News
The Talecraft Storytelling Contest
On October 26, 2008, nine storytellers gathered at Powerbooks Greenbelt to battle for the title of Master Storyteller. In the end, Jose Renato Evangelista, a 15-year old student from Colegio San Agustin received the honor... and P5,000 worth of fiction books from Powerbooks. Thanks to the Joan of Arc story he made, the judges unanimously proclaimed his story the most complete and best-constructed. Second place went to Ma. Katrina F. Lucas, a Psychology student from the University of the Philippines, Diliman; and third place went to 26-year old Erica Gonzales.
Raissa Claire Falgui, a writer for Vibal Foundation, and Michael Emil Luchico, a copywriter from Lowe Inc., also made it to the top five finalists. You may read the pre-selection entries of the five finalists here.
The judges were Dean Alfar, writer of The Kite of Stars and publisher of Philippine Speculative Fiction; Kenneth Yu, publisher of the Digest of Philippine Genre Stories; and Eric Cabahug, writer of the upcoming animated film, Dayo.
Aside from the interesting, and often funny, stories told by the contestants, Komikasi also did some trivia in between stories. Mr. Alfar also gave a short pep talk before the start of the contest, and Mr. Cabahug spoke a bit about Dayo.
The Winners: Erica Gonzales, Katrina Lucas, and Renato Evangelista
Ria Lu | October 27, 2008
A Workshop with a Thousand Faces
Well, maybe not a thousand, but the Talecraft Science Fiction Story-Creation Workshop last May 11, 2008 pulled in a considerable crowd. And why not? It is our humble opinion that to spend one's Sunday afternoon at a bookstore like Powerbooks Megamall is a very good idea. One gets to pick up ideas, get one's creativity going and, of course, tell one's tales.
People love tales. Reynolds Price once even said, “A need to tell and hear stories is essential to the species Homo Sapiens... Millions survive without love or home, almost none in silence.” We feed on stories like nourishment, sometimes to the point of obsession. Try asking anime fans or book lovers if there hadn't been at least one story that thoroughly consumed them. And usually, those who take in stories also like making them. The problem is sometimes, we tend to repeat our favorite stories in our creations. Those stories make us feel something. And we tend to want to evoke the same feelings in our audience.
The aim of the Science Fiction Workshop, as is the aim of the other three Talecraft Workshops, is to get the participants to create something new in their stories.
The workshop started off with a warm-up wherein participants were asked to create “what if...” questions against science facts. The aim was to get the participants thinking outside their boxes, and they did not disappoint. We got speculations that changed the very rules of physics!
Properly warmed-up, the participants were treated to a lively lecture from published illustrator and sci-fi and horror fan, Tobie Abad. And according to him, there's something similar among most popular stories out there.
“Stories follow a pattern,” said Tobie. And that pattern is called a Monomyth. The Monomyth is a fundamental structure with five (some say more) steps in a hero's development. For people who have only begun writing, it is a great guideline to follow. Just make sure you put something new or different in your story.
And what wonderful stories the participants came up with! This included a story about a research station somewhere in the Kuiper Belt run by chimps buying human slaves (social rejects who Earth willingly sells). Another was about two Filipino deliverymen and the people on the colony on Mars trying to steal their parcel (San Miguel Beer). And one more was about a team-up between a Chemist from Bacolod, an Herbalist from Quiapo, and a Shaman from Ifugao who developed an energy drink that pacified people from war-torn countries.
To all the participants, thank you for coming and keep making stories!
The Talecraft Science Fiction Stoy-Creation Workshop is the second in a series of Talecraft Workshops scheduled for the four Sundays of May. Other workshops are: The Horror Workshop on May 18, and the Romance Workshop on May 25, 2008. All workshops are held at Powerbooks Megamall, from 1:00 pm. Admission to all workshops is free. For inquiries, email talecraft@komikasi.com.
Dei Fabian | May 17, 2008
Talk about transcending the rules of the known world! If you were at the Fantasy Workshop at Powerbooks Megamall on May 4, you'd probably also have been transported to that other world where rules are bent.
Fantasy is one of the most popular genres of our time. Who among us haven't heard of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, or of the quest to destroy the One Ring? Fantasy is very much part of our lives. And a fantasist's challenge, according to Kenneth Yu, editor of the Digest of Philippine Genre Stories, is to get his readers and listeners engaged when telling his tales.
“Most people find it hard to jump into your tale,” says Yu, who was the speaker for the workshop, “precisely because you are suspending the conventions of realism. It is your job as fantasists to destroy this wall of disbelief.”
Yu's advice: work on characterization. Develop characters people can feel for. If people care for your characters, they will stay with your creations until the end of your story, and sometimes even long after that.
On a final note, Yu advised the participants to continue developing their ideas while keeping in mind that a character's relatability is the key to making stories that are hard to forget.
