Original Fiction Competition

byakuryuu

Well-Known Member
#26
I'd like to take part, but I have a suggestion that we don't include a particular "theme". Just have the story run for 3 weeks and see which one catches your eye. The 2500 word per chapter per week thing is a solid rule, though.
 

zerohour

Well-Known Member
#27
zerohour said:
Posted here because this is probably where it belongs, and in the General talk section, because this area doesn't get very much traffic yet.

Since naming it Iron Man Fic in tribute to Iron fic clearly didn't work, let's try being a little less esoteric. I should probably work on coming up with a new name.

Anyways, the idea is that I would like to encourage people to give Original Fiction a try, so a competition (with prizes) to stimulate writing original fiction seems like a good idea to me.

Of course, I want to do this right, so I though I would run it by you guys, and hopefully fine tune this before launch.




Format:
-Like previous Iron Man Fics, this is not about a short burst of wild inspiration. This is about the long hauls, keepin up the motivation to a story come to life.
-Unlike previous Iron Man Fics, there will be a definite deadline. I plan on launching this on the first of the month, with the competition ending on the last day of the month.

My goal is that after one month of writing, "finished" stories will have a 10,000 word length. I want to choose a length and time that gives participants a chance to go through and proof their story and make sure their work is high quality and fits with the narrative, while not letting them slack off and lose their motivation.


-I'm currently considering two possible setup:
--One chapter per week, with a 2,500 word minimum
--One chapter every three days, with a 1,000 word minimum.
--Other suggestions are welcome.


Prompts:
I don't know if prompts would be appropriate for this. On one hand, it can give the participants a general idea of where to go with the chapter and the story in general. On the other, it can become problematic if they have their own ideas on where to go, and the prompts might hinder their ability to fully realize their story. What do you guys think?



Judges:
I would like to have at least three judges involved in this. Ideally, i would like to have four or five, so we have at least three judging each entry, even if something comes up.

Scoring: Not too sure on scoring. Probably something similar to Iron Fic, since there isn't much need to change the formula. Probably add in a few more points for meeting the minimum length requirement and for maintaining



Prizes:
Participant's Award: Meinos has graciously decided to publish all entries to this competition, as well as advertise

First Place:
-Twenty Dollars, plus two dollars for every one thousand thousand words entered to the competition, up to a maximum of two hundred dollars. Donated by Vog, violinmana, and myself.

-A commissioned drawing of your choice, graciously donated by Halibel Lecter.

So, what do you people think? What looks like it will work, and what looks like it needs improvement?
 
#28
Well I'll definitely be participating.

Also, I do think we should have some form of prompt or theme, which shouldn't be revealed in full detail until the beginning of the contest. The entire point of that is to limit people to only writing for the contest during the contest. If I'm allowed to turn in any story on anything I want, then who's going to know if I turn in a shorter version of a story I've been working on for years?

A theme also provides a unifying element that would contribute to sales, as people are more likely to identify with a specific genre for an anthology. For instance, I'm more likely to buy an anthology of stories about "Sherlock Holmes in different times," (which could include interpretations like the BBC show, or House, or whatever) than I am to buy an anthology of, "Short Stories by People on the Internet."

Of course, if we want to focus more on the anthology nature of things than anything else, we could just ditch the contest elements and focus on working together to provide a cohesive product. Judging would be a way to determine who made it into the anthology and not necessarily the focus of the effort. (This would also make it less objectionable for judges and contributors to participate in the actual contest).
 

byakuryuu

Well-Known Member
#29
Actually, if we have a theme, I'd vote make it based on literary devices/plots, like "Growing Up", "Hero's Journey", "Heroic Resolve/Determination", etc.
 

Meinos Kaen

Well-Known Member
#30
True dat. I guess we should shift the discussion of the judges to a private location. Zero, you have my email and Skype, right?
 

violinmana

(Hardcore) Gamer
#31
Zero, edit your original post, not put one down the page.
 

Schema

Well-Known Member
#32
Holy, this is all kinds of awesome. Going to need to submit something, even though it is going to be absolute shit in comparison to most/some of the other members of TFF.
 

zerohour

Well-Known Member
#33
Meinos Kaen said:
True dat. I guess we should shift the discussion of the judges to a private location. Zero, you have my email and Skype, right?
E-mail is a matter of public record. I don't think I have your skype, and I should probably register an account of my own first,
 
#34
I'd like to join in. Give it a shot myself.

