Topics

[... and double that!]

... and double that!


Welcome to the next round of the Fortnightly Writing Competition.

This round, we think in doubles. Your job is it to write a story that contains something that is doubled in one way or the other. It could be a story about twins, a doppleganger, a bill that is unexpectedly double the expected - anything that is somehow twice as much as expected, in the widest interpretation possible. (Correction: whatever is doubled doesn't need to be unexpected.)

But that is not all. When we double something in the stories, why not double the stories as well? The challenge is to write a story of 200 to 600 words and then tell the same story again with double the number of words, always plus the title. (For example, your version 1 is 321 words, then your version 2 needs to be 642 words.) Obviously, the initial word limit does not apply for the second version.

Each version of the story should feel complete and should be able to stand on its own.

In short:
- Write a story where something is doubled.
- It should be between 200 and 600 words long.
- Write a second version of your story, with double the number of words.
- Deadline: 18. June

You will have 2 votes at the end, one for the short versions, one for the long versions. Depending on the number of entries, there will be 1st, 2nd, 3rd place votes per version.


Happy Writing!

[Flash]

Welcome once again to the Fortnightly Writing Competition.

This time, we want some quick entries, or, as they are also known, some flash fiction stories.

What is flash fiction, you might ask?

It is defined as a short story with plot, characters, conflict and resolution just like any other short story, but limited to usually under 1000 words.

But that's too long for us here! Who needs so many words to tell their story?

No, we will be even shorter - but also more precise! (We're flexible with the whole character, plot, conflict stuff, by the way.)


Write a Flash story of exactly 500 words, or a Flashier story of exactly 200 words, or the Flashiest story of exactly 50 words (always plus any number of words under 10 for the title)! It should include something happening suddenly, to make it even flashier, if you get my drift, but that's very much open for interpretation - so basically, anything goes! Isn't that exciting?!?

You can do it! I know you can! We all can! Just get your trusty computer or tablet or even phone, heck, even old fashioned pen and paper will do, just get some writing done!


And look, I'm generous, I give you two weeks, two whole weeks, to finish your entry. For a 50 word story, that's just 3-4 words per day! Who hasn't some time for this! (That's a deadline of 9.April, by the way, just to make this clear.)


Oh, if you're some monster with amazing time management skills, you can even write more than one entry! That's amazing, isn't it?

...

...

...

What are you still doing here? Why haven't you started writing yet?

Go away, write something!

[Welcome to the next installment of the Fortnightly Writing Competition.]

Welcome to the next installment of the Fortnightly Writing Competition.

This time around, we'll honour another long standing competition in our forums: The Background Blitz.

The Background Blitz, of course, requires participants to create a game background. But what is the story that happens in these scenes? Who are the people walking around in this background? What are they doing?

Obviously, it's your job to tell us! Take a background from one of the blitzes and tell us its story (and I don't mean how it was drawn  ). For some, participants have hinted at the story themselves or later used the background in games - you can ignore or embrace this. It is up to you.

For a list of topics, look here.

Some links to pictures might not exist any more, especially for older topics. Unfortunately, you won't be able to use these as inspiration.

It is perfectly fine to base your story on one of your own entries in the Background Blitz, or on several pictures from the same or different topics.

Let us know what background you have chosen.

Deadline: 1. March

Happy Writing!

All rise!

Now we shall hear the affidavits of our writers to be judge by also our writers, I guess (technically, everyone, but we all know how it goes).

Be judge, jury, defendant, prosecuter, witness, in our first installment of the FWC of 2025.

This round, your task is to write a story that centres around a courtroom of some kind, be it a civil process, criminal, or even outliers like a sports court or a honour court in a college or something similar.

All submissions have to reach the court (aka this thread) by the end of 14. Jan. 2025 or they cannot be considered.

Have fun!

Mirrors

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?

Mirrors - everyday object and yet a fascinating pathway into different worlds.
Do your characters walk through a mirror, or does a monster come out of one? Does it tell us how vain a character is or show us their deepest, darkest secret? Maybe you want to tell us about a mirror that gets lost, or how mirrors are built. Maybe your mirror is very modern, like a smartphone taking a selfie? Or it's used as a low-tech spy device?

