Apocalyptic huh? Been there, done that, 250k words spent, but hey, I'm a well with a bit of water left to spare, so chances are I could drum up something cool. Props to those responsible for the revival, and with the two month deadline means some folk can get their shit together and give us some quality work (Me included, for a change. Started no less than six contest entries back in '11 and did nothing with them but let a collective 50k of words sit around. Shame on me). Writing time!

 

So I had a rather intriguing idea for a story today, based on a crossover.

Starting today - and probably looking at about 20,000 - 30,000 words, with an option to continue.

What's the deal? Can we share quick blurbs here, a brief back cover summary? Generate a bit of excitement?

 

What Joe said, because I really just want to rip his idea off.

 

While I think it would be cool to build up a little excitement, wasn't it decided that the authors should be anonymous when they are judged? You start teasing your story and it will not be very hard to guess who wrote what.

On the other hand, it's not like it's hard to guess some authors just from their writing styles.

 

Just look for whatever story has the main character drinking a large amount of scotch, and that'll be Joes. No guesswork needed.

-edit-

And for me, just look for a story that has the main character drinking a large amount of blood, and that'll be mine. And busty ginger milfs.

 

No.

No one may become excited in this thread.

Some EDITs: Seriously though, don't post it. It would defeat the point of double blind judging.

However, that said, if there were multiple authors wanting to post up blurbs then Mordecai or I could do so for you/them/whatever to retain anonymity. You have permission to become excited in this circumstance.

 

Note to self: write a foul-mouthed, scotch-drinking hero to subliminally garner accolades. Minor corollary: figure out the whole 'intriguing plots with excellent pacing and badass action sequences' thing to complete the subterfuge.

Anonymous blurbs would be awesome, as long as you don't care if some nobody with less than half a dozen posts shows up and dilutes your hook with a crappy oneshot. Hypothetically speaking, of course. I'd be willing to submit one once I figure mine out (and I don't mean "once I've read everybody else's" in case anyone has taken me seriously thus far).

 

Question on the judging bit. Are you anonymously posting the stories on DLP so everyone can read them, or are you sending them to judges, having them graded and then posting them after a winner is decided.

 

The latter. Judges, who have already been picked, will get them privately via email. They will grade them, with comments and explanations, and send their decisions back to Mordecai and I. We tally it all and there you go. The stories will be posted up after that.

 

I just received a PM from Dwitty asking to please submit a blurb of my entry, just a fragment for posting before the deadline. I assume it's to generate interest in the contest.

I'd very much prefer to stick to our agreed deadline and that stories, complete or not, be displayed only after the judges are done with them. It seems to be the fairest way of conducting this. We all have different methods, we start writing at different dates, our schedules aren't perfectly fixed. I can't even guarantee that what I start writing now will even make it to the final cut. Too many things could change between now and then, and it seems pointless to post a blurb that might have no relation at all to my actual entry.

Just think about it. It'd be cool to have the excerpts as a sort of appetizer, but it could just as easily backfire.

 

That's fine. Then don't submit one. As the PM said it's not an absolute must have.

The blurb idea will continue as it is.

 

We are indeed inviting authors to send us blurbs which can be published anonymously by the organisers. This is in no way mandatory, but it'd be a nice thing to do.

In specific, once you have locked down an idea and know what you're submitting write up a brief blurb that doesn't scream your identity to the world. Doesn't have to be long, doesn't have to be detailed. Just a taster, to get some interest. When we receive enough blurbs to make it difficult to guess who's written them, we'll post them up for folk to see. We're still working on where exactly we'll do that.

To give us the blurbs, please email them to dlpwritingcontest@gmail.com

If there are any questions, feel free to ask here or by PM.

On another note, in response to some questions we've received. If you want to submit multiple entries, you can. This is allowed because of the blind judging, they don't know who has authored which entries and so won't be biased in any way. We feel it is only fair that if you can write up 5 submission quality pieces, that you can enter them. However, I would personally suggest that it is more likely to yield good results to focus on a single piece rather than spread your time and energy.

We will also allow for co-authoring. Two authors of a single piece have no advantage over a single author. Indeed, if anyone who's ever written anything is honest, writing isn't a solo task. Its simply a matter of how involved other people are in the process. If two people want to collaborate on a project, that's not a problem. If they win, they can share the accolades.

And finally, neither Dwitty or I are judging in this competition. So don't worry about pming us questions that would bias us in any way.

 

This is probably kinda lame, but what about formatting? Should every submission be HTML with horizontal lines for scene breaks, separate files for each chapter, no disclaimers or author's notes, etc.?

 

Hmmm, formatting? Yes, we'd like some of that please.

 

Forgive Mordecai and his drunken ravings. @Oz: He was attempting humour, albeit a Scottish variant thereof.

Authors should feel free to format their writing however they like, so long as it is sensible. Mordecai and I will standardise it before passing it on to the judges.

As to disclaimers: don't bother, lol. The only disclaimer that is of any use is one wherein you relinquish the rights to your own ideas that you've used, and even then just barely. Legal discussions aside, don't worry about it.

As to author notes: They're fine so long as they don't reveal who the author is. If they do they'll be removed prior to being sent on to the judges and reinstated in the public version.

 

Hey guys, I hope everyone's entries are coming along well.

We're having some trouble finding someone to put together some graphics for prizes, so if anyone is capable with graphics and willing to help out could you shoot us a PM? Thanks.

 

Not quite. I'm stalled only a couple of thousand words in after several revisions, and while I like what is there so far, I can not seem to get enough of a solid concept for progression to take place.

And rather than submit something that isn't even a quarter of the way finished, I'm going to bow out of the competition this round. Good luck to the rest of you guys writing.

 

Who knows if I'll actually ever finish it, but I had some ideas for "Professor Potter" that I got started on. Thanks for the prompt! Thank god it's a few months out

 

I was sure this ended in February. Shit out of luck.