Story Contest XVII Themes

[nkay7]

Ugh, so I realize my opinion basically amounts to nothing on these forums, but let me throw it out there before someone blasts me to bits.

Most of these past contests were characterized by conditions and situations, but have you guys ever considered stylistic challenges instead? Like not contests about "such character in such situation" but rather stories written in specific styles and drawing from specific literatures. I've always found that some of the most entertaining stories on this site were those authors that tried to capture the feel of old fairy tales, or just created fictional shows (that don't really exist but could just as well due to the tongue in cheek humor). In other words, think "Space Opera" or "Film Noir" as themes instead of the usual approach of "Girl named A does B things and ends up in C situation."

My point is that this might be more challenging but could also be potentially be more interesting for people who enjoy writing. Making a conscious effort to write in different styles could also be very eye-opening about everyone's personal attitudes and understanding towards those literatures in question (and their awful clichés...). I'm not saying to raise nyou fiction to something more high culture, but that an experience like this might be fun every once in a while. Hell, you could just approach it as a demonstration of how NOT to write something and go wild bastardizing well-known genres.

Any thoughts?

[Plan B]

That's a good point. My favorite stories are the ones that have a specific "feel". Film noir, I'd like to see that.