The topic of this round is simply "Mirrors".

Deadline: 14th May.

Have fun!

[Tell me a Joke!!!]

Tell me a Joke!!!

Yes, literally.

This Fortnightly Writing Competition is about jokes. But not just any jokes, I would like you to write a story-based joke, in contrast to a limmerick or a simple pun or a joke question. The joke you're about to tell, should have a plot (even a tiny one) of some kind. Think "a priest a rabbi and an imam talk about...", not "Why did the chicken cross the road?" There should be a set-up, a bit of a plot and a punchline. Other elements can certainly be involved, for example, the punchline can be based on a pun, there can be a joke questions in the middle, and so on.

In order to encourage the story-telling element of joke-telling, I'll do something a bit unusual and set a word minimum of 300 words, that is, your entry must contain at least 300 words or more.

Please also note that this is not about repeating or re-telling a known joke. Try for originality, though similar punchlines to known jokes might not be entirely avoidable and set-ups are also often fairly similar, so that is fine.

As a general rule, good comedy kicks up, not down. I won't put this as a rule, it's just something to remember.


In short:

- tell a (somewhat) original joke
- the joke should have plot, set-up and punchline
- word minimum: 300 words
- deadline: 5. February

Voting will be based on two categories: originality and hunour, so we won't be able to do it in a poll this round.


Have fun and make us laugh!

[Winter Solstice]

Winter Solstice

Twchnically speaking, the winter solstice is the moment when one of the Earth's poles is farthest away from the sun. This year, this will occur on 22.Dec, at 3:28 (thanks, wikipedia)

Culturally, the winter solstice (as well as the summer solstice, of course) signifies change, an end or a new beginning. It's an important date for agriculture. Many cultures celebrate the winter solstice in one way or the other, sometimes not directly - Christmas, for example.

Your story should take place on or around the winter solstice. It can involve some festivities, but that's not a must. It can just as well deal with the astronomical event rather than the cultural. It also doesn't need to be based on any real culture.

The deadline for this round is 24.Dec, but it is this time of the year, so you all might get an extension (not just because you might need one, but because I'll be busy as well.)

[Weather]

Weather

A storm in the night?

Heat at the beach?

Frozen mountains?

Weather influences us all, be it by just allowing us to bath in the sun, or stops us from going to an open air concert. Maybe it's completely different than your protagonists expected, or they are waiting for the perfect day to fly their hot air ballon. Good, bad, sunshine, storm, sudden or expected - this is all up to you.

But the weather must somehow influence your characters actions. Positive or negative is up to you, but the difference the weather makes must be felt to some degree.

Deadline: 13. September

[You are not bound by the rules of the original competition.]

Re-Write

Sometimes, a story doesn't turn out as one hopes it does. Maybe you realize that you should have told it from a different point of view. Maybe the ending just didn't work. Maybe you were in a rush and couldn't give the story as many details as you wished. Maybe you realized too late that a scene was completely useless and the story would have been better without it. Maybe someone commented something about your story that made you go: "Wow, I should have done that!"

This FWC is about re-writing a story you already entered into the competition at some point in the past. A re-write is not the same as simply editing a story. A re-write is more. Basically, it requires you to tell a story again. Of course, you can look at your old work to do so, but just changing a sentence here or there, removing a paragraph or adding one is not enough. Your job is to re-tell the story, as if you were writing it for the first time (though keeping sentences or paragraphs you particularly like here and there is okay). You can change major elements, but it should still be recognizable.

I realize that the topic as stated above would not allow newcomers to enter, because it requires an old entry. Considering how few people enter, and those that do are regulars, I don't think it will be a problem, but I do offer an alternative: You can also re-write the story of someone else who entered the FWC at some point in the past, though only if you never entered here before. And if possible, ask for permission from the original author.

In short:
- Re-write one of your old entries.
- If you never entered before, re-write a story from another participant (but ask for permission).
- Post a link to the old story, so that we can compare them.
- Get everything done by 21. July.


Edit:
One point I forgot to mention: You are not bound by the rules of the original competition. If your entry was for a 500 words story, for example, and you want to turn the re-write into a 30 000 words monster, that's completely fine.

