SA Prompt | SA Results | BB Code
Date: 6-30-2014
Word Limit: 1000
Words Written: 39,942
Judges (crits):
Bad Seafood
Sitting Here
Fanky Malloons
Bad Seafood
Sitting Here
Fanky Malloons
Week Archivist:
Kaishai
Kaishai
A hundred weeks of Thunderdome. Just a few shy from the thread's second birthday to boot. That's a lot of Thunderdome, and a couple of us old timers feel like we deserve a curveball of a prompt in celebration.
First a bit of mood music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlSQcI6zS7Q
Los Grano D'oro. A coastal city halfway between nowhere and everywhere, its dark streets bathed in the glow of a thousand neon signs. Night has come to this city. Night and fear. Fear and opportunity. Somewhere in the beating heart of this international port, a man has misplaced something. Something valuable; irreplaceable. Even now he haunts the streets, a cigarette on his lips and a question on his mind.
"What has become of the black attache case?"
This week on Thunderdome, we're doing something a little different. A little complicated. Try to keep up. It gets good, I promise. In the middle of the night, an incredibly important briefcase goes missing. Tomorrow it could be anywhere. In the meantime, it is going to change a lot of hands. Sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose. Whose purpose? I guess that's for you guys to decide.
This week we will all be writing in a shared universe. Specifically, each of your stories will be taking place in the aforementioned city over the course of this long, lonesome night. Each of you will be charged with writing the POV of someone - anyone - who has come across the black attache case, only to have it taken from them sometime later. How and where they found it is up to you, as is how they inevitably lose it. Maybe they stole it or killed a man for it. Maybe they misplaced it, or pawned it off for cash. It's a tight-knit world out there tonight. Tighter than you'd think. One man's loss is another man's gain.
As this is a shared universe, it wouldn't surprise me to see a few familiar faces. In fact, that's exactly what I what. After you've drawn up your leading man or woman, feel free to post them either here or over in the Thunderdome IRC channel (check the OP). Authors are subsequently encouraged to incorporate one another's characters into their own submission. Think of it as a supporting cast pool we all contribute to. Nobody needs to ask your permission to use your character, and you don't need to ask anyone else's. Unless you're going to kill them. Then you need permission. This should go without saying, but obviously only ONE person can kill your character, so if it isn't you then you should probably think about picking your murderer carefully.
Of course, if you'd rather play your cards close to your chest and not share anything that's fine too. Jerk.
After you've signed up, unless you plan on posting your character in here, DO NOT POST ANYTHING until sign ups close on July 4th, midnight PST. At that time, one of your esteemed judges will post the Clearly Labeled Prologue that gets this whole mess started. From there you have until July 6th, also midnight (still PST) to post your submission. At some point in the middle, someone else will be responsible for a Blatant Intermission, which won't matter too much, leading into an Obvious Epilogue that will later wrap things up.
Deep breath here, fellas.
FINALLY, on three different days to be decided at the judges' discretion, each of us will post a supporting character of our own design in this very thread. Once posted, up to five different authors can claim that character for use in their submission. One of them, randomly, will be told the fate of that character lies in their hands. For everyone else, for better or worse, these particular supporting characters must survive your literary onslaught no matter what. Nobody has to claim any of these characters, but if you do you can only claim one.
Okay, that should be everything. Just to nip a few question in the bud, though:
WHAT CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT THE CITY?
Los Grano D'oro is a multicultural port city set in the vaguely modern day. Where, specifically, is irrelevant. The name's Spanish, but people the world over live and die here, so don't feel hedged in when it comes to anyone's background. Likewise, feel free to play it fast and loose with the zoning board. If you say there's a Chinatown, guess what? There's a Chinatown. If it helps at all to think about it, picture a place halfway between Hong Kong and Los Angeles.
WHAT CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT THE CASE?
You don't need to know what's in the case. Neither does the audience. If you show me what's in the case I will literally be so angry.
WHAT CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT THE GENRE?
No fantasy, no science fiction. Surrealism and magical realism are permitted provided you've got what it takes to pull them off. You probably don't. Aside from that, just the usual: no fanfiction, no erotica.
SINCE CRABROCK GETS WEEK 101 WHAT DO I GET?
What indeed.
TL;DR?
The macguffin is missing. Each of your protagonists is one in a long line of characters whose hands the macguffin passes through. Tell me about your character's time with the macguffin. Don't tell me about the macguffin. In the beginning you found it and in the end you lose it. Bonus points for populating your story with characters from other people's imaginations.
