First things first CW: violence, suicide, sexism, racism but all done satirically if that changes things

This is an etherpad (It's like google docs but without the evil corporate data mining) link to it: https://rich.etherpad.com/p/r.11e54ca11de75dd143910cae7a71a4ba

The premise for the story is a game show as absurdist allegories for capitalism in general, and USA in particular. Long term I'm hoping to animate the text into like a super stylized subtitle to really emphasize the game show-y-ness and be able to control tone and timing to help humor come through in text. But that'll be a lot of additional work so I'm trying to get the text locked down (or depending on feedback locked away) before that.

So, any feedback is appreciated, particularly at this point just pass/fail "Do you think this project is worth continuing with?"

Thanks and I hope you have as much fun reading as I did writing!

  • Chump [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Oh boy, oh boy! If you didn't know Saunders before this you are in for G-dang treat. Arguably the best living American writer, with some very lefty themes (though prob a lib in real life... he writes for the New Yorker). Seriously, just google Saunders short stories and go nuts with them.

    In Persuasion Nation is closest to what you're doing, though obviously different. Escape from Spiderhead also goes really hard, but isn't strictly in the vein of your story... I just love it. Civilwarland in Bad Decline might also give you some ideas.

    But yeah, you should at least be aware of him, if only for the style similarities and the fact that he looms immense in American Fiction. Any magazine you try to sell this to will have an editor who knows and probably loves him, and most folks who are willing to read short stories probably will be too. You might get away with fewer knowing him based on your online format, but I wouldn't count on it.

    Hit me up with the next round of revisions for sure. You planning on selling it to a magazine?

    • FnordPrefect [comrade/them, he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Yeah man, I don't get how I've gone this long without becoming familiar with him. Right to the top of the reading list

      And thanks again, I really appreciate your support. I haven't given much thought about what to do with it yet. So far it's been kind of a 'for the fun of it' see if I could entertain some folks sort of thing. But yeah, if it gets to the point where there's a chance people would pay for it, that would be incredible

      • Chump [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        So since I got the 'point' early on I didn't finish it. I suspect the point at the end is similar to the 'point' at the beginning. Focus on creating an upending of expectations in your drafts after condensing everything. Pay attention to how Saunders upends expectations and try something like that, if you're lost.

        After a few rounds of edits (keep me in the loop please), you should absolutely submit this to journals. I never would have submitted anything to anywhere if a published critique partner hadn't pushed me into it, so I'm doing that for you. If nothing else, check out the grinder.diabolicalplots.com and start to build a spreadsheet of magazines, with genres, styles, and submission periods. You can get a future draft of this published if you want to.