Originally posted by @suzianne
I think a collaboration would be two or more people actually doing the writing. The contest has traditionally been a solo effort. Ideas, though, can come from any source. An idea is not a story until molded and polished by the writer.

My reply was to what goad said: I did actually bounce a story idea off my wife, who promptly tweaked it and bounced back an even better one.

I may just have to write it

So if he just bounces a story idea on his wife, who proptly tweaked it. Would this not be considered a collaboration?

-VR

Originally posted by @very-rusty
My reply was to what goad said: I did actually bounce a story idea off my wife, who promptly tweaked it and bounced back an even better one.

I may just have to write it

So if he just bounces a story idea on his wife, who proptly tweaked it. Would this not be considered a collaboration?

-VR

Well, I guess you could say the 'idea' was collaborative, but the writing of it would have been all me. 🙂

A moot point anyway, as decided the idea would have been difficult to condense in to a short story. (I may come back to it though in the future as an idea for a novel).

Still waiting for fresh inspiration to strike.

Originally posted by @suzianne
I think a collaboration would be two or more people actually doing the writing. The contest has traditionally been a solo effort. Ideas, though, can come from any source. An idea is not a story until molded and polished by the writer.

Not sure why you got thumbed down for this. I totally agree.

Originally posted by @very-rusty
Can two people collaborate on the Competition?

-VR

There was a collaboration between two users a couple of years ago when i ran it

Originally posted by @very-rusty
My reply was to what goad said: I did actually bounce a story idea off my wife, who promptly tweaked it and bounced back an even better one.

I may just have to write it

So if he just bounces a story idea on his wife, who proptly tweaked it. Would this not be considered a collaboration?

-VR

As I said, an idea is not a story. To be a collaboration, she'd have to write some of the story herself. Writer's ideas come from many sources, if a writer had to credit these sources as a collaboration, then no writer could take full credit for their stories.

Originally posted by @silverstriker
There was a collaboration between two users a couple of years ago when i ran it

I don't recall this, but how is this fair to the other writers who do all their own work?

Originally posted by @ghost-of-a-duke
Not sure why you got thumbed down for this. I totally agree.

Eh, people have issues. No big deal.

Originally posted by @ghost-of-a-duke
Well, I guess you could say the 'idea' was collaborative, but the writing of it would have been all me. 🙂

A moot point anyway, as decided the idea would have been difficult to condense in to a short story. (I may come back to it though in the future as an idea for a novel).

Still waiting for fresh inspiration to strike.

That's always a problem. Most story ideas are bigger than 800 words. Getting the gist across in the space allowed is where the skill and finesse come in. Ideas don't like to be corraled. Breaking them to the use you deem for them is the 'art' part.

Originally posted by @suzianne
That's always a problem. Most story ideas are bigger than 800 words. Getting the gist across in the space allowed is where the skill and finesse come in. Ideas don't like to be corraled. Breaking them to the use you deem for them is the 'art' part.

A short story also needs structure (beginning, middle and an end) which as you allude to is rather tricky in less than 800 words. You don't want to get to 783 words then have to end it all prematurely with an unintended car crash.

Originally posted by @suzianne
I don't recall this, but how is this fair to the other writers who do all their own work?

There was never a rule when my predecessor ran it about it having to be done by just one person - as long as its original work (i do recall someone tried copying a story and a user caught it when i published the entries)

Originally posted by @silverstriker
There was never a rule when my predecessor ran it about it having to be done by just one person - as long as its original work (i do recall someone tried copying a story and a user caught it when i published the entries)

I was only asking a question about the collaboration as it wouldn't seem fair. As you know I am not great with words but I do have a journalist friend who could turn what I had to say into a master piece which wouldn't be fair to the other contestants. In goads case I may have misunderstood, he just meant that he was just bouncing ideas and his wife come up with something better. In this case he would actually being doing all the work, which would certainly be fair. Having already won two years in a row he is obviously good at it.

-VR

Originally posted by @silverstriker
There was never a rule when my predecessor ran it about it having to be done by just one person - as long as its original work (i do recall someone tried copying a story and a user caught it when i published the entries)

catfoodtim was the first one to start that wasn't he?

-VR

Originally posted by @very-rusty
catfoodtim was the first one to start that wasn't he?

-VR

Ooh, maybe I could write a short story about him...

Originally posted by @ghost-of-a-duke
Ooh, maybe I could write a short story about him...

I don't even know if he is still on the site, but use to be a Moderator back around 2006 and perhaps before that as he was one when I came on the site. You would have to know him fairly well to do that wouldn't you?

-VR

Originally posted by @very-rusty
I don't even know if he is still on the site, but use to be a Moderator back around 2006 and perhaps before that as he was one when I came on the site. You would have to know him fairly well to do that wouldn't you?

-VR

Allow me sir to introduce you to Mr Imagination. 🙂

Catfood Tim was a giant of a man who would spend his free time searching local alleyways for scrawny felines to fatten up...