Original Fiction Contest!
Posted: 2004-02-21 01:29am
An original fiction contest is hereby declared.
It is our intent to create a contest for friendly competition between interested authors, in the realm of science-fiction and fantasy works. The contest rules shall be established below and shall be fixed so that all interested can reference here while working on their efforts. Any updates to the rules will be announced in an edit to this post and a reply to this thread announcing that edit.
This competition is solely for original works, and the works submitted cannot contain any elements of any copyrighted work whatsoever unless you provide the Judges with a letter (a scan will be sufficient, but e-mail will not be) giving you permission from the holder of the copyright to use their work in a contest which may have a financial reward. I am including that on the off chance that someone really, really wants to write fanfiction, but the reality is that fanfiction cannot be written for monetary reward; unless, of course, dispensation is given from the copyright holder. Considering this is rather implausible, works of fanfiction are effectively banned from the contest. Fanfiction submitted to the contest will not be accepted except under the above and extraordinary conditions.
However, the actual goal of this contest is to really encourage people to write original, creative fiction. That is the title, and that is the entire point of the effort. You are encouraged to produce a piece of totally original fiction, or something based on a universe you have created yourself and have put time into already; that comes from your own mind. Even if you do not win one of the prizes, you shall have an opportunity to receive at least five reviews of your piece of fiction, guaranteed, each by a different judge. These shall be exhaustive and very good reviews given for the purpose of improving your writing by people skilled at the literary art. That is the gain of everyone who enters the contest, regardless of placing.
The contest shall begin as-of 23 February, this coming Monday. From that date onwards, submissions will be accepted. The e-mail address for the acceptance of submissions is StorycontestSpamremove@SpamremoveDragonchoice.com Submissions will be accepted from 23 February until 23 June. The deadline may be modified subject to announcement in this thread; but will not be made sooner. We want to give you actual time to work on these stories.
There shall be at least five judges, and there shall be maintained an odd number of judges in the judging of each story, though an effort to consensus will always be made. Several alternate judges will be retained. In general the judges will be people I will be selecting personally for their excellent writing or editing abilities or general knowledge and expert abilities with linguistics and/or the languages. Currently the confirmed judges are myself and one Faye Upton. Names of the other judges shall be announced later along with anything they want to say about themselves, and E-mail contacts if they wish to give them. Most of them are busy people and do not need to be made busier if they are going to be judging this contest.
Stories must be in excess of 5,000 words, and, quite simply, we expect that anyone entering is capable of writing such an effort in the time alotted. 5,001 words is not a lot; I have made story posts more than half that length in a single day. Copy and paste one of your longer posts into word, or several short ones made in a single day, say for an STGOD, and get a word count on it and you might be surprised how much you write in one day yourself. The key is to of course make it a coherent story effort.
The maximum is fixed at 15,000 words currently. There is a possibility that this may be extended upwards. 15,000 words is generally about the upper limit for short stories seen in magazines; though I have seen 25,000 word limits before. Consider, however, the 15,000 word limit to be your planning limit until I speak with the other judges on the matter. Certainly the 10,000 - word possible variation leaves a wide room for chosen styles.
Each author may submit only a single story. The story may come in any form desired as long as it is entirely submitted before 23 June and is within the word limits, but must be of a science fiction or fantasy genre. Remember, now, that's very broad in terms of category. Any kind of fantasy, any kind of science-fiction. But something that clearly isn't one or the other will be rejected, as will stories violating the word limits (we will try to fix the upper limit ASAP because of this). Any fanfiction story, also, will be rejected, or any story containing fanfiction elements; unless the noted proviso is fulfilled to our satisfaction. We will try to get rejection notices out as quickly as possible to give authors who receive them a chance to resubmit.
The works may be submitted in any format or style as long as they meet the above requirements, but generally the judges being considered are traditionalists in regard to grammar; several are from the UK and write rather formally; one is a linguist; and I personally find many modern grammar conventions contemptible (the biggest annoyance would be the ridiculous chicago convention of s's--it should be s'); now, don't get worried. You will not be downgraded for obeying commonly held rules. However, probably the absolutely best possible advice I can give is:
Don't trust the damned word processor.
If you want to be a writer you've got to have a gut feel for how the language should flow; for how it should mesh together. Computers can't construct fiction yet, and much of what makes fiction good is in the construction of the sentences--the grammar. So don't trust your computer's answer there, always double-check it to see how it feels in the structure and context of what you're writing. If you're willing to do that you're on the right track already.
Monetary payoffs are currently $20 for first place, $10 for second place, and $5 each for third and fourth place; but I have received an offer to increase that by half again, and so if the prizes are increased by further donations, that will also be announced in further updates. And don't get frightened by what I've said, because qualitatively there are some excellent writers here, so if you've read this you're probably already someone who is doing it right.
Best of luck, everyone, and do have fun in your writing.
