Welcome to the "Brave New World" Two Week Challenge.

Do you ever wonder what would happen if major world events never happened, how the world would've changed right along with it? Well, you're about to. In this One Week Challenge, your job is to research and alter a historical event and make it so that a particular event didn't happen. But, that's not the script you have to write.

Instead, your story takes place inside this alternate reality. Did the United States lose the Revolutionary War? Did Hitler not invade Russia? Did Chernobyl not melt down? Now, you have to find the right story to tell inside the new world that you've created. It could be as little as five minutes or hundreds of years later. Of course, the later it takes place, the greater the changes are, so take this into account.

Of course, depending on the amount of work you put into creating this new world, you may need the whole two weeks or just a couple of hours, so long as you interpret a realistic world where a certain major world event never happened. At the same time, the altered event is not your story, your story simply takes place in the altered world.

T-minus 336 hours until your OWC script is due.

Topic: Brave New World.
Genre: Open.

You have fourteen days to write a screenplay of between 10 and 15 pages. The screenplay must be properly formatted and in PDF format. The scripts are due on Friday, January 26th at 11:59PM EST and must be submitted to: SimplyScripts.com/owc.

There will be a Review Page E-mailed to you for you to score the scripts you read. Please only give scores to scripts that you have read.

Timeline:

January 12th at 11:59PM EST - Theme and Genre announced.

January 26th at 11:59PM EST - Scripts are due.

February 2nd at 5:00PM EST - Names and results revealed.

The Rules:

Your script must feature a story which takes place in an alternate reality where a major world event never happened. The story does not have to be related directly to the event but the world should be reflective of a new world inspired by the reality you've created.

Please do not give a score inside the actual script review. Instead, wait until the scorecard is given out. Thank you.

Jargon:

10-15 pages.

Properly formatted & saved as a PDF file.

This isn't a contest. There are no prizes.

Free to submit.

One entry per person.

No pissers, please.

You can revise your script as many times as you wish up until 11:59PM EST on January 26th.

Participants are strongly encouraged to read and comment/review on the scripts submitted.

Do not put your real name on your script. However, please use your real name when submitting your script. (After the challenge closes you can either have your script removed or resubmit with your script with your name on it.

Please put © on the bottom left corner of your title page.

Best of luck and I hope you guys have a lot of fun with this contest.

Now, this contest may cause a lot of confusion, so hopefully I can help out a bit. I'm going to stay on for half an hour to answer questions you guys are probably going to have.

Seems pretty straight forward to me!

Where's the peeps on skype?

My only question is this. It says "One" Week Challenge, but we have fourteen days?

It's probably just the title, but I just wanted to make sure, we do have fourteen days to write it.

There's always that one guy asking dumb questions  ;D

Ooh sounds awesome! I'm away being pampered and spoiled on a weekend break at the moment but I'll start thinking about possible ideas.

Argh... questions, questions...

So... we’re in the real world, populated by real historical events. Except in this world, one event turned out differently.

So, for readers to understand that a historical event turned out differently, it would have to be a reasonably well known event, right? I can’t write a story where my favourite cat didn’t get kidnapped when I was a kid because no-one knows or cares that my cat actually DID get kidnapped. (It was heartbreaking. Thanks for caring, like, now.)

That’s right, right? It would have to be a fairly major, well known event. There has to be a reference to something that confounds the reader’s common knowledge expectations. Like, “wait, I thought Hitler DID invade Poland”.

And that’s not the subject of the story, or at least doesn’t have to be. This should be a story set in that world, where that alternative event may or may not affect the story. So long as it plays a relevant role somehow, we’re good. Right?

Just thinking it through... (do I even have time to do this... I’m flying in a week and a bit...)

Exciting.

How do you know your cat was kidnapped and not run over, scooped up and cremated? Maybe it died through misadventure... hunting a rat, or bird and got trapped somewhere, starved to death, or eaten by foxes.

My cat went awol last year. My secret hope is that she was kidnapped by a lonely old lady and turned into a full-time house cat... but I know there are a lot of other - perhaps more probable - scenarios.

Anyway, great challenge. I think a lot of the time will be used finding the perfect moment in history to change.

Cheers.

Woah, very nice Sean! Really good one - sent goosebumps down my spine. I'm thinking...

Color me intrigued. I'll have to see what I can come up with.

Dustin, somewhere in continental Europe, a rich old lady bought a beautiful pair of gloves made of my cat. Sad but true. Possibly.

Quoted from Shakey Argh... questions, questions... So... we’re in the real world, populated by real historical events. Except in this world, one event turned out differently. So, for readers to understand that a historical event turned out differently, it would have to be a reasonably well known event, right? I can’t write a story where my favourite cat didn’t get kidnapped when I was a kid because no-one knows or cares that my cat actually DID get kidnapped. (It was heartbreaking. Thanks for caring, like, now.) That’s right, right? It would have to be a fairly major, well known event. There has to be a reference to something that confounds the reader’s common knowledge expectations. Like, “wait, I thought Hitler DID invade Poland”. And that’s not the subject of the story, or at least doesn’t have to be. This should be a story set in that world, where that alternative event may or may not affect the story. So long as it plays a relevant role somehow, we’re good. Right?

Exactly. One event turned out differently and it has to be a major world event.

However, you don't have to make a direct reference to the event being changed in the script. This is not a time travel OWC. Instead, for your characters, this is reality as they've always experienced it.

Yes, exactly. The changed event isn't your story. Your story can come anytime after, in some form of logical progression from that event.

Quoted from DustinBowcot I think a lot of the time will be used finding the perfect moment in history to change.

Which is why I gave you guys the extra week. In a perfect world, one week would be spent with world building and the other week would be for actually writing the script.

So, is part of the challenge making the historical event which hadn’t taken place known to the reader without referencing it? Because if we don’t directly acknowledge what didn’t happen in the script, how do our readers know which alternate reality we are in? I mean, unless we just make our title “Hitler Doesn’t Lose the War.”

I will say, I’m all over this like white on rice.

I've got one... imagine how much better America would be if they hadn't won the revolution.

Ouch. Or England if America didn't participate in WW I or II Europe?

There are a lot of ways to do this, some more visually interesting than others. Just as an easy example, had Germany win WW2, you can believe there'd be more Swastikas, propaganda posters an a larger concentration of people with blonde hair and blue eyes. On the reverse side, you'd be much less likely to see minorities, the elderly or people with handicaps. Somewhere in there is your story. That's just an example. Also, you can take any of these ideas into the future, too. Don't feel like you have to relegate yourself to present day.

Out of interest, what does "No pissers, please" mean?

I've been thinking one of the big challenges of this...err...challenge..is how to convey the reader what event hasn't happened?

I mean if it's set now and there's Nazi symbols everywhere then it's obvious, but the German's winning WWII is cliche, it's been done to death.

But then if you don't do something obvious you'll be faced with some pretty painful exposition to explain it. Like:

"So, how are you enjoying your second trip on the Titanic? Let's hope we don't have any close shaves with an iceberg this time eh!"

There are a few ways. Start with a text block to introduce the setting: if it's good enough for Shakespeare, it's good enough for us. Second possibility: honestly think about what the effects of an event not happening are. Before I posted this challenge, I thought about events and how things Might be changed.

A few examples I thought of are as follows:

Brown v. Board of Education. Without it, we'd still have "separate but equal". Increase in segregation, rise of sundown towns, etc.
Magna Carta never being written. What would the rule of law look like without it?
September 11th. No PATRIOT Act, no War in Iraq or Afghanistan, no Snowden, no WikiLeaks, etc.

My point is, pick an event that you can craft something out of and try being specific. Don't just say the Nazis win WWII. Say the U.S. were never hit at Pearl Harbor or Hitler never invaded Russia or the D-Day landing failed. Those three events would result in very different outcomes.

Hopefully, this was helpful. If not, I can understand that. I've always been terrible at explain ing things.

It's obvious what to do, the difficulty is in alerting the reader what hasn't happened. If the Germans had won the war, for example, we would probably have populated other planets by now, so we'd simply write a sci-fi story with clues to the fact that Germany won a war that isn't important to the actual story.

Upon saying that, I've just got an idea.

Quoted from DustinBowcot Upon saying that, I've just got an idea.

Neptune Nazis?

What do you talking about Eldave? Nazis are from Pluto.

Quoted from eldave1 Neptune Nazis?

Now everybody is going to know which one is mine! Oh well, I'm 10 pages in now. Too late to go back.

John doesn't meet Paul.

Interesting...

I'm not suggesting this is all robots and other planets, but isn't this, one way or another, science fiction? It's about a world that might have been (or might be).

Hugo Gernsback, publisher of the first Science Fiction magazine, 1926, trying to define that genre: "By 'scientifiction' I mean the Jules Verne, H. G. Wells and Edgar Allan Poe type of story—a charming romance intermingled with scientific fact and prophetic vision... Not only do these amazing tales make tremendously interesting reading—they are always instructive."

Once you choose your topic, it will be easier to figure out how to make it clear. It's like any other script you write. You show without telling. People shouldn't get bogged down in "How do I do this?" when they have not chosen what they're writing about.

Quoted from Shakey I'm not suggesting this is all robots and other planets, but isn't this, one way or another, science fiction? It's about a world that might have been (or might be). Hugo Gernsback, publisher of the first Science Fiction magazine, 1926, trying to define that genre: "By 'scientifiction' I mean the Jules Verne, H. G. Wells and Edgar Allan Poe type of story—a charming romance intermingled with scientific fact and prophetic vision... Not only do these amazing tales make tremendously interesting reading—they are always instructive."

