Fan fiction CONTEST!!

Post all your stories, poems, and haiku's here!

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Snakeman1299
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Re: Fan fiction CONTEST!!

#31 Post by Snakeman1299 »

MeaCulpa, S.C.M. wrote:Quick question, why the minimum/maximum size? A 1,000 word story edited over two months would be refined to a razor's edge (shameless_plug.txt) and probably be pretty fun to read. It's not often you get the time to make sure every word and sentence is exactly the way you want it.

That maximum's pretty spooky too. a 50K story could take a while. And if someone makes a real stinker that size, that'd be just cruel to the judges.

My story's rough is probably somewhere between a third and halfway done at 5,500. I've only got about 3,500 in my thread so far, though. I'll try to make it not stink.
The rules are set I'm not changing the word limit again! I wanted some decent sized stories. 3 months is long enough for someone to write and refine even a 10,000 word story. Mine so far is between 5-7k words, and is refined (for the most part) to my liking. If you don't think you can write one with 3k words or if it is too hard, don't do it.
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MeaCulpa, S.C.M.
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Re: Fan fiction CONTEST!!

#32 Post by MeaCulpa, S.C.M. »

you wrote:Mine so far is between 5-7k words, and is refined (for the most part) to my liking.


I mean, that's cool and all, but that doesn't mean someone else could be editing or tinkering with a 1 or 2k story for a while. It'd be out of the ordinary, sure, but there's literally zero reason to say those stories shouldn't be a part of the contest.
me wrote:My story's rough is probably somewhere between a third and halfway done at 5,500. I've only got about 3,500 in my thread so far, though. I'll try to make it not stink.
you wrote:If you don't think you can write one with 3k words or if it is too hard, don't do it.
5,500 * 3 = 16,500 > 3,000

5,500 * 2 = 11,000 > 3,000

Only reason I mention this is I find the length of a work arbitrary to how good it is. I've put a lot less effort into some longer stories than I put into some shorter ones.
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Snakeman1299
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Re: Fan fiction CONTEST!!

#33 Post by Snakeman1299 »

MeaCulpa, S.C.M. wrote:
you wrote:Mine so far is between 5-7k words, and is refined (for the most part) to my liking.


I mean, that's cool and all, but that doesn't mean someone else could be editing or tinkering with a 1 or 2k story for a while. It'd be out of the ordinary, sure, but there's literally zero reason to say those stories shouldn't be a part of the contest.
me wrote:My story's rough is probably somewhere between a third and halfway done at 5,500. I've only got about 3,500 in my thread so far, though. I'll try to make it not stink.
you wrote:If you don't think you can write one with 3k words or if it is too hard, don't do it.
5,500 * 3 = 16,500 > 3,000

5,500 * 2 = 11,000 > 3,000

Only reason I mention this is I find the length of a work arbitrary to how good it is. I've put a lot less effort into some longer stories than I put into some shorter ones.
Well that's just you personally I work just as hard on a longer story as I do a shorter one. I'm not changing the rules anymore
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thewaltham22
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Re: Fan fiction CONTEST!!

#34 Post by thewaltham22 »

Alright, I think I got time to try entering, here goes nothing. With any luck I won't embarrass myself.

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Re: Fan fiction CONTEST!!

#35 Post by red.wolf »

So it's known, keep questions, concerns and general complaints coming in. If anything ill try to hold on to any thing that can be changed and pitch ot out to anyone that trys to run one of these again or next year let whoever is in charge know what to change.
The first shot is not the one that matters. The last shot determines everything.

http://twokinds.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=18223---- Both Sides > My Fanfic
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MeaCulpa, S.C.M.
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Re: Fan fiction CONTEST!!

#36 Post by MeaCulpa, S.C.M. »

red.wolf wrote:So it's known, keep questions, concerns and general complaints coming in. If anything ill try to hold on to any thing that can be changed and pitch ot out to anyone that trys to run one of these again or next year let whoever is in charge know what to change.
I'll check yours out tomorrow, or Tuesday Wednesday (my weekend) check out mine sometime :o
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Snakeman1299
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Re: Fan fiction CONTEST!!