P.S. Can a mod sticky this?
Sure. ~ Crown
It is our intent to create a contest for friendly competition between interested authors, in the realm of science-fiction and fantasy works. The contest rules shall be established below and shall be fixed so that all interested can reference here while working on their efforts. Any updates to the rules will be announced in an edit to this post and a reply to this thread announcing that edit.
This competition is solely for original works, and the works submitted cannot contain any elements of any copyrighted work whatsoever unless you provide the Judges with a letter (a scan will be sufficient, but e-mail will not be) giving you permission from the holder of the copyright to use their work in a contest which may have a financial reward. I am including that on the off chance that someone really, really wants to write fanfiction, but the reality is that fanfiction cannot be written for monetary reward; unless, of course, dispensation is given from the copyright holder. Considering this is rather implausible, works of fanfiction are effectively banned from the contest. Fanfiction submitted to the contest will not be accepted except under the above and extraordinary conditions.
However, the actual goal of this contest is to really encourage people to write original, creative fiction. That is the title, and that is the entire point of the effort. You are encouraged to produce a piece of totally original fiction, or something based on a universe you have created yourself and have put time into already; that comes from your own mind. Even if you do not win one of the prizes, you shall have an opportunity to receive at least five reviews of your piece of fiction, guaranteed, each by a different judge. These shall be exhaustive and very good reviews given for the purpose of improving your writing by people skilled at the literary art. That is the gain of everyone who enters the contest, regardless of placing.
The contest shall begin as-of 23 February, this coming Monday. From that date onwards, submissions will be accepted. The e-mail address for the acceptance of submissions is StorycontestSpamremove@SpamremoveDragonchoice.com Submissions will be accepted from 23 February until 23 June. The deadline may be modified subject to announcement in this thread; but will not be made sooner. We want to give you actual time to work on these stories.
There shall be at least five judges, and there shall be maintained an odd number of judges in the judging of each story, though an effort to consensus will always be made. Several alternate judges will be retained. In general the judges will be people I will be selecting personally for their excellent writing or editing abilities or general knowledge and expert abilities with linguistics and/or the languages. Currently the confirmed judges are myself and one Faye Upton. Names of the other judges shall be announced later along with anything they want to say about themselves, and E-mail contacts if they wish to give them. Most of them are busy people and do not need to be made busier if they are going to be judging this contest.
Stories must be in excess of 5,000 words, and, quite simply, we expect that anyone entering is capable of writing such an effort in the time alotted. 5,001 words is not a lot; I have made story posts more than half that length in a single day. Copy and paste one of your longer posts into word, or several short ones made in a single day, say for an STGOD, and get a word count on it and you might be surprised how much you write in one day yourself. The key is to of course make it a coherent story effort.
The maximum is fixed at 15,000 words currently. There is a possibility that this may be extended upwards. 15,000 words is generally about the upper limit for short stories seen in magazines; though I have seen 25,000 word limits before. Consider, however, the 15,000 word limit to be your planning limit until I speak with the other judges on the matter. Certainly the 10,000 - word possible variation leaves a wide room for chosen styles.
Each author may submit only a single story. The story may come in any form desired as long as it is entirely submitted before 23 June and is within the word limits, but must be of a science fiction or fantasy genre. Remember, now, that's very broad in terms of category. Any kind of fantasy, any kind of science-fiction. But something that clearly isn't one or the other will be rejected, as will stories violating the word limits (we will try to fix the upper limit ASAP because of this). Any fanfiction story, also, will be rejected, or any story containing fanfiction elements; unless the noted proviso is fulfilled to our satisfaction. We will try to get rejection notices out as quickly as possible to give authors who receive them a chance to resubmit.
The works may be submitted in any format or style as long as they meet the above requirements, but generally the judges being considered are traditionalists in regard to grammar; several are from the UK and write rather formally; one is a linguist; and I personally find many modern grammar conventions contemptible (the biggest annoyance would be the ridiculous chicago convention of s's--it should be s'); now, don't get worried. You will not be downgraded for obeying commonly held rules. However, probably the absolutely best possible advice I can give is:
Don't trust the damned word processor.
If you want to be a writer you've got to have a gut feel for how the language should flow; for how it should mesh together. Computers can't construct fiction yet, and much of what makes fiction good is in the construction of the sentences--the grammar. So don't trust your computer's answer there, always double-check it to see how it feels in the structure and context of what you're writing. If you're willing to do that you're on the right track already.
Monetary payoffs are currently $20 for first place, $10 for second place, and $5 each for third and fourth place; but I have received an offer to increase that by half again, and so if the prizes are increased by further donations, that will also be announced in further updates. And don't get frightened by what I've said, because qualitatively there are some excellent writers here, so if you've read this you're probably already someone who is doing it right.
Best of luck, everyone, and do have fun in your writing.
P.S. Can a mod sticky this?
Sure. ~ Crown