Not sure that I'm entering so may not have a dog in the hunt, but the logic seems stretched. If I understand it the concept is the consequences of something that did not happen. So, if you're Syfy world is a rational consequence of something not happening, then yeah, guess you could write a Sci-Fi. But I think you will need to make a strong connection between the event not happening and the ultimate new world. For example, if JFK was not assassinated, I think you would be hard-pressed to say that somehow resulted in an alien invasion.

There is currently one series on Amazon: "The Man in the High Castle" where Germany and Japan basically have split the United States in half: The Nazis control the East and Japan controls the Western half.  I think the way the show opened, it was pretty obvious that the allies lost World War II.  Germans everywhere in NYC, swastikas, etc. They never came right out and said what had happened.

There are a couple of shows in development or production on either HBO or one of the other major premium networks where slavery is still in effect in modern day America, presumably because the US lost the civil war.


I think there are other things you could do where you don't have to be blatent about what happened; e.g., showing Kennedy in a second term presiding over the Vietnam War. It naturally follows that Kennedy wasn't assassinated in that setup.  Or Lincoln being elected to a third term.  There's all sorts of ways to reflect a change in history without coming right out and saying it.

Of course, you can always use the Star Wars opening scroll to spoon feed it to us if you're worried we still won't get it.

Gary

I follow my stereotypical, well established, OWC theme critique, enjoy:

When you think it can't get worse…

prepare for the twisted reality major world event challenge…

set-pieces, cast, costumes… who cares, (wo)man, just go the exposition feeding dialogue route to fix that problem, since it used to work so well with audience when you shout at them, 'I'm on a high-concept theme that I originally cannot handle'… ahhhhhhh

Really, if I have to read one more smart Beatles script, with ridiculous Beatles-look-a-like characters who debate something fancy that did or did not happen, any bs Nazi alternate stories… oh my god Kennedy wasn't shot that way plots… Middle East conspiracy and so on… I'm going to see my IQ drop in front of my eyes while reading.

The choices of OWC themes just disappointed one too many times for me.

I preach for years; let's just have some scenarios about characters, people: NOOOOO…

Timetravel, superheroes, sharks or scripts located in almost card boxes, over and over with few exceptions… and now alternate reality bound to major world events, right, MAJOR WORLD EVENTS

Have some fun wading through those "constructed to fit scripts" for 15 pages. There sure will be two entries which find a creative way while the rest will sink as, in fact, the Titanic did.

Since I played my part, I wait for the creativity debate---

:-) Still, I honestly thank you for your general engagement. It's just nothing I find interesting to write about or read from other writers here. I believe we all can handle some opposing opinion: So, that is all... for this time.

Quoted from Talldave So, is part of the challenge making the historical event which hadn’t taken place known to the reader without referencing it? Because if we don’t directly acknowledge what didn’t happen in the script, how do our readers know which alternate reality we are in? I mean, unless we just make our title “Hitler Doesn’t Lose the War.”

Depending on the cataclysm you want to avoid, it might as easy as referring to JFK’s re-election... or the Chandra Levy case on September 12, 2001... or Madam President in 2017...

There's another aspect I think writers need to be careful of with this challenge -  assuming if one event didn't happen, then it never will.

For example, If someone tried to imply the telephone was never invented because Alexander Graham Bell didn t have the accident which lead to him cracking the problem, well sorry I don't buy it. However, if you came up with an alternate person/way of inventing this or a differenr type of telephone then I'd be more inclined.

Quoted from MarkRenshaw There's another aspect I think writers need to be careful of with this challenge -  assuming if one event didn't happen, then it never will. For example, If someone tried to imply the telephone was never invented because Alexander Graham Bell didn t have the accident which lead to him cracking the problem, well sorry I don't buy it. However, if you came up with an alternate person/way of inventing this or a differenr type of telephone then I'd be more inclined.

Yeah, that's a big issue. In particular with the telephone as so many other scientists were chasing it too. If not Bell then it would certainly have been one of the others. This really narrows the field down to the main plots in these types of stories. If JFK wasn't shot then the world would have stayed exactly the same, they'd have found another way to get rid of him, discredit him in some way, or just kill him on a different day.

If Jesus wasn't born? Then the Romans would have made up a different name instead, maybe even Bryan... but that's already been done, in a way.

Aside from the obvious, the rest are just not interesting enough or world-changing enough to write about.

There will be at least 3 scripts about Bruce Jenner staying... Bruce Jenner, and how that alters the entire Kardashian world - which of course affects us all.  Right?  ;D ;D ;D

Quoted from Jeremiah Johnson There will be at least 3 scripts about Bruce Jenner staying... Bruce Jenner, and how that alters the entire Kardashian world - which of course affects us all.  Right?  ;D ;D ;D

I was figuring about seventeen President Hillary Clinton scripts.

So Blondie, the budget is open I'm guessing? And we can do a comedy if we want too which is cool.

Also, does the script have to be a story within a story? Or just a vignette of life in this alternate history?

Quoted from FrankM I was figuring about seventeen President Hillary Clinton scripts.

I did consider a Trump/Hillary idea, but I have finally decided on a (different) major historical event. I don't wanna give too much away. I need breaks from the Trump drama, take it in moderation until he's finally impeached. I decided to stay in the realm of politics, though.

P.S. Neptune Nazis sounds like quite the classic B movie. Let me know if they ever make it.  ;D

Quoted from stevie So Blondie, the budget is open I'm guessing? And we can do a comedy if we want too which is cool. Also, does the script have to be a story within a story? Or just a vignette of life in this alternate history?

Budget and genre are open. And, you're just writing a script like any other script.

Sadly, I foresee lots of very poor scripts this time around.

Parameters are so wide open, once the "world changing event that didn't happen" is revealed.  And, I also foresee lots of very similar themes.

We'll see.  Best of luck to everyone who enters!

Quoted from Shakey Out of interest, what does "No pissers, please" mean?

"no pissers" or "no pisstakes" simply means to take the challenge seriously.  IOW, please don't purposely write a bad script.  

Also, please (and you know who I'm looking at) don't use the terms 'pisstake' in a review.  If someone truly believes I've let a 'pisstake' in, then message me and I'll review it.

- Don

So, just a point of clarity -- can the script be about perhaps what happened to cause the change the course of history?  Or does it have to be AFTER the event occurred (or didn't occur)?  Obviously it's two different stories, one of which might be much more interesting than the other.

Gary

Quoted from Mr. Blonde Exactly. One event turned out differently and it has to be a major world event.

Back to the idea board for me.I was thinking of an "historic" crime/mystery, but it wasn't a world event, Damn.

On the other hand...an idea sparked. But is it a "world event"?
Can't it be something that is an historic event that could "change" the world if changed?

I really. want to roll on my thoughts. I PM you on it Blonde.

Quoted from Gary in Houston So, just a point of clarity -- can the script be about perhaps what happened to cause the change the course of history? Gary

No. Your story must not be about the change, but a different story set after the change has happened.

So I've come up with a lovely fat juicy big event which would have had major consequences that I've researched and come up with an alternate timeline.

Now I'm completely stumped as to what story to tell in this new reality lol! Luckily there's 'time' yet in this challenge, but if I keep on drawing a blank I may have to come up with the different events until something clicks.

As a history teacher, well let's just say I'm in. ;)

Not in.

But if I was, the event would be my Dad not meeting my Mom and I would just submit a blank page :)

Quoted from Gary in Houston So, just a point of clarity -- can the script be about perhaps what happened to cause the change the course of history?  Or does it have to be AFTER the event occurred (or didn't occur)?  Obviously it's two different stories, one of which might be much more interesting than the other.

Quoted from DustinBowcot No. Your story must not be about the change, but a different story set after the change has happened.

Dustin is correct. You're not writing a script about the change. You're writing a script that takes place in the aftermath (at some point) of that change.

Quoted from Mr. Blonde Dustin is correct. You're not writing a script about the change. You're writing a script that takes place in the aftermath (at some point) of that change.

Can I write both? The afterlife and the event intervine anyway. Is it a mistake to include the "how" part?

Yeah. Surely it's fair to make the story of what's changed into a feature of interest in the story you're telling. I mean, it literally is the thing people will be looking out for. Right?

I prefer Mr Blonde's idea as it is more original. Simply writing about the change has been done to death. This is an ordinary story only set in a world that has turned out differently somehow. Like a parallel universe.

The change will be a feature of interest, but not to the characters within the story as to them everything is normal.

This one is going to take some good storytelling chops to pull off.

I've come up with the basics of the story. Gonna spend a few days refining the idea before I have a go at the first draft. I must admit I'm loving thinking up this alternate universe. It's really got my creative juices flowing.

Hmm I just had a thought that may be relevant, while I was brainstorming my idea when snoozing:

Loglines may not be a good idea for this challenge. It will spoil the surprise of finding out the event used in any script. I have trouble writing normal logs anyway but doing one for my idea will kill the reveal. And I'm guessing it would for most of, if not all the entries?

Just a thought anyway. But I'm going no log. I don't read the other entries purely based on the log, so it will be nice to crack open a script with only a title and being immersed - hopefully - into an interesting Brave New World.

Quoted from stevie Hmm I just had a thought that may be relevant, while I was brainstorming my idea when snoozing: Loglines may not be a good idea for this challenge. It will spoil the surprise of finding out the event used in any script. I have trouble writing normal logs anyway but doing one for my idea will kill the reveal. And I'm guessing it would for most of, if not all the entries? Just a thought anyway. But I'm going no log. I don't read the other entries purely based on the log, so it will be nice to crack open a script with only a title and being immersed - hopefully - into an interesting Brave New World.

You shouldn't have to reference the event at all in your logline, because the event never happened. For example, you would never say, "After the breakout of World War II is avoided and fascism spreads across the world, one man goes on a sea voyage and encounters an island full of mysterious refugees." If the story is about a man going on a voyage and discovering a strange island, the logline would focus on that. Then the story should drop clues as to what had (or hasn't) happened in this alternate timeline.