A Spy!

Is he working for a foreign government? Is she a corporate spy trying to find business secrets? Is it a student trying to get the questions for the next test from their teacher?

Whatever it is, your story must contain some kind of spying or espionage. It can be high-tech and full of action, or based on psychological warfare or something similar. It can be about the spy trying to get information or someone trying to stop a spy. You get the idea, I'm sure.

Deadline: 22. February

[Ice and Snow]

Ice and Snow

It is winter, and supposedly that means it is cold (well, if you live on the northern hemisphere). I like snow (as long as I don't have to drive) and I wonder: Do you too?

You don't have to. You can tell us about the fun children have building a snowman, or about a car getting stuck in a snowstorm. Maybe you want to tell us about scientists in the Arctic or the gripping tale of the person who invented icecream.

No matter what, your story better has something that is freezing cold!

Hot chocolate and coffee will be available in this thread for all on 10. December (which is also when your stories should be posted).
Put on a warm jacket, light some candles and write me some freezing cold stories!

I have a poll running in the Fortnightly Writing Competition at the moment.

Someone asked me to extend the poll for a bit. I tried to edit it, and I do have the option to change the days it is supposed to be running:


Showing how the edit screen looks for me at the moment. Original number when posting the poll was 4. I can type a different number.
Clicking on save doesn't add any days to the poll though, it seems. (I also tried to shorten the deadline right after I created the poll, which also didn't work, but I figured it made sense not to allow this)

I have never used polls before, so I'm not sure if I should be able to change this and it just doesn't save it for some reason or if the option shouldn't be there in the first place.

I have not tried to change anything else in the poll, as I obviously want it to run and I want a fair result, so I don't want to play with it and accidentaly change something that changes the results.

Any idea what went wrong here?

[Train Journey]

Train Journey



Journeys on a train can be very exciting or incredibly boring. Confined to a fairly small space and still with a wide variety of characters in close proximity, trains also constantly change the space they occupy.

A story about a train journey can be confined to the interactions of the characters on the train (think: Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express) or it can deal with difficulties the train has during its travels (a scene from Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days might come to mind) or it can be something incredible mundane like a commuter missing their train on an important day on the job, or maybe the exact opposite and you prefer a disaster with a derailed train. Maybe you want to have a look at the history of trains, like the Rainhill Trials.

The important part is that a train journey must be important to the story, in one way or the other. All trains are due to arrive on the 20. October, but knowing the train system, delays are unavoidable (though we cannot have our costumers wait too long, as they sure want to go to a halloween party with the following topic.)

[The Grim Reaper]

The Grim Reaper

Personification of Death, skeleton, wearing a robe and carrying a scythe, sometimes a foreboding pressence, sometimes a nice helping hand into the afterlife. Thousands try to cheat him, try to flee from him, bargain with him. Some embrace him. He is forebouding, dangerous, scary, inviting.

This FWC is about the Personification of Death specifically, not just death as an event. The character of Death needs to show up and has an important role, either as the main protagonist or as an important meeting with the character. (I'll allow death-adjacent concepts as well, like Charon, the ferryman from Greek mythology.)

So, have fun killing a few characters for me, or save them, maybe they win against Death, or maybe Death is actually nice. Whatever you choose to do with the Grim Reaper, the time of our appointment is 1. September.

[The Sphinx]

The Sphinx

After spending some time in the Stone Age for last round, let's jump a bit forward in time, to ancient Egypt, or, more precisely, to the Sphinx.



The Sphinx is obviously a very famous, very large statue, as well as a mythological creature.

Recently, I stumbled about rumours (clearly false ones) that the Sphinx has closed its eyes. Maybe you want to tell us more about this? Or tell us about how it was built? Or maybe you want to have some fun with the creature from myth who likes to ask cryptic riddles (that's perfect for a forum about adventure games, isn't it?)? Or maybe S.P.H.I.N.X. is an acronym for a secret organization? Or you tell us about someone seeing the Sphinx for the first time?

No matter what story you write, the Sphinx or a sphinx of whatever kind, should feature prominently.

