Original Fiction Competition Launch!

zerohour

Well-Known Member
#1
Alright, here we go!

We still do not have the legal forms prepared, but they should be ready in a few days, the end of the week at the latest.

In the mean time, here's a repost of the rules, the Theme for this competition, as well as this week's tropes.

Rules

-Every week, you are expected to produce a minimum of 2,500 word submission for the contest. I say submission because you can write it as one 2,500 word chapter, two, 1,250 word chapters, or whatever format makes you most comfortable.

-The contest will continue for four weeks, for a total of 10,000 words, or more.

-There is no limit to the amount of submissions you can make. However, only one work from each author will be chosen.

-THE STORY MUST BE COMPLETE. Each story is mean to be a complete, self contained work. While you can write stories linked to other original works you have written, it must be self contained, with no "to be continued" tacked onto the end.

-The MAXIMUM word count is 25,000 words per entry. While I don't expect them to reach that size, I would rather avoid any issue that could arise from a large number of massive entries.


Scoring:
Each Judge has elected to score the chapter by what they think is most important. They are as follows:

Meinos Kaen:
Grammar: 15 points
Characters: 15 points
Plot: 15 points
Theme: 5 points

Chronodekar:
Grammar: 20 points
Plot: 25 points
Theme: 5 points

Zerohour:
Grammar: 10
Plot: 15
Characters: 15
Theme: 10

Bonus/Tropes: In an effort to make this a bit more dynamic, as well as stimulate creative juices in our participants, each week, we will select four tropes whose use will earn you points.

-2 points for using one of the tropes.
-5 points for using two or more.

These are in no way a requirement for to story. They are merely intended as something to give some form of guidance for those who need it, and a possible challenge for others. Feel free to pass on them.

Penalties:
-One point lost for every 250 words under the 2,500 minimum.
-One point lost for every day your submission is late.


Final Judging: One week after the last submissions are posted. The judges will conduct a final round of judging. This is to give the writers a chance to go back, fix mistakes and errors, and clean up their work.


STEWARD: Zerohour. We've agreed that since this was my idea, that I should have stewardship. For those of you concerned about my lack of experience, don't be because....

PUBLISHER: Meinos Kaen. He has more experience with this sort of thing, so we felt it best that he be put in charge of publishing the Amazon version of this. Hopefully I'll learn a bit from him and be able to shoulder this responsibility in future iterations of the contests, but just as likely, he'll do such a good job that it won't be necessary.


PRINTED COPY: We are considering making physical copies of the collection after it is done. We are probably going to see how well the online sales do, to see if they would cover the expenses, or perhaps running a Kickstarter. chronodekar is planning to fund this as his donation and will make a separate announcement with details. A primary concern from his end is how expensive it will end up as. But at the very least, the plan is to send 3 printed copies to the top three winners

PRIZES: Prizes have been donated by a number of TFFers. While we are still waiting to hear from a few people, here is what we have confirmed so far. The first place winner will receive the following:
-$220
-Choosing the Cover Art for the Anthology

All others, assuming their stories are of sufficient quality, will be published in the anthology as well.



THEME: Tarot Cards
There are seventy eight Tarot Cards, all of which can be inverted for a new meaning. Factor in the fact that you can combine them with each other, and the potential stories become nearly infinite. Below are links to Tarot Card Meanings, as well as their reversals.

Tarot Card Meanings
Tarot Card Reversals

For those who need a bit more, here is a sample chapter based on the Strength Arcana. Strength


Tropes:
Here are the tropes for the first week:

The Symbiote
Henpeck Husband
Bed Trick
Family Relationship Switcheroo


Challenges: There are no points for Challenges. they are merely hurdles for the more suicidal of you to try and overcome.

Zerohour's Challenge: Write a 10,000+ word story for Wands, Swords, Pentacles, Cups, and one of the Major Arcana.

Chronodekar's Challenge: Write your entire story in one week instead of one month.

