The Gears of Chaos

[TNT]

Hey, I know this is kind of awkward, seeing as Mossflower Odyssey is only like, halfway through, but just thought I'd direct you all to the contest Redwall's Legacy is hosting, called the Gears of Chaos. You've only got until August 25th to apply, it looks like, though the contest isn't starting until the end of September, I guess? I'm not entirely sure, but it's worth a look.

(I'm still totally involved in MO, though, contestants. Don't worry! :))

[TNT]

Okay, it looks like the date's been pushed back to sometime in October, which should allow plenty of time for MO to finish. Stay tuned!

[carelesswhisper]

I keep thinking about applying, but I don't want to write at a PG level.  :(

[Balmafula]

I know what you mean... it does feel kind of stifling, doesn't it?

It's always seemed weird to me that some Redwall sites are really sensitive about that... I mean, sure the novels include bloody murder and graphic descriptions of at least two big bads with mutilated faces, but SWEARING?! Oh, the poor innocent children!

I don't like gratuitous violence and sexuality just for its own sake, but I think that even for fansites catering to the younger crowd, if they can handle the books they can handle a little PG-13 content without fainting or crying themselves to sleep at night.

[carelesswhisper]

Exactly.  And it's not even that I feel the need to have excessive blood or innuendo on a regular basis (or at all!) but when the entire character concept I have swimming around in my head right now depends on an unsavory basis, I find myself reluctant to compromise a lot of the good ideas I have just to tone it all down for a PG audience.  The frustrating part is that I could probably write a villainous character that is far more violent and downright cruel and no one would mind. 

Or a funny character who just barely walks the line of Too Far.  Easy and boring.  I don't want to be the humor person forever!

[Sethorion]

    These are all good points. ty
    I'll go ahead and postpone the thread semi-indefinitely. Maybe push it out toward the New Year, but not tag an exact date on just yet. I totally understand people are still writing for the current contest and it might be a bit before people can invest the time again.

    As for the PG rating, I agree it's a little silly. I only included it because he had a thread once where a character literally "beat the rat's brains until there was nothing but bloody pulp." We had a lot of Christian homeschoolers on the site who screamed blood murder. Well, technically it was.

    Anyway, I can make the change to simply discourage wanton gore.