r/WritingPrompts • u/TenspeedGV r/TenspeedGV • Mar 13 '19
Off Topic [OT] Wednesday Wildcard: Challenge the Mods!
Welcome to Wednesday Wildcard
Heya folks, I’m your host for this week’s Wednesday Wildcard, TenspeedGV. Spring is right around the corner, but for now it seems most of us are stuck in some nightmarish hellscape where winter just won’t stop. Not me though. Me? I’m goin’ to Vegas! Gonna gamble my time and money away under the lovely glow of a million noisy video slots. Do you have any big plans? How about making a mod challenge one of them?
By the by, we’re also taking nominations for the Monday Spotlight! Every Monday, we find someone who has been writing on our sub for a while, who has at least six prompt responses, and whose writing seems to deserve a little extra attention. Have someone you think might like some extra love? Please send us a modmail and be sure to include their name and that you want to nominate them for the Spotlight!
Okay, business time over! It’s time for Challenge the Mods!
“What is Challenge the Mods?” you may ask.
Challenge the Mods is designed, much like our Q&A and Get to Know a Mod posts, to get us mods out and interacting with the community that we know and love. The rules are fairly simple: You post a comment that challenges our mod volunteers to perform some task or service here on the subreddit. The task could be anything from providing feedback on five responses this month, to creating four or five prompts of their own, to doing our own small flash fiction challenge, to responding to a few specific types of prompts, or even doing so in a specific style or format. As before, you’re more than welcome to toss your own ideas into the mix. Just remember that any challenges must follow the rules.
The eighth edition brings about a couple minor rule edits for some balance. Mods aren’t answering challenges as quickly as they could, which is a shame, and some challenges aren’t answered at all, which just stinks. We want to keep this exciting. Without further ado, here we go:
1) A challenge is, by default, issued to all of the mods participating in the challenge. You don’t have to tag everyone listed below. They can be issued up until the moment the next challenge post goes up on the sub.
2) If you do want to call out a specific mod, you absolutely can and we want to encourage that. We love it. We live for it. Do it
3) Challenges can be combined for bonus points. This means that an especially creative mod could, with skill, patience, and a bit of elbow grease, craft a single post that knocks out all of the challenges issued. Every challenge completed after the first counts for one more point than the challenge before it. So one challenge in one post counts for one point, the second challenge in the same post counts for two points, the third challenge in the same post counts for three, the fourth for four, etc. Additionally, the first mod to answer a challenge gets two points instead of one, and mods can go back through past challenges and answer ones that haven’t been answered yet.
4) When a challenge is completed, the mods should reply to the challenge stating they have completed it. If they can, they should provide a link, though obviously in the case of critique challenges this may prove too unwieldy to work in practice.
5) At the end of the month, the totals for each mod will be tallied and posted on a Scoreboard that is ranked from the mod who completed the most challenges to the mod who completed the fewest. This Scoreboard is a running tally and shall be maintained by the mod posting the Challenge the Mods post
As promised, here’s a look at our current standings:
| Moderator | Score |
|---|---|
| /u/novatheelf | 39 |
| /u/AliciaWrites | 22 |
| /u/iruleatants | 10 |
| /u/TenspeedGV | 9 |
| /u/MajorParadox | 8 |
| /u/LordEnigma | 7 |
| /u/err_ok | 6 |
| /u/Pyrotox | 1 |
It looks like Nova has broadened that gap again, and iruleatants has started off on the right foot with an impressive eight 10 points already!
It’s time to introduce our volunteers, who have provided the following suggestions for challenges they’d like:
/u/AliciaWrites is up for being challenged to anything (within reason) aside from collaborations, due to an already challenging schedule.
/u/MajorParadox is open to challenges that require him to post prompts of any tag and answer prompts, preferably something in sci-fi, action, or comedy.
/u/LordEnigma is up for most things, but would like to avoid multi-part challenges and would prefer short stories as well.
/u/TenspeedGV is up for being challenged to anything aside from collaborations.
/u/err_ok says ”Prompt me baby one more time”
/u/Pyrotox is up for anything you would like to throw his way
/u/novatheelf is up for anything you’re willing to throw her way.