Certainly the loglines I'm playing around with in my head at the moment don't mention what hasn't occurred but it does lay a few Easter eggs so that people can start to guess.

Sean, my question remained unanswered.

Could these two intervine - the change and life after the change?
(should I reword the question so that it's clear what I'm asking about?)

Just a thought, but when submitting the script, maybe we could use the notes section to specify what event we've changed. Then when the names are revealed, the events are also and we can see if we guessed the event correctly.

Quoted from MarkRenshaw Just a thought, but when submitting the script, maybe we could use the notes section to specify what event we've changed. Then when the names are revealed, the events are also and we can see if we guessed the event correctly.

While I'm sure most of us would drop nuggets in the script where things have changed, I can see where some of us might wonder what the event may have been. Putting it in notes its sounds good, but I personally would have those events made known after the reads and reviews..

As it is a world-changing event then this should be obvious from the story alone - if not the specific moment in history that it occurred.

As I'm not using this idea, I'll throw it out there... a large asteroid that missed the earth some time ago, simply didn't and instead hit. A past/present/future earth set in the aftermath, with an ordinary story thrown in. Not a single character ever has to mention the asteroid, but creative clues for the reader to pick up on would be nice.

So, we should be careful of marking down other writers because we're not sure of the precise historical change. So long as the change is clear, then we've done our job.

Quoted from DustinBowcot As I'm not using this idea, I'll throw it out there... a large asteroid that missed the earth some time ago, simply didn't and instead hit. A past/present/future earth set in the aftermath, with an ordinary story thrown in. .

I had the same idea, lol. But it just ended up  being Jurassic park. ;)

I think in all these cases the pieces won't work as stand alone scripts. That's why I'd want to specify the event as well in mine.

Quoted from khamanna I think in all these cases the pieces won't work as stand alone scripts. That's why I'd want to specify the event as well in mine.

I don't think there's anything wrong in referencing the event if it fits into the story and doesn't feel forced in just to tell us all that this is the event.

For example, if  J.F.K survived the assassination attempt and you decided to do a story about some soldiers being pulled out of Vietnam early (which is one of the things Kennedy was considering), then referencing the assassination attempt seems relevant, but simply mentioning that Kennedy is still the President is enough to inform us that things have changed.

Quoted from MarkRenshaw I don't think there's anything wrong in referencing the event if it fits into the story and doesn't feel forced in just to tell us all that this is the event. For example, if  J.F.K survived the assassination attempt and you decided to do a story about some soldiers being pulled out of Vietnam early (which is one of the things Kennedy was considering), then referencing the assassination attempt seems relevant, but simply mentioning that Kennedy is still the President is enough to inform us that things have changed.

I don't know - in this particular scenario I might misunderstand the whole thing and thing that the events of the script happened before the assasination.
Or, I'd think that it's about the soldiers that were being pulled out of Vietnam and it wouldn't be about JFK surviving the shooting but about Vietnam war that didn't go too far.
But maybe it's only because I'm not well-versed in that particular part of history.

Although I suppose if I write about capitalizm and that Soviet revolution never happened I don't have to do a reference here. So, yes, you're right, thanks.

But in the case of the story that's on my mind referencing in the story what exactly happened and how is important for the story to make sense. Same thing - I'm afraid people will think the described events took place prior to the change.

Quoted from MarkRenshaw I don't think there's anything wrong in referencing the event if it fits into the story and doesn't feel forced in just to tell us all that this is the event. For example, if  J.F.K survived the assassination attempt and you decided to do a story about some soldiers being pulled out of Vietnam early (which is one of the things Kennedy was considering), then referencing the assassination attempt seems relevant, but simply mentioning that Kennedy is still the President is enough to inform us that things have changed.

JFK
Having survived nine assassination attempts - and afterwards disbanding the CIA, the FBI, the Federal Marshalls and the Postal Service - I say unto you Americans, "Ask not what your country can do for you, because no one works here anymore."

Feel free to take this idea since I'm too busy to enter this time (and besides, I'd like to witness at least one OWC before entering one), but the world event I had in mind was an important invention. The story would revolve around the resource scarcity resulting from not having a quantum leap in efficiency.

Maybe I'm just too new of a writer, but I'd have a hard time making wooden sailing ships in 2018 believable without directly referring to the non-event. "Yeah, some fool Scotsman tried to sell an invention once, said it'd replace the waterwheel. No, of course no one took him seriously."

Dustin is right in that it should be obvious what the event was by the story. Even by the date that I'm guessing perps will have as a super early on. Anyone who knows their history will pick up immediately on it - 'aah, Hitler won the war' etc.

My point about the log is a personal thing - I could write a brief one but I'd rather it be blank and readers go in with no idea of the event changer; well, at least till page one lol

Wait, JFK is dead???!!!! :'(

I have absolutely nothing for this one. I hate history...war... so maybe this one isn't for me. Even if I could come up with something... not sure I want to read that many of these type scripts. I'll read a few if I stay out though.

Quoted from FrankM Feel free to take this idea since I'm too busy to enter this time (and besides, I'd like to witness at least one OWC before entering one), but the world event I had in mind was an important invention. The story would revolve around the resource scarcity resulting from not having a quantum leap in efficiency."

where Charles Babbage has "The Difference Engine" by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling is one of my favorite novels. A bit of steampunk, it' deals with Charles Babbage getting around to invent  the Analytical Engine , which causes technology to advance into the computer age a century ahead of time.

Quoted from khamanna Sean, my question remained unanswered. Could these two intervine - the change and life after the change? (should I reword the question so that it's clear what I'm asking about?)

I apologize, Khamanna. I've been really sick for the better part of a week.

Your story should take place entirely after the event. We don't see the event happen.

I'll try and keep an eye out for more questions, but this hit me on Friday and I've been busy trying to recover since. Still, if you guys have anymore questions, I'll be able to answer them tomorrow. I apologize for not being here more this time around.

No need for apologies, Blondie. You just look after yourself mate

I think with some stories, the event change won't be obvious, but I agree with what was said earlier by someone else, if we can't guess the event then I don't think that should be an automatic point deduction. If Jesus wasn't crucified on the cross and the story was set now for example. Sure, it may be obvious that this story is set in a world where a different religion (or no religion) exists, but how would the reader know this was because of an event didn't happen two thousand years ago?

However, I know you writers and I know myself. I suspect we'll all be working hard to put some obvious and not-so obvious clues in the script as to the event in question!

Interesting challenge, this one. Been waiting a couple days for something to pop into my head, but nothing yet. It’s not the life altering historical event that is the trouble, just the story that goes around it (or because of it). In that respect it shouldn’t be that much different than anything I’ve ever written previously. Thankfully, this is a two week challenge. That said, was this purposely made a 2WC to give us more time to come up with a great story idea, or because of the higher page count?

Extra time for research was the idea I believe.

Could someone remind me - what you use if you need to indicate place and time at the beginning of the script or scene?

For example:

IMPERIAL RUSSIA, 1930s

It's called something, I knew it and everyone does. I just never use it and forgot.

(oh, and this is not going to be my script if you're wondering)

SUPER or TITLE

Oh, thanks!

We can use those by the way to indicate the alternate reality. Although it may go past a reader if he doesn't know the specificity of the challenge. I don't know...

You’re welcome. I actually had the same thought, but there’s other ways to show it, too.

Yes, you can use any methods you want to clarify the story for the reader. As I've learned over the years, sometimes, you are actually better off beating people over the head with information than going the subtle route.

So my original plan of mentioning the non-adoption of the steam engine wasn't just a rookie thing.  Good to know.

Oh, how would the world turn out if Khan Noonien Singh did not seize control of a big chunk of Asia in 1993? Bet that would change history quite a bit ;)

My script is going to start with Mark Wahlberg landing on Earth, only to find it is ruled by Whales. Then everyone will know the event I've changed is that Whales just learned how to breath air and took over the planet instead of apes.

Quoted from MarkRenshaw My script is going to start with Mark Wahlberg landing on Earth, only to find it is ruled by Whales. Then everyone will know the event I've changed is that Whales just learned how to breath air and took over the planet instead of apes.

Whales do breathe air. So do all fish, come to that, they just filter it through their gills by stripping the air molecules from the water.

Also, if we believe evo theory, the earliest ancestor of the whale walked on land. So they went the other way as some animals choose to do.

It's likely that if humans didn't evolve, that every other creature would still be exactly where it is now in terms of intelligence. If anything it would be the other way around - monkey see, monkey do. They learn from us.

See? My script is becoming a reality!

Quoted from MarkRenshaw I think with some stories, the event change won't be obvious, but I agree with what was said earlier by someone else, if we can't guess the event then I don't think that should be an automatic point deduction. If Jesus wasn't crucified on the cross and the story was set now for example. Sure, it may be obvious that this story is set in a world where a different religion (or no religion) exists, but how would the reader know this was because of an event didn't happen two thousand years ago? However, I know you writers and I know myself. I suspect we'll all be working hard to put some obvious and not-so obvious clues in the script as to the event in question!

Can't enter this one - but:

Not sure why this is an issue - why wouldn't peeps just put it in the logline. e.g.,

- In a world where Jesus was never born...
- In a world where no cure for small pox was discovered....
- In the United States, where abortion is still illegal....

etc.

I actually think most of the debates are going to focus in two areas:

- Does the event that did not happen really meet the criteria of a major event?
- Does the event not happening really means that it never would. e.g., If Edison was never born would we really never have discovered the light bulb?