#37 Post by Snakeman1299 »

Next year will be a more organized contest. The first attempt is always the hardest to get right.
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esmeraldakittycat
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Re: Fan fiction CONTEST!!

#38 Post by esmeraldakittycat »

I'm thinking of joining. :flora:
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Dadrobit
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Re: Fan fiction CONTEST!!

#39 Post by Dadrobit »

Hmmm, so will this be replacing NWC this year?
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FrogSteaks
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Re: Fan fiction CONTEST!!

#40 Post by FrogSteaks »

Dadrobit wrote:Hmmm, so will this be replacing NWC this year?
Not that I know of. As far as I can tell, this is a separate contest.
You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. -Wayne Gretzky
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Snakeman1299
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Re: Fan fiction CONTEST!!

#41 Post by Snakeman1299 »

FrogSteaks wrote:
Dadrobit wrote:Hmmm, so will this be replacing NWC this year?
Not that I know of. As far as I can tell, this is a separate contest.
This is correct it was spontaneous and has nothing to do with any other contest, I just felt like starting it. But I am hoping I can make this annual.
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Dadrobit
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Re: Fan fiction CONTEST!!

#42 Post by Dadrobit »

Snakeman1299 wrote:
FrogSteaks wrote:
Dadrobit wrote:Hmmm, so will this be replacing NWC this year?
Not that I know of. As far as I can tell, this is a separate contest.
This is correct it was spontaneous and has nothing to do with any other contest, I just felt like starting it. But I am hoping I can make this annual.
Hrmmm, dunno if I'm gonna get into this one, too much of a content size extreme and I feel that it will cause problems for judging. If someone(s) actually does come up with a 50,000 word story, it will literally be like reading The Great Gatsby for the judges. I for-see a huge turnaround time should people actually near that extreme.

Look at the NWC for example, their maximum length was 12 pt. single spaced 10 pages which comes around to being only a bit more than your minimum and it took months to get that judged.

Also I'm not 100% sure on where you're going with some of those judging categories. Like how would best writer differ from best story? And creativity and originality are actually just synonyms. The definition for originality is literally: the ability to think independently and creatively.

And I'm not sure how I feel about having the judges getting split up into teams. I know that it's done to allow participants to be able to judge as well, but you're cutting out perspectives in the process.

Although it might be a bit late for this as it's already well under way, if you want some advice, you should try to keep these things simple, especially the first time 'round. Too many moving parts leads to lots of points of potential failure.
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Snakeman1299
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Re: Fan fiction CONTEST!!

#43 Post by Snakeman1299 »

Dadrobit wrote:
Snakeman1299 wrote:
FrogSteaks wrote:
Dadrobit wrote:Hmmm, so will this be replacing NWC this year?
Not that I know of. As far as I can tell, this is a separate contest.
This is correct it was spontaneous and has nothing to do with any other contest, I just felt like starting it. But I am hoping I can make this annual.
Hrmmm, dunno if I'm gonna get into this one, too much of a content size extreme and I feel that it will cause problems for judging. If someone(s) actually does come up with a 50,000 word story, it will literally be like reading The Great Gatsby for the judges. I for-see a huge turnaround time should people actually near that extreme.

Look at the NWC for example, their maximum length was 12 pt. single spaced 10 pages which comes around to being only a bit more than your minimum and it took months to get that judged.

Also I'm not 100% sure on where you're going with some of those judging categories. Like how would best writer differ from best story? And creativity and originality are actually just synonyms. The definition for originality is literally: the ability to think independently and creatively.

And I'm not sure how I feel about having the judges getting split up into teams. I know that it's done to allow participants to be able to judge as well, but you're cutting out perspectives in the process.