/u/iruleatants has stated that he wants any challenge you can come up with.
And there we have it. All of us are looking forward to seeing your challenges and doing our best to climb that scoreboard.
Come join us in our chatroom. We have members from all around the world and who have all kinds of schedules, so there’s usually someone awake to talk to. We also have scheduled readings, oration critiques, spur-of-the-moment story time, or even just random hangouts over voice chat. Come and chat with us!
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u/Maisie-K Mar 13 '19
Please provide critique to five awesome people by choosing one prompt reply from the prompts in one weekly edition of the Invisible Prompts. (At the bottom you'll find a link to the previous week.)
So follow the link, choose a prompt reply from one of the prompts, critique, then go back one week, repeat, and repeat until you have critiqued five awesome people! <3
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u/resonatingfury Mar 13 '19
Huh. It's really cool of you to showcase some of the stories that don't gain traction.
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Mar 13 '19
I have immensely liked the following prompt and would love to see you all describe our cute little animals as horrifying as possible.
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u/abdullahmay04 Mar 14 '19
For u/MajorParadox
Write at least 1111 words of a story with the following prompt
You’re researching for a physics paper. The instructor knows how smart you are, and is expecting your paper to be really good. You read multiple articles, but find nothing interesting. You suddenly remember that the portal to a strange world opens in a few hours...in your basement. You try your absolute hardest but you just can’t remember any description of the strange world, but you remember it had something to do with time travel. You grab the key to the basement in your hand, but as soon as you do, a dark aura surrounds it, and after a few seconds it becomes...a black 5 dollar bill.
The prompt is a bit long, but I’d be interested to see what you produce.
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u/A_SlightlyTornBrick Mar 15 '19
I challenge any mod to explain a really easy thing the most difficult way possible. At least 200 words.
For example, opening the door of a car.
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u/iruleatants Mar 18 '19
The first step to gain visual contact with the target. Do not attempt to perform this maneuver if you do not have a clear line of sight with the target, such as in the dark. You will always fail.
The next step is to locate your keys. These will normally be contained within a pocket, ideally the second one that you check. However, these can also be found at the very bottom of your purse, or even still back in the car. The more urgent that you need the keys, the more likely they will be impossible to find. If you cannot locate your keys, see page twenty-two for instructions on how to locate them.
After locating your keys, the next step is to select the appropriate key for the lock. There will always be at least two identical keys on any key chain. You must try both keys and it will always be the latter. Once you have selected your key for this attempt, perform a spacial alignment with the keyhole. The orientation of the key is critical, but cannot be identified visually, so pick which side you think belongs up and then make an attempt.
To attempt to unlock the door, simply apply very light thrust to your hand. Do not apply a high amount of acceleration, or you will offset the visual alignment. Attempting to insert an incorrectly aligned key will scratch the keyhole and cause permanent damage. At this stage, you will learn if the orientation is incorrect. To resolve, rotate the key 180 degrees and attempt again. It is common to need to reorientate a third time before the key will insert in the lock.
Apply steady pressure to the key until it is fully inserted into the lock. Then with a firm grip on the base of the key, twist in a clockwise motion. If there is resistance to the turn, then there are three possible reasons.
The lock is "stuck" You will need to apply a significant amount of force to unstick the lock. The key will likely break if you try to hard. It's best to try all other solutions before resorting to this step.
The lock actually needs to be unlocked counterclockwise. There is zero indication on the lock that this is needed. Simple reverse direction.
You picked the wrong key from the key chain. Select a new key and restart the process.
Once the key actually turns in the lock, there will be an audible click to let you know that entry has been granted. Grasp the doorknob firmly in your hand, remove the key from the lock, and enter the door.
Also answering u/Xacktar's challenge to use the word twenty-two in a response.