I think this challenge is so open that a lot of people are going to discount scripts based on IF THEY MEET THE CHALLENGE or not and everyone is going to have different opinions. Why can't we have a challenge that is simple with given location, genre, maybe an object or a character and a page limit of 5-7???????

Quoted from MarkRenshaw My script is going to start with Mark Wahlberg landing on Earth, only to find it is ruled by Whales. Then everyone will know the event I've changed is that Whales just learned how to breath air and took over the planet instead of apes.

Except - it has to be an event that didn't happen - not one that did. But it would be a whale of a story otherwise.

I've no issue with the challenge itself or working the 'non-event' into the story. I'm struggling with the page length. Be prepared for a lot of fluff.

In regard Dena's comment, I think we all need to be more forgiving and just judge the stories on their own merits. In storyland anything is possible.

I'm with Dena on a page count.
I'm having trouble to come up with a good story that fits the limit. I guess there's not enough story in mine but it would be good for a short short.

Quoted from JEStaats I've no issue with the challenge itself or working the 'non-event' into the story. I'm struggling with the page length. Be prepared for a lot of fluff.

Yeah, I promise chunks in mine.

Quoted from Dave e.g., If Edison was never born would we really never have discovered the light bulb?

Considering it was already invented 10 years before by Joesph Swan I would say yes ;D

Edison stole more patents than any human being more so from his genius sidekick Tesla

I would just like to say, as seems to be a growing consensus, that while the validity of the alternate reality should be looked at in terms of “realism”, it should not be judged in terms of “likeliness”. Every script is essentially a personal opinion of the butterfly effect, how much does history change when certain events are altered?

So, if someone has worked out that no civil war between north and south would lead to a rebellion in the south between races and that would transform America into an ally of the Germans during WWII then it’s like alright I may not agree, but it could happen I GUESS.

If the same situation is looked at, and the script ends up in the year 2200 and jellyfish rule the world it’s like well that doesn’t make a lot of sense contextually. I guess it’s just up to the readers to be more alert at connecting the dots, especially because someone is going to pick a historical event that isn’t common knowledge and everyone is going to get confused and hate the script.

This is pretty crazy and can really be any genre, even fantasy.

In  my crazy world, science was discarded for magic.  So, no physics, science, medicine etc.  Magic is the root of existence.

Dan

Quoted from DanC In  my crazy world, science was discarded for magic.  So, no physics, science, medicine etc.  Magic is the root of existence.

Magic was never in contention with science so would not count as a historical change. Try harder.

Science grew out of magic.

The likes of Einstein (odten called the first scientist) were Alchemists, attempting to create the Philosophers Stone. Their research on transmuting matter lead to what we know call Chemistry.

They don't teach you it in school, but Einstein's two major preoccupations were creating the Philosophers Stone to achieve immortality and his belief he'd been chosen by God to properly translate the Bible.

It is conceivable that the transformation from magic/occultism to science never happened and everyone remained an Alchemist/magician.

Quoted from Talldave If the same situation is looked at, and the script ends up in the year 2200 and jellyfish rule the world it’s like well that doesn’t make a lot of sense contextually. I guess it’s just up to the readers to be more alert at connecting the dots, especially because someone is going to pick a historical event that isn’t common knowledge and everyone is going to get confused and hate the script.

I for one, welcome our new Jellyfish overlords!

As to Dan's comment, I'm with Dustin on this one. Although this is an alternate timeline you can't just change into fantasy. The reason real magic, Harry Potter style, doesn't exist isn't because of an event in history, magic just doesn't (sadly) exist.

Unless of course, you say that clever Illusionists and the belief in magic become more popular than science? That would be a very interesting alternate universe indeed. Imagine if David Blaine was president lol!

On a personal note, I've gone from having most of this weekend gloriously free for writing to having hardly any free time at all and I'm gutted. I've got a feeling that, as per usual, I'll end up pushing a vomit draft through at the last moment. No excuses, if it's rubbish it's rubbish, I just can't believe how life sneaks up on you and steals personal free time.

Yeah, you have to keep it within the realms of the possible.. However there are millions of occultists, ceremonial magicians, wiccans and voodoo practitioners round the world who believe in the fundamental reality of magic/magick.

You can have it so all technological advances are seen as magic, or designed to exaggerate "magical" abilities, I suppose.

Sorry to hear that, Mark.

As for me, I just completed my first draft, already working on my second. I've still got a week to churn out more drafts. So far, it's edge-of-your-seat. Just wait until I tweak and polish it into the final product.

Quoted from Scar Tissue Films Science grew out of magic. The likes of Einstein (odten called the first scientist) were Alchemists, attempting to create the Philosophers Stone. Their research on transmuting matter lead to what we know call Chemistry. They don't teach you it in school, but Einstein's two major preoccupations were creating the Philosophers Stone to achieve immortality and his belief he'd been chosen by God to properly translate the Bible. It is conceivable that the transformation from magic/occultism to science never happened and everyone remained an Alchemist/magician.

Science grew out of wanting to know more about the world and the way it works. Not anything to do with magic. Scientists today have found the 'Philosopher's Stone' - at least in terms of being able to synthesise gold. It's not magic.

Belief in a magical being watching over us in the sky aside, we have never had a crux point inhistory where we could have followed the path of magic, simply for the fact that magic isn't real and it would have gotten us nowhere. However, it would make a great satirical comedy if pulled off correctly.

Quoted from Scar Tissue Films Science grew out of magic. The likes of Einstein (odten called the first scientist) were Alchemists, attempting to create the Philosophers Stone. Their research on transmuting matter lead to what we know call Chemistry. They don't teach you it in school, but Einstein's two major preoccupations were creating the Philosophers Stone to achieve immortality and his belief he'd been chosen by God to properly translate the Bible. It is conceivable that the transformation from magic/occultism to science never happened and everyone remained an Alchemist/magician.

I hope you were kidding. The word scientist was coined in 1834... 45 years before Albert Einstein was born. Prior to that, people in that profession were known as natural philosophers.

And magic grew out of science. The earliest inklings of learned behavior were essentially scientific: do X to Y and Z happens. Abstract thought brought hypotheses and experimentation: do X to other things and see if something like Z happens.  This isn't even limited to humans.

Superstition emerged from the overbroad and/or naive application of science where there wasn't enough information to make sound judgements. Wood floats, so we make canoes out of wood. So far, so good. Five guys set out in canoes over The Waterfall, and the only one who came back alive was the one wearing a red hat. From now on, everyone piloting a canoe wear a red hat! Superstition. Magic and pseudo-science can be seen as really formal systems of superstition.

Obviously, ancient cultures didn't have the experience to fully disentangle their science from their superstitions, but they weren't idiots.

Magic grew out of science?

Only a hundred thousand years out, mate. :)!

I put Einstein by the way... I meant Newton.

You never know what's going to be discussed in one of these threads.

I read somewhere if something is hard to believe or plain wrong you need to insert a dialog about that right in a script and prove overwise.
You don't even have to prove, just be eloquent about it and make believe it's a possibility.

So, in other words - If you want to show magic might have preceded science and you know many may disagree with you just have two characters talk about it.
They use this trick in sitcoms a lot.

Quoted from Scar Tissue Films Magic grew out of science? Only a hundred thousand years out, mate. :)!

I never claimed that the magic systems work, only that science predated them.

There are some cases where a relatively rational form of superstition makes sense. Based on the notion that doing the exact same thing in the same circumstances should lead to the same outcome, there are situations where it's simpler to replicate everything than figure out precisely which factors are important. For example, Intel found that replicating just the parts of a chip fabrication plant that "should" matter led to a significant drop in productivity at the new plant. New plants built to be as precise copies as possible as good-performing plants did just fine. These plants cost over a billion dollars each, so it's much cheaper just to keep on using the same wall colors and conference room layouts and groundskeeping schedules and so on than it is to figure out which details matter and which don't.

Professional athletes fall into this trap a lot. Some will respond to a hot streak by studiously repeating whatever they did to prepare for that particular game.

Coming back to magick, from what I can tell modern Wiccans sincerely believe that the mind can affect the world around it. The trappings of magick (candles, athame knives, essential oils, casting circles, cauldrons, etc.) are there to get the practitioner into a state of mind conducive to affecting the world. A more secular view would call it self-hypnosis.

Remember back when hypnosis was discovered, the natural philosophers of the day agreed that Mesmerism worked, they just thought that Dr. Mesmer's explanation of it working through animal spirits was a load of bull.

Just saw this and it struck me as funny;

Quoted Text After the casting, the athame is the tool traditionally used to invoke the elemental guardians of the four directions (also termed "calling the quarters"), typically by drawing invoking pentagrams at each quarter. This important traditional practice is one of the reasons often given for the false requirement that the athame must be double-edged; because attempting to trace a pentagram in the air with a single-edged blade will require some awkward twisting of the hand and wrist, in order to keep the single cutting edge in the direction of motion. Practitioners unfortunately get caught up on this logistic and may be unaware that the elementals are more concerned with the threat the magical blade represents than how one twists their wrist.

So a superstition (athame must be double-edged) emerged from within a superstition.

It's turtles all the way down.

Quoted from FrankM I never claimed that the magic systems work, only that science predated them. There are some cases where a relatively rational form of superstition makes sense. Based on the notion that doing the exact same thing in the same circumstances should lead to the same outcome, there are situations where it's simpler to replicate everything than figure out precisely which factors are important. For example, Intel found that replicating just the parts of a chip fabrication plant that "should" matter led to a significant drop in productivity at the new plant. New plants built to be as precise copies as possible as good-performing plants did just fine. These plants cost over a billion dollars each, so it's much cheaper just to keep on using the same wall colors and conference room layouts and groundskeeping schedules and so on than it is to figure out which details matter and which don't. Professional athletes fall into this trap a lot. Some will respond to a hot streak by studiously repeating whatever they did to prepare for that particular game. Coming back to magick, from what I can tell modern Wiccans sincerely believe that the mind can affect the world around it. The trappings of magick (candles, athame knives, essential oils, casting circles, cauldrons, etc.) are there to get the practitioner into a state of mind conducive to affecting the world. A more secular view would call it self-hypnosis. Remember back when hypnosis was discovered, the natural philosophers of the day agreed that Mesmerism worked, they just thought that Dr. Mesmer's explanation of it working through animal spirits was a load of bull.