Dei Fabian | May 7, 2008
We couldn't think of any better way to start the New Year than to receive an invitation to host a contest at a school fair. We were in Davao at the time, preparing for another contest, when Mr. Joel Falgui, the head of the Loyola Book Club, sent us an email asking us if we would be interested in holding a Talecraft Contest at the Ateneo High School Fair. It appears his wife had bought a deck and had introduced him to the Wonderful World of Talecraft over the Christmas Holidays.
Now, who wouldn't be curious about the type of stories swimming around in the minds of Ateneo High School boys?
Who were we to refuse?
We agreed to host the contest, thinking we would get around twenty submissions. To our surprise, we received almost ninety entries, most of which were truly given time and effort to make! It wasn't easy to narrow them down to eight but, alas, choose we must. And so we ended up with nine semi-finalists. Their stories ranged from witty to thought-provoking, using actual apples to temptations, and with characters from tikbalangs to scheming wives. They were not at all what we expected from high school students.
On February 1, 2008, the first day of the fair, the eight semi-finalists told us their stories. Some were shy, and just read their stories. But others were very enthusiastic, and delivered their stories declamation-style, complete with character voices and sound effects. Our judges, Mr. Enzo Flojo and Ms. Honey de Peralta, picked Rupert Bustamante, Joseph Benjamin Pacia, Mico Pascual, John Batalla, and Carlo Regalado to proceed to the final round of the competition, which was not going to be as easy for them as the elimination round of the contest.
On February 2, 2008, the last day of the fair, our five finalists were asked to pick cards and play Talecraft on the spot. Some had more than two characters to work with. One of them even had three genres to use! Suddenly, the cool from the day before became flustered. The relaxed and cheerful air of the first day turned serious as the five finalists focused their attentions to the cards in their hands and how they were going to string those cards together. Then before they knew it, time was up and they had to tell their stories. And, though their hands shook visibly, they pulled through and delivered stories with interesting stories and concepts. Our judges for that day, Mr. Enzo Flojo and Ms. Elaine Laruan, proclaimed Mico Pascual as Third Place Winner, Rupert Bustamante as Second Place Winner, and John Batalla as First Place Winner of the Talecraft Contest at the Ateneo High School Fair!
Ria Lu | February 8, 2008
First Talecraft Story-Creation Contest in Davao
Talecraft held its first Story-Creation Contest in Davao City on January 12, 2008 at Spazio in the Gaisano Mall of Davao. To all the contestants, thank you and keep playing!
There were already excited players at the venue when we arrived to set-up on the day of the contest. We are flattered that you looked forward to the contest.
There were three playing tables and a total of fifteen participants. And The Writers' Guild of Davao had graciously agreed to judge the finals for us!
Our judges were: Josie Tejada, Margot Marfori, Jhoanna Cruz, and Macario Tiu. And our winners were: 1st Place: Therese Patricia Yucamco, 2nd Place: Kelly Marie Conlon, and 3rd Place: Raymond Palayon. We would also like to congratulate Javin Jet Tevar, our runner-up.
Ria Lu | January 13, 2008
Talecraft was at the Komikon 2007! The 3rd Philippine Komiks Convention was held on November 17, 2007 (Saturday) at 10am to 6pm at the UP Diliman Bahay ng Alumni. To those who attended, thank you. I hope you all had fun.
It was an enjoyable day. It started off with us asking trivias and giving away Talecraft pins to the five people who knew their archetypes. We proceeded to do play sessions at our booth. We had two round tables for play! There were a bunch of people who were interested in finding out about the game. And there were even some who (I love this type of people, by the way) came back a few minutes after playing, wanting to play again because they said they believed they could do better. Their first story was not what they were capable of doing. They could make more interesting stories than that! And they showed us that they could. Stories... Wonderful things.
At 1:00pm, Marcelle Fabie performed a Mentalism Demonstration that really awed the crowd. He predicted the cards his audince would pick, bent forks, and broke spoons. Then he topped off his performance with a segment where he showed a video of a story created using cards he just picked during his performance! Cool, isn't it? Thank you so much, Marcelle. I could still see your audience stare, awed, at the fork you left after the performance. For everyone out there, if you wish Marcelle to perform at your events, email us. We'll give you his contact number.
Then at 2pm, our contest began. We had about twenty contestants. And they're all really good! Then, again, what do we expect, it's the Komikon! Most of them would be story-creators. Our final round, with three players, took place at around five already. Judged by Marco Dimaano (Angel Ace), Carlo Vergara (Zha Zha Zaturnnah), and Elbert Or (Nautilus Comics), our three winners are: 1st Place: Dexter Lira, 2nd Place: Joseph Paulo Claravall, and 3rd Place: Patrick Gianan. To all of you, congratulations, and to our judges, thank you.
Ria Lu | November 20, 2007
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