Again, I am asking about the future of the Challenge. Are there enough of you interested? Shall I keep it going?

Please, put in your votes. Even if it is, "I've never heard of the Challenge." OR, "It's a complete waste of my time."

The end of that rewrite goes "If we built a large, wooden badger."

Yes, it was a British movie, but it was brilliant!

By the way, how was this material chosen? Not that it matters, really. Just curious what sparked it.

We decided to make it January's challenge because, originally, some of us were thinking about entering. But then Survivor explained the legalese surrounding the rights BBC America would control. I think everyone lost interest at that point.

I wonder if HSO wanted to know the origin of the current month's challenge. This is it (kind of a selfish one, but, hey, I'm the one you people volunteered to do this ):

A dream. Yup. I was having a dream one night--not anything particularly exciting or memorable, just a dream--when the name Laocoon popped into my head. This happened three times in the course of the dream for no apparent reason. I knew a little about Laocoon from an Art History class. Anyway, I took it for a sign and, behold, the February Challenge was born.

If you don't finish the story before the deadline, big deal. At least you have a story started that could develop into something marketable.

If you run out of steam, big deal. At least you have another story idea in your file of get-back-to-laters.

What I want to know is, how many of our fellow Hatrackers are using the challenge in exactly this way? How many of you are gaining ideas or being encouraged to write by it, even if you never submit anything?

Which is why I am just a little bit reluctant to do it every other month. The more ideas people have available to get themselves writing something, the better, IMO. So maybe going in the opposite direction, and eliminating the deadline, but presenting a new challenge idea weekly? A sort of Challenge Challenge, where Hatrackers offer up a challenge for a story based on, well, whatever.

Of course we'd have to make a rule against fanfic-type stuff. All original. The idea behind the whole Challenge concept is, after all, sparking you to write something that you can actually market.

Also, as of right now, we're getting almost no readers. The only people, it seems, who ask to read the submitted challenge assigments are others who have submitted. (Oh, by the way, Keeley, I've been negligent in asking you to send your latest story over. Please do so.) That being the case, I wonder even more if it is worth it to keep the Challenge in a deadline format rather than an open-ended idea format.

What thinketh ye, oh, denizens of Ye Olde Hatrack River Writer's Workshop?

That is a quote off a button I have, and it couldn't be closer to the truth for me.

To expand on what I said above: I like trying for monthly challenges, but every two months would probably fit into my schedule better.

quote:

---

I wonder if HSO wanted to know the origin of the current month's challenge

---

But I love challenges. And deadlines are great for me - seems like I never get anything done without a deadine. a 2 month schedule is not nearly enough pressure for me, though- I work better without too muc h time to either procrastinate or overthink - a 1-week challenge cycle is good for me. But clearly the rest of you are more moderate reasonable people than I am, and more power to you.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to contribute a story this month (again). I guess once you let it slip, it's hard to get it back.

To become a reader and check out what everyone else did, look at the Challenge thread and read through the 13-line subs. If any catch your eye, e-mail a request directly to the author.

Make sure to include "Hatrack" in the subject line (avoids spam issues...).

i.e.
Subject: Hatrack: Laocoon re-write

I saw your story for the re-write challenge and would like to read it. Please send it on over :-)

Thanks.

**************

If you'd like to check out this or any of the previous challenges, here's a list:

Sixth: http://www.hatrack.com/forums/writers/forum/Forum5/HTML/000025.html

Fifth: http://www.hatrack.com/forums/writers/forum/Forum5/HTML/000023.html

Fourth: http://www.hatrack.com/forums/writers/forum/Forum11/HTML/000527.html

Third: http://www.hatrack.com/forums/writers/forum/Forum11/HTML/000469.html

Second: http://www.hatrack.com/forums/writers/forum/Forum11/HTML/000437.html

I've just gotten back a bunch of first draft critiques on mine. It should be pretty well ready for Monday.

The Greeks put the Trojan Horse out and leave.
The Trojans rejoice that the Greeks leave.
The Trojans bring the Trojan Horse inside the gates.
Laocöon and his daughter object.
Laocöon throws a spear into the Trojan Horse to show that he objects.
Laocöon says it is a trick.
The citizens of Troy ignore him.
It is a trick.
The Gods are pissed off that Laocoon said it was a trick.
The Gods send dragons to kill Laocöons sons because he said it was a trick.
Laocöon laments.
It was a trick, so the Greeks come back and rape and slaughter everyone.

Let's say we post a rewrite challenge in March, deadline in May. What's to stop us posting another challenge in April, deadline in June?

And for those who like more frequent challenges, how about a flashfic challenge each week with a two week deadline?

That also gives us a variety of lengths and topics at any one time, so people don't skip doing challenges altogether because any given topic doesn't inspire them.

Whataya think?

(Also, in case people think it would be hard to organise, I hereby put my money where my mouth is and volunteer to help as needed, whether that be spearheading, whipcracking, or offering moral support to those who are spearing and whipping.)

LDS and I worked together a bit lately to brainstorm how to use php scripting (he si a php genius) to set up some added functionality on a forum to make flashfic challenges work, especially given that some people are many timezones apart. We decided to try and set up a system whereby once a challenge is set up by the chalenge adminsitrator, that an email or other notice goes out, letting people know the challenge signup period and the challenge duration. The participant would go the challenge location and sign in to receive the flashfic topic. At that point a timer would start and the timestamp of the login would be noted. The participant would submit the flash and another timestamp would be noted, with some indication of how close (plus or minus) to the alloted time the participant posted. The posts would be anonymous (2/23/05 Flashfic Post #1, etc). After the sginup period plus the duration are over, a poll would appear asking people to vote on the flashes. After a certain polling period, the posters names would eb revealed.

So, for example, you might register to enter flashes. When a new challenge is issued, you might receive an email that says the signup period is from 00:00 03/01/05 to 23:59 03/01/05, the flash duration is 2 hours, the location is such and such URL, and the polling period is from such to such. So, sometime in that sighnup period you go to the URL, and when you sign in you receive a notice that the clock has started and that the topic is (for example) "red". So, perhaps you're uninspired and choose not to submit. The challenge administrator is notified. Your user statistic is modified and updated. On the other hand, you might submit, but 5 minutes late. It is up to the flash administrator to decide to accept or not, based on your history. If you consistently take 200% of the time, it isn't fair to the others and you might get notified and asked to get closer to the time limit. So, now oyu have submitted and you can now see the challenge board. Someone else submitted earlier than you and you can read their post. After reading everyone's submittals you decide who to vote for in the polls. Ater the polls close, the administrator reveals the names of the submitters (eg, post #1 was mike, post #2 was jane, etc.).

Yes, Robyn_Hood cleared things up for me a lot, thanks!

Yep, I read your suggestions and am looking into it, but have not yet figured out how to implement it. I have asked the guys at phpBB2 for their input as to which file to modify. The notes above are where I would to get to, after the php scripting is complete. The current system on the board is not anonymous, true, but it will work oin the interim. I can also assign interested parties anonymous logins to use for flash challenges.

First, I'm afraid that even though I have a story worked out for this Challenge, I won't be able to post it because of the second thing.

I just found out yesterday that I'm pregnant and the house is in a bit of a chaotic state at the moment. In a good way.

Dang. My house is in constant chaos and I don't have a good excuse like that! And NO. NO NO NO NO. I won't have an excuse like Keeley's. Not again. NO!