And I'd be willing to toss in some extra cash for the pot too.
 

esran

Active Member
#35
I will probably join, but i can't guarantee the quality of my writing will be anywhere near as good as anyone else.
 

Zephyrus

Searching for the six-fingered man.
#36
I'm in.

School starts in less than a month, which will leave me plenty of time to work on this baby. My one fan or two should get a kick out of this.
 

Zephyrus

Searching for the six-fingered man.
#38
I probably only have one fan. =/
 

violinmana

(Hardcore) Gamer
#39
Man, that sucks. How do you keep cool in the sweltering summer?
 

byakuryuu

Well-Known Member
#41
I'll probably take part as well, seeing as Iron Fic's fallen off the proverbial branch. I also need money and some recognition if I'm ever going to kickstart my writing career.
 

zerohour

Well-Known Member
#42
Alright, let's total up the prizes:
Zerohour: $100 (assuming 100,000 words are written in total)
Vog: $20
violinmana: $100 (matching Zerohour)
Halibel Lecter: Commissioned Picture (Probably for the Cover)
Andrew Joshua Talon: Mystery Cash

Total:
$220
Commissioned Picture (Probably the Cover for the Anthology)

Now, let's total up the listed participants:
rukia8492
Amaretto (?)
Halibel Lecter
violinmana
The Ero-Sennin
byakuryuu
Hardcore Heathen
Schema
Andrew Joshua Talon
esran
Zephyrus
H-Man
Zerohour (Not Eligible for Prize)

So, we have at least twelve participants, eleven of whom are actually eligible to win right now. Add on one or two more for silent participants, and we've got a decent field of participants at this point!

Less than a month until the official start, so I guess Kaen and I really need to buckle downa nd get moving on this!
 

Meinos Kaen

Well-Known Member
#43
Yup... Wait, when did we decide that we were to start on the 1st of September? Ah, nevermind. :p

Wait, 100.000 Words? Don't you mean 10.000? What's the goal, here?

EDIT: By the way, should we publicize the contest on FF.Net as well? Bring an influx of subscribers and contestants?
 

zerohour

Well-Known Member
#44
I'm paying in one dollar for every one thousand words written in total.

So if A writes 2,000 words, and B writes 6,000 words, that is a total of 8,000 words, for eight dollars in the pot. I'm assumign the anthology will total over 100,000 words when we combine the works of the participants, so it totals at $100.

Sorry if it was ambiguous.

A few people have mentioned that waiting until the start of the school year would make things easier for them, and since we still haven't hammered out all of the details and need to recruit another judge, I figured it wouldn't hurt.

Speaking of which, I should probably PM you about secret judge type stuff.


Edit: PMed you. PM me back when you have a chance.
 

Meinos Kaen

Well-Known Member
#45
zerohour said:
I'm paying in one dollar for every one thousand words written in total.

So if A writes 2,000 words, and B writes 6,000 words, that is a total of 8,000 words, for eight dollars in the pot. I'm assumign the anthology will total over 100,000 words when we combine the works of the participants, so it totals at $100.

Sorry if it was ambiguous.

A few people have mentioned that waiting until the start of the school year would make things easier for them, and since we still haven't hammered out all of the details and need to recruit another judge, I figured it wouldn't hurt.

Speaking of which, I should probably PM you about secret judge type stuff.


Edit: PMed you. PM me back when you have a chance.
Aaaah, the total for the anthology! I thought 100,000 per person!

That would make a book bigger than Ken Follet's usual size! XD
 

Vog

Well-Known Member
#46
Dang! This is starting to look pretty good!
 

violinmana

(Hardcore) Gamer
#47
Let's publicize this /after/ we get the Anthology out on Amazon. We'll probably need to switch servers if we get that much of an influx on people.
 

Zephyrus

Searching for the six-fingered man.
#48
Thank God we start in September. Work is STILL kicking my butt. However, that should ease off once my final year of schooling starts. I'm *so* ready to graduate that it isn't even funny.
 

zerohour

Well-Known Member
#49
Waiting until September was something a few other peopel requested, also due to school related issues. Also, it gives Iron Fic some time to wind down, and people have a chance to recharge their batteries.

Good news everyone!

In addition to hearing the voice of Professor Hubert Farnsworth, we have a third judge! One of our moderators, chronodekar, has generously agreed to judge with Meinos Kaen and myself! The triumvirate is now complete, though I wouldn't be opposed to having an alternate available, if anyone is interested.

Current Countdown (unless I messed this up): 20 days, 22 hours, 52 minutes.
 
Top