I just realised we haven't started a dares thread in here yet!
For those of you who are new to NaNo, you may have noticed a few of these threads knocking around the place. Basically, we like to add to the fun by daring each other to include various things in our novels. So there are general dare threads, and ones specific to particular genres. And here we have a thread for dares specific to our region.
There are two dares that have become a tradition in this region:
The Fruit Dare You'll already hopefully be aware that if you're coming to the Kick-Off party you need to bring a piece of fruit so we know who you are. It's traditional that you then try to work your piece of fruit into your novel. It doesn't have to be a literal piece of fruit - you could describe something as being the same colour as a kiwi fruit, or shaped like a banana. Last year, I had one of my characters accidentally turn himself into a pineapple. It was that kind of novel.
The Pablo Dare We also have a tendency to try and include a character called Pablo somewhere, even if only in a walk-on role. Strictly speaking, Pablo should be on the flamboyant side, but it's not absolutely necessary. The original Pablo occasionally wanders through this forum, so keep an eye out!
Anyone else want to add any other dares?
----------
Claire - ML for England :: York & Leeds + Moderator of Newbies
42,519 / 50,000
Oct 7, 2009 - 16 45
Well, count me in on both of those. Fruit should be easy enough, and Pablo will make an appearance in my 'supporting cast'... I'll let you all know where and when!
If these are going to be 'regional' dares, then I propose the following:
The Local Dare (for Local People!) This one's fairly simple, just try to work the name of your town or district into your novel. If you're not too happy about disclosing your location to this forum of relative strangers, then the nearest city would be innocuous enough. You could even do it in a sly way, for example:
---
The note was written in a barely legible hand, with a flurry of spelling mistakes:
"I thynk I'v come up Wiv a plan, bob. Lets foller it An See wher it Leeds us To."
---
Give it a go?
J
----------"Instruction on the Conventions of Invention and Construction."
43,052 / 50,000
Oct 7, 2009 - 23 14
Rupert! Try to get Rupert into your story (for those who don't know or don't remember; Rupert is Pablo's friend who was made of the fruit we brought to the last Kick-Off party.)
----------NaNo09 - The more you write, the less you die.
www.fanfiction.net/~Galadriel1010
4,492 / 50,000
Oct 7, 2009 - 23 31
Those all sound reasonably reasonable.
----------T. Bread Sandwich
And all that.
40,005 / 50,000
Oct 8, 2009 - 04 48
Ah yes, Fruity Rupert. How could we forget?
----------Claire - ML for England :: York & Leeds + Moderator of Newbies
40,582 / 50,000
Oct 8, 2009 - 11 23
I challenge everyone to include the phrase 'ee by gum' in their novel. Bonus points if it's said by a man in a flat cap. Triple bonus points if this is not an older Yorkshire gentleman.
----------Nano 2005: Nikara (Won)
Nano 2006: The Third Essence (Lost)
Nano 2007: Nikara O_o (Faaaaaailed)
Nano 2008: The Third Essence (Failed Again)
Nano 2009: The Third Essence (?)
0 / 50,000
Oct 8, 2009 - 12 42
I think I can manage most of these so far, with the exception of 'ee by gum'. Since my novel is set in Korea, I don't think it's going to work somehow..... =/
6,836 / 50,000
Oct 9, 2009 - 02 19
I could try... what's Ancient Latin for 'ee by gum?'
----------"I'm sorry, Jay is out of his mind right now, please leave a message after the tone..."
2006: sci-fi satire [utterly failed]
2007: Navis Fortuna - space cyberpunk [8k]
2008: fantasy magic pirates [25k]
2009: Imperium Vaporis - steampunk Romans!
40,005 / 50,000
Oct 9, 2009 - 02 42
What's Korea like for Engrish? Could one of your characters be chewing 'Eeby' gum?
----------Claire - ML for England :: York & Leeds + Moderator of Newbies
48,212 / 50,000
Oct 10, 2009 - 06 50
All right *ponders* I think of these the hardest will be the fruit one weirdly enough... damned space setting.... humm.
Pablo I think I can manage for the first year ever it might just be possible. I could have the Spaceship's creator being named Pablo, and his second in command being Rupert??? It work? Right?
----------0 / 50,000
Oct 10, 2009 - 08 35
- Fruit Dare:
In the climactic battle scene, with all their ammunition expended, our heroes can deploy missles of fruit?
- Pablo:
I haven't decided if my novel will be set in the reality of the Napoleonic Wars or in a parallel time period of similar social make-up and militaria. However, based on the Peninsular Wars in the Iberian arena I can easily find a Pablo (and his friend "Rupert", a common term for a British officer (if coined slightly later!))
