ISB challenge: Screw the NeS up!

[Gebohq]

I'm serious. I want anybody and everybody who ever wanted to try and screw up, mess up, ruin, and otherwise post stuff on the NeS that would irrevocably alter it for the worse. You can try ending it, you can try killing off characters, you can try making it a great work of literature (hey, I'm told that would mess it up)... whatever works.

Go ahead. Go to the NeS and have at it. You want something else, like what characters are involved or what's been going on in the story? I'm sure you can find it yourself, but really, I'd be rather confused, as that doesn't sound like an attempt to mess the story up at all. You can try asking me or one of the other writers if you're really desperate, and we might help. Maybe.

Why am I doing this? It's quite simple -- what doesn't kill the NeS will only make it stronger. I firmly believe this, and I firmly believe it's not possible to screw up the NeS. Hell, every time I thought someone DID screw it up, I figured out later that they actually did something super-awesome to the story. But please, prove me wrong. I've always been a little fatalist with the NeS, so I'll be set for the worst should it actually appear. Which I doubt.

What's the catch? Well, for one, you still have to follow the forum rules. While I'm glad you're thinking outside the box, I'm in no way trying to encourage forum members to break the rules they agreed to when signing up on the forums in some suicidal attempt to bring the NeS down. The only other catch, as I've said before, is that this challenge might be impossible. Many have tried before to just post "A giant bomb blows up the world THE END" with no success, so you'll have to try harder and be more creative if you hope for your efforts to have any impact. But life's about the journey, not the destination -- growth, not perfection -- and uh... that somehow applies to this. Yes.

So what're you waiting for? Someone to hold your hand? Get moving!

[Gebohq]

Some Extra Stuff

Should you want to attempt to write for NeS in such a way as to NOT screw it up, first off, beware that you might find your efforts more difficult than usual. As you can see above, I just challenged everyone to screw the NeS up, which means anything you might write as well.

Still not afraid? Good. That's how it should be. Fortunately, you have some options to make your efforts slightly easier.

First off, the NeS is at the start of a new story-arc-line-thing, and there's really no direction or idea of where it's going at this point, so you're at full liberty to introduce your own direction or ideas for a storyline. You can check the first post of the workshop to get an idea who the active characters are at the moment, and most all of them are at a mall, shopping. That's it, and it's not even terribly important that they still be at the mall in the next post.

Should the actual story still be too intimidating though, and you wish to write for it without "screwing it up" ( ), there is also a pseudo-story that I started (you can find the link and description under "Current Story Arc" in the first post of the workshop). The premise is that the Narrator is telling a group of children a story that he's essentially making up, and so far, it's just been about the good guy (Gebohq) chasing the bad guy (The Last True Evil) through a magic corridor. Since the Narrator's making it up, continuity with the rest of NeS, or within even itself, is even less important than usual. So you're more than free to dabble with that to get your feet wet, so to speak, until you feel comfortable enough writing for the actual story.

And, on a final note, I'm always more than willing to help you with anything you need concerning NeS.

[Vegiemaster]

As much as this sounds like desperation, this does allow for people to be less intimidated by that massive thread.

[Obi_Kwiet]

I tried reading through the back story once, just to get context, but dang.

[Gebohq]

Originally Posted by Vegiemaster

As much as this sounds like desperation, this does allow for people to be less intimidated by that massive thread.

Yes, I am desperate. Desperate for a challenge!!!

Originally Posted by Obi_Kwiet

I tried reading through the back story once, just to get context, but dang.

Dang indeed! You should knock the proverbial Goliath down with your sling of a post.

[Ford]

i dont think it can be done, but it'd be interesting to see the attempts.

[Gebohq]

Zloc just tried to delete one of his attempts to screw over the NeS. I undeleted it. Sadly though, Zloc, your post is old hat -- the "everybody dies" tactic has been tried often before with little success. Keep trying though!

[- Tony -]

I... I can't.

[Zloc_Vergo]

i would laugh my *** off if a moderator posted "And then it died" and locked the thread

[Gebohq]

I did that for an April Fool's once. It was fun.

[Gebohq]

I feel the need to do something of an F.A.Q. on the matter, with questions nobody actually asked, from people who don't exist.

Do you really expect me to have read this thread? It's long, and it has "ISB" and "NeS" in the title, after all.

No, not really, but I can dream. Besides, it's already worked out better than I had anticipated, which is a pleasant surprise.

This is a pretty desperate way to get people to do something with NeS, isn't it?

No. NeSquared as a whole had been getting stiff, and only recently did I realize something like this might inject some of the flexibility the original thread had. Read on to gain an understanding of why.

You say you're making this challenge, but you don't really mean it. If it were to actually ruin or end NeS, you'd just ignore it, right?

