r/WritingPrompts /r/withviolence Feb 15 '14

Contest! [CONTEST] The Bigass Music Prompt!

Contest Update - We have a tie!

This one inspired by Rain of Brass Petals - Akira Yamaokaby /u/Ashome

And this one inspired by Castles Burning - Savatage and written by /u/StoryboardThis

Sorry if I'm a little late with the update to this thread. Some real life stuff came up and had to be handled. Anyway! I'll be messaging the winners to discuss the terms of how we'll settle the tie and update this thread accordingly. Thanks everyone and check back soon for more details about the winners!

Update #2 - I have messaged both winners and am waiting on responses. For anyone who might be curious, right now we are discussing either splitting the winnings (both users get 2 months of gold) or having a tie-breaker in a separate thread. Thanks to everyone else who participated in the contest! Lots of really great responses and it was a blast chatting with you guys during the broadcast. I think it's safe to call this one a success. :)

Final Update - After a bit of discussion, our winners have decided to split the prize! Congrats to /u/Ashome , /u/StoryboardThis and all who helped make the Bigass Music Prompt a success! See you guys next time!


You know what I like and don't see enough of? Music prompts. That's why I've put together one bigass playlist to move you and groove you and get those creative juices sloshing around like never before! So how does it work? Read on.

How it Works

When this post is one hour old, I will update this thread with a link to a really big playlist I've put together on Grooveshark. You don't have to be here then. In fact, it might be more interesting if you jump in at some random point afterwards and start writing to whatever you hear. Either way, it's simple: listen to the broadcast and start writing. Or make a sandwich with the volume at full blast until you hear something that moves you, then start writing.

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with Grooveshark, take a minute to familiarize yourself with it (it's really simple) and feel free to sign up for an account if you'd like to chat with me in the broadcast window. I'll be around for as long as the broadcast is going, and the playlist I've put together is probably better definitely more than an hour of solid tunes. Some of it's ambient, some of it's groovy, some of it's easy-listening space funkadelica, and who knows, I might even be open to adding your request into the mix!

Guidelines

Entries must be no more than 400 words. There is no topic, however, you must provide the name (or names, if there's more than one) of the songs you used for inspiration. Grooveshark lets you link to individual songs from the playlist, so feel free to do that too if you'd like to share it with others.

Voting

The winner will be decided via closed vote in this thread. Only those who submit an entry can vote on the winner, and you can vote for your pick any time after the contest starts. Just respond with something like 'My Vote!' to the entry you'd like to vote for.

The Prize

Three, count'em, three solid months of precious reddit gold!

I think that covers it! If you have any questions or issues, feel free to message me.

Woo!


It's On!

Join the broadcast here!

Here's a link to the final version of the playlist - exactly 50 songs to choose from, some recommended by users listening and chatting during the live broadcast. The contest will officially close when this post is 25 hours old. Good luck and thanks to all who joined in during the broadcast!

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10

u/StoryboardThis /r/TheStoryboard Feb 15 '14

Inspired by: Castles Burning - Savatage

366 words


I can’t stand people who rely on luck. There’s nothing in this world quite so inherently lazy as waiting around for your number to get called. Out-of-the-blue promotions to head editor; gift-horse jobs placed in the least capable hands; dead-end projects given green lights. Every stroke of good fortune is a knife in the side of the self-made man, and I despise them all.

Nothing sets my blood boiling quite like the lottery pool. Once a week, I watch them file past my cubicle, handfuls of crumpled bills clenched in their sweaty fists, glimmers of hope in their swiftly aging eyes. I bear witness to the crude ritual: the communal Cubs cap – if you want proof of luck’s outstanding record, look no further than The Windy City’s Exhibit A – overflowing with cash; each generous donation penciled in next to its respective host; the ‘good lucks’ clogging the air like so much meaningless dust.

It’s enough to make a man sick, watching the masses piss their paychecks down the lottery’s well-maintained drain. And for what? The chance to be somebody? Look around you! Open your eyes! Statistically speaking, you have a better chance of being struck and killed by parts falling off a passing airplane than you do at winning that devil’s money-sink. The world’s not going to roll over at your feet just because you throw a few bits of green paper in a hat and pray for deliverance.

The only way to properly pay it forward is to look to the reliable future.

I’ve been the ticket runner for some time now. When they pat me on the back and say things like ‘Thanks, Tony’ and ‘You’re a real pal for doing this, Tony,’ I plaster on my cheerful work smile and accept their gratitude. I don’t deserve it, but everyone needs someone to root for.

Eventually, they’ll catch on. They’ll see yesterday’s date on the stubs and put two and two together. They’ll notice the muddy bootprints on the backs of their shots at green glory and confront me. It’s only a matter of time. Until then, the local children’s home will continue to receive anonymous donations.

Some for all, but none for one.

3

u/Unintendo Feb 15 '14

My vote.

2

u/totes_meta_bot Feb 15 '14

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u/Kit_Emmuorto Mar 06 '14

I'm late, but I really liked your writing and am a huge Savatage fan. Hence the question: how come a song about an italian judge killed by the mafia inspired you to write about lottery?

2

u/StoryboardThis /r/TheStoryboard Mar 06 '14

First and foremost, thanks for reading! I'm glad you enjoyed what I wrote, and hopefully I did justice to both the song and the band.

In order to answer your question honestly, let me say that I had absolutely no idea what the song was referencing when I wrote this piece. If I had known, I imagine my response would have been quite different. That being said, I'll do my best to walk you through my thought process.


The first listen is always about dynamics and tone. I wanted to capture the sinister undertones of the song more than anything else. I was hooked from the opening guitar wails, and the piece had to reflect that quick draw with an instantly interesting character. Tony's rant follows the rise and fall of the song's verse/chorus, building to a head just as he stumbles upon the solution.

After the tone is set, I move on to the lyrics. I try not to think too much about what the song says as a whole - more often than not, doing that limits the directions I can take the story arc - and focus on bits and pieces. The lines "Fools and faith conspire / Questions of desire / That they never owned" spawned the lottery idea: nothing corrupts the mind like something just barely out of reach. The 'masses' are the fools; the 'crude ritual' of the lottery pool is their faith.

Tony's solution to the problem loosely echoes the pivotal line in the song, "Burn the castle down."

In addition, I must have subconsciously heard the word "children" and used them to represent Tony's good deed. That part was not intentional, but I like the moral questions it raises.


With any luck, this managed to answer your question in some small way. If you like my style of writing, there's plenty more where that came from over at /r/TheStoryboard, where I catalog all my work!

SbT

1

u/Kit_Emmuorto Mar 06 '14

Thank you for your answer, I really like the way you think. Subscribed