FE_Contest

[mark_asphodel]

Huh.

Damn.

There goes my strategy for responding to hypothetical prompts for Challenge 009.  Yeah, I could PICK a prompt that suits "Teardrop on the Fire," but where's the fun in that?

:(

Seriously, I've been gleefully anticipating the results to this one 'cause I figured it was a wide-open field and that someone new like kittykatloren might win and throw us all a curveball the way nagasasu  did with the "rainbow sky" challenge.  And "Teardrop" would either work, or it totally wouldn't and I'd be back to square one, brainstorming during my commute for an answer, pawing through the WIP list for candidates, et cetera.  Because being caught off-guard is, after all, a huge part of the fun here.  Rarely has a prompt been as confounding as "flying through the rainbow sky"-- heck, until now I figured it was an implicit rule that prompts were one word only-- and rarely has coming up with a response been such... fun?  Yeah, pure fun.

Though I do find it amusing that, even though the prompt seemed to call out for the Dionysian-- sex, drugs, and crazy-- two of the three winners were far, far more to the Apollonian side of the spectrum.  Albeit in totally different ways.    

[Oh, yes.  I am glad all y'all liked it that much.  I don't write for FE8 often, so when I do I'm never sure how it'll be received.  I'm just a little bemused right now.]

Comments

[samuraiter.livejournal.com]

(Apollonian versus Dionysian? Bonus points for a Nietzsche reference. :-) )

Hitting second place made my day, honestly.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

Heh. I read The Gay Science in college (which, for those of you not in the know, has little to do with Teh Gay and even less to do with science). I was deeply impressed by some of it. Other parts (like the off-the-wall statement about "short women" being of some third sex and hence not women) were... @_@

[hooves.livejournal.com]

Hehe, well, if you'd rather not pick the prompt, you can offer the honor to samuraiter, since he took 2nd place. :) I never thought to put that in the rules, but I don't see why it wouldn't be fine to do. ♥

Congratulations, by the way. :D

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

I was actually going to PM you regarding just that, so I'm happy you brought it up. I do have something, but it's awfully... serious. Which might work as a lead-up to Gonzo Sue Time, but let's see what Samu has to say.

[samuraiter.livejournal.com]

*hat*

I accept this offer. :-) I can PM it directly to sacae, if you wish.

[myaru.livejournal.com]

I have to admit I'm missing the reference. *hangs head*

Why not choose your prompt that way? Honestly, the few times I've had to do this for contests like ours, I felt totally lost as to what makes a useful theme to begin with. The process gave me new sympathy for the maintainers who take that responsibility onto their own shoulders.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

I have to admit I'm missing the reference

What, the Apollonian/Dionysian dichotomy? Pure Nietzsche, though IMO Nietzsche at his best. The Apollonian impulse is all about order, reason, the visual arts, and the human as the artist. The Dionysian impulse is about feeling, chaos, music, intoxication, and the human as the work of art.

So "Color of Devotion" is a 100% Apollonian response to a fairly Dionysian prompt, and "One Rule" falls into the same category pretty easily.

[shining-valor.livejournal.com]

Though I never expect to actually win a challenge (with so many talented authors to contend with, what are the odds?) I do have this weird compulsion to collect words that might make good themes. Of course, now that a sentence(?) has been mentioned, I might start a collection of those too. If for no other reason than the amusement factor. :P

Congrats on your win, BTW. :D

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

I do have this weird compulsion to collect words that might make good themes.

Grand idea. I like it.

[penandpaper71.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on your win. ^_^