So these last couple of weeks, I've been taking little nostalgia trips through the old Thunderdome threads. When they first started, they were just a fun idea we were trying out. It's so cool and gratifying now seeing people having so much fun with them, and that they've become such of hub of activity in the Creative Corner. It really owes so much to those of you who take the time to read and review.
In the beginning of course things were a little more uneven, I was still getting a sense for what kinds of competitors and prompts worked best together, and when the 'Dome needed to be shuttered to allow attention spans time to recharge. The word limit and time limit still has a way of making things go sideways even for the veterans and I think that's what adds a lot of the appeal, giving reviewers plenty to exercise their critical thinking on and putting authors through their paces under pressure--and there are many authors who by this time have consistently proven that over any given weekend they can turn out flawed diamonds.
Going forward into 2026, I'll be launching a new hub thread for the Thunderdome that will be more consistently kept as an archive, and making some minor changes to improve and streamline the whol experience. (The schedule will still have to be a little erratic, site activity comes and goes and a little more effort than you guys might think goes into keeping tabs on the pulse of things as far as the availability of interested readers.)
Mostly though, I'd like to see the Thunderdome evolve into more of a workshopping environment to continue to hone author skill. Participants have proven they can come up with some inspired ideas on the fly, but the execution (by design of the format) is often lacking in one area or another. So from now on, authors will be encouraged to not just move on from a story at the end of a vote, but take some time to implement reviewer feedback or make their own desired edits for a repost and a chance at an extra commendation.
Anyone inspired to not just polish, but branch and expand, would get a comm and an extra 25 points for going on to create a storygame from a Thunderdome story.
And I'll need some feedback from some of you guys for this part, but I'd like to take this workshopping thing even a step further. How do we feel about making these stories available for other community members to have a go at editing or expanding? Now I don't mean as a blanket rule or anything like that, authors will always have a right to exempt their work. But in general, would those of you who duel in the 'Dome be willing to step back from your first draft when it's over and go 'hey, have at it?' (All 'inspired by' works created in this way of course will need to be fully credited to the original source.)
We always have at least a couple of reviewers with strong ideas about what would improve a story, and we often have more people interested in participating as Thunderdome authors than we can possibly arrange duels for anytime soon. And this would I think, more importantly, continue to foster a healthy relationship with critical feedback, and show new authors just what's possible with extensive polishing and editing and developing an idea to the fullest.
Anyway, I'm not going to be around the forum much in the next couple of weeks, but I'll be checking in to see what you all think. And when the Thunderdome relaunches in mid January, I think the bloodthirst of the crowds will be properly satisfied with the next match we have lined up.
