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Post by Mikauzoran on May 3, 2015 2:21:06 GMT
Themed Writing Competition #10: Murder Mystery Writing: May 3 - Sunday, May 24 Voting: Sunday, May 24 - Saturday, May 30 Theme selector: Mikauzoran
Theme: "Murder Mystery"
Optional Prompts:
1) Suicide Disguised as Murder
2) Locked Room Murder
3) Serial Killer
Themed Writing Competition Guidelines Event Details:
Each participant needs to write a short story. At the end of the writing period, any member can vote for their favorite story. The winner will get a prize and get to choose the theme for the next competition. Make sure that when you post your stories on FF.net that you mention that the story was written for Poirot Cafe's competition to our readers! Let's have fun and advertise at the same time! Prize:
Custom designed award badge that you can use in your signature or elsewhere. Guidelines:
1. Keep stories relatively short (~ 5000 words). 2. K-T ratings only. 3. No crossovers. 4. Must be new material, no re-posted stories. 5. Please be fair and courteous when voting and reviewing! I thought we could try a mystery this time since we usually focus on character development and relationships...and boatloads of angst. ^.^ Show me your best whodunit!
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Post by Mikauzoran on May 3, 2015 2:29:32 GMT
I expect to be busy tomorrow, so I posted this a few hours early. The Cafe clock says that it's May third, and I've got the 10k contest to post tomorrow too, so it should be okay.
Anyway, I hope people have fun with this next theme. I know I don't actually write murder mysteries much, so this will take me a little out of my comfort zone. It might be that way for a lot of people. But I challenge you all to try to participate in this one. I see so few fics in this fandom that are actually mysteries, and I was thinking that that was kind of strange since it's, you know, a murder mystery series. Let's all try our hands at mysteries this month!
As for me, I think I have an interesting idea. My cast includes four high school detectives and a thief. Guess which of the five I've chosen to solve the case in the stereotypical remote mountain villa. ^w^
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neonquincy1217
God
Note to self: Be kind to yourself. Be patient. Embrace the random. Life is not instant noodles. :))
Posts: 1,339
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Post by neonquincy1217 on May 3, 2015 2:32:08 GMT
Ooooh, 'tis going to be a tough one... I don't have much confidence with writing murder... or mysteries in general *glares at KYPI and its prologue chapter*
Hm, we'll see... :3
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Post by StarlightDragons on May 3, 2015 2:38:50 GMT
how about aLL thREE OPTIONAL PROMPTS BECAUSE I DONT KNOW MY LIMITS ...I really hope I'll get the time to work on this... //crosses fingers
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rainbowcupcake
Full Member
JA is so absurdly gorgeous it's not even funny anymore. It's ruining my life
Posts: 142
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Post by rainbowcupcake on May 3, 2015 10:59:50 GMT
This is definitely going to be interesting. (Good) Mysteries are tough to write though, even without a word limit - I guess that's why you don't see that many of them. *glances warily at Starlight* All three? How many people are you planning on murdering?
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kkrazy256
Senior Member
I would literally die for any Transformer
Posts: 392
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Post by kkrazy256 on May 3, 2015 14:23:14 GMT
Wait just for clarification, this isn't the 10k contest right? There's another one on the way?
(Gonna be tough to write a serial murder mystery under 5k words hm..) But this seems fun! Nice theme Mikau. Time to test our skills in mystery and deduction. Remember guys, work backwards when writing a case. Start with the solution and go from there. ^^
Good luck to everyone!
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Post by Mikauzoran on May 3, 2015 15:23:44 GMT
Yeah. The 10k one is up now too. You can tell the difference because the numbering starts over from one. Also, the 10k contests are titled differently, specifically as 10k Writing Competition whereas these are Themed Writing Contests.
I think it could be challenging to do a murder mystery in 5,000 words, especially if you choose to do the optional serial killer prompt, but I thought it would probably be okay because some Conan mysteries are only twenty-two minutes long once you take out the commercials and the opening/ending stuff. I think it can be done. I'm actually thinking this is going to be my shortest submission yet. I got really inspired and almost finished it last night. ^.^; It's really, really bad, though. I'm not a mystery writer, sadly.
Oh well. Good luck to everyone!
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Post by Shihominn on May 4, 2015 20:01:03 GMT
Ooohhh this is tough! I guess when you read a lot of mystery authors, is a bit of taboo to write something like a murder mystery, no? hahahahha. A locked room? That's the most difficult to me! The suicide one... that's more doable (is that a word?) Let's see if something comes up. Good luck minna-san!
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Post by Mikauzoran on May 5, 2015 1:27:55 GMT
I don't know about it being taboo. In what way do you mean? I think reading a lot of murder mysteries is the start/basis of writing one yourself.
And yes. Doable is a word.
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Post by Shihominn on May 5, 2015 2:36:32 GMT
I don't know about it being taboo. In what way do you mean? I think reading a lot of murder mysteries is the start/basis of writing one yourself. And yes. Doable is a word. Ahhh, I mean it like "ahhh they are so good! I can't even think of doing a murder mystery like them" ^^ I have a book about the writing process of Agatha Christie, but since it spoilers some of her stories, I haven't read it whole... maybe I'll take a look at it again...
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kkrazy256
Senior Member
I would literally die for any Transformer
Posts: 392
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Post by kkrazy256 on May 10, 2015 15:33:51 GMT
*Looks at draft as I start writing the climax scene* Word count: 4,700 *sweats nervously*
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kkrazy256
Senior Member
I would literally die for any Transformer
Posts: 392
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Post by kkrazy256 on May 10, 2015 23:53:21 GMT
Mikau, Crimson, do you think it's possible to make an exception to the word count if you do the serial murder prompt? That one requires more characters to develop (as suspects and victims). Even serial murders in Conan take up at least two or more episodes. Mine is at least 7k words as of now. If I cut stuff out, it's still over the limit by more than a thousand words. If someone else was able to do the serial murder prompt under 5k then I won't complain. I'll just post mine as a regular store on ffnet then. Sorry if I'm being troublesome ^^'
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Post by Mikauzoran on May 11, 2015 1:24:10 GMT
Hmm. I see what you're saying. "Serial killer" is more conducive to a 10k contest, but this one is only 5k. My own is 3,700 ish. I still have to edit it, so it'll probably end up being 4k. It isn't strictly serial killer in the traditional sense. More murders were planned than were committed, so...
I don't know. What do you two think, Crimson and Natsumi? It definitely is a conflict of the absolute word limit being 5,300ish and an overambitious prompt. What would be a fair and impartial decision?
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Post by Nikudou Natsumi on May 11, 2015 3:50:13 GMT
Uuuugh, that's hard . . . But . . . if it will be posted as a non-competition entry anyway . . . ?
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kkrazy256
Senior Member
I would literally die for any Transformer
Posts: 392
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Post by kkrazy256 on May 12, 2015 18:54:53 GMT
Well if the word count rule can be bent this time, it would be a competition entry (Because it was written for this competition) . If the rule is solid then I would post it as a regular story because it would be a waste not to post it at all. Having a non-published story sitting around is the worst feeling orz
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