Unwind
Science Fiction Writing
Introduction
Einstein once said, "Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world". And in science fiction, both knowledge and imagination blend together in the most magical way weaving stories that are absolutely magical and sometimes, eerily prophetic. At the On the Spot Science Fiction Writing Competition, you get a chance to show off how good you are at creating parallel universes and dreaming up the future.
Total Prize money: Rs. 12,000
Event Format
There will be 3 separate categories: Conventional story writing, Short sketch writing and Fanfiction writing. Please see the FAQ for more details on the categories.
Rules and Regulations
- The time limit for the conventional (“story”) category is 4 hours.
- The time limit for the short sketch category is 1 hour.
- There is no hard word limit, but do remember that it’s a short story.
- The results would be announced during Shaastra'08.
FAQs
- What is a "short sketch"? How short is it really supposed to be?
The sketch is expected to be between 500 and (at the very greatest) a 1000 words, and the on the spot event will have a time limit of only one hour. Sketches are a separate category not just because of the length but also because they are meant to be short extracts, transcripts, messages, and the like - "unconventional" writing that do not present a complete plot but simply a hook to a larger story. Summaries are not allowed, though.
- What about that of the stories?
The story is meant to be in the range of 2000 words, although there is no hard word limit, and stories of any reasonable length will be accepted if they are of sufficient merit. It should be as long as necessary to include an interesting plot, character development and the like. The on-the-spot event will have a time limit of 4 hours, so it should also be as concise as possible while accomplishing the above goals.
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What is Fan fiction writing?
Wikipedia says that "Fan fiction is a broadly defined term for fiction about characters or settings written by admirers of the original work, rather than by the original creators." This means that fan fiction is what you write if you pen a story using characters or worlds originally created by somebody else. If you write a story about Elijah Bailey and Daneel Olivaw (from Asimov's Robot series) playing golf and discussing old cases, that's fan fiction. It might also involve characters from well known mainstream literature in some science fictionesque setting.
You are welcome to use characters, concepts and scenarios from all sorts of media (including movies, TV shows and even comics, in addition to novels), provided that it qualifies as science fiction. However, you are requested to stick to more or less well-known franchises, which are generally considered to be science fiction. Blade Runner is great. Star Wars is fine. Revenge of the Nerds 3, however, is not.
For the on the spot event, the expected length and time allowed for a work of fan fiction will be the same as that of a conventional story: approximately 2000, and 4 hours.
