Writing Challenge Comments, Questions, Answers

[The Judge]

I can't do it. I need three votes. Minimum. I'd toss a coin, but what if the coin doesn't come down on the right one???

To make matters worse, I can't even be superficial and vote according to who has the prettiest avatar, since the top three contenders all have nice ones. Help!

*contemplates forcing the Judical Family to join en masse so their votes can be pinched...*

 

[Ursa major]

If the winner chooses on May the Fourth, it would be appropriate if the theme was Star Wars-related.

Just a thought.



As to tossing a coin, it can work two ways:

1. you simply accept the result; with three candidates, this may take a while if you judge them in the three pairings
2. you do what Piet Hein** suggested: toss the coin and then you may find yourself hoping that it lands a certain way in any given pairing.

** - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piet_Hein_(Denmark)

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Judge, I suggest you run down to your nearest games store and acquire something along these lines:

ThinkGeek :: Adventure Gaming Dice Sets

It begins to appear that it was easier convincing people to write stories than it is to get them to Vote!

If the winner chooses on May the Fourth, it would be appropriate if the theme was Star Wars-related.

If they do, I guess I will have to control my ... enthusiasm.

 

[HareBrain]

Wow, that was really hard. In the end I could only begin to choose by restricting myself to those I thought told a complete story. Even then, I would have liked three votes (though two wouldn't have helped, I was pleased to find).

 

[ktabic]

You might want to include a link to the thread for the stories along with the link to the vote page. Would make it easy for those who haven't been properly following the threads to find the stories.

The rules for the voting are as follows:

***Any member of the Chrons may cast a vote, even if they did not enter a story for the challenge***

*Please do not vote for yourself*
*You may only cast one vote*
*The poll will end at 11:59 pm on Friday, April 30th 2010 (GMT)*

The winner will decide the challenge theme for May!

Good Luck Everyone!!!

Here are the stories!

Vote!

Nabbing the vote link with additional link to stories
​

 

[Culhwch]

Since so many people are having so much trouble deciding, I now proclaim by Fiat, that we will have more votes to bestow for the May Challenge, depending on how many stories are entered.

That doesn't follow. Fifteen people may be having trouble (and are telling us about it) but I'm guessing twenty didn't have an issue (and aren't telling us about it). We voted and there was a majority - I think it should stand at one.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

But some of the people who voted for one exhibited what you might call "buyer's remorse" afterward.

This is supposed to be fun, not leave people tortured by regrets. Let's try more votes next month, and see if people are happier afterwards. Then we can take another vote on votes.

An electorate that really understands what they are voting for and how they will feel afterwards is surely a desirable thing.

Also, if we set the bar for more votes at twenty-five stories and we don't get that many stories, the one vote voters will still get their way.

 

[Culhwch]

Well I haven't really been keeping track of who voted for one vote and is now full of remorse (the fact that the results were hidden makes it somewhat difficult, but perhaps I just having been paying close enough attention to this thread). I know I'm one of the ones who has said it's hard to pick one, but I have no issue doing so - it's a reflection on the quality of entries, not the restrictions of voting. I wonder who else has said and felt the same.

In the end I just don't see why we bothered having a poll at all to now so quickly discard the result over the angst of a handful of members. Maybe we could start a new poll and run it through until the eve of voting in May, and see if the tide has truly changed?

In favour of one vote - if you really want to acknowledge a second, or a third, well isn't that what folks are doing right here (see Urse's post above) and in the Favourites thread? I realise that with just one vote each I'm not going to poll any votes at all (nor likely if we'd had two - I'm a realist), but I'm very appreciative of the fact that my humble effort was mentioned a handful of times as being amongst people's personal favourites. That's more than good enough for me, and in the end means more to me than if I'd gotten one or two anonymous votes and still finished at the rear of the pack.

Just my thoughts. I'm not going to defend one vote until my dying breath, so if it changes, so be it...

 

[Culhwch]

Also, meant to say earlier - great idea, ktabic. Will be sure to include that link in future.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I think that whatever makes the whole experience the most enjoyable should be the way we go.

I guess I'm afraid that ennui will set in pretty quickly if people find that making a choice is too time-consuming. People are taking the time to winnow it down this month, but will they want to do that every month? The Book Club died many a death because after a little initial excitement people found it too much work (although it, too, was supposed to be fun).

 

[Hilarious Joke]

I think the way to go is to poll it again, IMHO (even though I would prefer two votes as well).

 

[Culhwch]

I think that whatever makes the whole experience the most enjoyable should be the way we go.

This is true enough. I just don't see the evidence that it hasn't been most enjoyable this time around. If we'd each had two votes, I think people would still be agonising over leaving a third, fourth or fifth out. Got to draw a line somewhere, and it might as well be the line we agreed on - otherwise we might end up voting for the number of entries minus one...

A decline in entries and interest is inevitable. It shouldn't be as bad as in the photo comp (which ebbs and flows, depending largely upon the theme I feel, but also on people's schedules) because it's (comparatively) easier to write seventy-five words than it is to get out and take a photo. If it happens it happens, and we can address it then. I doubt it will be anything like the drop in enthusiasm for the Book Club(s). The investment is totally different.

I think we should embrace the response to this month, think optimistically, and let everything stand as is, rather than think pessimistically and change things just in case it all goes wrong...

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Well, there will be plenty of time for people to discuss it, and to see how much interest there is in the first couple of weeks.

Right now my neck hurts, and a bunch of family stuff for Saturday has descended on me, and I am out of sorts, and in no mood to discuss anything.

