Welcome to first (hopefully of many) Comic Vine Battles Writing Tournament.
Do you enjoy writing? Do you have an interest in the Battles Board? Well get ready to flex your creative muscles alongside the rest of the community, because we're having a writing tournament.
Premise
The premise is simple. Most of us have an interest in feats and battle discussions between our favorite characters. But debates very often turn too hot (to put it nicely!) because at the end of the day, the contradicting feats and skills of fictional characters are just too open to interpretation for everybody to come to an agreement. Oftentimes, people can look at the exact same feat, and somehow come away with exact opposite interpretations.
We all have different interpretations of our favorite characters' skills and capabilities, and I've come to realize, these subjective interpretations themselves are actually far more interesting than any quantifiable facts we might be able to discern. I mean, if every character had exact, quantitive numbers to express every aspect of their capabilities -- he can life this many tons, run this fast, is exactly this skilled -- there really wouldn't be much room for discussion, we would have an immediate, objective answer for every battle thread. It's the interpretations and the reasonings and the theories that breed actual imagination, and that is where the actual fun of being a part of the versus community comes from.
So I thought, why not cut out the middle man? The only reason we debate is as a creative exercise, to express these interpretations of fantastic powers and abilities and how they relate to each other. And I'm sure most of us also enjoy the competition, there's nothing more satisfying than coming out on top in a discussion. The fun aspects of the versus community can remain and be focused upon, while we also get to cut out the vitriol and less pleasant aspects.
And that is where the idea for this writing tournament came from.
The Rules
Create a fictional story centering around a battle between two or more fictional characters. The only rule is that the altercation/fight itself has to be the center of the story. It is the writer's choice on whether the piece has additional backstory/context explaining the reason for the fight, or if the entire story is just commentary on a pointless battle.
- Be creative. There are many different ways such a story can be told. Think of the potential points of view. An omniscient narrator, or first-person account inside the head of one of the characters? Or perhaps you write it from the perspective of a fight commentator, as if the two characters were in an official gladiator or UFC match and the events are being narrated and analyzed by commentators?
Stories will be posted by me, towards the top of the thread. This tournament will follow a bracket style elimination with three rounds. Two users will pit their writings against each other, and a panel of judges will decide which story is of superior quality and effort.
- If you'd like to be a judge, PM me. You have to be capable of critically reading these stories and judging them in articulate detail.
For the first round, the word limit on stories will be 1,000 words. The second round will have a limit of 5,000 words. The finals will have no limit.
For now, we are just in the sign up phase. So if there is anybody who wants to test their creative juices and write a story, and potentially win the honor of being declared one of Comic Vine's best writers, just sign up below.
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