Trick or treat!

by **chrisbishop** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 5:48 pm

Heads up! Halloween is close by!

Actually... Not quite. There's still a little more than three months to go before Halloween to be there, but it is time for fanfic writers to think about the Annual Halloween Challenge!

For those of you who are not familiar: the challenge is to write a Captain Scarlet story (short or long) with a Halloween, horror or fantastic theme.

This is the third aniversary of the Halloween Challenge, and the previous years has been filled with interesting stories (last year offered a wonderful array of very weird stories). So we're looking forward to this year's Challenge - and are hoping that you will be many to submit your own, weird, horrific, distorted story - or stories, if you feel inspired.

For a view of the set of rules concerning the Halloween Challenge, go to the Halloween page. Also check out the collection of previous Halloween stories, to see what people had come up with in the past. Some of them are really, really good!

And don't forget: they're still the End-Credits Challenge and Multiverse Challenge in which you can participate. Those are permanent challenges going on all year long!

The upcoming Halloween Challenge will be announced shortly on the main site.

by **FlicCity** » Wed Jul 28, 2004 1:14 pm

Hey, Chris. I was wondering, could a story be listed for two challanges at once? Because there's one I'm working on that counts as Halloween and Multiverse, so I was wondering, should I choose one of those to put it under or could I have it under both?
It's probably silly of me to need to ask, but... well...

by **chrisbishop** » Wed Jul 28, 2004 2:58 pm

No trouble there! I did that myself last year - Remember Parallax View? That was my contribution to both the Halloween Challenge and the End Credits Challenge.

Come to think of it - it ALSO can be added to the list of stories for the Multiverse Challenge... ;-$

by **FlicCity** » Thu Jul 29, 2004 1:54 pm

Thanks for telling me that, Chris. I'm not sure what you'll make of it, though... it's yet another re-telling of the original episode, only this time - well... You'll have to wait and see.
I didn't need to revise much to write it... Is it a bad sign that I know the plot for that episode so well I can rewrite it without seeing the show again?
Maybe I don't want an answer...

by **chrisbishop** » Tue Aug 03, 2004 3:07 am

Is it a bad sign that I know the plot for that episode so well I can rewrite it without seeing the show again? Maybe I don't want an answer...

It is not a bad sign - it only shows that you know your subject.

Actually, the question offers an opportunity for advices to young writers. Thanks for it!

The trick for a writer in a case like this one is to write the plot as if he was telling it for the first time to someone who, he has to assume, doesn't know the story at all... Meaning the writer has to present his settings, his characters, their actions and words, and their feelings as if the story is told for the first time ever.

And indeed, if, like in the case of Flic City, it's a retelling of the story, (using a different setting, Flic? is that what you mean?) it has to sound different... In fact, in that, case, NOT viewing the story in order to write it might help, as it will give the writer some distance between the original 'true' story and his new presentation.