Meinos Kaen: No challenge issued. he chose to be the sane one.

What a wuss.

Due Dates:
Each chapter is due on Sundays by 11:59 PM Central Standard Time. For reference, this post was made at 11:59 PM on Saturday, so you have 192 hours from that to get the first chapter done. Below is a list of due dates.

First Chapter: September 8th
Second Chapter: September 15th
Third Chapter: September 22th
Fourth Chapter: September 29th
Final Draft: October 6th


Please post links to your stories here, so we all can enjoy them, and to make judging easier.


If there are any questions, please ask them, so we can deal with whatever issues crop up as soon as possible.
 

Halibel Lecter

Well-Known Member
#2
Hi guys, not sure if anyone else is running into this, but I'm having a little trouble with the prompt. Exactly how much of the card(s) we use needs to go into the story? Is it enough to base a character on one of them (Ex: "I'm going to write a story about a paladin who's like the Fool because [supporting details] and he goes and slays a dragon or something else unrelated.") or does it have to go deeper than that? Thanks.
 

zerohour

Well-Known Member
#3
Basing a character on it is enough, as long as it's a main character. It doesn't have to be layers upon layers of meanings, just one is fine, as long as it is a significant influence on the story. Your example should suffice, unless the other judges have a different opinion on the matter.
 

H-Man

Random phantom.
#5
I managed to get something done in time, hah...

Is it still too early to post a submission, or is it okay to do so?
 

zerohour

Well-Known Member
#6
byakuryuu: Google Docs should be fine, unless one of the other judges has an issue with it. Make sure you make a thread for it, so we don't have everything getting mixed together.

H-man: There is no limit to how early you can submit a chapter. If you really wanted, you could have posted the entirety of your story the instant I said this had started. You would probably have missed out on Trope Points, but there is no minimum amount of time required before you can submit.

About 11 more hours until lateness penalties start kicking in.
 

QE1

Well-Known Member
#8
The Sun Rises Chosen card: Sun. I was originally going for the bonus points for the tropes but ultimately working them into this one week's chapter didn't work out. Oh well.
 

zerohour

Well-Known Member
#9
One hour left. Hopefully people are just taking the time to give their work a once over, making everything perfect for the inaugural posts.

Then again, it wouldn't surprise me, in typical TFFers fashion, that everyone has been procrastinating...

Speaking of which, I need to get back to work...
 

zerohour

Well-Known Member
#11
Done. Managed to work in one of the tropes, maybe, but the important thing is I got it in before the deadline!

Behold: The Path of Wands

Speaking of which, I believe that is time. Anything posted after this is officially late. Four on time submissions isn't bad, but I;m sure we have a few more people who just needed a little extra time or got a late start.

I think we can have a little bit of leeway, since this is the first time, but if you're rushing to complete your story, I recommend taking an extra few hours to get it right, and just take the one point loss. A little more time spent polishing it will probably raise your score more than turning it in on time.

Almost Forgot: This Week's Tropes:

Rebellious Princess
Resentful Guardian
Power Floats
Delicious Distraction

and, because it was too hilarious to not include:
Gayborhood
 

violinmana

(Hardcore) Gamer
#12
The way my story goes, it won't be able to be put out once a week, so instead, I'm just going to output the entire story when it's done. It'll be this month though.
 

zerohour

Well-Known Member
#14
As I do not know if I can separate myself from any bias, I'm giving myself Zeros across the board.

Though if I still win with a 300 point deficit... maybe I deserve to keep the prize money...
 

chronodekar

Obsessively signs his posts
Staff member
#15
Schema said:
So zerohour judges his own work?

weird.
Don't worry. We've got 2 other judges for that! Speaking of which, ... damn work just keeps piling up. Can't get the time to sit and write a decent story just yet. ...