But as for the family stuff, getting ready for some of it may occupy me for a while tomorrow in the late afternoon and early evening. Is the poll somehow set to close at a specific time? Or will you nip in and close it? Not that I could, in any case.

 

[chopper]

Well I haven't really been keeping track of who voted for one vote and is now full of remorse (the fact that the results were hidden makes it somewhat difficult, but perhaps I just having been paying close enough attention to this thread). I know I'm one of the ones who has said it's hard to pick one, but I have no issue doing so - it's a reflection on the quality of entries, not the restrictions of voting. I wonder who else has said and felt the same.

In the end I just don't see why we bothered having a poll at all to now so quickly discard the result over the angst of a handful of members. Maybe we could start a new poll and run it through until the eve of voting in May, and see if the tide has truly changed?

In favour of one vote - if you really want to acknowledge a second, or a third, well isn't that what folks are doing right here (see Urse's post above) and in the Favourites thread? I realise that with just one vote each I'm not going to poll any votes at all (nor likely if we'd had two - I'm a realist), but I'm very appreciative of the fact that my humble effort was mentioned a handful of times as being amongst people's personal favourites. That's more than good enough for me, and in the end means more to me than if I'd gotten one or two anonymous votes and still finished at the rear of the pack.

Just my thoughts. I'm not going to defend one vote until my dying breath, so if it changes, so be it...

that says pretty much what i think as well. it's possible i'd have agonised twice as much over 2 votes as i would have over just 1...

 

[Chel]

It wasn't an easy choice, for sure, and I would have been happy to vote for two stories. But the poll wasn't the main point with the challenge, was it? The point was to get people writing and for the participants to agonise over every choice of word (elaborate torture technique, this!).

Now, the poll is fine as is, except for the fact that people aren't voting. This could well be because of the number of entrants - even at only 75 words per story, it does take quite a while to read trough them all properly and decide on a favourite.

The challenge was open for 20 days, and about half the entries were posted within the first week. This tells me people were very eager to win the Dignified Congratulations/Groveling Admiration, and leads me to believe that if anything at all should be changed, it would be to shorten the time for people to participate and give more time for people to vote.

May's challenge could start the 6th, earlier if the winner(s) decide on a theme sooner, and last until the 23rd, giving participants 17 days to complete their masterpieces. The poll would be open from the 24th to the 31st, for 8 days.

....if my numbers are off, it's because I've only had one cup of coffee yet, but I'm sure you get the idea.

 

[Culhwch]

Well, there will be plenty of time for people to discuss it, and to see how much interest there is in the first couple of weeks.

Right now my neck hurts, and a bunch of family stuff for Saturday has descended on me, and I am out of sorts, and in no mood to discuss anything.

And I was just starting to enjoy our duel of wits, though! Well, I guess you were probably duelling with your wits. I'm unsure what I was using. What fills the void when you have a lack of wits? See to that neck and look after yourself throughout the deluge. And I apologise if I in any way contributed to your bad mood - I promise it was not my intention!

But as for the family stuff, getting ready for some of it may occupy me for a while tomorrow in the late afternoon and early evening. Is the poll somehow set to close at a specific time? Or will you nip in and close it? Not that I could, in any case.

The poll will close automatically at the stated hour and minute, if I have done my maths correctly. I had DA help me, so fingers crossed... I'll be around tomorrow to post up the winner or winners, and install a tiebreaker poll if it comes to that.

Now, the poll is fine as is, except for the fact that people aren't voting. This could well be because of the number of entrants - even at only 75 words per story, it does take quite a while to read trough them all properly and decide on a favourite.

The challenge was open for 20 days, and about half the entries were posted within the first week. This tells me people were very eager to win the Dignified Congratulations/Groveling Admiration, and leads me to believe that if anything at all should be changed, it would be to shorten the time for people to participate and give more time for people to vote.

May's challenge could start the 6th, earlier if the winner(s) decide on a theme sooner, and last until the 23rd, giving participants 17 days to complete their masterpieces. The poll would be open from the 24th to the 31st, for 8 days.

....if my numbers are off, it's because I've only had one cup of coffee yet, but I'm sure you get the idea.

Now this makes a ton of sense - much more than I have been. I think we definitely should revise the timeline to bring it into something resembling this one.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Yes, those dates sound good to me. I made the voting period so short the first time because the Challenge started so late this month, and I didn't know how long it would take for people to get their stories written and submitted. And then, not all months are created equal, and April is one of the short ones.

(My neck hurts because I didn't take the medicine to forestall it early enough.)

 

[Culhwch]

What if we go with the 5th as the deadline for the theme and thus the latest start date, make the competition open through until midnight on the 23rd (giving us 18 days of submissions, or a little better than two and a half weeks), and voting from the 24th through until midnight on the 30th or 31st, meaning a full week for voting at worst, 8 days at best. February, of course, would be the exception to the rule, but we can jump that hurdle when we get to it.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

That sounds fine. Since people will already know about the contest, and will presumably look for it when it opens, we probably wouldn't get so many late entries anyway.

And for those of you who are still deciding, remember that the voting ends at 11:59 GMT.

 

[Mouse]

The Dilemma by Mouse. Quirky, but in a good way.

Thank you!

I've just done my vote (tried to do it earlier but my laptop kept having 'network timeouts' and wouldn't let me look at the page, so I'm on the desktop now.) I voted for Leisha's, because it creeped me out and I love a creepy story.