I can't answer for all the regular writers, but as far as myself, no -- I would do my best to not just ignore it. I really do believe that it is not possible to screw up or end the NeS, at least not in the ways most people think.

One, a good NeS writer should be able to do the proverbial seven impossible tasks before breakfast. By that, I mean they should be able to work with just about anything written. Someone cut off a character's arm? Tell a story about how they live (or don't live) on with only one arm. The Earth gets blown up? Tell a story about those few people living on Mars. A good NeS writer is flexible enough to find the opportunity in a story where other writers would not.

Two, the NeS is a meta-fictional story. One of the major reasons such one-post thread killers like "the Earth blows up and everyone dies" don't have an impact is because its story elements are weak on its own. Where's the choice between blowing up the planet or letting your loved one die? Where's the chance shown that maybe it wouldn't have blown up? Where's the conflict between, say, the guy trying to press the "destroy earth" button and someone who doesn't want that button pressed? What's the context of the Earth blowing up in the first place? And why would you read a story where the Earth randomly blows up if there's no theme of love or purpose or whatnot that could be taken from it? The NeS, being a meta-fictional story, takes these sort of elements literally, so that an attempt to ruin or end it is directly dependent on how strong their story-elements are. A bad guy in NeS must be directly aware of story conventions like "the good guys always win" if said bad guy is to even pose as a possible threat.

And finally, it wouldn't do the NeS or myself much good to announce a challenge like this only for you all to find out that any efforts you made were simply ignored or otherwise show my challenge to be a lie. I'm always trying to get people using the ISB like the tobacco company tries to get people hooked on cigarettes, remember? At least they have an addictive substance to work with -- I do not.

Well, if I really want to mess up or end the NeS, I just won't write for it. I'm on to you!

Please. If nothing else, I'll always be writing for it as long as I'm alive, even if I'm the only writer. Besides, some 6 billion people on the planet don't write for it, and it hasn't messed anything up so far.

So then you expect me to become a writer out of this? That requires reading through the colossal, confusing story and being a good writer and--

No. I only hope that you'll take on this challenge. How you go about it is up to you. That is all.

[Krokodile]

I read a couple of NeS illustrated strips and found them severely lacking in the funny factor. Maybe there was something to get that I didn't.

[Gebohq]

Originally Posted by Krokodile

I read a couple of NeS illustrated strips and found them severely lacking in the funny factor. Maybe there was something to get that I didn't.

It's not for everyone (humor is an art -- even when done well, it can't appeal to everyone). In any case, the NeS is more weird-funny than haha-funny. Again, though, even the story itself is not for everyone. Most of the comics themselves were severely edited from their original content (while attempting to retain what was there), which may also have been the problem.

I wish to remind you all, though -- this challenge is meant to give anyone the opportunity to say 'screw you, NeS" and stab it in the back. Just don't be surprised if it continues on like a horror-movie villain.

[EAH_TRISCUIT]

I'm trying to think of the best way to say this without insulting the everyone whose participated in the NeS. I will probably fail.

I never read any of it before this thread, I thought Gebohq was making an interesting challenge so I began to read a little of it, from the beginning. I didnt get far before I stopped. While the NeS is an interesting writing excerise, its not good literature. It's like listening to an 8 year old invent a story on the fly, without any direction or end. This is also exactly why its impossible to destroy, there is no value to it. I am sure Writers view it as a challenge to fix annoying/stupid posts, but the fact they had to incorporate it into the story at all kills any enjoyment from a readers perspective.

It would be interesting to see a NeS combined with a voting element, so that a submission would require a certain number of votes before becoming an official part of the story. Maybe then it could be enjoyable to read, while still being a writing tool.

[Baconfish]

To be fair mate they're not writing an award winning novel, it's a hobby.

[Ford]

Triscuit: the very beginning is very immature, but i would say that towards page 20-25 of the first trhead it started to evolve into something less like an 8 yr olds superhero fantasy.

[Gebohq]

Oh hell, the first mega-post of NeS is really pretty bad... it's hardly NeS at all. The webcomic does a much better job at trying to make it more like the rest of NeS, but even so, Ford's right. The story gets progressively better (overall, as it still has its ups and downs) the more you read through it. But Triscuit is also right -- it's not very professional. It's a giant rough draft at best (and revision is at least half of what makes a story professional). At its heart, though, the NeS has a solid thread (pardon the pun) of good story-telling. Part of that is the ability to work with seemingly impossible ideas. I don't claim they all work, but enough of them do to make it worthwhile, as I see it.

[FastGamerr]

Even reading one sentence of that thread would make me wonder if I'm following some ancient plotline from 2007 so, uh, no "And there was lesbian sex everywhere" plot twists this time.

Would be neat, tho'

[Ford]

ancient from 2007? ha ha ha ha ha. 2007 is NEW stuff. you want ancient go back to when i was one of the NeS regular irregulars.