For what it's worth, I'm glad to have an extra four weeks even though I rushed to finish it by the original deadline. I abandoned my original idea at the beginning of January when I happened upon a story that started off with the exact same premise, so I wrote my entry in about three weeks. Now I probably won't touch my entry for a couple weeks so I'll be able to see the problems more easily.

On a related note, does this mean the Hogwarts Hunger Games contest is running in parallel and ending at the same time? I wasn't going to enter that but a plot bunny attacked me today.

 

That's an interesting question. Mordecai and I will talk about it. Get back to you soon.

 

Ok guys, so we have extended the deadline of this competition due to low entry numbers on the original deadline.

If it comes to the new deadline and numbers are still low, we won't be extending it any further.

We're thinking that we'll try some different competition styles over the next couple of cycles, to try and find what works best, as what we tried this time obviously wasn't ideal.

So what we're thinking for the next cycle (The Hunger Games) is to cut the time to a month and put a maximum length of 10k on entries.

Does anyone have any objections to trying this as a set up? We'll probably experiment with a couple of other set ups after it, just to see what works best.

Regarding when the next cycle starts, I think its fairest to say that it starts when the current cycle finishes. So the month long cycle for The Hunger Games will be March.

Any thoughts, comments, queries, suggestions or complaints please post them here or pm either Dwitty or myself.

 

I think putting a max wordcount is a bad thing. Let people write however much they feel like, if they can manage in the given time.

Btw, I personally find the Hunger Games to be a terrible setting, at least compared to many others in the poll that was had.

 

My idea for the Hunger Games might end up under 10k words, but some people (the ones that voted for it, which I didn't) have had the opportunity to write it since December so it's not really a month long.

I do like the idea of playing around with the rules, though.

 

A month seems like an appropriate time-frame but putting a 10k word cap is a bit restrictive - plenty of people managed 15k words in the original series of contests. If you absolutely must limit it, 20k seems more appropriate.

 

The logic behind putting a limit on it is so that the judges don't have to spend too long judging, allowing the results to be produced more quickly.

We want to lower the cap from its current 50k due to concern that setting it that high has resulted in overly ambitious projects that aren't being completed. Setting it significantly lower should encourage more entries to be produced. Since we're reducing the limit so much, we'd like to see it more as a guideline, and will allow for some flexibility rather than the absolute rule that the 50k was.

 

Okay a few points.

First, thanks for pushing back the deadline, I have now finished my story and can enter it.

Secondly, I know you said the judging is a tricky topic which I agree with. But may I suggest giving two different criteria to judge by, one for one shots and one for WIP stories. There would still only be one contest, but the judges grade the two types of stories under differnt criteria.

There would still be only one winner, but its very differnt writing a one shot compared to writing the first 3-5 chapters of a 20 chapter story. And its hard to compare them. So the author says it is a one shot and it is graded on a one shot grade. Points for completion of story, character, size, hook ect. Where as if you write a beginning to a larger story you are rated for set up, the hook for future chapters ect.

There will never be enough entrants have two different catagories, one for one shots and one for longer stories, so if there was a different criteria for each it might even the field.

I personally think 50k is massive. And frankly not needed. Harry Potter and the PS was just over 80k words from memory. Being a good writer is being able to be succint in your writing, which is something I think a lot of us forget reading fanfic, a good story doesnt need to be 200k long. Less really is more in a lot of cases and if anything points should be given for being able to tell a good story in 20k words rather than the same story fleshed out to 50k. The 50k version might have some cool stuff in it that we all love to read, but if this is a true writing contest, we really should be encouraging "less is more".

Thirdly how would you feel about running dual competitions, the normal 20-50k one and one 3-5k one. People can entre both and for those who just cant force themselves to write a 20k story, or dont have the time, or creativity to do something that long they just spit out 3k of pure action and drama. 3k is something almost anyone can do in a matter of a couple of hours, and it might be that little push people need to get writing. I would love to read a dozen plus entrants that are 3k long. Hell people might start the 3k one and realise it has turned into 7k, and then think "why not" and make it a 12k entrant for the main contest.

