Round Five Theme Challenge

A MIXTURE OF OLD & NEW


ichi: NEW (quotations selected by Tari)

1. "The reduction of the universe to a single being, the expansion of a single being even to God, this is love." - Victor Hugo
2. "If the stars should appear but one night every thousand years how man would marvel and stare." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
3. "Go is not about winning through brilliant moves, it is about losing through bad moves." - Sakata Eio
4. "No ghost was ever seen by two pairs of eyes." - Thomas Carlyle
5. "The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it." - Terry Pratchett

ni: NEW (songs selected by silvermuse)

1. Japan - Naoki Sato - Sadame (Destiny):
{instrumental} [from the CLAMP anime X]

2. China - JJ Lin - Sha Shou (Killer):
你不懂 我不懂/ni bu dong wo bu dong/You do not know, nor do I,/究竟杀手为什么存在/jiu jing sha shou wei shen me cun zai/The reason that killers exist.
{Lyrics and Translation} [MV]

3. Korea - Lee Sun Hee - Inyeon (Fate):
인연이라고 하죠 거부할 수가 없죠*/Inyeon i rago hajyo geobu hal suga eobjyo/This is what we call “fate,” it’s something we can’t deny
{Lyrics and Translation} [from the movie The King and the Clown]
(*hangul courtesy of tarigwaemir)

4. Europe - The Pipettes - I Like a Boy in Uniform:
He likes a boy in uniform (school uniform)
{Lyrics}

5. North America - Default - It Only Hurts:
Two worlds should never collide
{Lyrics}

san: OLD (Tari's selection)

1. Five is a prime number. +
2. Tokugawa/Edo period (1603-1867 AD) +
3. espionage
4. pro exam
5. computer +

shi: OLD (silvermuse's selection)

1. academia
2. Meiji (1868-1912 AD) +
3. Video Game +
4. In Tarot, the fifth card is the Hierophant. +
5. Crossover cameo*

+ refer to Round Three Themes for links and further reference
*[specifically refers to a cameo appearance by a character from another series/fandom]

go: OLD (author's choice!)

Authors may choose up to five themes from previous blind_go theme challenges that are not listed above. Round Two Themes; Round Three Themes; Round Four Themes.


The theme challenge is by no means mandatory, although we hope that it'll provide you with inspiration for your writing.

For inclusion in the theme challenge, your submission must list each theme you used. Both the author that earns the most points for a single fic and the one who earns the most points overall win be eligible for a prize. However, the winner of the theme challenge will not necessarily be the person who uses the most themes, so please don't feel obliged to cram in as many themes as you can. Rather, we hope that you will take a group of themes that you find interesting and use them to write a great story.



We will be judging your theme usage on the following criteria:

1. Frequency: how often is the theme explicitly (or implicitly) referenced in the story
2. Accuracy: how accurately has the theme been used
3. Purpose: how integral is the theme to the story
4. Execution: how smoothly the theme has been incorporated into the story
5. Creativity: how creatively the theme has been interpreted

For each theme you include in your submission, we will assign a point value from 1 to 5 for each of the above criteria. All the points for all the themes will be added up, and the writer with the highest number of points will be awarded a prize for their efforts. Since we realize that all of these criteria are highly subjective, both tarigwaemir and I will do our evaluations independently and take the average to determine the point totals.