I have made no value judgement on what works, or what doesn't, mate.


I'm just saying that Magic as a concept has existed from the beginning of human existence. Our primitive societies were based around Shaman, Withdoctors, Druids etc not scientists...science came a hundred thousand years after magic as a concept...even if you extend it way beyond it's modern usage and include natural philosophy as science then it's still only when we get to the Ancient Greeks that "science" comes around. People had been happily casting spells for thousands of years before that.

Magic came first, then religion, then science.

There are still extant spells to Ishtar from Ancient Mesopotamia in existence...and that's just stuff that's survived.

What we now call science, "the scientific method", has existed, if we are being generous, since around the 17th Century (you give the date 1834 as it's first mention which shows how late in the game we're talking):


"The Oxford Dictionaries Online defines the scientific method as "a method or procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses".[4] Experiments are a procedure designed to test hypotheses. Experiments are an important tool of the scientific method".


It is a very, very, very modern thing and was preceded by thousands upon thousands of years by religion, and magic.


Here's a little article on how Alchemy evolved into Chemistry:

https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/big-history-project/stars-and-elements/other-material3/a/from-alchemy-to-chemistry

If you want to have a world based on Magic, you just have to have a slight change in the Age of Enlightenment and have it that Alchemy never evolved into Chemistry and then into Science (in the modern sense of the word), but instead the "scientific method" remained a part of the overriding doctrine of Alchemy.

It's arguable how far that allows you to modify what humans are actually capable of, though.

And it also raises an interesting question about how far a writer's personal beliefs can be taken into account when evaluating challenge conditions: Can a modern day Chaos Magician write a story whereby magic can materially effect events, if that is what he believes actually happens? Or do we all have to judge a script agnostically?

Strangely, you seem to know this anyway...

Your post about superstition is exactly how a rationalist would describe Magic coming about...someone wanted rain and when they picked up a stone it started raining...they then came to believe that certain stones could make it rain and when rain was needed, they went looking for them.

That simple kind of thinking is why magic was humankind's first overriding ideology...predating the others by a considerable distance.

That's the thing though, magic could never have held on. If it did, then we would never have evolved and we would have stayed completely ignorant, never learning. Constantly believing that it rains if we dance hard enough around a fire. It would work well with satire, but if a serious story then I'm not buying magic.

Quoted from FrankM I never claimed that the magic systems work, only that science predated them. There are some cases where a relatively rational form of superstition makes sense.

In psychology for example. You can trigger chemical cocktails within your brain that actually do not care about the logic of the "source"...

That's an interesting piece from Denis Villeneuve:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAgFeUMgjRI

It's not that he got me there but I must admit that I feel that this film shows me a little of that "hidden strength" which is a huge accomplishment for a 3 minute short. We haven't even understood 1% of this whole field. IMO the short only tries to communicate its overall existence. And it is.

We later are going to explore the bio-chemical process, then, it will become science I guess???

btw: How can I embed videos?

I think there's a little mix-up on terminology. The scientific method as a self-aware concept, definitely modern. The pursuit of what works and what doesn't using essentially scientific principles is as old as learned behavior. A lot of superstition started off as mis-learned science, and religion can be thought of as a set of superstitions organized around relatively self-consistent philosophies. The conflict between religion/magic and science is that the former venerates the ancient while the latter wants to rip out the ancient and replace it with something new ASAP.

Kosher was a huge public health coup in Leviticus's time; it curtailed food poisoning and the spread of some infectious diseases. It is intertwined with some mystical bits which are no more or less silly than what you see in other religions. The ritual aspects have some social value as well. My take is that modern practitioners are fully aware that more modern food preparation and storage techniques have developed since, but they stick to Leviticus's methods more out of thankfulness to God for giving them such useful knowledge so long ago when it may well have given them an advantage over their neighbors. Observance of kosher has practically become a ritual aspect in itself, serving the social function of cementing norms and providing a shared experience among the practitioners.

Quoted from Scar Tissue Films Strangely, you seem to know this anyway... Your post about superstition is exactly how a rationalist would describe Magic coming about...someone wanted rain and when they picked up a stone it started raining...they then came to believe that certain stones could make it rain and when rain was needed, they went looking for them. That simple kind of thinking is why magic was humankind's first overriding ideology...predating the others by a considerable distance.

Again, I think the only issue here is terminology. Anyone capable of associating the rock and the rain is engaging in abstract thought that could only exist in the context of causal inference (the whole do X to Y and Z happens thing).

Superstition emerges when an otherwise scientific process involves a large amount of uncertainty from the practitioner's perspective. For predictable processes (making stone tools), holding onto what works and jettisoning what doesn't works fairly well. For unpredictable processes (fishing in deep ocean), it's not feasible to suss out the causes and effects (all the villagers know is that sometimes the boat never comes back), so people cling to whatever seemed to work at least some of the time. If one takes all the proper precautions and still fails, well they just didn't do it right (the No True Scotsman fallacy).

An alternate history story where the general population believes in magic: plausible. An alternate history where wizards go around shooting fireballs and conjuring elementals: not.

Quoted from PrussianMosby btw: How can I embed videos?

Yes, you can embed videos.  Caution - Flashing Light Effect




Don

Quoted from PrussianMosby We later are going to explore the bio-chemical process, then, it will become science I guess???

More or less :)

An example I use is the term Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI has captivated and scared people for a long time, but that's because we only apply the term to stuff that isn't quite working yet, and the lay-person associates the unreliableness of AI in the real world to the AI portrayed in SciFi.

Optical character recognition and natural language processing were major early projects in AI research. It took a while, but we basically solved optical character recognition, and by the time one could buy consumer-grade OCR software, no one was calling it AI anymore. Natural language processing is a tougher nut to crack, so the AI label is still there, and people struggle daily to get Siri to follow simple directions.

The thinking goes something like: Siri is AI, and Siri can't even figure out the pronunciation of my wife's name. Autonomous androids will be AI, how screwed up will they be?

Magic has held on, even today though....


Leaving aside the multitude of existing magical organisations:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_organization

(and there are many more)

There are things like Obeah and Voodoo. Albinos are still killed and their parts used for magic in Africa, virgins are still raped in the belief it can cure HIV.

There are even Muti killings taking place in the UK, these days...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1370917/Torso-Thames-identified-Victim-voodoo-ritual-named-5-year-old-Adam.html


All it takes is for one group, or one man to become particularly prominent in some way and they get to set the narrative for society...Let's say famous Elizabethan Sorcerer John Dee became Prime Minister, or something....


TBH it's science that's the most vulnerable because there are a lot of things that it relies upon...technology, education, energy...so all it takes is one event...a solar flare for instance and we're back to the Dark Ages.

Quoted from Don Yes, you can embed videos.

Thank you.

So, if not complicated to explain,,,,how does it work? Do I have to click on sth. at youtube? I'm not good at this kind of technical things...

If the magic thing is done properly then it can slide. But if people are actually going to start levitating and conjuring things into existence then this is a no-no. Belief is one thing, it actually being real is another.

Quoted from FrankM I think there's a little mix-up on terminology. The scientific method as a self-aware concept, definitely modern. The pursuit of what works and what doesn't using essentially scientific principles is as old as learned behavior. A lot of superstition started off as mis-learned science, and religion can be thought of as a set of superstitions organized around relatively self-consistent philosophies. The conflict between religion/magic and science is that the former venerates the ancient while the latter wants to rip out the ancient and replace it with something new ASAP. Kosher was a huge public health coup in Leviticus's time; it curtailed food poisoning and the spread of some infectious diseases. It is intertwined with some mystical bits which are no more or less silly than what you see in other religions. The ritual aspects have some social value as well. My take is that modern practitioners are fully aware that more modern food preparation and storage techniques have developed since, but they stick to Leviticus's methods more out of thankfulness to God for giving them such useful knowledge so long ago when it may well have given them an advantage over their neighbors. Observance of kosher has practically become a ritual aspect in itself, serving the social function of cementing norms and providing a shared experience among the practitioners.

Well, yes.

If you expand the term "science" to include any successful manipulation of matter...regardless of the ideology behind it...then "science" has always existed...we couldn't have eaten anything without it because eating something edible would count as science from your definition.

We must also call modern day Orangutans and other tool using animals such as Bird's "scientists"....but that's surely taking it too far. ;)

If one Googles "When was science invented"... the earliest date offered will be the 1200's, with Roger Bacon (famous Friar and Alchemical "wizard"....it's a recurring trait that great men are often religious, occultist and scientific all at once and goes back to what I was saying before about the genesis of Modern Science and Alchemy) often being mentioned.

I prefer to use the established terminology that:

Science (from Latin scientia, meaning "knowledge")[2][3]:58 is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.

I think to extend the concept of science beyond the point people had even conceptualised it as a discipline/methodology, is a bit disingenuous.

Anyway, all good.


On another level: There is something of a conflict here between the Alternate History theme and the genre being open....Fantasy would be a legitimate choice of Genre....but could interfere with any realism required of the Theme.

Well, this today's debate will cool down soon, necessarily it will, but it is really interesting to me to see writers here do think about such demanding stuff, and I missed that philosophical sight on this board completely since it's nothing less than exactly our task to communicate publicly what's state of the game. Nobody else will do that job.

