Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

Hi Everyone


The Lounge will be holding another contest for best fiction short story [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img].


We will be following the same basic structure as the last one we did. Based on the high quality of the submissions and level of interest in last winter's contest I expect this to be a lot of fun and full of original ideas.


We are lucky to have one sponsor who is willing to put up $150 as prize money for the winner, and this prize might grow if more sponsorship is forthcoming.

So, a cash prize of at least $150.00!


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PLEASE NOTE: this is not directly supported by 2+2 as a site, and should be considered a private contest among posters.
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Contest Structure

We are going to keep it simple. There will be a 2-3 week period for submissions, starting in about 10 days. All stories submitted will be open for review and discussion. Whether this will be done within the same thread or a separate thread I'm not sure about and welcome your feedback. At the end of the submission period we will have a few days to review the stories and then voting by all members of the community (however, no gimmick accounts will be allowed).

Readers will vote by naming the person they feel submitted the best story.

Story requirements are as follows: Original fiction piece of 500-7,500 words. Proofed for grammar, punctuation and spelling.

*** This contest is open to ALL 2+2ers. ***


If you are interested in submitting a story please wait for me to post the official short story thread in about 10 days. If anyone wants to add to the sponsorship pool that would be awesome. PM me.


Any questions, sign ups, or issues, ask here.

Things I would like feedback on are the following: the time frame for the submissions and the review; whether we should restrict voting to those posters with post counts >100; and whether on-going discussion of the stories should take place in a separate thread. Your thoughts please.


Thanks, now get busy working on your stories because time goes by fast [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

this is ill yo. i remember last years contest was amazingly good. restrictions to maybe like 50 posts and above is good enough i think. i think 7500 words is way too much. 500-3000 is better imo.

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

Thanks for your feedback Slime. I actually meant to type 500-7000 words. Any better? [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

So post count >50 is good?

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
Story requirements are as follows: Original fiction piece of 500-7,500 words. Proofed for grammar, punctuation and spelling.

[/ QUOTE ]

What type of subjects would you frown upon?

No matter what you say count me in for a short story submission. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]


Conspire

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

I think there should be a separate thread for discussion so as not to clutter the main voting thread.


Conspire

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
Proofed for grammar, punctuation and spelling.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is there anything we can do about eliminating this rule?

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Proofed for grammar, punctuation and spelling.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is there anything we can do about eliminating this rule?

[/ QUOTE ]

no, speling and good grammer are like important

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

You can count me in this year. I think that there should be a minimum post count and a date of at least 3 months old. Oh, wait, that won't translate to vBulletins, will it?

I agree that there should be one thread for submissions and one for discussion. Perhaps add one poll thread for the voting.

Not sure what I will write about, but I am shaking in my boots.

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Proofed for grammar, punctuation and spelling.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is there anything we can do about eliminating this rule?

[/ QUOTE ]

No, spelling and good grammar are like, important.

[/ QUOTE ]

I just realized that the joke was on me.

[img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]


No matter what you say count me in for a short story submission. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]


Conspire

[/ QUOTE ]
May God have mercy on our souls.

edit: I'm in, Ldo

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

Considering I have not written a short story since high school I think of myself as an underdog. Im aiming to tap an angle no one else would go for and at the same time making it family/work suitable.

Actually I probably wont even start generating ideas until the 2nd week into the competition, cuz thats how I roll.


Conspire

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]


What type of subjects would you frown upon?




[/ QUOTE ]

Hmm, good question. I hadn't given it much thought to be honest. Since you bring it up, I'm sure I would frown on any stories that celebrate racial hatred and pedophilia. Also, a really graphic porn story is going to be frowned on unless it's so creatively written that I don't even notice it is a porn story.

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


What type of subjects would you frown upon?




[/ QUOTE ]

Hmm, good question. I hadn't given it much thought to be honest. Since you bring it up, I'm sure I would frown on any stories that celebrate racial hatred and pedophilia. Also, a really graphic porn story is going to be frowned on unless it's so creatively written that I don't even notice it is a porn story.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ya, none of that is my style. Like everyone else im goin for an entertaining story. That was too vague of a question, besides most people in the lounge know whats right or wrong and seem to make good judgments. I think im included with that?

Anywayz,

Can we have pictures?