I STILL DON'T GET IT?
It's Pulp Fiction, Thunderdome-style.
Take it away.
First a bit of mood music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlSQcI6zS7Q
Los Grano D'oro. A coastal city halfway between nowhere and everywhere, its dark streets bathed in the glow of a thousand neon signs. Night has come to this city. Night and fear. Fear and opportunity. Somewhere in the beating heart of this international port, a man has misplaced something. Something valuable; irreplaceable. Even now he haunts the streets, a cigarette on his lips and a question on his mind.
"What has become of the black attache case?"
This week on Thunderdome, we're doing something a little different. A little complicated. Try to keep up. It gets good, I promise. In the middle of the night, an incredibly important briefcase goes missing. Tomorrow it could be anywhere. In the meantime, it is going to change a lot of hands. Sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose. Whose purpose? I guess that's for you guys to decide.
This week we will all be writing in a shared universe. Specifically, each of your stories will be taking place in the aforementioned city over the course of this long, lonesome night. Each of you will be charged with writing the POV of someone - anyone - who has come across the black attache case, only to have it taken from them sometime later. How and where they found it is up to you, as is how they inevitably lose it. Maybe they stole it or killed a man for it. Maybe they misplaced it, or pawned it off for cash. It's a tight-knit world out there tonight. Tighter than you'd think. One man's loss is another man's gain.
As this is a shared universe, it wouldn't surprise me to see a few familiar faces. In fact, that's exactly what I what. After you've drawn up your leading man or woman, feel free to post them either here or over in the Thunderdome IRC channel (check the OP). Authors are subsequently encouraged to incorporate one another's characters into their own submission. Think of it as a supporting cast pool we all contribute to. Nobody needs to ask your permission to use your character, and you don't need to ask anyone else's. Unless you're going to kill them. Then you need permission. This should go without saying, but obviously only ONE person can kill your character, so if it isn't you then you should probably think about picking your murderer carefully.
Of course, if you'd rather play your cards close to your chest and not share anything that's fine too. Jerk.
After you've signed up, unless you plan on posting your character in here, DO NOT POST ANYTHING until sign ups close on July 4th, midnight PST. At that time, one of your esteemed judges will post the Clearly Labeled Prologue that gets this whole mess started. From there you have until July 6th, also midnight (still PST) to post your submission. At some point in the middle, someone else will be responsible for a Blatant Intermission, which won't matter too much, leading into an Obvious Epilogue that will later wrap things up.
Deep breath here, fellas.
FINALLY, on three different days to be decided at the judges' discretion, each of us will post a supporting character of our own design in this very thread. Once posted, up to five different authors can claim that character for use in their submission. One of them, randomly, will be told the fate of that character lies in their hands. For everyone else, for better or worse, these particular supporting characters must survive your literary onslaught no matter what. Nobody has to claim any of these characters, but if you do you can only claim one.
Okay, that should be everything. Just to nip a few question in the bud, though:
WHAT CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT THE CITY?
Los Grano D'oro is a multicultural port city set in the vaguely modern day. Where, specifically, is irrelevant. The name's Spanish, but people the world over live and die here, so don't feel hedged in when it comes to anyone's background. Likewise, feel free to play it fast and loose with the zoning board. If you say there's a Chinatown, guess what? There's a Chinatown. If it helps at all to think about it, picture a place halfway between Hong Kong and Los Angeles.
WHAT CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT THE CASE?
You don't need to know what's in the case. Neither does the audience. If you show me what's in the case I will literally be so angry.
WHAT CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT THE GENRE?
No fantasy, no science fiction. Surrealism and magical realism are permitted provided you've got what it takes to pull them off. You probably don't. Aside from that, just the usual: no fanfiction, no erotica.
SINCE CRABROCK GETS WEEK 101 WHAT DO I GET?
What indeed.
TL;DR?
The macguffin is missing. Each of your protagonists is one in a long line of characters whose hands the macguffin passes through. Tell me about your character's time with the macguffin. Don't tell me about the macguffin. In the beginning you found it and in the end you lose it. Bonus points for populating your story with characters from other people's imaginations.
I STILL DON'T GET IT?
It's Pulp Fiction, Thunderdome-style.
Take it away.
40 Total Submissions, 4 Total Failures:
7.
9.
10.
11.
12.
15.
18.
22.
24.
25.
28.
30.
31.
32.
34.
35.
36.
38.