[WAR] Season II: Creative Writing

[Neo Emolga]

WAR Creative Writing

Welcome to WAR Creative Writing! This is the place to crank out your literary genius and skills and win big for your team!

OK, MR. NEO EMOLGA, HOW DOES THIS WORK FOR WAR SEASON II?

It's easy. I'm sure most of us have written stories before, so this is the place to try and crank out the best ones you can. Your team will appreciate it! Your stories can be Pokémon or non-Pokémon, but there are some conditions that might force your story to be about Pokémon as part of the theme and parameters.

General Guideline

Each week has a theme, and you have the week to write out a story that follows that theme. You might see a theme like "nature" where you might see a story about natural survival, something with a forest setting, or something along those lines. When you're ready to start your story, create a whole new thread, but put [WAR] in the title so people are aware it's a story for WAR. You're welcome to invite everyone to read it, though. However, only you can work on it. You can't co-author a submission, but you're free to ask your teammates for recommendations and advice. Just keep in mind, you've only got until the end of the week before it gets judged!

As the week goes on, you're free to make as many updates, edits, additions, and such before judging time (as a heads up, I'll most likely be submitting judging results on Sunday afternoons, but I can't promise anything). If plans come up for Sunday... yep, you may be looking at Saturday crunch time. I'll try to be polite by giving heads up about this.

Parameters

In addition to the theme, there's certain parameters that need to be followed if you want to rake in a better rating, and they're mainly meant for fun and to get you to think outside the box. If you come up with clever ways to use them and work with them, you'll get my kudos and a better score.

You might see parameters such as:

• Create a story where a Pokémon legendary is the main character.
• Your story must begin with "It was all just meant to be a game. And then things went too far."
• Your story has to be written in first person perspective (optional unless said otherwise).
• Your story must involve a character's flashback.
• The protagonist needs to be some kind of healer/doctor/medical professional.

This is the kind of stuff you might run into. You don't need to highlight anything to signal you're targeting a parameter. Just go for it, I'll catch 'em.

GRADING AREAS

I grade entries on the following five areas (your cheat sheet on how to get a high score!). The max score you can earn for each week is 100/100, so keep these five areas in mind when you write your stuff and you'll rock the house if you make it work well!

Originality (20 Points) - This is based on how original your entry is for the week. Sure, most ideas have been done before in some variant or whatever, but even so, you can still make something familiar seem unique or try something different that takes a risk and isn't afraid to break the boundaries and think outside the box. Be a little bold and be a cliché-breaker!

Following Objectives (30 Points) - This is where following the theme and the parameters will get you a higher rating. If you follow the directions carefully and make good use of the conditions that need to be met, you'll score big here. If you skip/forget them, you'll have to take a hit.

Spelling and Grammar (10 Points) - This is one of those essentials that is needed for any kind of writing. If your stuff is well-worded, was proofread, and isn't bogged down with goofy typos, you'll do great here. Don't be too hasty, check out it and proofread multiple times to make sure you catch everything! Reading it out loud also helps a lot with this.

Flow and Transition (20 Points) - To get points here, you need to make events and the plot flow nicely and not skip or seem choppy. If it seems like one thing happens and then something else happens but there doesn't really seem to be any connecting transition or connection between the two, you might not do too well here.

Hook and Interest (20 Points) - Does the story quickly hook in the reader and grab their interest? Does it keep the pace moving well and dash in a bit of spice here and there to keep things tense at the reader at the edge of their seats? Or does it dash in a bit of comedy to give the reader good chuckles? However you decide to do it, make your story fun and exciting to read, and you'll do well here.

