Science Fiction Microstory Contest discussion
*MAY 2016 MICRO STORY CONTEST - COMMENTS ONLY
"Utropeian Rhapsody" that's the title I'm now 'bagsing' for my story. When I said "Utropeia", before, you said "close", JJ. So I hope it wasn't "Utropeian Rhapsody" that you are going for! lol (I've acknowledged Freddie Mercury's "Bohemian Rhapsody." I've done that within the story itself.)I've got 250 words left to go. I agree its a fun topic. I loved writing the opening line, "Once upon a time on a dark and stormy night ..." but I also can't help but take things deadly seriously. So 'the surreality of reality' and does that come from how we structure our categorization of real-stuff, in unreal ways that nevertheless work? is sort of what I am trying to explore and express in my story. I hope I have made it comprehensible, and fun, enough.
If we put all these together, we could skip the storifying.
Actually, that's probably The Elusive "Original Trope" that JJ wanted to be notified of if one was found, Paula! 'A story that is made by skipping the storifying.' (If you discount Reality TV, where they basically do that,) it does look like it could be a brand new trope! So Andy (L.), what can you come up with as a newly coined word, to mean, in fiction writing, "a story made by skipping the storifying"?
A story made without storifying sounds like life without the colour.But a single word for that is a hard challenge, Heather. We'll all need to cogitate on that.
The "original trope", though, would be the archetrope
It can of course be misused, as in the sentence: "Where would the world's great monotheistic religions be without the Jerusalem archetrope?"
Well, yes when you put it like that ("A story made without storifying sounds like life without the colour") it does sound like an impossibility ... and I suppose there is a limit at which 'all trace of story' AND/or 'all traces of the storifying process' might be gone. (The word "storifying" sounds as if its about 'the process' of making a story.) So I think its within the spectrum of 'Tropes.' This link talks about Reality TV's process of 'making story.' http://www.wga.org/organizesub.aspx?i...
e.g., it says So how does reality TV work? The first thing to realize is that the term "unscripted" is a fallacy. No, we don't write pages of dialogue, but we do create formats, cast people based on character traits and edit scenes to tell a powerful, intriguing tale. In short, we are storytellers just like you. We just get there a little differently.
But the reason it interests me (and why I think it is relevant to the subject of 'tropes') is because it seems like reality TV 'stories' are just a product of the changing times and so I wonder where are the outer limits of 'other forms of story' - specifically on traditional written forms - in terms of the impact made, on their storifying process, by the changing times ... and where the limit of that change might extend to, in the future.
p.s. "archetrope" is a good word.
When my daughter was doing a creative writing degree they did a project in creative non-fiction - that's another avenue.
Hi, everyone Carol Shetler here. Could I request that all story writers put their full name under the title of their stories? Each writer's Goodreads tag name is their first name only. We have several Toms, Andys, and Jeremys, for example, who contribute each month, so voting will be more accurate if we have the writer's full name to go with the title of the stories we like.
I think we have a fabulous topic and required elements this month. Just skimmed over the list of speculative fiction tropes -yoicks! Makes one wonder how any story can claim to be "original" any more...
I have a story in progress (not sure if I'll post that one, or a different one here) titled "The Tropes of Capricorn".
Andy wrote: "Reading the TV tropes links above, I got to wondering if a list of what is not a trope might be shorter ..."I'm with you on that, Andy... took me several minutes just to glance over one subset of tropes.
Cor! Typing on a tablet is not fun... it damages my credibility as an editor when I have to edit my own postings a few times.
Entropy - state of story telling where well-worn clichés go from bad to worse.
Oddly enough I didn't clue in on my own published work. The planet where my first novella starts is called...wait for it...ENTROPIA.
Seriously.
Now that's a good story, Justin! An amazing little story of serendipity ... but it took no storifying to create it; just life's own natural serendipity and the reader filling in all the details for themselves https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serendi...
Is it ok if I explicitly mentioned the sources of my trope in my submission?
The more creative ways we find to play with the theme, the better!
Dean wrote: "Is it ok if I explicitly mentioned the sources of my trope in my submission?"Dude, someone wrote a story about the Barrel Of Monkeys once. I think you're fine. (But consider the source!)
