Challenge Twelve-- The Murder Challenge

Okay, a new challenge for all! This challenge is original fiction ONLY!!!! The rules are as follows:

• The idea of this challenge is to help you get a feel for murder in writing and how to implant a murder mystery into other genres.
• It MUST have "mystery" as a subgenre, but NOT as the main genre! This means that it can be a type of "who dun it?" but that does not need to be the main focus.
• Has to have a twist at the end, and not necessarily a "who dun it?" twist, remember!
• Deadline for this challenge is May 6, 2009

Some examples for what the challenge is looking for are books like The Sookie Stackhouse Series, The Harry Potter Series, or the young adult book Never Trust a Dead Man. Happy writing!

Challenge 11--The Song Challenge

Most of us listen to music for inspiration, so it's only fitting that we have a challenge that brings this song inspiration directly into play. Here's the challenge:

• Shuffle your music player.
  
• Use the first song that plays as inspiration for either an original or fanfiction story. The song should influence the atmosphere of your story as well. It's as simple as that! Enjoy!

Now, if that's too simple, here's a little extra challenge to tide you over:

BONUS CHALLENGE

This extra challenge requires you to shuffle your music at least four times.

• The first song to play should represent your main character's driving motivation or emotional state.
• The second song should represent your plot.
• The third song should be your secondary character's driving motivation or emotional state.
• And the fourth song should represent your setting. (For example, if "Don't Fear the Reaper" was your fourth song, you could set your story in a cemetery, at a school for reapers, at a Blue Oyster's concert, in the seventies, etc.)
  

The only limit to this challenge is your imagination.

DUE DATE: May 1st, Midnight

Challenge Ten-- The Question Part III

Okay, this challenge ups the difficulty just a little bit. Here we go!

• This challenge is fanfiction ONLY!!! (Don't worry, we'll have some original challenges and another fanfiction challenge following this one soon!).
• Like in the other Questions challenges, you must have your fic answer one of the questions given below.
• This can be anywhere from a drabble, to a one-shot, to a chapter piece. And, for the added challenge to this one, I'd really recommend a short one-shot. You'll see why in a minute.
• Now, here's the kicker. Again we have a list of 'verses for you to choose from with an assigned character. But here's where it gets a tad more difficult than the previous Question challenges. You must pick TWO of the 'verses and cross them over. That's right, folks! The Question Part III is a crossover challenge; I guess you could say it is in part a celebration of the new crossover feature at fanfiction.net.
• We've upped the number of 'verses to choose from. Here they are with their character assignment:

--Harry Potter= Severus Snape

--Batman: The Animated Series (again, NOT Batman Beyond or Justice League, just the animated series)= Harley Quinn

--Castlevania= Alucard

--Darkwing Duck= Negaduck

--Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood Series= Sookie

--Supernatural= Dean Winchester

--House, M.D.= Cameron

--Vampire Hunter D= Leila

--Star Wars= Obi-Wan Kenobi

--Stargate: SG-1= Daniel Jackson

--Stargate: Atlantis= John Sheppard

--Angel: The Series= Winifred (Fred) Burkle

--Buffy: The Vampire Slayer= Tara Mclay

--Firefly= Kaylee Frye

--Forever Knight= Lucien Lacroix

--Twilight= Alice Cullen

--Legend= Gump

--Labyrinth= Hoggle

--Vampire Knight= Headmaster Cross

--Dark Knight= Rachel

• As stated above, choose TWO of these 'verses and cross them over. In your fic, you must answer one of the following questions:

--Who are you in bed with?

--Who has tasted your blood?

--What are you doing here?

--What are you thinking right now?

--Aren't you lonely?

--Will they forgive you?

• Again, the question must apply to your main character. Now, because you have TWO 'verses present, it may apply for one or both.
• Deadline for this challenge is Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at midnight.

Happy writing!

Which is harder?

Which is harder? Writing a story from scratch where your ideas are new and you know more or less what you want to happen and how you want it to happen. Or. Re-writing an existing story (chapter, part, etc.) where you have things established the way you thought you wanted them only to find out that they didn't work out so now you have to go back and re-do almost everything?
I found myself asking that question last night while I was working on Blue Shadows. I couldn't help but try and discourage myself thinking "well, it was a bit of a flop before, so what's going to be different this time around?" "it was hard to write this part before, why should it be easier now?" "what the hell was I thinking when I wrote this part? how can I fix it?"
I bummed myself out a little bit, I think, but I'm back on the horse and ready to ride.
So, which do you think is harder? Making something from scratch or warming it up in the proverbial microwave in hopes that it was better than the last time?

-Kimmi

Challenge Nine-The Question II

This is the sequel to the Question Part I. Same rules, different 'verses/characters and questions. Here goes!

• This challenge is fanfiction ONLY!!!
• The character attached to the verse, as before, must be the one to whom the answer of your chosen question applies...preferably, the main character of your piece.
• This challenge can anywhere from a drabble, to a one-shot. You could even do a chapter piece if you so choose.
• The verses and characters for this challenge is as follows:

Harry Potter--Voldemort

Batman: The Animated Series (seasons 1-4 NOT Justice League or Batman Beyond)--Catwoman

Sookie Stackhouse books/TrueBlood--Sookie Stackhouse

Supernatural--John Winchester

House, M.D.--Thirteen

Angel, The Series--(Charles) Gunn

Castlevania--Lisa Tepes

Star Wars--Han Solo

Stargate: Atlantis--Major Lorne

Dexter: The Series--Aster

• The questions to choose from are as follows:

--Why are you such a bitch?

--What the hell was that?

--What do you have to live for?

--Who do you miss the most?

• As before, other characters may appear, but the listed character must be the main character and, as stated above, the one to whom the answer of the question applies.
• The deadline for this juicy bit of a challenge is April 11, 2009 by midnight.

Happy writing!