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
You can count me in this year. I think that there should be a minimum post count and a date of at least 3 months old. Oh, wait, that won't translate to vBulletins, will it?

I agree that there should be one thread for submissions and one for discussion. Perhaps add one poll thread for the voting.



[/ QUOTE ]


Glad to hear that you will be a participant Dave. Awesome [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] According to Ryan, post counts and registration dates will not change when we go to vBulletin.

Does everyone agree with DaveT that we should have a separate thread for discussion?

Also, I'm not a fan of voting by poll. But we can certainly do a separate thread for the voting.

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]

Anywayz,

Can we have pictures?

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't see why not. KilgoreTrout used them.

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

i won't be participating, but i'm looking forward to reading these.

[ QUOTE ]
Does everyone agree with DaveT that we should have a separate thread for discussion?

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah

[ QUOTE ]
Also, I'm not a fan of voting by poll. But we can certainly do a separate thread for the voting.

[/ QUOTE ]

since there is a monetary prize it's probably best not to do a poll thread for voting. a separate thread sounds like a good idea, but what would the requirements for voting be (regarding reg date, etc)? maybe the same as the submission requirements?

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

IN.........ship the $150

*Teaser*
A car tire, some roadkill, wedding dress...a bible...and some cash.

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

Let's add the stipulation that the story has to have the same title as a 2007 LDR thread.

I'm torn between:

Do You Think Dogs Get Lonely; and,

It's Not Too Late to Save Your PMS.

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
Let's add the stipulation that the story has to have the same title as a 2007 LDR thread.

I'm torn between:

Do You Think Dogs Get Lonely; and,

It's Not Too Late to Save Your PMS.

[/ QUOTE ]
"I met a girl last night, she is a high school senior" has exciting implications imo.

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
Let's add the stipulation that the story has to have the same title as a 2007 LDR thread.

I'm torn between:

Do You Think Dogs Get Lonely; and,

It's Not Too Late to Save Your PMS.

[/ QUOTE ]

something like that would be fun.

lol, katy you drive me crazy in these threads. woman up and make some decisions already. of course there should be a separate thread for submissions and discussions.

katy, what happened to the bs threads? anyway, i wrote a song on friday. will try to get it recorded soon.

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

is there a limit on the number of submissions?

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
is there a limit on the number of submissions?

[/ QUOTE ]

No limit on the number of submissions Eviljeff. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]


lol, katy you drive me crazy in these threads. woman up and make some decisions already. of course there should be a separate thread for submissions and discussions.


[/ QUOTE ]

Rothko, contrary to what you might think my mission in life is not to drive you crazy. If I wanted to I could do a MUCH better job of it [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img].



There were 3 issues I wanted to address so that we could come to some kind of consensus.


Based on your responses in this thread I think we all agree that there should be a separate thread for discussion and review. So we will have one thread with short stories ONLY, and a separate thread to comment on them. The issue is decided!


Voter restriction

I don't want to shut out too many people. Can I get more feedback on what sort of post count restriction is appropriate without alienating too many new visitors to the lounge? Derrtyslime suggested 50. DaveT suggested a registration date of 3 months. Anyone?


Submission Time Frame

Does anyone think that 3 weeks is too long for the submission time frame? Here's what I was thinking:

- Submission thread will open in 10 days;
- 3 week period of open submission after which the thread will be locked;
- Following the thread locking, readers will have 5 days to review all stories before voting thread opens.

Are you guys comfortable with this time schedule? Is 5 days enough to read through all stories? As I recall this was the one area that we received the most complaints last time around. People said they were busy and hadn't had enough time to read all the stories.


Very much would like a response to the last issue. Trust me, this will get underway in exactly 10 days Rothko. Start working on your stories.



(p.s. rothko the BS thread is called "November, I forgot my mantra!" -- looking forward to hearing your song. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img])

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

I'm in! I would really really like to do this, I'll start working on it tonight, I already have a pretty decent idea

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Anywayz,

Can we have pictures?

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't see why not. KilgoreTrout used them.

[/ QUOTE ]

shouldn't they count as 1,000 words?

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Anywayz,

Can we have pictures?

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't see why not. KilgoreTrout used them.

[/ QUOTE ]

shouldn't they count as 1,000 words?

