you would like to discuss or see clarified further? Do you have any ideas or suggestions? Let us know about them.
     
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  18. Briannakin

    Briannakin Former Manager star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Feb 25, 2010
    Even though I didn't participate in every discussion (and some didn't really apply to my diary as it was earth-based NSWFF) I really enjoyed them, especially the more technical ones. But I totally understand that coming up with a new discussion question every moth can be hard, so bi-monthly might work better?

    As for the Mini-challenges, I think they should stay because sometimes, especially newer participants get to the point where they have no idea what to do next. But I know for me, I actually ended up having to cut storylines (I know I could have added more entries, but my diary was already getting out of control as it was).


    I agree that pre-written posts should be allowed to be posted/part of the story, but not count towards the final 24 count. It allows people to experiment if they are unsure of an idea, but it starts everyone off on January 1st on equal footing [though, as someone who has done this a few time now, there's something just so special about sitting down on the 1st, hungover (or some years still drunk....), and just writing and committing to something completely new... anyways].


    Um. Technically I think the whole multiple narrators rules was an experiment for this year. Will they remain?
     
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  19. mavjade

    mavjade Former Manager star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 10, 2005
    I too like the discussions and the mini-challenges, but I also know it can be difficult, so I think every other month would be fine.

    I agree that the 1st should be the start date. It's a challenge, and everyone should be starting at the same time. It can be hard to wait when you get an idea, but you can do everything but write the entires. I think that is fair.


    Other thoughts: Just throwing this out there, feel free to say it's a terrible idea.
    I was thinking about how hard it is to go the whole year for some people, like me. It's a marathon and I just can't seem to make it to the finish line. I've tried many times, but as soon as I get behind, that's it, I end up stopping even if I have more written, and then I feel terrible. So I was thinking about a half-marathon and maybe allow for half-year diaries? That makes the goal a little closer and seem less daunting.

    Then people could start a new half-year diary in July if they want to move onto another one. This would allow people who don't feel like they have 24 entires worth of story to tell to participate, or for someone new to start in the middle of the year.
     
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  20. Ewok Poet

    Ewok Poet Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014
    Discussions/Mini-Challenges.

    I'm the type who is more likely to finish the DDC in the first third of the year and then just post. I will add the mini-challenge requirements where possible, or find the entry that fulfills it and proclaim it to be the challenge response.

    Discussions should always remain monthly, no matter what. Heck, I'd take bi-weekly ones, too. :D

    Posts Written Before the January 1st Starting Date.

    I stand by what I said last year and I know I am the minority, but yeah - I have no problem with this. Sometimes, we have ideas that go nowhere.

    For example, this was - apparently - my original idea for the 2016 DDC. I had only title and a short introduction.

    If I ever wanted to do this, I guess I'd reuse this intro.

    And I had an aborted 2017 one with the structure prepared (when I say "structure", I mean a Word document with 24 headings numbered from 1 to 24) and 400-something worst thrown together in the first of entries. If I decided to continue with that, I'd probably rework those 400 words.

    But writing the whole thing ahead? Nope.

    Finally, the Free-For-All: is there anything else you would like to discuss or see clarified further? Do you have any ideas or suggestions? Let us know about them.

    YOU FORGOT TO BOLD THIS AND THAT HURTS ME PERSONALLY...so I went ahead and bolded it myself.

    I'd love some kind of a support club, where we're e.g. assigned a diary-buddy and support each other throughout the year. :)
     
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  21. Lady_Misty

    Lady_Misty Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 21, 2007
    Discussions/Mini-challenges: While I like the mini-challenges if they are posted late, i am not blaming anyone, it can be hard to incorporate it into an entry and sometimes the mini-challenge didn't fit my diary. I do like the discussions though and it is fun to read them.

    Posts Written Before the January First Starting Date: I do think we should keep the start date January First unless there are extenuating circumstances like work (mavejade being gone for Humanitarian Work or being out of touch for a bit) but then they can just ask for an extension instead of starting early. We should take the time before the start of the next challenge brainstorming the story and setting, maybe even have a list of names and places.

    Free-For-All: I don't think i have any suggestions at this time.
     
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  22. WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2004
    Ewok Poet -- yay another person who says thingamajig [face_laugh] [face_mischief] and mavjade -- that is an absolutely stunning idea about half-marathons. :D I wholeheartedly stand by that idea. :cool: I think I could do a half-year challenge easier than a whole. [face_thinking]
     
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  23. Ewok Poet

    Ewok Poet Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014
    Count on me to pick up the weirdest of slang words and then be unable to spell words such as "acquiatance" (I know I got it wrong).

    In fact, I might give this away as a plot bunny.
     
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  24. Briannakin

    Briannakin Former Manager star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Feb 25, 2010
    I like the idea of half-marathon diaries [face_thinking] Then both January and July-started diaries could compete in their own voting at the end of the year and the year-long diaries would be their own voting thing. It would certainly encourage more people to write with less commitment while still allowing the insane asylum escapees to do the "original" challenge.

    If you have more written, you could post them[face_batting]
    Come on! Feed my addiction![face_praying] :p
     
  25. Ewok Poet

    Ewok Poet Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014
    So, I actually have an idea for 2018 that would not take more than, err, two hours to complete and then just post the 24 entries over the common timespan. The thing is...it's too absurd to be normal, in any way and I can't possibly imagine what the replies would look like.

    Kahara, Pandora & Diary_Challenge_Sock and also Briannakin and mavjade. [face_blush]
     
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