Although it might be a bit late for this as it's already well under way, if you want some advice, you should try to keep these things simple, especially the first time 'round. Too many moving parts leads to lots of points of potential failure.
You makes some good points but I'm afraid this contest is too far along for me to change the size of the stories. I do suppose I can change the categories. And as for judging we are down to four and will no longer be split into teams.
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Dadrobit
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Re: Fan fiction CONTEST!!

#44 Post by Dadrobit »

Whelp, with less than two weeks left in the contest and no updates since July~ish, here's my impartial, ametuer, and frankly unprofessional take on the stories promoted thus far.

My critiques are sorted in no particular order.

The Razor Edge by MeaCulpa, S.C.M.

Very strong, easy to visualize start. Very high chance of winning. However due to its unfinished state, the calm, (what's supposed to be) middle section of the story leads it to seeming unfocused and less fleshed out in the end. Overall one of the strongest entries and one of the only ones to get me invested in the story, it really just falls short by leaving itself unfinished.

Natani's Dream by SperoWolf

Another strong contender and one of only two stories to actually be finished and stay within the guidelines. You seem to be able to capture a believable imagining of how Natani and Zen interact and how Natani would respond to the situation. That being said, Natani does turn into a bit of a Mary Sue in taking down a dragon and besting Evil Trace. This is forgivable as it is indeed just a dream, but the dragon still felt somewhat out of place. Perhaps a side effect of hastily trying to flesh out the story to the 5k word limit?

A TwoKinds Tale: Darrin Forge by Snakeman1299

Well, in two words, the storytelling is: awkward and blunt. However I do understand that you're 16 and being awkward and blunt is kinda a thing that 16 year olds do. Other than that it relies on an unfortunate amount of cliché and is unfinished without having met the 3k word count yet. Here are a couple of general tips that would help you a fair bit.
-Formatting. There's a tab and an enter key for a reason, use them. No one likes reading walls of text and it's one of the main reasons I found it so difficult to power through to make a critique.
-Spellchecking. Even if you're writing in notepad for some reason, there are plenty of free online sources available to spell check for you. In the first post, you spelt Darrin as Darron, Keidran as kiedrian, grim as Grimm, and there were a number of uncapitalized beginnings of sentences and proper nouns just as a start.
-Character building. One of my big issues with Darrin was that I felt nothing in the way of empathy for him. There honestly was no reason to. It's fine and dandy that Darrin knew why he needed to get revenge on Trace, but revenge for what? Beating him up? Maybe Darrin deserved it. We as the reader don't find out until very late into the story exactly why Darrin wants his nonspecific revenge on Trace. A prologue showing the destruction of Darrin's home would help tremendously here.

I don't have the time right now, but if you're interested, shoot me a PM and when I have a few extra ticks, I can go over it more in depth with you.

Until then, onwards to...

Balance by Neutral Smith

We went over this fairly well in its own thread, so I'll just restate the elephant in the room. It has potentially strong ideas, but they sadly get lost in the sea of word padding from trying to match the 5k word limit set at the time. On the plus side, this is the only other story that manages to actually finish itself. So you have that. :P

And finally...

The Martyrs of the Orchard Valley by Grene

This is indisputably the strongest entry on the list. Based on sheer quality, Grene wins by a landslide. Where MeaCulpa and SperoWolf may have held my interest, Grene managed to make me bookmark the page and legitimately desire more. With that being said, it does suffer from being criminally curtailed with perhaps just a few odd word choices. At only 2700~ words, it falls short of of the contest guidelines and leaves the reader grasping. It's like going to the Sydney Opera House to watch a musical; you see the stage set with beautiful props and backings, the actors are all on stage in dazzling regalia, the orchestra is tuned and begins to perform the scene, aaaaannnndddd...

The curtain falls and we all go home.

Just my two cents.
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MeaCulpa, S.C.M.
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Re: Fan fiction CONTEST!!

#45 Post by MeaCulpa, S.C.M. »

Ack, I had been fiddling with the last two chapters for ages. Guess I better get them out so my story has a fighting chance.
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