[/ QUOTE ]
awesome

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

thoughts on a suggested, but not mandatory, entrance fee to sweeten the pot? obviously this could be kept anonymous.

I think the biggest problem would be the logistics of collecting a small amount of money from a bunch of people

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]


Submission Time Frame

Does anyone think that 3 weeks is too long for the submission time frame? Here's what I was thinking:

- Submission thread will open in 10 days;
- 3 week period of open submission after which the thread will be locked;
- Following the thread locking, readers will have 5 days to review all stories before voting thread opens.

[/ QUOTE ]

This sounds reasonable, but will open the voting close to Xmas, which is traditionally a time of low forum traffic. You might consider delaying the voting until the 26th, or the beginning of next year.

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

eviljeff, are you ok with the time frame suggested?

As far as an entrance fee, I'd rather not do that to people. I really would like anyone to participate if they feel they have a good story.

If anyone is interested in tossing in some money to up the prize you can PM me. I believe the last time it was done it was transferred via Poker Stars accounts.

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

I would go for the non-mandatory pot sweetener, maybe $20?

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
eviljeff, are you ok with the time frame suggested?


[/ QUOTE ]

yep, I'll probably have mine done before the submission window opens. if I win I'm taking the prize money, dropping out of law school, and starting a short story website.

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]


This sounds reasonable, but will open the voting close to Xmas, which is traditionally a time of low forum traffic. You might consider delaying the voting until the 26th, or the beginning of next year.

[/ QUOTE ]

True true. I'm a little concerned about the X-Mas factor myself, (not to mention the vbulletin effect). However, I don't want to delay the entire contest on account of these things and I think most posters will enjoy having the short stories to read around the holidays. It will be fun! I do like your suggestion of delaying the voting until the 26th.

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
You can count me in this year. I think that there should be a minimum post count and a date of at least 3 months old. Oh, wait, that won't translate to vBulletins, will it?

I agree that there should be one thread for submissions and one for discussion. Perhaps add one poll thread for the voting.

Not sure what I will write about, but I am shaking in my boots.

[/ QUOTE ]

If things get done this way, perhaps Katie could lock and unlock it solely to put in new submissions, identifying the author if so desired. All submissions could go directly to her so the thread could be kept bare of anything but stories. That would keep things nice and tidy.

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Let's add the stipulation that the story has to have the same title as a 2007 LDR thread.

I'm torn between:

Do You Think Dogs Get Lonely; and,

It's Not Too Late to Save Your PMS.

[/ QUOTE ]

something like that would be fun.

lol, katy you drive me crazy in these threads. woman up and make some decisions already. of course there should be a separate thread for submissions and discussions.

katy, what happened to the bs threads? anyway, i wrote a song on friday. will try to get it recorded soon.

[/ QUOTE ]

If we allow OOT thread titles, I think I win so far with my own "Is your vagina a graveyard for animals?" thread.

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
You can count me in this year. I think that there should be a minimum post count and a date of at least 3 months old. Oh, wait, that won't translate to vBulletins, will it?

I agree that there should be one thread for submissions and one for discussion. Perhaps add one poll thread for the voting.

Not sure what I will write about, but I am shaking in my boots.

[/ QUOTE ]

If things get done this way, perhaps Katie could lock and unlock it solely to put in new submissions, identifying the author if so desired. All submissions could go directly to her so the thread could be kept bare of anything but stories. That would keep things nice and tidy.

[/ QUOTE ]


I like this idea, but I think it would only work if it could get stickied at the top of the page.

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

[ QUOTE ]
"Is your vagina a graveyard for animals?" /quote]

I am going to get so destroyed.

Does this mean you are in, Blarg, or is Fiction not your cup of joe?

And Dom, your in as well, I assume, or do professionals not write for free?

Pryor only writes movies, correct?

And Kimble only writes music reviews, I hope.

The rate this is going, I am destroyed on the title. I was going to call mine "A warm day" but I guess I need to call it "What would you rather lick, (polltard, sry)" instead.

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

No, I won't enter or critique.

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

donate to the prize pool?

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

Really Blarg? I was hoping to read some brutal reviews.

Re: Announcing a Short-Story Contest
 

There once was a girl named Katy
Who announced a contest for thee
Short stories required
Well written desired
And you could line your pockets with money