Walls, Hurdles, Water Traps, Quick Sand and Other Obstacles (etc.)

Jun 27, 2011 22:30

Hey guys! I have yet another conundrum that you have to help me solve! (This one might be fun, though, I dunno ( Read more... )

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Comments 11

apple_pathways June 28 2011, 03:56:43 UTC
What sort of prompts will get you properly thinking about Machine of Death? What's the story about? Or do we have to guess?

Hmm... (Off to find prompts...)

ETA: Why do I always leave words out of sentences? Words are important, especially when they're the key word in a sentence...

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evilhippo June 28 2011, 04:04:25 UTC
The basic premise everyone is working from is here. Basically, "machine predicts how you die" and the rest of the universe is up to the writer. I keep getting tangled up in little details rather than thinking about the world as a whole. My story right now isn't about anything. It's either about a predecessor to the machine (and/or a troubleshooting guide for machine of death techs), or a little philosophical thing about finding someone else's death slip and trying to find the owner. But that's the problem. It is too many things! I work best in tiny spaces.

ETA: At least you don't replace necessary words with completely unrelated ones that make everything confusing.

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apple_pathways June 28 2011, 04:23:22 UTC
...and I'm back!

Ok, I have prompts for you! Feel free to pick and choose from them, and to write about MOD or not.

Picture Prompts: (Click to embiggen)


... )

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evilhippo June 30 2011, 00:24:42 UTC
Yay, picture prompts! (The quotes are making me think too hard... darn you and your quotes from philosophers and good authors.)

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jobey_in_error June 28 2011, 05:43:42 UTC
Awwwwww. Ick. I can sympathize with tackling things that are too big and getting lost in the details (if "getting lost in the details" means "ignoring the details of the big-picture that I'm too lazy to hammer out just yet"). Good luck ♥

My two prompts tonight are going to suck because I'm VERY sleepy... but one in the form of a question... exploring any 'it's not how you die, it's how you live' themes? Willing to experiment with one for 100 words? (The focus on death these machines must generate in a society is deliciously morbid.)

And, if you accept word prompts... what about homo faber? (Or am I reading too much 'robotism' into Machine of Death?--whose premise, BTW, is a great read...)

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evilhippo June 30 2011, 00:40:46 UTC
'It's not how you die, it's how you live' ties in pretty closely to the story I'm working hardest on, though it keeps wandering into 'It's not how you die, it's the stories that can be told about how you live' territory (darn my narrator... and her author).

There are some very deliciously morbid stories in the first volume (there are also some rather weird stories, and at least one that seems to have gotten away from its author in much the same way mine is, so that gives me a little comfort). There's a free pdf version lurking about on their website, actually, if you want to read it.

I had never actually heard of homer faber before... I'm going to see where that takes me.

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zolac_no_miko June 28 2011, 07:37:08 UTC
Refrigerator.

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zolac_no_miko June 28 2011, 07:41:39 UTC
God in the Machine.

Elbow grease.

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zolac_no_miko June 28 2011, 18:08:12 UTC
The Fate defense for murder.

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flutingfrenzy June 28 2011, 16:58:49 UTC
Your reading is, unusually, in a language thought to be dead.

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