-chronodekar
 

zerohour

Well-Known Member
#16
violinmana said:
The way my story goes, it won't be able to be put out once a week, so instead, I'm just going to output the entire story when it's done. It'll be this month though.
Just so you know, you will get the appropriate penalty for not posting on the due dates, which will total about 40 points. Won't prevent you from getting in the anthology, but may really hurt your chances of winning the cash prize.
 

chronodekar

Obsessively signs his posts
Staff member
#17
Notice of delay: I was planning to judge the stories today, but real life has me busy with family. I *should* be able to find more time tomorrow and will leave my reviews/scoring within the next 48 hours.

-chronodekar
 

QE1

Well-Known Member
#19
My second chapter is going to be late. Had a busy week.
 

zerohour

Well-Known Member
#21
And that's it for this weeks on time entries.

Halibel and H-man are good, QE1 and myself are suffering a penalty for lateness.
 

chronodekar

Obsessively signs his posts
Staff member
#22
Hi folks! And here comes the first review/judgment. :evil2:

First submission is from H-Man for "Magellan". Tarot card he's using is "The Lovers". I'm no expert on Tarot cards, so the first thing I'm going to do is checkout the meaning/story of the card from here,
http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/learn/meanings/lovers.shtml

What I gather from that, is something about a guy wanting to take one path, sees a girl he likes a lot and makes changes to his plans (causing him difficulty), but brings her along. With that in my mind, I'm going to start reading "Magellan". :)

Just finished the first chapter. Let's start with the easy ones, shall we?

Grammar - the full 20 points.

I couldn't find anything to complain about.

Plot - This is difficult. Frankly, I'm curious to know what happens next. Which means you've done a good enough job of 'drawing me in'. What bothers me is that the cast consists of 2 male characters ATM. I'm hoping that there's some surprise gender-bending (or a new character) coming up because I am not a fan of yaoi. Regardless, for a single chapter, I'll give this the full 25/25 with the hope that something more interesting comes up.

Theme - To be honest, I'm not sure what this has to do with 'The Lovers'. Then again, that's how good romances start, but I don't see any signs of such sparks. Hmm... 3/5.

Total score (for first chapter) : 20 + 25 + 3 = 48/50.

-chronodekar
 

chronodekar

Obsessively signs his posts
Staff member
#23
Since he's got the second chapter out already, I'll review that next instead of the other entries.

(reads second chapter)

My ... concern remains the same. What does this have to do with 'Lovers' ? :huh: That being my only 'gripe' here's the scoring,

Grammar - 20
Plot - 20
Theme - 3

Total = 43/50

-chronodekar
 

chronodekar

Obsessively signs his posts
Staff member
#24
Next story is from QE1 titled 'The Sun Rises'. As usual I'm going to read up on the story behind the tarot from here,
http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/learn/meanings/sun.shtml

In a nutshell, what I gather is that this should be a story about 'finding your inner self'. And now, onto the story;

(begins reading the story)

Quoting some grammar issues;

she used the freed hand to press a button
Grammar : 18/20 points

Plot: 25/25

Theme: 5/5

Total = 48 / 50

I like the story and *think* I can see the relation between this and the theme. Ignoring the grammar problem, it was a fun read. :) Looking forward for more!

-chronodekar
 

chronodekar

Obsessively signs his posts
Staff member
#25
Next story is Halibel Lecter's "Broken Laurels".

I've read up on the 2 tarot themes before. My expectation is of a "growing up" story. Of someone starting out as a fool and becoming emperor. Either that, or of some interaction between a fool and emperor.

(starts reading)

I have to say, this seems to be the first story where it's obvious what the connection to the theme is. Couldn't find any grammar mistakes and it has raised my curiosity. Full points for this first chapter.

Total = 50/50

-chronodekar

PS: Halibel Lecter, I'm going to assume that the second post there is your second chapter. Until you officially submit it here, I'm going to assume its a draft and will not read it (more to avoid potential spoilers than anything else).
 
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