So, one point for the challenge at least.

Re terminology:

Doesn't physics mean nature 1 to 1?

Quoted from Scar Tissue Films I prefer to use the established terminology that: Science (from Latin scientia, meaning "knowledge")[2][3]:58 is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.

And that's really interesting because knowledge is a relative term bound to interpretation. You also later use the word prediction, cut the "pre"… and you have language, exchange.

I really know not much about the topic and some stuff you both say go over my head but I interpret the debate like this: there's language and physical movement, both are the same but have another perspective.

I now go and do what good Germans do watch Football and drink some beer.

Very interesting stuff guys...

BTW You both may want to check out In Transit on Unproduced Board genre Comedy...

The writers going into some stuff you explain here but has problems to translate with necessary substance yet

Quoted from Scar Tissue Films If you expand the term "science" to include any successful manipulation of matter...regardless of the ideology behind it...then "science" has always existed...we couldn't have eaten anything without it because eating something edible would count as science from your definition. We must also call modern day Orangutans and other tool using animals such as Bird's "scientists"....but that's surely taking it too far. ;)

I was trying to clear up a misconception that "magical thinking" predated "scientific thinking," and therefore magic predated science. Practical arts of a scientific character (strike these rocks together this way to get a sharp stone) predated practical arts of a magical character (wear a bear pelt when fishing because bears eat fish) for no other reason than you couldn't conceivably have a bear pelt without tools.

But anyways, the emerging consensus seems to be that the Fantasy genre (as in swords-and-sorcery) seems implicitly excluded from the OWC. Superhero stuff tends to get lumped into the Fantasy genre, though, and there might be some plausible path from the Fall of Rome to establishing order through vigilante justice to costumed heroes without over-the-top superpowers. Purported superpowers would be fine (such as all the supposed abilities of ninjas).

Quoted from PrussianMosby BTW You both may want to check out In Transit on Unproduced Board genre Comedy... The writers going into some stuff you explain here but has problems to translate with necessary substance yet

I'll try to find time to look at it. It's 110 pages and there seems to be quite a bit of discussion already... which I don't want to read before the screenplay, so as not to bias anything.

Only do it if you're interested of course, don't want to talk anybody into something. I'm an ESl so I make some mistakes as saying "you may want to…" which is different from "you might be interested" ...

I'm so often misunderstood in those fine areas ;-)

Not sure if the writer's even around anymore… But there was that certain topic that one of you talked about here, that a person him/herself defines their surroundings… The script at least addresses such stuff, just not successfully yet

Quoted from FrankM I was trying to clear up a misconception that "magical thinking" predated "scientific thinking," and therefore magic predated science. Practical arts of a scientific character (strike these rocks together this way to get a sharp stone) predated practical arts of a magical character (wear a bear pelt when fishing because bears eat fish) for no other reason than you couldn't conceivably have a bear pelt without tools. But anyways, the emerging consensus seems to be that the Fantasy genre (as in swords-and-sorcery) seems implicitly excluded from the OWC. Superhero stuff tends to get lumped into the Fantasy genre, though, and there might be some plausible path from the Fall of Rome to establishing order through vigilante justice to costumed heroes without over-the-top superpowers. Purported superpowers would be fine (such as all the supposed abilities of ninjas).

You don't need any technology to perform Magic...just a simple desire and a belief your thoughts can change reality.

I understand what you're trying to say. Humans are basically the same beast today as we were then, or vice versa, they were capable of deductive reasoning, observation and manipulating their world.

It's just that it's not strictly "science". At least under no definition I've ever seen.

Science is not just about performing individual physical acts and realising their efficacy...It's as this dictionary definition suggests: Science is the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.

It's deliberately, and objectively, trying to work out systems, or how the whole system works, not just how to sharpen rocks, or learn how to fish or similar activities.

Physical activity by itself is not science. It becomes science when you are doing it to create systematic classifications and to understand underlying concepts of why things behave like they do. What the mechanisms are.

Here's a little piece from Wikipedia on the history of science.

In prehistoric times, technique and knowledge were passed from generation to generation in an oral tradition. For example, the domestication of maize for agriculture has been dated to about 9,000 years ago in southern Mexico, before the development of writing systems.[6][7][8] Similarly, archaeological evidence indicates the development of astronomical knowledge in preliterate societies.[9][10] The development of writing enabled knowledge to be stored and communicated across generations with much greater fidelity.

Many ancient civilizations systematically collected astronomical observations. Rather than speculate on the material nature of the planets and stars, the ancients charted the relative positions of celestial bodies, often inferring their influence on human society. [b]This demonstrates how ancient investigators generally employed a holistic intuition, assuming the interconnectedness of all things, whereas modern science rejects such conceptual leaps.[/b]

The bolded bit is key...the ancients were recording and observing things for MAGICAL reasons (to see what the Fates were saying, or to predict the future etc). They were not performing objective, scientific experiments to work out what the stars were, and what they were made of.

They were not scientists, or even natural philosophers. They were magicians.

Magic, unequivocally, came before science. By a distance of 100,000+ years. It's not a close run thing. ;)

But anyway, last post about that. ;D


I agree about the genres...I think that was Mr Blonde's intent. A realistic world.

However, strictly speaking...the Open Genre allows for things like Fantasy and Supernatural Thrillers or any other genre that is populated by mythical, invented or similar characters.

Like I say, I don't think that's his actual intention.

Wow - what a discussion. Anyway:

Quoted Text This is pretty crazy and can really be any genre, even fantasy. In  my crazy world, science was discarded for magic.  So, no physics, science, medicine etc.  Magic is the root of existence. Dan

If it were me, I would disqualify this right out of the shoot. The challenge is:

"...a particular event didn't happen."

So, what didn't happen here? Everything? Every scientific advance/invention was discarded for magic? Hardly an event. To me it's akin saying mine is based on if humans didn't need to sleep.

It does not be the challenge. I'd also DQ it for announcing my script ahead of the reads and reviews - but I'm a hard ass that way.

It would be hilarious if Dan came back and said he was joking.

Quoted from MarkRenshaw It would be hilarious if Dan came back and said he was joking.

That would be funny - it generated three pages of response

Quoted from Scar Tissue Films Magic has held on, even today though....

I believe in magic.  :)

Lol, Dan WAS joking.
Aren't we all on the threads like this.

I had an idea for a comedy for this in which Hilary and Tenzing get to the summit of Everest and find some smartarse Aussies already up there cracking stubbies and cooking snags on a barbie lol.

But I’m going with a serious one which doesn’t involve magic or science...😎

Ummm yeah I was joking.  Honestly, do you really think I'd admit what my concept is??

I mean, I've kept quiet the last few OWC so why would I revert back??

Also isn't one man's magic another's science??

Dustin, it disagree with you.  If I had written a story then had people levitating or shooting out fire balls it could be magic or it could be a person who created a hoverboard from an unknown power source and a roman candle type device.

In comics, it's widely accepted that Dr. Doom's armor is both science and magic.  A person from the stone ages would consider TV sorcery.    However to say that TV couldn't exist in some other "magical way" is wrong.  

Just to clarity, I'm NOT writing that story.

Dan

Quoted from DanC Also isn't one man's magic another's science??

Science is science, it can never be magic. Somebody may believe it is magic but it is still just science. Magic is not real.

Quoted Text Dustin, it disagree with you.  If I had written a story then had people levitating or shooting out fire balls it could be magic or it could be a person who created a hoverboard from an unknown power source and a roman candle type device.

Levitation is by definition, magic. If you use anything to aid in the human floating then it would no longer be levitation.

Quoted Text In comics...

The magical stories in comics are not a part of our history. Superman doesn't actually exist, and nor has he ever.

Just to make clear - you don't think science vs. magic type of story fits the challenge, do you?

Four drafts in. Pretty solid. I'll see how it holds up before the deadline.

Quoted from ChrisBodily Four drafts in. Pretty solid. I'll see how it holds up before the deadline.

When you say draft, do you mean four complete rewrites?

Quoted from khamanna Just to make clear - you don't think science vs. magic type of story fits the challenge, do you?

It doesn't.

Quoted from Mr. Blonde It doesn't.

There are some very specific historical events like the Roman Inquisition in 1615 and the Scopes Trial in 1925, but those are more teaching scientific theory vs. religious dogma than a competition between different ways of doing practical tasks.

I guess it would help ‘validate’ your script if the reader has a chance of working out what changed...

Anyhow, how long is the judging period on OWCs (or TWCs)? Longish I hope. I’m in it to read, but I’m away until end of first week of Feb. Don’t want to miss that bit entirely!

The timeline is included in the top post:

Feb 2nd the names and results are revealed.

Thanks... And uh oh.

I'm starting to think the 10-15 pages are going to be essential. Normally I'd start my short late on, but I have to do some world building here which means I'm having to cover stuff I normally wouldn't bother with but I feel it's essential to give the reader a sense of what this new timeline is like.

Although I'm really enjoying it, I'm up to page 8 and worrying I'm going to run out of pages before I've finished. Then I'm going to have to go back and cut a load of stuff I currently think is necessary. Blimey, this is a tough one!

Gonna go do some pew pew on the PS4 to have a rest and come back at this later.

I'm feeling your pain, Mark. I was bitchin about the page length requirement two days ago and now I'm having to control my ramblings. I'm loving this challenge. Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with.

Quoted from JEStaats I was bitchin about the page length requirement two days ago and now I'm having to control my ramblings.

I am good to my word - no story and lots of fluff. Hope that doesn't give my entry away.

I’ve got nothing. I love the premise of this one but I just can’t come up with any solid ideas. I had one but the amount of world building involved is just not going to fit into 10 pages and another but it isn’t really a significant historical event, just an event that most people would know about.

I’ve never been so stuck for ideas.

So I'm out of this one.

Most people would know my reviewing style by now, some hate it, and some appreciate it. So I'm not going to read them all but please feel free to hit me up via PM if you want another read/review. I’ll be brutally honest as always.

Good luck everyone. This is a tough one; I think just getting something half decent up is commendable.

You know you've got up to fifteen pages, Warren.

If that helps you reconsider your idea...

First draft done and it's a bit of a train wreck. I had to ditch a huge chunk of the story to fit it in after I went through some world building. I will be a good sport and enter whatever I have by Friday, I just think people will feel the whole thing is rushed and unbelievable, maybe even confusing.

Not complaining, this is a great basis for a challenge. It wouldn't be a challenge if it wasn't challenging and something that forces me out of my comfort zone. I am finding this the toughest one yet to nail.

Quoted from MarkRenshaw Not complaining, this is a great basis for a challenge. It wouldn't be a challenge if it wasn't challenging and something that forces me out of my comfort zone.

Yeah, ditto on that. I complain a lot, but all the complaining is about my writing processes, not about the challenge really. Cus it's not "a challenge if it wasn't challenging" - exactly!

Not sure I'm going to get one in either... been really busy lately, a couple of chess matches to go this week and planning my trip to Amsterdam for my Gfs 40th this weekend. I have something, I just may not be able to finish in time. If not for this one being two weeks I definitely wouldn't have had a chance. I think it's the Christmas thing. We have Xmas and 5 important birthdays in January to consider. Hectic time of the year. Roll on March.

Sorry if this question has been answered, but do we have to choose a significant historical even? I'm imagining most people are relating "historical" to maybe a war, major public figure dying/born, etc. But what if we went with something that DIDN'T fall into those categories, but was still "historical" in scale?

EDIT: I'm thinking of the creation of the internet. That was a pretty big historical event.

Steven, oh, Steven... you're not supposed to tell us. What part of anonymous don't you get?

Quoted from JEStaats Steven, oh, Steven... you're not supposed to tell us. What part of anonymous don't you get?

Didn't say that's what I was doing, just using it as an example.

I was going to go with the invention (or more precisely, commercial backing) of the Watt steam engine, though I couldn't actually compete this time. I think you'd be fine going with something that's not a war or the nonbirth of someone.

The challenge is justifying that your nonevent wouldn't just happen some other way. Had Apollo 8 exploded on the pad, it likely would have delayed but not prevented getting to the Moon.

Quoted from LC You know you've got up to fifteen pages, Warren. If that helps you reconsider your idea...

Yeah 15 pages probably wouldn’t cut it either. Potentially more of a feature idea.

I'm out as well.

Not a big fan of the parameters, as they're too wide open for me and require too much backstory to get the point across of what it is we choose to not have taken place.

I will read and comment as always, so be prepared.

Best of luck to all who enter this very difficult challenge.

I'm thinking of how to pull this off. The story has to take place in a world where "X" never happened...alright, but wouldn't we have to point out what NEVER happened?


I could write a story about a guy holding up a liquor store in a world where MLK never gave his famous speech, but how would you know that unless I explicitly say it?

Start of showing why the speech never happened?

Assassin's bullet? MLK mobbed by KKK. Rosa parks never moves to the back of the bus.

There you go! Start off with little Rosa Parks. She boards a bus. Walks up the steps. Turns to face the front seat. Walks to the back and sits down.

Boom. jump into your story.

Quoted from CameronD Start of showing why the speech never happened? Assassin's bullet? MLK mobbed by KKK. Rosa parks never moves to the back of the bus. There you go! Start off with little Rosa Parks. She boards a bus. Walks up the steps. Turns to face the front seat. Walks to the back and sits down. Boom. jump into your story.

That's great. I do have an idea and I think it could work.

I know everyone is shaking with excitement to find out whether I'm in.

Yes.

Jeff and Warren - Sad that you won't be entering but psyched to know that you'll be reading and reviewing.

Quoted from Stumpzian I know everyone is shaking with excitement to find out whether I'm in.  Yes.

:D

This challenge seems to be causing some real agony. Must be a really good topic! Anything that can make an entire community of writers bang their heads against a wall in frustration is bound to produce some really great stuff...or not.

I tested my story out on someone without telling them what event in history had changed and they couldn't figure it out. So I'm thinking for putting the change in the logline to help.

I actually think if anyone was to submit such scripts to a competitions, you'd have to explain in some way that this was an alternate timeline story using the logline anyway, but what do folks think?

My story doesn't make sense if you don't know the challenge parameters. I mean it's easy for you to get what's going on (been tested) but without the challenge it's pointless.

Had to go with a gut feeling and write about a guy who wakes up one day to people that don't recognize him. In desperation, he turns to God and works his way up to being The Orthodox Patriarch and then we learn that the guy's name is Putin. I got scared everyone will mistake it for a pisser.
Now I'm stuck with something that's not a pisser. At least that one would entertain you somewhat.

I wish I could write something that makes sense even if it was hard to decipher the event that did/didn't happen. I mean what difference does it make if we can't understand the event. If a writer explains the event it means it's in there, he followed the rules and all. And if the story makes sense I'm not marking down for the fact I don't recognize the event.

And why people say they don't have anything if there's still good two days to go? You still got time!!
party-poopers.

Libby, are you in?

Seven iterations and submitted. Can't wait to read 15 Hillary scripts, 4 "the colonists surrender" scripts, and Dan's magical script. :D

Seriously, though, I can't wait to see what you guys concocted. Good luck to everybody.

Was hoping to throw my hat into the ring, because it's a fun subject, but alas won't have the time.

One way of getting round the whole 'but what is the change' thing, is simply making it the punchline. For instance, if you created a gender bending world where traditional roles and evolutionary strength were reversed, people would be wondering how this came about all the way through. The punchline being it was Adam, not Eve that ate the apple and got them thrown out of Eden. History or not - something like this gives you strong themes to play with.

Nevertheless - I'm out - good luck people.

Quoted from Anon Was hoping to throw my hat into the ring, because it's a fun subject, but alas won't have the time. One way of getting round the whole 'but what is the change' thing, is simply making it the punchline. For instance, if you created a gender bending world where traditional roles and evolutionary strength were reversed, people would be wondering how this came about all the way through. The punchline being it was Adam, not Eve that ate the apple and got them thrown out of Eden. History or not - something like this gives you strong themes to play with. Nevertheless - I'm out - good luck people.

Also not entering (time constraints).

As I said before, I don't quite understand everyone's difficulty in conveying what the event was. Just put it in the logline. In a world where.... OR ....Imagine if.....

I do like the theme and I did have an idea (centered around JFK Junior not dying in that plane crash).  But alas, just not going to be able to be in this one.

Quoted from eldave1 Also not entering (time constraints). As I said before, I don't quite understand everyone's difficulty in conveying what the event was. Just put it in the logline. In a world where.... OR ....Imagine if..... I do like the theme and I did have an idea (centered around JFK Junior not dying in that plane crash).  But alas, just not going to be able to be in this one.

Yeh I don't understand the difficulty either. Although a logline wouldn't be conveyed to an audience. But a simple SUPER would. Or a newsreader saying it was anniversary of said event. Or even, dare I say it, a line of expositional dialogue! Cue lots of 'one the nose' feedback. Point is there's a million ways. That's the easy bit. The good story is - as always - the challenge.  

Quoted from Anon Yeh I don't understand the difficulty either. Although a logline wouldn't be conveyed to an audience. But a simple SUPER would. Or a newsreader saying it was anniversary of said event. Or even, dare I say it, a line of expositional dialogue! Cue lots of 'one the nose' feedback. Point is there's a million ways. That's the easy bit. The good story is - as always - the challenge.

There are a million ways, but it can also be done poorly, like the narration at the beginning of The Invention of Lying. You don't need to tell us no one here lies, it's in the freaking title! I can only imagine the test-screening audience that led them to believe that was a good idea.

It's apparent what happened in mine but I can't get over the fact that the script doesn't make sense.
Why the altered reality I mean?

Quoted from khamanna ...Libby, are you in?

Sorry to say Kham you'll be counting me as one of the party poopers.  ::) Shook my brain but nothing fell out, apart from something very Philip K Dick. And he did it better than I ever could.

Thanks for asking though, and I will be reading and commenting on some.

I'm three pages into my concept. Decently happy with it but I'm running with it anyway.

D'oh! I made a very embarrassing mistake (especially considering I'm a history lover)... the date of my event. It's an easy mistake to make since both months are right next to each other.

Let this be a lesson to all... if you only get one thing right in your script, it should at least be the date your event occurred.

Boy, am I glad I caught my blooper before the deadline.

I sent mine in last night. Now that you mention the date, I better verify a couple points!

I can't believe that I'm gonna say this, but, I'm in.

I honestly have no clue if this fits the parameters or not, and I forgot to mention when I submitted it what the change was.  I am sure it will get slammed.

I wrote it in one day.  I will try to rewrite it over the next 2 days (ish), but, not sure...

I promise to try to read them all.  I know I only read like 12 last time, and I felt awful.  

Here's hoping my health holds up for this.

Dan

Dan, if you know there are things to fix, use the time you've got left to fix them.

The parameters are pretty straight forward.

All I'm saying is, (and I know your health is a big factor) don't set yourself up to be 'slammed' when you can make something better or at least clearer especially when it's not a case of submitting right on deadline.

I also made a mistake that has to do with dates. Now need to rewrite that part.
Or I can submit and just hope nobody notices. I'll see.

I ripped out the whole of act 2 and replaced it. Now that's extreme!  I feel it works better but it's a bit exposition heavy at the moment. I'll see if I can break up the wordy bits, or make them seem more natural.  

It's not so much getting across what event didn't happen, or what happened differently. I can get that across with a logline or a SUPER at the beginning or something. It's trying to then get across how that non-event has changed the timeline and the new world that has evolved from it. That's the part I'm finding tricky. You can't just show a world where magic has replaced science (just to bring up an earlier argument lol) and not explain what this entails and why.

It's OK saying that the Norman's failed to conquer England and the famous Battle of Hastings in 1066 went the other way, but this could have had massive consequences on the British Empire, which may not have ocurred at all! So the whole face of Europe and maybe America could be different. Fascinating stuff for a novel, but for a 15 page short, unless you have a history & geography professor giving a running commentary throughout, then this would be tough to get across in a story set in this new timeline, but one unrelated to the actual non-event.

BTW - The above isn't my idea, just an example.

It's curious how many people are going with historical events revolving around war.

FYI,

I will start processing what I've gotten thus far and sent out notifications.  As always, you can submit revisions up to the deadline.  I'll just post the latest received.

Good Luck!

Don

Out of curiosity, how many people have submitted something so far?

I decided against submitting after all. Good luck to all, I'll try to do the reads though. Tough challenge.

I am in like Flynn.

I thought I was in, until I wrote about 8 pages and realized I had shit.

Since I'm not entering, I want to share my concept. I fully deleted the thing by the way.

In this world, neanderthals and homo-sapiens (written as "HS") remained separate species, that was until Aaron was born. Having a mother and father of both species, he was looked at as a freak, and thus lashed out against society.

The story is told in real time, with some jumps, and a continuous voice over from Aaron's father, Frank.

It started with his neanderthal mother giving birth to a room of shocked nurses/doctors. They knew of the inter-species pregnancy, but to see it happen was something totally different.

I fast forwarded from then, to Aaron being about 10 and excelling in sports. He had the strength of a neanderthal but dexterity of an HS. Then forward again to high school where he excelled in math - an area of study where neanderthals failed at so frequently, the subject was removed from their curriculum.

While still in high school, Aaron has an HS girlfriend, and the other HS's don't appreciate this. There's a fight and Aaron brutalizes the HS jock who instigated the whole thing.

The last fast forward shows Frank picking up Aaron from jail, he's in his 20's now. Aaron was arrested for being drunk in public, but was also full of bruises on his face and looked as if he was in a fight. The cops release him to Frank's custody after he sobers up.

I then cut to a court room, where Frank was providing the VO's throughout each period of Aaron's life.

That's where I stopped. I planned on having Aaron come across the same jock who he got into a fight with in high school, killing him, and that's why he was arrested. The ending would be Aaron found guilty and is sentenced to life in prison.

It's a weird one, I know, but I thought it was interesting.

Not submitted anything yet but I will. I'm gonna keep on working on this right until the last minute. I've never done so many revisions for a OWC before and I'm still not sure it works at all! What a challenge!

Screw it, I'm in with an entry written today. That's not an excuse for the quality, I happy with the writing, but I know it isn't quite in the confines of the challenge. It's all it could come up with and I want to play :)

Toughest challenge since I've been a board member.

Good luck everybody.

I brewed up something the best I could, I’ll be submitting something for suuure. Just taking a little time to sit on it and revise. I hope everyone is alright with a bit of a stretch in terms of story.

Quoted from Steven Since I'm not entering, I want to share my concept.

Thanks for sharing, shows there are a lot of ways to skin this cat.

Quoted from Steven The story is told in real time, with some jumps, and a continuous voice over from Aaron's father, Frank.

Although calling my wife a Neanderthal does require that I challenge you to a duel with pistols at ten paces. ;)

My original concept (which I knew from the start I wasn't going to be able to submit due to time constraints) was Watt failing to get any financial backing for his steam engine, and the technology getting a bad rap. Boiler explosion during a demonstration or something, though the details aren't important to the main story.

An Industrial Revolution without the quantum leap in productivity from engines leads to all of those "surplus population" problems that thinkers of the day had feared. Europe is in a more or less perpetual state of war over resources like mines, arable land, etc.

The unique facet to this warfare is that in 2018 Europe without locomotives or automobiles, you can't really advance an army anywhere important without crossing canal after canal after canal. That translates to several miniature amphibious assaults punctuating whatever maneuver you were trying to accomplish in the first place. Thought it'd be interesting to give a perspective on canal warfare and the sorts of innovations that would make a soldier's life there a living hell.

Two serious problems though. One was time, the other being that I have never written anything remotely like a war story before.

I managed to do some minor changes.

Now, for the Neanderthal story.  It was my understanding that they weren't very smart, so, if I were to go with that idea, I'd have to really see the technology they'd be able to come up with.  Each "upgrade" of our evolution was significantly smarter than the previous.

Good luck to all and this should be fun.

And I didn't have to cut anything.  For once, I came in under the max!!

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dan

Oh, the submitits is killing me. I might end up submitting mine after all since you all are showing such a board spirit.

Neanderthal story sounds funny. I would love to see a Neanderthal give birth. Did she speak a fancy language too?

Quoted from FrankM An Industrial Revolution without the quantum leap in productivity from engines leads to all of those "surplus population" problems that thinkers of the day had feared. Europe is in a more or less perpetual state of war over resources like mines, arable land, etc. The unique facet to this warfare is that in 2018 Europe without locomotives or automobiles, you can't really advance an army anywhere important without crossing canal after canal after canal. That translates to several miniature amphibious assaults punctuating whatever maneuver you were trying to accomplish in the first place. Thought it'd be interesting to give a perspective on canal warfare and the sorts of innovations that would make a soldier's life there a living hell. Two serious problems though. One was time, the other being that I have never written anything remotely like a war story before.

A very interesting concept. I'd love to see a story or script written exploring the use of canals, lochs and lakes during WW1 or II as a means to move troops and supplies.

This challenge is certainly bringing out the creative side of writers. I suspect a lot of these ideas we've discarded would make great novels and maybe should be held to one side in case you ever want to have a go at prose.

This period after you submit but before the scripts are posted is like having a daughter about to make her debut.
You think she's beautiful, perfect. Still, you are anxious.
Will she be the belle of the Debutant Ball?
Or will people say things like:
"She's a mess."
"Sorry, not for me."
"What a boring girl."
"Look at how she's dressed! Awful."
"Why is she even here?"
And as her father, you want to slug each and everyone of those fools, but you can't.
Instead, you say, "Thanks for feedback."

Stumpzian...and don't forget 'The Rules': She wore white after labor day? Horizontal stripes? That style is so last year. Ha! Love it!

Stumpzian, my daughter is having to debut as a composer the upcoming Monday and I'm between getting drunk before going to the concert, not getting drunk and pretending we're not related and saying good things about her piece, telling everyone I'm her mother and slamming her work.

And she's like, relax, I'm doing great.

I don't know where I'm going with this by the way. Just sharing.

Quoted from khamanna Stumpzian, my daughter is having to debut as a composer the upcoming Monday and I'm between getting drunk before going to the concert, not getting drunk and pretending we're not related and saying good things about her piece, telling everyone I'm her mother and slamming her work.

Well, good luck to your daughter and to you and maybe don't slug anybody unless you have to.
Henry

Thanks. I'll be at my best! Or not

Quoted from khamanna Thanks. I'll be at my best! Or not

I say slug them if they are cruel.  It's one thing to be tough or critical of someone's work, but, when it comes to kids, one should keep it positive, or at least construction.  It's another thing entirely when someone tries to break a kid, even if they don't do as well as they hoped.

Good luck Khamanna!!  She's amazing, so, have no worries!!

Dan

Thanks, Dan. My daughter would agree with you on the last bit))

So, I'm most deffinitely not submitting mine. I wanted to read it now one last time before submitting and seriously thought it was so boring that could't finish reading.

And I'm out again. I actually quite like my script but it's not an event that would have changed the course of history in a way that the world would be that different. It would only have affected a few lives, and there's the issue that it was only 6 pages.

I will submit it after the OWC ends.

Still happy to do reviews if anybody wants them.

Good luck.

Submission in, ready to get beat the death with criticisms. Good thing I’m like the criticism wolverine! I regenerate instantly and have an adamantium skeleton.

Ohh 6 hours left

Time to write a pisser ;D

Submitted mine. It got to the stage where I couldn't tell if my changes were making it better or worse, so decided to stop playing with it and let you Tasmanian devils at it.

I'm really curious as to what everyone has come up with!

After doing research and some early world building, I ditched by idea as it was too complex for a short. I was about to bail on the OWC, but there was a small noticeable nugget, so I rolled with that idea, and abracadabra! There it is. Submitted.

I have a real good feeling about this one.
Of course, that's just the scribe talking, where after a draft or two, we think anything is a brick of gold. So we'll see how it goes.

I apologize to all of you for not being nearly as active during this OWC as I wanted to. Chaos literally ensued the day the challenge was posted up, but that's no excuse. I'm going to be here during this part and do my best for all of you and I thank you all for being civil and participating. =)

Just submitted my last minute revision. Phew!

Good luck everyone - I can't wait to start reading!

I did not have time to participate this time. I will read at least two scripts though and try to give serious thoughtful comments. If anyone wants a read, just hit me up via pm. If you know me, you know I'm always honest in my opinion. I don't care if we're good friends or complete strangers.

Good Luck everyone.  :)

Done! With 8 minutes to spare! Phew!

Good luck everybody! I enjoyed this one and was thankful for the extra time.

I was hoping to write something for this, but a bout of flu put paid to that idea! I'm gonna read as many as I get time for though & I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone's managed to come up with.

Quoted from irish eyes Ohh 6 hours left Time to write a pisser ;D

Nice, Mark!  I look forward to yours, as always.