Turning Twenty

[Bruin Fisher]

I note with interest that the AD homepage is sporting a badge celebrating 20 years! That's quite an achievement in the ephemeral world of internet communities.

I remember when the site turned 10, several of us wrote stories on the theme of Turning Ten. I thought it might be fun to search them out but apart from my own I can't find them.

Mine, if anyone's interested, is here:

Turning Ten

Now I'm wondering if I can dredge up inspiration to write a story entitled something like 'Turning Twenty'...

[Alien Son]

I think this is a complete list of the Turning Ten stories, in no particular order:

Cole Parker - 2 x Ten

Nigel Gordon - Turning Ten On The Road To Kamping

Nigel Gordon - Turning Ten Twice

Colin Kelly - Fifteenth Birthday

Chris James - The Other Side

Cynus - As The Clock Turns

Bruin Fisher - Turning Ten

Steven Adamson - Chains

vwl-rec - Pyrrhus

Mihangel - Sweet and Ten

James Merkin - Jesse's Journey

Camy - Ten Years On

Altimexis - Homecoming

Alien Son - The Worst Day

This list was gleaned from my memory, and from this forum topic. According to one of Mike's posts there were 13 stories. My list includes 14.

[Merkin]

And a lovely story it is, Bruin.  I thoroughly enjoyed rereading it, and it reminds me that my fascination a decade ago with the notion of spending time on a narrow boat never did get fulfilled.  Alas.

Thank you, John, for coming up with that list.  I’d forgotten about the Turning Ten group effort.  It yielded many fine stories and I’m looking forward to revisiting all of them.

James 

[Bruin Fisher]

Thank you so much for that, John. Now like James I can enjoy re-reading the collection.

And pondering the possibility of writing a fresh one for our twentieth...

[Rutabaga]

Mike viewed April 3, 2004 as the precise launch date of this site, and that anniversary ship has sailed for 2024, but there's no reason we can't use the year 2024 as the platform for commemorating the founding of the site.  So I propose the following:

1.  Let's give ourselves the summer (or winter, down under) to prepare some appropriate Turning Twenty stories, with a goal of publishing them in September 2024.

2.  Let's establish a deadline of, say, the first week of August 2024 to submit stories to John (@Alien Son) at the normal submission address.  Please mention that it is a Turning Twenty submission.  Be warned that John may ship these submissions to me for processing, as he already has a pretty full plate.

3.  As was the case with the Turning Ten commemoration, the stories can, but need not, make some reference to turning twenty.  But they could also involve other themes that arise from this site and Mike's passing last year, themes of nostalgia and reminiscence, or themes of hope for the future.  The transition from 19 to 20 means the end of being a teenager, and that could trigger something.  Or maybe the number 20 itself has some connotation, such as a room or apartment number, or the game of 20 Questions, or twenty lashes with a wet noodle.  Better to have a good story than some contrived effort to shoehorn the idea of 20 into the tale.

If there is sufficient interest, let's make it happen.  Please speak up with your thoughts.

Cheers,

R

 

 

[Bruin Fisher]

Great! I'll see if I can rouse my muse out of his coma...

[Alien Son]

With contributions from @Rutabaga I've created a page for the Turning Ten collection of stories. It's accessible using the new Turning 10 link on the main menu bar of the AD home page.

~ John

[Bruin Fisher]

Thank you John. Excellent.

[Camy]

On 5/31/2024 at 3:00 AM, Alien Son said:

With contributions from @Rutabaga I've created a page for the Turning Ten collection of stories. It's accessible using the new Turning 10 link on the main menu bar of the AD home page.

~ John

Thank you both. The new collections page is wonderful!

I'm certainly up for 'Turning Twenty.'

On 5/30/2024 at 2:55 PM, Bruin Fisher said:

...I'll see if I can rouse my muse out of his coma...

You'd jolly well better! 

[Rutabaga]

That's great news @Camy!

For clarity, here are the basic grounds rules again:

1.  Submissions are due by no later than the first week of August, 2024, with the goal of publishing them in September 2024.

2.  New, original stories are preferred, although we will consider reposts of stories published elsewhere, especially if they seem particularly appropriate for this event.  But we reserve the right to say no.  

3.  While this is a 20th anniversary event, there is no requirement that the stories hit this theme of Turning Twenty or anniversaries in general "on the nose" -- especially if doing so would seem contrived or artificial.  They could also involve other themes that arise from this site and Mike's passing last year, themes of nostalgia and reminiscence, or themes of hope for the future.  The transition from 19 to 20 means the end of being a teenager, and that could trigger something.  Or maybe the number 20 itself has some connotation, such as a room or apartment number, or the game of 20 Questions, or twenty lashes with a wet noodle. Think about something that was happening back when you (or your parents or your grandparents) were 19 or 20.  The important thing is to have a good, engaging story.  Get out your mind-maps and see what emerges.

