ONC Journal 2022

Prompts - Recognizing and Utilizing (1/11/22)

Every year there is one question which always comes up.

What do they mean by making sure the prompt is recognizable?

How does one answer that question when an individuals thought process regarding a given prompt may be straight forward with absolutely no changes to a thought process which isn't so straight forward. On top of this, prompts vary widely.

My personal rule of thumb is this, but involves the writer asking themselves questions.
Did I tackle the prompt as is? If so, then the answer to your question is yes, the prompt is recognizable. If the answer is no, then move onto the next question.
Would a reader be able to recognize the prompt without me telling them? Mind you, I advocate for telling readers either in the summary or an introduction what your prompt is, particularly since certain readers are interested in certain prompts regardless of whether the story is fanfic or not, so that helps to bring in readers. The point here is, if you didn't tell the reader what the prompt is, would they be able to recognize the prompt you used and if the answer is yes, your story used the prompt in a recognizable manner.
Am I able to explain my thought process to the reader? Sometimes though, ones thought process with a prompt isn't at all straight forward or at all recognizable, but if you were to explain this thought process to the reader (and the judges) and they would, without you telling them the prompt, what prompt you are working with, then the prompt is recognizable. However, the caveot here—a major one, is if you're trying to work with this kind of story you do in fact need to include an introduction of some kin for your story, because the judges will read the introduction to see if there are any pertinent notes.

Of course, that's the straight foreward answer. Some individuals need examples because examples help their mind process what's being talked about, so I'm going to follow through with examples of how prompts were used—but I'm not going to simply stick with how a prompt might become unrecognizable. I'm also going to cover how a prompt can, for a given story, not be used well.

I'm starting with the 2019 prompts because—well, there were only a small handful of prompts for 2018 and there was some confusion in that it hadn't been clarified very well that the prompt simply needed to be recognizable. This is also back when writers were only allowed one entry per writer, something which may eventually change in a later ONC—maybe even this year. We'll see.

2019

"An individual is somehow transported back in time and because some tropes are too wonderful to avoid, they inadvertently kill their grandfather. In direct contradiction of everything everyone has ever been told, however, they do not cease to exist..."

While I didn't see any stories that did this, one of the mistakes a writer may make regarding this particular prompt is to think, "Oh—I've a story idea involving time travel. Since this prompt involves time travel, that means I can use that story idea for ONC." Except, time travel isn't the only thing which makes this particular prompt recognizable. The actual theme for the prompt is the time travel theory of erasing your existence if you accidental kill someone who is integral to you ever existing. Without that theme, your story does not fulfill the prompt and thus is not recognizable as having come from the prompt.

"Over time, what was once considered right is now wrong. Whether a belief, or perhaps a symbol, what was once admired, is now shunned. You set out on a quest to discover the truth behind the myths of the old world. What happened to change the belief (or symbol) to become the opposite of what it once stood for, and, more importantly, how will your discovery impact the world you're living in now?"

Sometimes with a prompt, there is a thought process of, "what if I did the opposite of what's asked for" and sometimes that does work. Sometimes it is obvious without explaining it, while other times you need to explain it. However, you then get prompts like this one where doing the opposite will cause the prompt to lose meaning.