ONC Journal 2022

Prompts - Recognizing and Utilizing (1/11/22)

How though does this particular prompt lose meaning by changing the main character from looking for why something once treated as right is now treated as wrong to a main character looking for why something once treated as right is now treated as wrong. For starters, the main character in the first prompt won't recognize that what was treated as right as potentially being right at the beginning of the story, whereas with the other prompt they know what is wrong is actually wrong. The second difference is in the first story, the person isn't setting out to change the world but instead simply discover the truth, whereas in the second story the person is setting out to change the world, the truth being an after thought.

Some might say, "but aren't those simply issues of the plots being parallel opposites of each other?" Well, it is possible for a character to set out to discover that something they thought was potentially right rather than wrong is now wrong because it actually wasn't right, which ties into the truth. On the other hand, something that is wrong which is treated as right will always turn out to be always wrong, which is precicely why the hero set out to change the world in the first place. So while at face value they do appear to be parallel plots to each other, they're actually not.

2020

"When something tragic happens, it's often said we lose a piece of ourselves. How far would you go to find these lost parts of yourself in order to be whole again?"

I—reading this prompt you probably are thinking, "How could someone mess this one up?" I suspect the story I am recollecting was written by a young writer for whom tragedy was teen ridden angst rather than actual tragedy and the story was chapter after chapter of angst ridden angst where we learned how hard the teenagers life wasn't—according to the teenager. This story is uncomfortable to read.

"We regret to inform you that you have been engaged. We wish you the best of luck with your new spouse."

This—the way writers went wrong with this particular prompt had nothing to do with the prompt no longer being recognizable. In fact, this is the prompt and some of the stories submitted is the reason why the ambassadors decided to clarify the matter regarding potentially triggering material being nixed. In fact, Effectively, the story led to a lot of stories where individuals were forced against their consent into abusive relationships either because the writer didn't understand that the behavior was abusive at times the abusive behavior not being ever identified as being abusive, or because the writer planned on taking the love conquers abuse route. That in turn is not how the subject of abuse should be handled.

"A drug deal gone horribly wrong leads to a youngster being wrongly convicted, and to have to learn very quickly how to survive life in a juvenile prison."

One route I saw a writer take was to write a story about an adult being wrongfully convicted. Yes, the prompt is still recognizable. In fact, I'd argue this was a story for which I could recognize the prompt being used without being told. The problem is, as someone who took a particular interest in this prompt I couldn't help but feel a little bit cheated when I read this story, because what interested me wasn't so much the wrongfully convicted in prison, it was the age of the character who was wrongfully convinced as well as the setting. Yet, in this same regard another story which took place in a dystopian future where the characters could be any age - there was no juvenile system, was something I considered to be an interesting take on the prompt.

"To escape her abusive parents, a princess dresses up as a male vigilante to protect her kingdom but soon catches feelings for her own 'damsel in distress', who knows nothing of her royal blood and true identity."

This was actually an awesome prompt for some LGBT content, yet quite a few stories missed the cue big time on the "abusive parents" part of the prompt as I read quite a few stories where either the parents weren't abusive at all yet construed as being so, or in other cases the abuse wasn't at all realistic. By that, I mean I couldn't believe some of the things happening narratively.