Comments?

Life would be so much easier if I were a cartoon character. I'm sure that's what a lot of people think and I can tell you that they are 100% wrong. Would you look forward to a day's work that entailed being dropped from a cliff, falling 1000 feet onto a precarious teeter-totter, which launched a 20 ton boulder into the air, which then promptly slammed down onto your head? I didn't think so. Everyday I'm smashed flat, blown up, burned alive and worse, not exactly a pleasant day job. Oh and they pay...let's just say Acme dollars don't go that far! You ever try to get someone at a 7-11 to take a $10 bill with a picture of Squeaky the Squirrel on it? Well you get the picture.

That said, there are some benefits, the union is good and the hours are pretty reasonable. Well and there's the women, not really sure why but something about my fluffy little tail and “elastic” anatomy really turn the chicks on. Not that I go in for that sort of thing, I'm not one of those “realists” I stick to my own kind, I'm not some kind of pervert after all. Though, I must admit that, well sometimes I do wonder. Then of course I remember the scandal after Yankey Doodey, remember the little duck, got involved with that young actress, can't remember her name, but she had a thing for “doodling” if you know what I mean, well anyway there's a reason he's known as Hankey Pankey Yankey now and I'm sure you've noticed he doesn't seem to work anymore. There is nothing sadder than an out of work toon.

Last time I saw old Hankey he was downing ginger ale like there was no tomorrow, it's always depressing to see someone crawl in a bottle, especially since it makes their head look so big. Anyway I'm definitely not going to fall into that trap.

[This message has been edited by HuntGod (edited January 18, 2005).]
 

My comments on the story so far: We get 2 paragraphs of explanation before we get to a particular setting. It's interesting explanation, but I'd rather go right the action and glean the explanation. Maybe you could start when the narrator sees the guy swilling ginger ale.

You'll inevitably be compared to Roger Rabbit and Cool World; this might be eased if you find something other than "toon" as slang for cartoon character (since Cool World used this).

Could be interesting!
 

This is the sight, I only discovered it because both GZ and Christine posted stories for it.

You write a story 600-3000 words and submit it by Feb 1. The only condition is that it must start with the line "Life would be so much easier if I were a cartoon character."

I had several aborted starts, which all seemed to fall into the category of "Joe Schmo" has a crappy life and shows makes the comparison between how things work in the cartoon world as opposed to the real world. They all seemed flat.

So instead I went in the other direction. The narrator is a Wile E Coyote type cartoon character and he is going to illustrate how awful it is to be a cartoon character.

 

I'd say go ahead and stick with the "LwbsmeiIwacc...not!" angle. The first line is so biased that there will be very few stories with this take rather than the other. On the other hand, vitually every story that does this will be thematically identical to yours...which is already treading on well mined material. After all, the entire point of most cartoons is that being a cartoon character is no fun for the losers.

So instead I'll say that you should try and see if you can make this feel really original, find some less obvious complaint for your character. And if not, so be it.
 

Then I liked the Roger Rabbit/Cool World angle and thought it would be more entertaining.

I basically was struggling for anything where the protag would not be a human.

I had recall problems keeping the dogs voice consistent though.

I like Survivors suggestion and think I will work along those lines.