Allure us into ancient mysteries with your stories by the end of 2. July 2022.

Happy writing.

Hi,

welcome to the next itaration of the AGS Werewolf game. The last one was quiet a while ago, but I thought it might be fun to try this again.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about - Hi, potential new player!
Keep on reading, I'll explain.

Werewolf is a social deduction game. The premisse is simple: You, the players, live in a village that is haunted by werewolves. Every night, the werewolves kill one villager, until only the werewolves are left. Every day, the villagers try to figure out who the werewolves among them are and try to kill them.
At the start of the game, the game master (GM, that would be me) assigns roles to the players. The standard ones are obviously villager and werewolve but others are possible (more on this should we have enough players). Nobody but the GM knows what role everyone has, though when there are several werewolves, they will know about each other.
The game is played in two alternating phases: day and night. During the day, players are allowed to post in this thread here and discuss as well as vote one player out (trying to catch the werewolves, obviously). During the night, nobody is allowed to post here, but the werewolves get one kill that they send to the GM by PM, obviously trying to kill off the other villagers. All players may communicate as much as they want among themselves by PM. Non-players are strictly forbitten from posting in this thread. The game ends when either no werewolve is left (the villagers win) or the number of werewolves and villagers are equal to each other (because then it is impossible to vote a werewolf out and the werewolves can just pick one after the other). Other win conditions are possible, depending on number of players and other roles, but that only becomes relevant when there are enough players.
These are the most basic rules. I'll explain more details later, but if you have questions, ask them.

Be careful if you wish to play: Wild, unfounded accusations will be commen and can really affect you (I'm not joking, this game can get stressful).

I'd like at least 8 players. It's possible to play with less, but very short, but the more, the better.

So, anyone interested in playing?

[A Fresh Start]

A Fresh Start

The last few times, the FWC didn't have a lot of participants and not a lot of votes. Don't you all agree that we need a fresh start?

Well, while this might be true to some degree, this is not what this topic is about.

This topic is about characters that decide to change something in their lives and the consequences of this decision. Maybe it's the classic New Years Resolution and the protagonist finally wants to start jogging every morning, or someone gets a new job in a new city, is a colonist on one of the first spaceships going to a new world, or an abused partner leaving.

The point is that the inciting incident, the change in the character's life, should have happened right before the story starts or be at the very beginning of it. The plot itself should revolve around the new life (in the most general sense). It can be a positive or negative change, but it should be based on a decision the character makes, not a random event.

Get your stories in by the end of 19. April (or some days later, but then you have to ask for an extansion).

Happy writing!

As it happens, I'm currently admin for the Sprite Jam and the Background Blitz. For the Background Blitz, I put the topic Dream Sequence and I thought we might combine these two art competitions a bit.

So, for this Sprite Jam, I ask you to come up with an object or person or thing that reminds your character of the real world and serves as their anchor or focus in the dream world - something that allows them to return to reality or just understand their surroundings better.
You can present this anchor as a room object, a character sprite or an inventory item.
If you want inspiration, you can have a look in the current Background Blitz (but you don't have to) and maybe even enter both competitions with matching entries (if you feel like it).

Deadline for the Sprite Jam is February 18 (note that it's earlier for the Background Blitz).

[Dream Sequence]

Dream Sequence

From time to time, characters stumble into scenes that are not part of reality as we know it. The world might get a surreal feel to it, or there are small things that just don't fit anymore, making the background idyllic or nightmarish.

For this Background Blitz, I want you all to lead us into a dream: good, bad, neutral, surreal, confusing - it doesn't matter, but something in the background must tell the viewer that the character has left the real world. It can be a small element, like a lamp that is upside-down, somthing a bit larger like an escheresque staircase or something completely weird with abstract forms and colours. It doesn't matter, as long as the player gets this dream-like feeling when looking at it.

Deadline: 11. February

[Merry Christmas, everyone!]

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Wherever you are, whatever your year was like, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas!


(A Christmas Tree for everyone, curtesy of the last Colouring Ball)

And if you do not celebrate Christmas, merry all other festivals!

And if you celebrate nothing at all this time of the year, just have an amazing day, week, rest of the year!