RULES 'N STUFF

• Please follow the Pokémon Crossroads Community Rules and the Writer's Desk Rules.
• You need to be part of a WAR team to participate. If you're not on a team, join one!
• Keep the content PG-13. Even though most people have seen M-rated content (Heck, I watch Game of Thrones, I've seen it all), it's best to keep it relatively clean just in case.
• Don't plagiarize intentionally. It's okay to be inspired by something, but only use something like that as a starting point and build in a much different direction to make your story original and distinctive.
• You're only allowed one entry per week, and it has to be written by you. That said, it's totally fine if you ask teammates for help, advice, or to proofread it for you, but they can't write anything for you.

SCORING AND OTHER GOODIES

For each week:

GOLD - The entry that gets the highest rating (out of 100) gets 3 points and the finest selection of bragging rights to choose from.
SILVER - 2nd place gets 2 points to jingle in their coffers.
BRONZE - 3rd place gets 1 point gleefully drop into their piggy bank.

Easy cheesy.

SUBMISSON FORM

You need to submit your entry in this thread when you are ready for it to be read and graded. However, I generally only start reading and grading when submission time is up, so don't worry about what was changed or what kind of revisions you had to make before judging happens, chances are pretty good I didn't catch it. Also, you HAVE to submit this form and post in this thread when you're done and finally submitting your entry, because if you don't, I have to assume you never finished. Sorry.

Name:
WAR Team:
Title of Entry:
Link to Submission:

Have fun, good luck, cheers and good times!

WEEK #4

FINAL THEME: WHAT A DAY! WHAT A LOVELY DAY!

Congratulations on reaching the final round! You've made it through Pokémon being rewritten into mankind's history books, epic superheroes and powers, and the deepest plunge into fantasy you've ever dreamed of! We've broken the rules, made new heroes, distorted the timestream, and gone above and beyond imagination itself! After all that epic craziness and now that your long and incredible writing journey is coming to the last leg of the race, what could possibly be more challenging than what you've faced already? As the final arena of literary battles lies before you, what shadowy figure now emerges to be the ultimate final boss of this incredible and epic journey!?

It's me. MAH HA HA HA HA!

Yes, folks, for years... I've always wanted to do this and I feel it would make for one epic and incredible final challenge. Get your wits, keyboards, and word processors ready, because it's time to crank them into full overdrive.

As the Fallout, Mad Max, Book of Eli, and Borderlands junkie I am, I'm a sucker for a great, post-apocalyptic settings with ruined cities, wild combat, struggling for survival, and even a little humor dashed in. Whether it's a freaked-out zombie apocalypse or intense desert fighting in a world were political correctness and formality has no place, show me your best story that takes the aftermath of a messed-up world and showcases the struggle that goes into trying to put it all back together. Satisfy the action and battle freak in me and prove the apocalypse is just the end of one beginning going into another!

The nature of the cataclysm is totally up to you! Whether your story takes place after nukes incinerated the world, zombies went wild, some natural disaster caused mass destruction, or something totally unexpected wiped most life and civilization off the planet, it's up to you to choose what you want to create and how you want to make it work.

And that's not all! Not only is the theme based on some of my favorite stuff, but so are the parameters!

Parameters

1. And Neo is My Name-o: Your story must feature an Emolga. You leave this out and I'll... *thunder rumbles*
2. Big Muscle: I'll have you know I drive a black Dodge Challenger and I LOVE THAT CAR! Guess what car you're featuring in your story? Make good use of it too!
3. Angelic Firepower: I also have a strong liking to angels and think they're awesome. Ooh, we're getting tough now by stepping into the supernatural, aren't we?
4. Here There Be Dragons: "We need to feature dragons now too? Are you kidding!?" No, I'm not, because I think they're cool also! You can work them in there! Go all Sucker Punch if you have to! (actually, this kind of wild movie would be a great way to start thinking about how you want to do this).
5. Stand For Something: The words "Forever Gold" must appear somewhere in your story. It's a motto I've enjoyed using for years ever since Superboy told me to "Stay Gold." In your story's context, it needs to have some meaning and significance.

CAN YOU RISE TO MEET THE FINAL CHALLENGE!?