Ceramic DM - Spring 2005 (Late Bloomer) - We have a winner.

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Not terribly surprised you hadn't read him. It's not obscure, but not something I'd expect a non-English major to have stumbled across unless they were a fan of short fiction. I thought you might have run across the movie at some point, which was pretty popular, although it is fifty years old, now. I'm sure my comment will make perfect sense once you read it, though

It's one of those works that has been copied so many times it has almost become a cliche, especially on TV shows.

 

[reveal]

This is a good question! I would love to have the opportunity to run another one. But I think I had better wait until the SAP implementation I am working on is complete.

Perhaps Mythago will be ready to run one soon? Does everyone think before or after Gen Con?

After would probably be best because I'm sure a lot of people have things planned during and after GenCon. We could just wait and do a Fall Ceramic DM.

 

[BSF]

Rod Serling was the host of the Twilight Zone, the canonical 'wierd things' TV show.

One of the similarities with the Twilight Zone & Rod Serling was the narrative tone. Your story began by directly addressing the reader. Much the same way that Rod Serling would open the broadcast with each episode.

 

[Berandor]

Ahh, I know what you mean!

I didn't really choose the way I wrote the story, though. Much like my second-round entry, I simply had the idea, the story, and the way to write it was never in question for me - it's just the way it had to be. I think one of the dangers and benefits of Ceramic DM is that you have to follow your instincts on such things. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

By the way, I found a good short overview on critiquing fiction that might help judges and authors alike: http://www.crayne.com/howcrit.html

 

[mythago]

Definitely post-Gen Con.

 

[BSF]

So who is going to Gen Con this year?

I wanted to plan for it, but I got sucked into a project at work. Odds are good that I will be working sometime on that weekend.

Berandor - Looks like a good link. I felt like a lot of my critiques were rushed. I really like to set aside time to focus when I begin a critique. That's probably one of the reasons why I don't do many critiques as a spectator. I don't always have the time to really go through the stories. As a Judge, I had to focus a lot more and stop worrying about being at the 'perfect' point of critiquing. But the checklist in the link is a good one to follow.

 

[Berandor]

You just have to keep in mind that sometimes, breaking the rules can still result in a good story.

But I think the checklist could also be helpful for editing a first or second draft.

 

[BSF]

Definitely! I find that when I get focused on a story I start to get myopic. I lose sense of what the story might look like to everybody else. Stepping back and trying to re-examine it is a good thing to do. You might not catch all the problems, but you will probably see a few.

Of course, in Ceramic DM I don't always have time to do that.

 

[Berandor]

Who has?

I guess the one who posts his final entry a day early and still wins But truthfully, I probably wouldn't have had much time to revisit anyway.

 

[BSF]

Apparently Sialia had time to edit her huge stories. She kept talking about the stuff she would cut in edits. I also get the impression that Mythago is able to edit most of the time. Heck, she even goes for smack talk in the middle of the writing window.

Always makes me feel bad when I am sweating it down to the line. But it shows. Look at how many spelling/grammar errors I have compared to either of them.