I personally found the 50k intimidating, my entrant isnt even half that, and while I by no means expect to win, I would feel better knowing I am up against stories of similar length. I think a lot of unexperienced judges might just give extra credit when they see a 47k word count on the bottom compared to a 18k one. If people really want to write a longer story, enter the first few chapter in the 20k contest as a WIP, if they really cant make a decent entre in under 20k thats grabbed you... well its probably not going to be a great story after 50k either.

 

Did you say something about being succinct?

Seriously though, Mordecai and I will talk your points through. And subtly wait and see how the gen pop react to them too...

 

I'm look forward to reading the entries.

I do have a modest proposal: in addition to handing out bling to the winners, could we also consider giving recognition to all who submitted a credible story to the latest contest (perhaps an "author" badge or some such next to their name)? This bit of vanity would give incentive for folks to finish and submit stories even if they don't hold out much hope for winning. I suspect that if the judges do this, they'll see a higher level of participation.

In the end, getting more quality stories to read is sort of the overall point of the contests and this would seem to support such a goal.

 

Ok guys, we're coming to the end of this. Deadline is tonight. I'm out tonight, so when I get in tomorrow I'll collate all the entries we have and get them out to the judges asap. I'll also post announcing the specifics of the next competition cycle etc.

 

Thanks everyone who entered, your entries have been sent off to our judges. I'll announce the results as soon as possible, and get the entries up for public viewing at the same time.

The Erotic Adventures of S: Thanks for your thoughts, they're much appreciated. Regarding running the dual competitions, that's something we're going to look at closely and try to get up and running in coming months. We just need to work out time commitments first.

-------
For the 2nd Competition Cycle.

Theme: The Hogwarts Hunger Games

Competition Duration: 1 month.

Closing Data: April 1st

Entry length limit: Obviously this has been one of the more contentious things, but we're going to listen to you all and set it at 20K. Please don't think this is a length requirement, simply an maximum limit.

Judges: If you would like to judge this competition cycle please get in touch via dlpwritingcontest@gmail.com or by pming me here on the forum.

Questions: If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to get in touch either in this thread, by pming me or by emailing us at dlpwritingcontest@gmail.com

Best of luck and may the odds be ever in your favour!

 

Hi Guys!

We've now got our results in. First of all I'd like to say a big thank you to all three participants who put forward entries. Hopefully as the competition goes on we'll get more entries.

Without further ado, the results are:

1) Betrayal, written by Melior. This entry scored an average of 89.3%.

2) Last Enemy to be Destroyed, written by Nauro. This entry scored an average of 79%.

3) Strange Aeons, written by Perspicacity. This entry scored an average of 77%.

Well done to all three of you, an excellent showing!

The entries themselves will be getting posted up tonight, just as soon as I figure out where I'm posting them.

 

Congratulations to Melior!

(But I'll bet you anything my Harry was more badass.)

 

Entries posted up: https://forums.darklordpotter.net/forumdisplay.php?f=142

Let our authors know what you think!

 

Heh, my Harry is definitely the least badass of the three stories posted. He is the angriest, though!

Is it left up to the other entrants to post their stories themselves? I've already devoured Pers' and Nauro's and I'm interested to read the others.

Thanks to Mordecai and Dwitty for starting this back up, and to Pers' and Nauro and the other entrants. Excellent stuff!

 

I sort of figured there were only three entrants?

 

Ah, reading comprehension fail:

The only reason I thought there might be more is that Erotic said he finished his way back on 2/10.

 

Huh. I somehow missed that the category could have been Dystopia or Post-Apocalyptic.

Well, congratulations to the three authors that actually got a submission in! Especially to melior, good job. Will read y'alls stories when I can actually sit down and appreciate the effort instead of trudging along half asleep.

 

Ok, this is fun. And funny.

Because nothing says Victory more than being the second from the back. I'm going to go celebrate. ;D

Out of curiosity, how many people did you gain from the moving of the deadline?