*Light bulb above head* Interesting sub-plot of an officer called Rupert and his societal boundary-breaking relationship (steady-on, in terms of class!) with a solider (albeit an heroic one) called Pablo. Who could be a rugged member of the local Guerilla's. I'll give him a droopy mustachio and cape.
As rugged as Lego men get. Don't ask.
- Local Dare:
In 'Sharpe' style I will invent a regiment to be home of my redcoated infantry. "The Kings Own Wakefield Regiment"..."69th Wakefield Regiment of Foot" or something silly.
- "Ee' by' Gum":
A group of redcoated rogues from Wakefield in the late 1700s/early 1800s - it couldn't fail to make it in!!!
13,079 / 50,000
Oct 10, 2009 - 12 12
All interesting.
The Song Reference: see how many song titles you can work into your novel. Bonus points if you include some of the lyrics in close proximity to the titles.
I'm cheating really because I have sections headed by the songs that suggested the tone and idea already mapped out, so if nothing else I'll get this particular dare done.
I like the sound of the 'Sharpe' style novel. Any chance I could play proof-reader for that one?
----------And that's all I have to say about that
42,519 / 50,000
Oct 10, 2009 - 12 39
The Song Reference: see how many song titles you can work into your novel. Bonus points if you include some of the lyrics in close proximity to the titles.
Easy enough for me... as I think I've already said in the Plots & Synopses thread, the religion of my fantasy novel is based on David Bowie songs. =D
----------"Instruction on the Conventions of Invention and Construction."
0 / 50,000
Oct 11, 2009 - 04 59
The Song Reference: see how many song titles you can work into your novel. Bonus points if you include some of the lyrics in close proximity to the titles.
I'm cheating really because I have sections headed by the songs that suggested the tone and idea already mapped out, so if nothing else I'll get this particular dare done.
I like the sound of the 'Sharpe' style novel. Any chance I could play proof-reader for that one?
40,192 / 50,000
Oct 21, 2009 - 13 30
People who know me are aware I like to make things interesting for my fellow NaNo-ers, by giving them things to add to their novels. After all, if you're going to include the lyrics of "I Don't Like Mondays", or mention the Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy, you may as well have a reason for doing so. So, what shall I tempt you with this year ..?
Hmm ...
There will be a Noodle Incident. Bonus point if you plausibly link it to the original Calvin & Hobbes one.
Metallica, Motorhead, Guns 'n' Roses, Van Halen, Iron Maiden or Black Sabbath (lyrics, song titles, or band members) will name the streets of your setting.
Someone will be recognisable when they were a specific hat, and entirely not so when they don't.
A knight in full armour will wield a chicken (dead preferably, but bonus points for live at the start) in battle.
If it's not the sort of setting where you'd expect to see a knight in full armour, then a policeman will use a custard pie.
Captain Kirk is alive and well, and his parties keep your protagonists awake at night, what with being neighbours and all. Bonus points if you manage to drop a bridge on him - the more excessive the bridge, the more bonus points.
Cthulu is dyslexic. I leave it to you to work out the full implications of that.
There is a random guy who is apparently famous - he will only sign dictionaries.
One point for every TV Trope mentioned by name in the text, that is not enacted, subverted, averted or inverted in the rest of the book.
And finally:
----------Bob is not to be there this year.
--
Have Sword & Sorcery: Will Travel™
Irish DiscWorld Convention 2009
10,078 / 50,000
Oct 28, 2009 - 11 09
hmm...most of those can be done. as my novel features captain kirk (it IS a star trek / thunderbirds crossover) i may be able to drop a bridge on him.
Mine are:
1) A redshirt dies.
----------2) a kiten in the bed.
3) The afore mentioned Pablo and Rupert, plus their good friend Susie.
4) Yourself (as a character. duh. or else you'll be breaking the fourth wall)
5) at least one sentance of a foreign language, that is an indirect translation (eg synchronisez qui peut être placé pour vous sonner et réveiller par moments - french for alarm clock)
Flix.
10,078 / 50,000
Oct 28, 2009 - 11 11
hmm...most of those can be done. as my novel features captain kirk (it IS a star trek / thunderbirds crossover) i may be able to drop a bridge on him.
Mine are:
1) A redshirt dies.
----------2) a kiten in the bed.
3) The afore mentioned Pablo and Rupert, plus their good friend Susie.
