WOTM #24 Theme Choice

[Brokndremes]

Darn, seems I just missed the death theme. Despair would also be a fun one to write about, but I have a feeling it's going to be either time or colonization which ends up as the theme. I'm sure they could make for some interesting writing though, so have to see what happens.

Although, looking at it again those components for time would make it very difficult, in my opinion at least.

[Kagamine]

Although, looking at it again those components for time would make it very difficult, in my opinion at least.

Care to elaborate? From my standpoint it seems the components would allow for a very wide range of possibilities.

[AwsonRew]

Care to elaborate? From my standpoint it seems the components would allow for a very wide range of possibilities.

Something I noticed is that 3 out of 5 of the components are supernatural (pausing time, knowing the future, and time travel).

That leaves no room for a modern-day story based on realism.

[FoxLeFay]

Something I noticed is that 3 out of 5 of the components are supernatural (pausing time, knowing the future, and time travel).

That leaves no room for a modern-day story based on realism.

On the contrary, I think that if you want to do a modern setting, component one at least lends itself nicely to realism and component three could go that way if you don't go the "meeting Abe Lincoln in the past" route.

[Neobullseye]

Something I noticed is that 3 out of 5 of the components are supernatural (pausing time, knowing the future, and time travel).

That leaves no room for a modern-day story based on realism.

On the contrary, I think that if you want to do a modern setting, component one at least lends itself nicely to realism and component three could go that way if you don't go the "meeting Abe Lincoln in the past" route.

Furthermore, component four can be stretched a bit too, depending on how hard you want to define "knowing". I can think of some modern-day situations where past events and knowledge of the here-and-now can lead to someone "knowing" the future, or at least have something that's far better than a lucky guess (Weather reports, psychology and whatnot, to name a few.).

[Brokndremes]

Care to elaborate? From my standpoint it seems the components would allow for a very wide range of possibilities.

Components:
1. The main character finds someone/something from his/her past.
2. The story involves time manipulation (pausing, reversing, etc).
3. The story involves a historical figure.
4. The story involves an individual knowing the future.
5. The story involves time travel gone wrong.

When I first read the time topic, the idea which was bouncing around my head initially tended towards looking at something from a grand perspective, like telling the story of a nation and the legacy it leaves after it is gone. I could see stretching some of the first three to make it work, but some of it feels a bit much based on what comes to mind for the theme.

I want to avoid messing much with time travel though, as I feel if I write too much on that it will turn out rather Whovian. The components seem geared towards something strongly linked to the past or rather fantastical, and that makes it difficult for me as those are not the first things that come to mind when thinking on the theme of Time. I can probably manage by stretching one or two of the components, just need to mess with the idea a bit more.

[thedookienut]

I have a question, if Time is chosen, is fan fiction allowed?

I did a fan fiction for the Lost WotM. It was fine. You just have to be careful is all

[AwsonRew]

On the contrary, I think that if you want to do a modern setting, component one at least lends itself nicely to realism and component three could go that way if you don't go the "meeting Abe Lincoln in the past" route.

Well I realize the first one will work. I was mistakenly thinking only from the two-component perspective. Also, I shouldn't have said "no room."

[Kagamine]

Something I noticed is that 3 out of 5 of the components are supernatural (pausing time, knowing the future, and time travel).

That leaves no room for a modern-day story based on realism.

The reason why so many components lend themselves to a more time travel themed story is because when the theme 'Time' was suggested, it actually originally was 'Time Travel'. We managers (and a few other members) thought that a general 'Time' theme would work better, and so a Time suggestion came up (I think it may have been you who suggested it, actually). Behind the scenes, we put the components together, kept the ones we like, tweaked certain ones, threw in some of our own, etc... to create a theme that time travel entries would fit in while still allowing for entries based around time in general.

As others said, there's plenty of room for entries not involving time travel. In fact, while technically all the components could compliment a time travel story nicely, only #5 demands time travel. The rest (well, maybe not so much #2, but the others) leave themselves open to many non-time travel or even purely realistic entries. Allow me to toss out some possibilities;

The main character finds someone/something from his/her past. - This one has plenty of possibilities, such as time capsules, for example. Or, a story about nostalgia- a character finding things they used to enjoy and re-living them. Stretch the meaning of the component a bit and 'his/her past' could be interpreted as ancestry- something someone found left by them by an ancestor, or maybe just a deceased closer relative. Or, going with the ancestry route, what if they found out that they're distantly related to, say, Hitler or someone? On a different route, what if they find something that brings up bad memories- a story of regret? Going a little bit more surreal, you could even write a story about a character with amnesia, finding things from their past which help them remember it. Or maybe they still don't remember anything, but they're using the clues left by their own self to figure out who they were before losing their memories? This one has a ton of places it could be taken.

The story involves time manipulation (pausing, reversing, etc). - I'll admit, the thought process behind this component wasn't realism- but rather providing for means of timey powers that weren't necessarily time travel, per se. I suppose it could always be taken metaphorically, though. For example, time seeming to stop after a major event sort of slows down someone's life, or even puts it completely on hold. Eh, I don't have much to defend this with since it really wasn't written with realism in mind, but a metaphorical route is something to think about.

The story involves a historical figure. - This seems to be the most misinterpreted component in the batch. Given the other time travel components, the route our brains seem to take us is "the story involves a historical figure in modern day, or otherwise meeting characters from the present". The range of possibilities with this is much wider than that- as nearly any historical fiction entry can get in with this one, for starters. But if you want modern day, well, who says said historical figure needs to be alive and present? The entry could just involve a reference to something they did, or the story is otherwise impacted by their actions. Hell, the "character finds out they're related to Hitler" hypothetical idea I pitched earlier quite nicely combines components #1 and #3 this way. Badda bing, badda boom- a realistic entry with the component requirements for Casual or Advanced.

The story involves an individual knowing the future. - Again, it tends to make people think of more mystical entry ideas, but it doesn't have to. It could involve a fortune teller or similar. Or, if that's not realistic enough, perhaps just a prediction for the future that comes true, which the character obtained through... really any method? Clues pointed to it- or maybe just a feeling something was going to happen? Or even, as Neo said, weather forecasts would fit the bill.

So really, there's plenty of room for non-fantastical entries, here. You just have to bend the components to what you want- look into them a bit deeper. Hopefully, if Time wins, this got you thinking a bit about possible ideas.

[WOTM]

The Guidelines thread is up now. Have at it.