Forum: Author Hangout

Agreed!

I'm not quite sure what "Meet Cute" is

If it wasn't for the movie "The Holiday" I wouldn't either. In the movie, the old screenwriter explains to the British woman what it is. It's the way the hero and heroine meet. They meet in a cute way.

meet while shopping for pajamas

I think that was the example the old screenwriter used in the "The Holiday" movie. Something about both needing pajamas so they bought one pair. The guy wore the bottoms and the girl the top.

The recent Halloween contest got quite a few entries. That doesn't seem to be a failure.

I never thought the contests were a failure. I've just always been frustrated because: 1) they typically occur when I'm buried hip deep in another story, 2) the theme wasn't something I was particularly interested in (Valentines Day, it's hard to write a Sci-Fi, Fantasy story around that) and 3) nothing I've EVER written fits into the themes (meaning I couldn't even submit a piece of an ongoing story).

However, I mistakenly thought my frustrations were likely experienced by other authors. Apparently I'm the ONLY one to ever feel frustrated by the limited thematic range of the stories. And I agree, I didn't really think that anyone would leap onto a 'Forum Contest', but I didn't think Lazeez would change the themes unless we could demonstrate an existing demand for broadening them to something more universal than existing western holidays.

But, I've been fine not participating since I first joined SOL some 30+ years ago, so I won't lose any sleep over it.

Mat Twassel: 'Meet Cute' is a cinematic term to describe the humorous scenes in movies where the protagonist in romantic comedies first meet his eventual love interest. Thus, my idea that a particular meeting of characters might inspire other authors, encouraging them to try similar treatments.

As far as 'not creating an event', I really didn't want to try convincing Lazeez to create a competing event that wasn't based on his calendar model. But seeing the opposition, I'll fold. I quit writing for months because I couldn't deal with the negative responses to my writing, I generally (despite all evidence) avoid the SOL forum based on the rampant negativity and open criticism, so I'm out of here. Have fun arguing, I'd rather find more encouraging avenues to express myself. Apparently, my idea of reinventing my writing was a serious mistake, so I guess I'll need to find another story site, though I seriously prefer Bookapy to any other competing site, however there's NO way to publicize Bookapy publications other than posting to SOL. I'm just too exhausted from the minimal support then past 10+ years of writing has had on me to bother arguing such minor points. I'd rather NEVER write again than continue to undergo such abuse.

I have to admit, that I am rather surprised by that response. I clicked on your name to see what level your work sits at, and it's bloody high. Yet you said that you quit for months because you couldn't deal with the negative responses !!!! I have only one story above eight and I don't think it's garnered one bad response. Maybe it's because it's a lot better than my usual standard and the readership is cutting me a collective break, who knows.

I had issues with your original post because, as I explained, it was poorly worded/explained. To then reply to similar responses with a full 'toys being thrown out of the pram hissie fit' raised an eyebrow.

To claim that the forum is full of "rampant negativity and open criticism", sorry, I can't agree with you there. I see members with different views and opinions, yes, but that is good, healthy even, in a forum. Surrounding yourself with 'Yes' people is a bad thing. Balanced counter-argument is healthy.

Yes, some here will have fun arguing. That is their pleasure and it's not for me to tell them otherwise.

Using bold and capitals for words, is all a LITTLE over DRAMATIC (Sorry, couldn't help it.)

I could go on, want to go even, but I believe that would delve into the realms of trolling, so I shall stop here.

Like I said previous, your idea was not a bad one, just poorly explained so that it was open to multiple miss-interpretations. All that was needed was one simple post clarifying the issues raised.

but now you are saying it's a challenge to take others works

That's not how I interpreted it.

I think he's saying the challenge is to write a clever meet-cute, not a story. But the meet-cute submitted to the challenge might be taken from a work-in-progress story or a planned story by that author so don't steal it.

ask before 'borrowing' the passages, since you won't know what the authors were planning

It's the "you" that's confusing. I don't think the "you" is the author entering the contest. I think it's someone reading the entry and "borrowing" (stealing) the entry for their own story.

Meat cute might be

The explicit paedo version?

AJ