@ Carol. I love that title you mentioned for a story you might post this month (I hope you do): "The Tropes of Capricorn." If it had just been "The Trope (singular) of Capricorn" it would still be a great title - with it reference to the Tropic of Capricorn, but making 'trope' plural as you have really adds to the intrigue! I think its fantastic. It sort of multiples the interest ... the Trope-ic of Capricorn ... but wait there's more ... there's tropes not just a trope! Is there a conspiracy between them? Is there a battle between them? What is it that tropes get up to in a gang? ... and so on. The Something-or-others (plural) of Something/somewhere-or-other (singular) just has such a wonderfully balanced yet dynamic feel to it. I think it is one of the most brilliant forms of story title ever, eg as in my favourite all time animated film, "Les Triplettes de Belleville http"://satirist.org/swapa/belleville.html (its not 'silent' - there are sound effects - but no spoken words as such.) But when I first read that it had no spoken words (there are sung words and music) AFTER I just happened to see it on TV one evening I had to go and find it on the www. because I had thought that they did speak! It is so well done you just fill in the script in your own head!)
p.s. that link goes to an analysis of the film's meaning ... and the author even says he "doesn't know why" he couldn't find that meaning-analysis already mentioned anywhere else on the web ... but its because the film works so well at an emotional level, I think. It is just so creative and so entertaining and heartwarming, yet sobering too (the constant battle between the creative-drive vs money/power/etc forces), that you just 'get it all' without any analysis needed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gvogg... (when the grandson is short and fat and gets his first bicycle) ... then https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be_eo... (when he is grown and lean and muscled and training to be in the Tour de France) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2ztL... (in the Tour de France and first indications of the kidnapping {there's actually one scene in there of a butchers shop with the sign "tripes du jour" in the window!} Deliberate?) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsp2O... (travelling to Belleville: grandmother chasing the ship that has the kidnapped grandson on board.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4X-u... (the grandmother meeting the musically talented triplets who help her) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z9f7... (flashback to when the triplets were in their prime and famous) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgrpv... (the grandmother in concert with the musically talented triplets and Bruno, the grandson's dog's, dream and reaction) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au5Uj... (final scene)
But back to the topic of tropes, more directly ... the author at that link says "The climax is a parody of a cliche Hollywood chase scene, though Hollywood chase scenes are so over-the-top that it’s hard to exaggerate them any further. The end is “yes, it’s over” (one of the few bits that depends on language and, I suppose, had to be translated for the North American release): The old heartfelt cartoons are gone, and money is in charge now. Every event in between lights the path we have taken from there to here."
AND
he, (the author of the article at that link) also posts another analysis from one of his readers (native to France), a short part of which is, "The fact that they don’t spell things out for you, as Hollywood often does, really makes you think."
@Andyyou said, When my daughter was doing a creative writing degree they did a project in creative non-fiction - that's another avenue.
Very interesting, and apparently increasingly popular https://www.creativenonfiction.org/on... says that the key is to write in 'scenes' ... ie to show not tell 'the true story.'
In a way, the type of science fiction that is true to 'real science' (maybe science at the cutting edge of known-science) is approaching being in the 'creative non fiction' genre?
Hi Davon, "a creative approach to a crazed science fiction/ fact about an already developing event in the world." Sounds like the future of science fiction could be really interesting: maybe (back to) a truer marriage between 'creative non-fiction' and 'science:fiction' ?And yes, "wondering what that subject will be" is what 'makes my day' nowadays! (My health is a bit 'iffy' at times but the old mind seems to keep ticking over and to be able to wonder and ponder about such a topic as you mentioned and to know that others also are thinking that, well its just great!)
Davon! "I do wish I could see more books treating this tropic as a contending force on mainstream."Was that a genuine typo? It's very funny and clever (whether deliberately or subconsciously done) ... it makes sense as 'topic' or 'tropic'!
By the way, what sort of "realities of tomorrow" are rolling around as contenders in your mind?For me, so far, its anything to do with that which comes under the umbrella of "future consciousness" and how 'systems within systems' or 'interacting systems' will be with that; I mean both science systems and social systems. All sorts of things: science and spirituality; science and species; science and The Law/laws/lore; science and politics; science and creativity/art; science and trade/finance; science and societal-space; science and exhaustion-of-or-alternatively-enhancement-of-energy/health ...
eg one thing that has greatly 'dulled' CONSCIOUSNESS en masse, I think, is the way WORK is currently organized. There is a real tug of war (in all but the strongest/bravest souls, and those who actually love their work) between what 'a deeply conscious person' chooses to believe and do, and what a 'morally-exhausted-by-their-work/bosses/work culture/fear of lack of 'money'/etc, etc person' chooses to believe and do. Can future science (help to) drastically change or even eliminate 'old style' work AND encourage a new consciousness? To what extent is that already happening? And how could that go wrong, in its own right?
Will future science fiction be, in ways such as this, more and more wrestled from the clutches of The Boys' Club ... to end up looking more like a science:creativenon-fiction:fiction mix ?
Paula wrote: "If we put all these together, we could skip the storifying."That might elicit an idea for the next winner ....
Heather, think you're safe from us duplicating each other - I can't guarantee your safety from anything else, but it's a fun theme so....
Just a personal opinion, but there are no new stories. There are just new settings for them to occur in. Love, hate, crime, adventure, conflict, and all the others have, in my view, well defined trajectories and it's in the creative way we describe them that makes for a good story. That's my two cents worth and probably worth about a tenth of that.
I don't think I expressed a concern about us duplicating each others' stories, JJ ?? Maybe something I said seemed like that but I didn't think that. I think we all have our own styles. Oh, hang on, you mean what I said about 'bagsing' a title ... ah yes, now I remember. Actually I don't think there's any need to claim any trope. There's so many around they're in plague proportion! I can't even get away from them when I go to the doctors! My thyroTROPIN levels are a bit out of wack according to my latest blood test results.
"You can't guarantee my safety" :-) You the Mafia? (just kidding.) You know something about someone might kill me here if i don't shut up? Don't worry, I'll probably drop dead of natural causes while they're still thinking about it! (I've gotta see a heart specialist too: my atrial fibrillation is another thing a bit out of control!)
And I love Davon's 'typo or not': 'topic' or 'tropic' a few messages back.
left, right, left, right ... tropes, at ease! and they salute Captain Justin :-)p.s. someone will have to rewrite the dictionary! I've never met a word that can trope the light fandango through so many meanings!!
He marched them up to the trope of the hill, then he marched them down again...
What are the chances for the next president being President Trope? Now that could make a different kind of future. But maybe too weird for a story, could only happen in reality.
Hopefully low - it would be too much of a cliche!
Now that wins the award for the very very very best trope joke, Andy! (given its a case of the only options for that reality are 'belly laugh' or 'cry hard.':-)Even the news readers are having fun (well not quite the news, but the subversive news shows eg The Feed "the news without the boring bits" and "everything you need to know and a whole lot more" is their catch cry) They did a good piece tonight on Tro{m}pe - The Feed has already called the result, referring to him simply as "President Trump", already - with him calling Hilary out for "playing the Woman Card." ... anyway he'll have a wonderful (international) public health policy - given that 'laughter is the best medicine!'
When you created this supercalitropilisticexpialidocious epidemic Jeremy, did you think to also develop an antidote? ... you mad scientist!
Alas, the only cure is great fiction. We'll be forced to read the stories thread.
Good lord, Jeremy--you jest, surely!---Andy, don't even suggest it. Today being the particular memorial day that it is, and whozit having bought that position--
Help me Obi-wan Kenobi...you're my only trope.
I apologise that my referring to a possible President Trope was altogether de trop
Heather, I was talking about safety from the content of my story, but now I'm seeing all these atropious puns, I might have to say from some of the comments here...
oh the stories thread, Jeremy! I'd forgotten about that, what with all the lollies/sweeties/candy/bonbons over here in the playground, the nutritious diet of stories seemed a world away for a moment.
-Wow, JJ.Charlotte's web on sci-fi steroids, and some laugh-out-loud moments!
Andy, I was about to say I didn't know Charlotte's web was about sci-fi... then I realised what you meant. lol ... btw... hope you don't mind the borrow. See, if the law had been on your side, you could've been looking at your first royalty cheque!
"My name's Alania" - I thought it might be a CW reference (well that's in the cartoon version my kids watched endlessly,,,)>"if the law had been on your side"
- Haha, it is. I've taken a screen shot of comment number whatever above.
Sending you an invoice and licensing agreement via PM :-)
Andy, or maybe just a cease and desist? Sadly, I've never read/watched Charlotte's Web. And oddly it's one of the few children's tales I know nowt about. As coincidence would have it, I did change the spelling of my heroine's name so it ended in 'ea' instead of 'ia'. I'd been aiming for some reference to a name merge such as Brangelina that would have had my protagonists flying off to the land of Darnia. Then I realised it might have gotten me booted out of the group for being de trope. Looking up Charlotte's web now.
Spotty is a very special guinea pig -- a prime test subject...
Meanwhile, in a world that's actually stranger than fiction...
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/53...
At first I had to check if the date on that article was April 1st ...Wonder if anyone has replicated that experiment?
This is the Charlotte's Web to watch, if you have an hour and a half to spare ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBy0T...
The songs are exceptional, e.g. " A Fair is a veritable smorgasbord, smorgasbord, smorgasbord ..."
Wow, talk about the story that needs no storifying! This thread is a tale unto itself: "All the world's a stage And all the men and women [and all the pigs and guinea pigs and spiders and ... everyone,] are merely players; They have their exits and their entrances ," ... and across the stage walks Spotty and a spider and friends ... and (men and no doubt women) enemies who "collected from the Italian countryside, 15 Pholcidae spiders, which they kept in controlled conditions in their lab." ... and then,
... and not only dumb heroes. There's also the "serial killer stupidity moment". That's when a serial killer, being brilliantly cunning, covering all his tracks, several steps ahead of the police, untouchable, for no logical reason decides to risk all and attack or chase the person investigating him.
Then the story spirals down into all the tropes above.