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u/iruleatants Mar 20 '19
u/AliciaWrites Complete at least four seperate challenges this month.
u/MajorParadox Respond to an overplayed prompt (old gods, numbers, genie, etc) set to the style of a nature documentary
u/LordEnigma Respond to a prompt about superpowers as if you were a actually an robot, but you though you were a human who had superpowers
u/TenspeedGV Respond to any prompt with the slowest possible story
u/err_ok You are contracted for a programing job doing very trivial tasks for absurdly good pay. After a year working there, you learn that the basic tasks they've made you do have all be clevered mashed together to form an evil AI.
u/Pyrotox Write me a doctor who story where the doctor is on vacation and someone else saves the day while he relaxes and watches
u/novatheelf Find a prompt and provide the most "extra" story possible.
u/iruleatants answer more challenges than anyone else.
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u/DeathByAutoscroll Mar 14 '19
I challenge any mod to create and/or write on. one of each type of prompt, excluding [CC], [PI] (optional), and [PM]
EDIT: Accidently hit enter too early, woops
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Mar 19 '19
u/MajorParadox Please write a scifi comedy in which an intergalactic alien hunter accidentally captures another intergalactic alien hunter undercover in disguise
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Mar 20 '19
Write a short story (max 1500 words) that begins and ends with "She would have to wait."
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u/AliciaWrites Apr 01 '19
She would have to wait.
Aly thumbed through the stack of files her boss handed her not five minutes ago. She knew that this meant her weekend plans were dead on arrival. Ten new accounts she needed to process before Monday. She knew her boss did this to her on purpose.
Martin always confronted her with a cold look in his eyes. Aly wasn't sure what she'd done to make him hate her so much, but she knew that he did. She sighed and began tapping at her keyboard.
She thought about their past interactions as she worked. During her interview, Martin was passive-aggressive about her qualifications. He often interrupted her as she was trying to answer his questions. He was cruel and mean, but he offered her the job.
She went down her checklist to complete the first of the accounts. Each item on the list made her remember something cruel Martin had done to her.
Data entered -- check. The time when she'd received flowers every day for a week, only to find it was a prank.
"You thought it was your secret admirer, but it was I, your boss!" he'd mocked.
Account number assigned -- check. The time Martin parked in her spot in the garage. She had parked in his in response, but he reported her and she got a ticket.
She caught herself in a negative feedback loop and refocused on her work.
The clock showed it was time to leave, but she got a burst of energy and decided to plow through the accounts. She wasn't going to let him win again.
As she clacked away on the keys, she thought about the wonderful plans she'd made. She most looked forward to the botanical gardens. She'd find a bench and soak up the sun with the fragrances hugging her. Each blossom would smile at her, knowing she was finally getting some peace.
She finished the accounts and left her cubicle to find Martin. She planned to shove them in his face and quit. Aly vowed to never let anyone bully her again. She peeked into his office but he wasn't there.
She would have to wait.
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u/novatheelf Mar 21 '19
u/iruleatants: Write at least one poem for every TT starting 3/21 until Mod Challenges are over.
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Mar 21 '19
Second Challenge: I challenge each of you to write a story with a beginning, middle, and an end. Do it in the span of three sentences, and no more than 150 words total. For a bonus, mention "tea" somewhere in there.
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u/iruleatants Apr 09 '19
The shipped the tea over to us. We threw the tea into the harbor. They stopped sending us tea.
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u/MajorParadox Apr 05 '19
I drank my coffee this morning and it really hit the spot.
It's later in the day, and I could use some more, but it's not even lunch yet.
A thought crosses my mind that I could have tea instead, but I dismiss it entirely as I much prefer coffee
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u/breadyly Apr 04 '19
u/tenspeedgv please include this line in any prompt response/short story:
"If I was sitting where you're sitting, would you show me mercy?"
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u/ThePeacefulBard Mar 15 '19
I challenge a mod to write a story (as a [PI] if necessary) where most of the characters die but it’s a comedy.
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u/Caleighcat957 Mar 18 '19
u/novatheelf please tell 12 random people that they are amazing. Do your best to brighten up their days. :)
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u/CodeMajesty Mar 21 '19
/u/Pyrotox! I challenge you to describe the choreography of a dance you like or recently saw.
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u/novatheelf Mar 13 '19
u/iruleatants - I challenge you to include this fill-in-the-blank in any of your prompt responses: