Work Room - Week 29

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

The new topic is up: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/807797.html

People don't usually consider the "Survivor's guilt" that happens when you outlast someone that you have been rooting for over the course of the competition. After all - when it's "not you" going, that means it's someone else - most likely someone that you have come to like and admire.

So, what do you do about it?

The same thing you do in any other circumstance - you make their passing matter. Harness that energy, that emotion you are feeling, and use it to write something even better. Show that you *deserve* that spot. Even if you are feeling sad about someone else not having it!

How can you do that?

Only you can answer that question.

But I can *ask* a different, but related, question to the those who remain: What do you want to see out of the contestants? What would you like to see more of? Less of? What is it that you are responding to that you just wish that more people would realize?

Comments

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

Outlasting someone you like is not the worst thing to happen. I think by now that's happened to all of those who remain many times. As did 'I did not vote this time because whatever, and crap - they lost by a single vote'.

More unpleasant is not liking/understanding/caring for the writing of someone who apparently likes yours *cringe*. A lot *double cringe*.

***

Haha, this week's topic is perfect to wrap up for me, and write about my Idol experience in general.

It's different for me.

[ellakite.livejournal.com]

I've been suffering from "Survivor's Guilt" my whole damned life, as I watched two of my brothers succumb to a neurological disorder. I was only 5 years old when I understood that what was happening to them could happen to me, specifically because we were brothers.

To a certain degree I've taken a fatalistic approach whenever I outlasted folks that I like... but only to a degree; there have been times when seeing someone I really enjoyed reading get voted out has bothered me deeply. This is especially true for my dear friend n_maranda_coy -- The *ONLY* reason why I was willing to sign up for Season 7 of LJI was because she was also competing -- I intended to use the competition as a springboard for "writing therapy", and having a friend involved in the competition made me feel a whole lot more comfortable about signing up.

So: n_maranda_coy and I each competed together in Seasons 7, 8, and 9... and in each of those seasons, she got voted out before I did. So for all the obvious reasons, it was hard for me to accept that she was no longer "in the game"... but there was one more not-so-obvious reason as well:

I met n_maranda_coy in college, and ever since then she's been encouraging me to write my stories down and get them published. I always negated her comments, because I always thought she was a far better writer than I. And yet in three successive seasons of LJI, I lasted longer than she did.

So, while on the one hand it was always hard to see my friend get voted out... but each time she would urge me to keep going, and remind me that she always said that I had talent as a story teller.

Sometimes... survivor's guilt and survivor's euphoria come together in an odd mix...

Gauntlet: thrown

[lrig-rorrim.livejournal.com]

"What do you want to see out of the contestants? What would you like to see more of? Less of? What is it that you are responding to that you just wish that more people would realize?"

Fellow contestants: I CHALLENGE THEE!

What I want to see is every single one of us doing something outside our comfort zones. Something different. Something that feels, to each of us, like a stretch. Something that pushes us. Something that we think we're not any good at, or haven't bothered to try. I challenge us to leave behind familiar characters, familiar genres, familiar styles. I challenge us to experiment. I challenge us to try more, and try different.

That's what I want to see. I want to see what we all come up with when we're doing something weird. Because I suspect it'll be awesome, and even if it isn't, it'll be a helluva learning experience.

Re: Gauntlet: thrown

[jexia]

Heck yeah!

(Though I feel like that every week...)

Re: Gauntlet: thrown

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

challenge accepted! i like what i've been writing but i feel like i've kind of written myself into a rut.

Re: Gauntlet: thrown

[rattsu.livejournal.com]

But but... *ponders*

I did this challenge for myself in season 6, I even made a bloody comic (and I can't draw).

I honestly have NO idea what would even be outside my comfort zone? I am pretty comfortable with anything? Done science, fiction, politics, personal, nsfw, poetry, comics, pictures... um...

So I guess my question would be... what do people feel they haven't got from me yet that they'd want?

Re: Gauntlet: thrown

[theun4givables.livejournal.com]

Considering this. :) It depends on whether I can think of an idea to work with.

The fun thing about this season is that I've written way more nonfiction than I did in S8 or either one of the Exhibits; nonfiction to me was stretching myself. Second person, not so much, but the brief moments of First Person POV is.

Style-wise, I've done just about everything I can think of -- I've done comedy, which is easily the hardest thing for me to write. But I haven't done it since early in the season and I keep wanting to go back to it, but the topics haven't lent themselves to that.

Also, my first thought with this week's topic was going back to Li and Jordine (who, I guess, are back on speaking terms with me), because Li's retaliation is basically, "Let's see how much I can ruin your life since you've ruined mine." Yeah.

If Li keeps talking I might have to ignore the challenge, buuuuuut we'll see whether I can think of something else. :)

Is there anything new/different anyone would like to see from me that I haven't tackled before?

Re: Gauntlet: thrown

[reckless-blues.livejournal.com]

*thinks about it* Let's see, what haven't I done.

Maybe something that isn't crushingly depressing?

Re: Gauntlet: thrown

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I've done quite a few different things this season, including poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and even a play of sorts (Chekhov's Gun).

What would you suggest?

...?

[ellakite.livejournal.com]

I'm only a "Home Gamer" at this point, but your challenge interests me. The thing is... at this point, I'm not sure what's truly outside my "comfort zone".

Really! You see, when I started competing in LJI back in Season 7, I was a total noob, but early on I deliberately tackled topics that had previously been difficult for me to discuss... things like the emotional trauma I experienced on 9/11, and the emotional and sexual abuse I experienced as a child, and my ongoing fight with depression and social anxiety, and...

Well, I guess my point is that I've gone over so much crap that is "outside my comfort zone" so many times that I can't really say that I'm uncomfortable writing about those topics anymore -- if anything, the only reason why I'd be reluctant to re-explore these areas is because I feel like I'd just be rehashing stuff that I've gone over many times before in various different ways.

So... I'm asking for suggestions here: What do you think is outside my "comfort zone" that you'd like to see me write about?

Re: Gauntlet: thrown

[gratefuladdict.livejournal.com]

I'm honestly not sure what I avoid, or even how I would describe my typical writing style or genres. I will have to ponder.

Re: Gauntlet: thrown

[swirlsofblue.livejournal.com]

Oh dear, now my muse has all these ideas

Re: Gauntlet: thrown

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

Dang, you mean something BESIDES the story I wrote two weeks ago?

But yes, I do like to keep trying new things.

Right now, I would seriously like a thing to try! An idea, in particular. :D

Re: Gauntlet: thrown

[fodschwazzle.livejournal.com]

I was enticed but wound up throwing a different gauntlet. I hope I can be forgiven. It's a different world than I've ever told here, but it's still under the archive of creepy, which is probably 50% of what I do. If I don't get eliminated this week, I promise I'll throw whatever gauntlet shaped thing I can next week. Maybe write a love letter with no monsters.

In retrospect, I should have done a play by play of that one Iron Chef battle where Rachel Ray and Giada DeLaurentiis waged war, as seen by someone watching a rerun. But this other thing was calling.

Re: Gauntlet: thrown

[cheshire23.livejournal.com]

So...uh, non-format poetry that is also sort of fanfic, when fanfic has gotten me eliminated from Idol twice? :P

It was weird, trying to write this prompt. I basically wanted to do remix/revisits of things that didn't make it into my Week 28 piece (which is what I went with) and my Week 26 piece (which was just not coming out different enough from that entry for me to be comfortable).

[reckless-blues.livejournal.com]

I'm just wondering, do people like it when you thank them for commenting and reading? I do appreciate it, but I try only to reply to comments when I have something substantial to say because I don't want to clog their inbox with "Thanks!", but would people prefer that I did that instead of just saying nothing? Help me, I have no manners.

[ellakite.livejournal.com]

I usually try to reply to all the comments I get, even the shortest ones, if for no other reason than to (a) thank the commenter and (b) acknowledge that I've read (and appreciated) their comment.

That's me, though. Other people may feet differently.

[medleymisty.livejournal.com]

I usually don't go back to check for replies.

It does weird me out when people say "Thanks for reading" though, because umm - I am supposed to read it. It makes me wonder if they're not reading everything themselves.

[anyonesghost.livejournal.com]

I do reply to comments as best I can, mostly as a social nicety, just to acknowledge that someone took the time to stop by and comment. Of late, I've been using it as an excuse to toss out various nuggets of writerly wisdom or behind-the-scenes thoughts that went into the creation of any given entry ... in the off-chance it turns into a dialogue. (Usually doesn't, of course, but I feel better for having tried, especially since I'm utterly crap at commenting on other people's entries.)

[lrig-rorrim.livejournal.com]

I don't take any kind of offense if people don't respond to my comment with a "thanks" or whatever - we're all short on time and have different ideas about what constitutes courtesy. I tend to respond to folks who drop by, because I like to let them know that I appreciate it. I hold myself to different standards for responding to comments in my journal and leaving comments on other people's journals and all of that. *shrugs* I wouldn't worry too much about it.

[dmousey.livejournal.com]

Replying is the polite and correct thing to do. I don't mind it at all if people thank me for commenting.

I also like comments and concrit because it helps me to grow as a writer. Every one of us has such a different POV and I learn from everyone of you. I try to reply back to every one I receive, if only to 'splain why I wrote something in a particular way.

:0)

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

I reply to all the comments. Otherwise, it may feel as if the author doesn't care that you've commented!

[dmousey.livejournal.com]

My brain is swirly and I need an idea. Am kind of stuck.

[lrig-rorrim.livejournal.com]

Ideas:

- write a story about a painter who loses his arm, and the gauntlet fashioned for him changes his work in strange (possibly terrible? possibly wonderful?) ways.
- write a story about a duel with laser pistols at dawn on an asteroid, sprinkling the back story about the insult and the relationship between the duelists in using flashbacks
- write a story about an alien trying to pass as human, and the gauntlet of tiny tasks and tests it has to go through each day just to get by undetected.

Choose one. ;) If you're feeling particularly uh, ambitious, choose more than one? Heh.

Seriously, I hope those help. They're free for the taking. Ideas I've got aplenty. It's executing them that's the tricky bit. If you're feeling stuck, though, just grab onto something and run with it. Even if you write something lousy, you'll have written, and even mud can be polished into art (http://www.dorodango.com/create.html).

[medleymisty.livejournal.com]

Honestly I have been binging on WoW for a bit over a week since the new expansion came out and it's what my brain is focused on right now, and I could make gauntlet fit WoW, and well - I guess a sort of informational post on one of my hobbies would be a new thing for me?

[tonithegreat.livejournal.com]

I think anyone who drops a mention of the bad old arcade game Gauntlet in their story should get bonus votes. And I'm not just saying that because I think I just figured out a way to do it myself.

[fodschwazzle.livejournal.com]

Then you get bonus votes. I agree with this idea.

I was thinking about narrating the perspective of a character in the old arcade game, but I had to stop when I thought of the frustration of accidentally destroyed food, or that robot voice that narrates everything.