Challenge Dear Diary Challenge 2016|December discussion and mini-challenge now up

I have no problems with the current rules. But the way the rules have been presented is somewhat messy - the scolding finger smiley in the rule number 6, the overall tone of the rule number 5, the confusing way the rule 8 was worded. And "deadline" in 10 is one word, but the two of you absolutely know it.

What I would love to see is a way for more people to interact and more people to participate. This year, way too many people quit and what we ended up with are four first person stories and one spoken stream of consciousness - which is good, but isn't that many and there is no much variety. And there were so many interesting things that dropped or were excused - those resembling old-fashioned journals, a joint dystopian horror memoir, a really odd and good take on seeing TV personalities as characters as opposed to people...so, whatever can be done to motivate folk who write to finish, I'd love it.

On the other hand, I feel that the whole concept of a diary should not head too far away from what it is. As in, I could do a series of investigation transcripts between an interrogator and a witness, but that has nothing to do with diaries. So, how about defining a diary as a "first person thing that chronicles events and reflections" or something? I'm not good with definitions.

 

Thank you for your input, everyone. You have been a great deal of help with revising the rules, and you will receive the proper credit when the new rules are revealed with the new thread. Which will be up in another few days, so: keep watching the skies.

 

December 2016 – Discussion and Mini-Challenge

This is Pandora, and I am here with the last challenge of the year.


Discussion: The Portrait of Your Narrator

After writing about the narrator of your diary for a year, and from their point of view, you most likely have them fairly well figured out by now—both their good, and their unlikeable, sides.

How does your narrator think of themselves? Do they hold themselves in high regard, or do they tend to have a low self-image? What external factors influence their opinion?

How do the people they interact with view them? Do their images of the narrator agree with, or contradict, how the narrator sees themselves?

What is one of their main weaknesses? Have they changed during the course of the narrative? If not, do you think they will at some point after this diary ends?

That leads to this question: what are some of their better qualities?

And finally--to end with this really shallow note caught being passed in a seventh grade classroom circa 1990: do you, the author, like them? Yes, no, or maybe so? Would you be friends with them and join them on a cruise if you were to meet in real life?

*

Mini-Challenge: “Goodbyeee.”

I typed, as the last person seen on this thread. Perhaps your character is the Last One Standing in a city, on an entire planet, or a World War I trench. Or perhaps you could just use this prompt as an excuse to throw in a Blackadder reference somewhere.