Do you enjopy writing challenge stories? If you do what has been your favorite challenge to compete in so far and do you have any ideas for upcoming challenges?
If you don't enjoy writing them, why not? What's wrong with you? Are you like a total doofus or something? lmao
Do you read other people's challenge stories? And how do you feel yours compares to the others you have read? If you've read these stories have you left reviews for them?
I'm not a big fan of challenges that seem really random, the kind that are like, "Write a comedic mystery about Howie that contains the following things: 1) a missing article of clothing, 2) a platypus, and 3) someone shouting "Cheesedoodles!" Must be under 3000 words." I'm just like, "...Why?" I don't like to write stories that don't have a point, nor do I like to write stories that I'm not emotionally invested in. If the challenge doesn't inspire an idea that I really care about taking the time to write, I don't do it.
That said, I do enjoy the challenges that really take me out of my comfort zone. Two of my favorites have been the April Fool's challenges - the 2008 one where we had to write a story that was something we'd never write and post it under an alter ego, and this year's challenge where we had to pick one of the ridiculous premises to turn into a serious story. I really got into the killer monkeys from outer space idea! LOL I felt like those challenges got me to write outside the box, rather than to force my writing into the dimensions of the box built by the challenge-issuer.
Another one I enjoyed was the August 2008 one where we got to issue personal challenges to each other. Rose challenged me to write a gory horror story (which, at the time, was a genre I hadn't really written), and I had a ton of fun writing it and living up to my avatar! LOL I would love to do that kind of personal challenge again.
I don't read all of the challenge stories, but I read some. I review the ones I read. Usually if I write a challenge story, I will read the others for that challenge. If the challenge doesn't interest me, I'm less likely to read the submissions, although sometimes I will read them if they're by my favorite authors or if they just sound interesting.