4) Yourself (as a character. duh. or else you'll be breaking the fourth wall)
5) at least one sentance of a foreign language, that is an indirect translation (eg synchronisez qui peut être placé pour vous sonner et réveiller par moments - french for alarm clock)
Flix.
48,212 / 50,000
Oct 31, 2009 - 17 44
Pablo, Rupert and the fruit managed! And so far one song... about to have another!
----------48,212 / 50,000
Oct 31, 2009 - 23 39
I have a dare for anyone crazy enough! PINK COWBOY BOOTS! Put them somewhere in your novel, and they have to be being worn by one of the main characters. :) Have fun.
----------10,078 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2009 - 05 18
I've used Rupert, pink cowboy boots, song lyrics, and fruit so far.
----------Flix.
35,106 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2009 - 07 48
I wish to propose a dare. For Leeds or for the whole region...
German Insults: The German translation of one of Douglas Adams' novels contains the line "Steck deinen Kopf in ein Schwein" (let me correct the grammar later; I'm typing this in Cafe Latino). This means "Go stick your head in a pig".
Can you fit this into your novel?
I think I can - I've got a prickly German character in there...
Also, a redshirt is about to die in mine, but not before accomplishing something important which I still have to write.
19,068 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2009 - 08 00
So far, in order of their appearance in my novel, I have:
- Fruit (you can grow a lot of tomatoes from the light prduced from a robots power pack)
- Pablo (the ever so gay BFFC of my MMC)
- Rupert (Pablo's rainbow coloured poodle)
- Pink Cowboy boots.
My regional dare?
----------Try and fit in a character (main or just in passing) who only ever speaks in pig latin
NaNoWriMo debutante '09!
--2009: Sentience
40,005 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2009 - 12 54
I got Pablo into my novel right at the beginning. And as is the way with Pablos in my novels, he's already insisted on becoming a rather more major character than I'd intended. He was supposed to be a walk-on role this year, but suddenly he's made a bet with another minor character that he can take my MC out for dinner within a month. So now I have to see that through (though he's going to end up losing his fifty bucks, I can tell you that).
----------Claire - ML for England :: York & Leeds + Moderator of Newbies
26,592 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2009 - 13 08
I've got fruit and Rupert in so far. I've been doing this for 4 years, and this is the ONLY time I've ever surpassed my daily word goal. Yay me!
43,794 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 05 47
Blimey, all these dares to fit into what's meant to be a serious novel. Still, rolls sleeves up:
So far, I have Pablo, I have plans for Rupert (he is going to be a demon), I have songs- title is Learn to Fly (Foo Fighters) and several chapter headings seem to be titles or lyrics, I have Leeds (and to my delight, a walk-on for a thinly disguised Harry Gration... not sure how he'd feel about that). Fruit should be manageable. Heavy metal references should be OK. But pink cowboy boots? Will do my best.
43,794 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 06 07
Me again. I thought I'd just check my chapter headings... and they are all song titles, some by bands I hadn't heard of. This is too weird. I have got:
Awake – Slipknot
Intake – Spineshank
Induction – Gamma Ray
After Dark – Blue Oyster Cult
Bad Moon Rising – Creedence Clearwater Revival
...and Bad Moon Rising was the only one I'd put in deliberately. The first three were before I'd even read that challenge. Scary!
22,002 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 12 13
Heh, maybe I should use that one. See if I can have a bit-part character called Miss Beverley Minster :D
----------10,078 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 13 06
i've got "hull" in
----------Flix.
40,394 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 19 01
Wow, there are a ton of dares! I think I can have a go at the noodle scene (love Calvin and Hobbes). The heavy metal references I can probably work a couple in... will have to look them up. :P Rupert and Pablo are in the works on both fics. Pink cowboy boots are a definite go for one story trying to figure out the other story although I think my MC would murder me in my sleep for even thinking of putting her in them. Random fruit placement can definitely be done, and I am trying to work Captain Kirk into one of the stories.... thinking he may be a deranged homeless person, oh and the song lyrics are a go.
----------Current signs of Nano induced insanity:
*2 hours spent prying off every key of keyboard and swabbing clean with alcohol before replacing, contemplating new message to put on keyboard to replace qwerty.
*one hour spent via video with girlfriend sing
43,052 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 03 31
I got in a massive pile of fruit, but not a toffee apple. It was a massive pile of alien fruit, so I'll have to work on that lol
----------NaNo09 - The more you write, the less you die.
www.fanfiction.net/~Galadriel1010
3,902 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 10 35
Any one who can get the phrase "great Gandalfs the greys socks" should get 100 points straight off