Third annual writing contest organisational thread

[Ludens]

Greetings, fellow Org members. The third annual .Org writing contest is about to begin!

The challenge: to write a story, fiction, of max 2.500 words. No set theme, no set opening line, just fiction.

The prize: in addition to a badge under your avatar as a reminder of your victory, the winner will also receive custom-made artwork by our artist Dimoleas. You can view samples of his work at Dimeolas’ site: www.dimeolas.com.


The rules

1) One submission per person, and it must be original work

2) The story must be fiction, and must be 2.500 words or less (hint: word processors like MS Word have a word-count feature).

3) The standard Org rules regarding language (and not the more lenient Mead-Hall ones) apply for the contest.

4) The submission period will run from Tuesday the 1th, twelve o’clock GMT (that is Tuesday afternoon, London time) to the same time at Tuesday the 8th. To submit, PM your story to myself, and I will post into the submissions thread. This is to prevent editing after submission.

5) Everyone may participate, from junior members to Org staff, with the exception of the judges of course.


The judging

The winner will be decided by a jury of two and a poll. Each of the jury members will have one-third of the vote. The remaining third is decided by the poll of Org voters. The jury is made up by frogbeastegg and myself. In case of a tie, froggy and I will negotiate until a winner is decided. The poll will be opened after the submission period has been closed and will run until Monday the 14th, five AM, GMT (that is seven hours before the time that was announced earlier). The poll has been posted here.

The submission will be judged on:
a) Originality
b) Presentation
c) Entertainment value


On behalf of the jury, good luck!

[Aenarion]

Please delete this if it is not necessary. But how will the public, that is going to vote in the poll, know what the story of each members is about? if we are going to send it to you by pm?

Thanks,
Aenarion

[Ludens]

Please delete this if it is not necessary. But how will the public, that is going to vote in the poll, know what the story of each members is about? if we are going to send it to you by pm?

The stories will be posted by myself in a submission thread.

[Ludens]

Since there seems to be some confusion about the submission procedure, I have changed the text above to clarify it..

[King Henry V]

Hang on, this Tuesday is the 1st of August isn't it?

[Ludens]

Hang on, this Tuesday is the 1st of August isn't it?

Indeed. Thanks for pointing that out.

[The Stranger]

but with presentation people who are nativly english speakers have an adventage...i mean i know how to do it in dutch...but not in english and a translated dictionary story is always stiffer...

[King Henry V]

This is an English language forum, so English native speakers naturally have an advantage.

[Aenarion]

And when we refer to fiction, can it be fantasy aswell?

Thanks,
Aenarion

[The Stranger]

This is an English language forum, so English native speakers naturally have an advantage.

i know, but what i meant to say was that orginality and entertainment value should have a far bigger impact than presentation (if that which i assume the choice of words). so when the judges decide who is the winner they must not judge to hard on the presentation but focus more on the other 2.

[frogbeastegg]

But I like being capricious, unfair and arbitrary! It's fun.

Presentation covers many things, including the way the story is set out. It’s a minor point on the judging scale; always has been, in every itineration of the competition. It’s there because a story, no matter how good, is no longer enjoyable to read when it’s presented in a fat wad of typo-ridden text with no breaks. It’s also about recognising effort; people who take the time to read back through their work a time or three are far less likely to have such mistakes.



Aenarion: fantasy is fiction

[Aenarion]

Aenarion: fantasy is fiction

Ok thanks froggy! Cos I thought that since it is sometimes differed from fiction, I thought it didn't count.

Thanks alot!

Thanks,
Aenarion

[The Stranger]

But I like being capricious, unfair and arbitrary! It's fun.

Presentation covers many things, including the way the story is set out. It’s a minor point on the judging scale; always has been, in every itineration of the competition. It’s there because a story, no matter how good, is no longer enjoyable to read when it’s presented in a fat wad of typo-ridden text with no breaks. It’s also about recognising effort; people who take the time to read back through their work a time or three are far less likely to have such mistakes.



Aenarion: fantasy is fiction

i have no problem with punishing sloppiness. if you don't know how to spell a word look it up or use spell check. and i think it is fair to judge the things you said, and you should. but it is also fair to consider the fact not native english speakers just don't have the vocabulary to write like banquo's ghost. And if he is not an native englishman i hereby compliment his fine english vocabulary.

[frogbeastegg]

It's always something born in mind Ludens himself isn't a native speaker.

[Franconicus]

It's always something born in mind Ludens himself isn't a native speaker.

Nobody is a native speaker. We all had to learn to speak the hard way, didn't we?

[The Stranger]

It's always something born in mind Ludens himself isn't a native speaker.

i know it is. But the contest has begun and i'm determined to win it what...you dont believe me? I AM THE STRANGER, MANKINDS BEST...yeah and most annoying person...

[Prince Cobra]

Is there minimum number of words?

[Ludens]

Is there minimum number of words?

No. Only an upper limit.

[The Stranger]

how will junior members vote? they cant vote in polls can they?

[Divinus Arma]

Well, I know my submission is creepy, and that is the point. I just felt like writing in such a way as to allow for free-flow thought. It was almost entirely spontaneous. I only set out to write something edwards-scissorhandsesque. I know its way outside of the "norm", but I was after a Dr.Seuss-meets-Tim-Burton kind of a setting.

Bizarre? That was my intent. Original? Undoubtedly. I hope you fine folks can look past potential Org-theme discrimination and recognize the rythmic prose I was after.

Thanks for your consideration.




Hmmm. I may have to poke around in the mead hall more. Some good stories here. I certainly might add to the diversity in theme and style...

[matteus the inbred]

I dunno Eclectic, I kinda liked it. No one round here writes quite like you...!

Just read Franc's entry too, a quirky little thing that made me smile! Still bashing the keys and swearing at mine...

[Rodion Romanovich]

This will be an interesting competition! This is my first writing competition ever, so I have no idea whether I'm doing well or not... I'd appreciate any feedback from the readers

[The Stranger]

well before Imsta posted his story yours was my favorite... though now imsta is my favorite

[edyzmedieval]

I guess I won't sleep this night.
I got 2 stories to make...

[littlelostboy]

Hehe, luckily I got my Internet connection just in time. This is a competiton I must win.

[matteus the inbred]

dammit, knew we should've banned Banquo's Ghost...

[Rodion Romanovich]

The plot thickens...

Look what I found:

[The Stranger]

yeah mattues we should have... and i thought i had a chance to win this time

[edyzmedieval]

I hope I get at least number 2. I want an award dammit, and I participated in all of the three writing contests!!!

[Ludens]

The submission period is closed. The poll will hopefully be up in eight hours. Thanks everyone for submitting!