4.  Submissions should be handled as described here: https://awesomedude.org/story-submissions/story-submissions.htm.  Please identify the submission as being for Turning Twenty.

Feel free to spread the word elsewhere.

R

[Ivor Slipper]

On 6/1/2024 at 5:06 PM, Rutabaga said:

4.  Submissions should be handled as described here: https://awesomedude.org/story-submissions/story-submissions. htm.  Please identify the submission as being for Turning Twenty.

 

R

Using this link took me to a 404 error Page.

[Rutabaga]

7 hours ago, Ivor Slipper said:

Using this link took me to a 404 error Page.

I see the problem -- a stray space somehow corrupted the link.  I have fixed it on the original post, and here it is again:  https://awesomedude.org/story-submissions/story-submissions.htm.

Thanks for letting me know.  And thanks for thinking about a Turning Twenty submission!

R

[Rutabaga]

Happy Saturday everyone.  We have heard from a number of people who have expressed interest in contributing to the Turning Twenty story collection, and we look forward to even more people taking a whack at it.  (Am I allowed to use that word?)  

For those who have expressed interest, this is just a gentle reminder that stories don't write themselves.  We hope you will have been noodling about something to write, and even applying fingers to keys.  For those still on the fence, please consider throwing your hat in the ring.  (Is that better?) 

If you are stumped, you can always cheat and look at a book like "Plots Unlimited" by (seriously) Tom Sawyer, who was a showrunner and writer on "Murder She Wrote."  (You can read more about him here.)  That is seriously his name -- Thomas B. Sawyer.  I met him many years ago in an uncrowded corner of the L.A. Times Book Fair on the UCLA campus, where he had a table selling copies of this book.  Really nice guy, and fun to talk to.  Anyway, this book has an intricate and interlocking sequence of cross-indexed "elements" that can be put together kind of like the faces on a Rubik's Cube to generate all sorts of story ideas.  (For that matter, just doing a story based on a character whose parents had burdened him with a name like Tom Sawyer might be interesting.) 

Half of June and all of July still stretch out before us, so there's time.  Looking forward to some great stuff!

R 

[Bruin Fisher]

I have a couple of pages of copy, so far. It's rubbish, but there's time to whip it into shape, I hope.

[Cole Parker]

It's been forever since we had anything from you, Bear, and I love your writing.  Camy, too.  I hope you both get on board with this.

C

[Rutabaga]

Greetings all --

I'm back with another gentle nudge to either start or continue your story for this Turning Twenty event.  "Don't be shy," as Fee Waybill sings in "She's A Beauty" by The Tubes.  There is still the whole month of July ahead of us.

Thanks in advance!

R

 

[Bruin Fisher]

On 6/29/2024 at 7:08 PM, Rutabaga said:

I'm back with another gentle nudge

I feel your nudge, but I'd prefer a cuddle...

[Rutabaga]

Awww . . . .

Yet I say, Carpe Typem (seize the keyboard)!

R

[Altimexis]

I'm well into writing my story, so thanks for the nudge.

[Rutabaga]

It's getting closer!

Looking forward to more Turning Twenty story submissions!

For the best submission, John (@Alien Son) has promised to travel to Canberra, ascend in a hot air balloon, and scatter biodegradable confetti in your honor (honour).  Regrettably, most of us will just have to take his word for it that he has done it. 😎

But we will have concrete evidence of your authoring expertise when your draft comes in.  We hope to gather everything by the first week of August.

Cheers,

R

[Jason Rimbaud]

So I'm about 50K into maybe an 80k story and not sure if I'll complete by the deadline. But it does have 20 as an important part of the narrative. Maybe if I can get the first chapter edited in time I'll submit it. Either way I'm going to be posting something hopefully soon.  

J

[Cole Parker]

That's great news, Jason.  I was afraid we weren't getting much traction here.  You've been important to AD.  Glad you're participating in this.

C

 

[Camy]

I'm Carpe Typem away as fast as possible, though I've seen snails faster. Hey ho. 

[Bruin Fisher]

My story, if it eventually appears, will be a short story - nothing like Jason's amazing 80K. Go Jason!

[Rutabaga]

We're on the home stretch for the Turning Twenty event.  Several stories have come in and more have been promised.

In my original post I stated the deadline as "the first week of August" for submissions.  Looking more closely at the calendar, it seems that the first "real" week of August begins on Monday, August 5th.  Which suggests that the "real" deadline should be Friday, August 9th.  

Please send your stories to submissions@awesomedude.org or to wherever you are accustomed to submitting them.  If we can get the manuscripts in by August 9th that will hopefully give enough time to do all the grooming and landscaping to prepare them for publication in September.

Many thanks to those who have submitted or who are working on submissions!

R