Writing Challenge Comments, Questions, Answers

[HoopyFrood]

Re: Writing Challenge Questions, Answers, Comments -- (Formerly: Proposed Competition

I'm supposed to writing something (well, a few things) terribly important at the moment but I couldn't stop my brain thinking about this so I decided the only way around it was to get it written and out.

I really like the shortness of it. I like short stories, I love the punchiness of them, how abrupt they are. You can get a hell of an impact from them.

Somehow I managed to get two words under on the first attempt, so my tinkering and editing at the moment is changing words for (hopefully) better ones. I'm going to go back to my other writing for a while and leave it to ripen for a bit...

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Re: Writing Challenge Questions, Answers, Comments -- (Formerly: Proposed Competition

Looks like Teresa was right about the high number of submissions being a result of initial excitement.

There were 19 submissions on the first day the competition opened (6th of April), and 10 on the second; this dropped to only 4 and 3 on April 8 and 9, respectively, and there have been none for nearly three days (and counting).

 

[Culhwch]

Re: Writing Challenge Questions, Answers, Comments -- (Formerly: Proposed Competition

Thirty-six is pretty good for the first month. I was thinking we'd struggle for twenty. But I figure this will be the way of it - a new month starts, seventy-five to eighty percent of entries come immediately, and then there's not a lot more movement until the vote. That's why I still reckon fortnightly would be better, though the voting period then causes issues...

 

[HareBrain]

Re: Writing Challenge Questions, Answers, Comments -- (Formerly: Proposed Competition

That's why I still reckon fortnightly would be better, though the voting period then causes issues...

How long is the voting period? Does the voting for the first comp take place at the start of the second month, when the second comp is already open?

We could instead have two weeks for submissions and then two weeks for voting.

 

[Quokka]

Re: Writing Challenge Questions, Answers, Comments -- (Formerly: Proposed Competition

Depending on how much the word count and other conditions gets changed I kind of like the 3 and 1 split. This one lent itself to quick submissions but some of the following challenges might encourage a bit more revision.

Picking one story to vote for is going to be hard so how about a 321 voting system .

 

[Ursa major]

Re: Writing Challenge Questions, Answers, Comments -- (Formerly: Proposed Competition

How long is the voting period? Does the voting for the first comp take place at the start of the second month, when the second comp is already open?

As the prize - give or take kudos - is the right to choose the next month's topic**, then the voting would have to have been completed before the next month's competition starts.



** - It is still this, isn't it?

 

[HareBrain]

Re: Writing Challenge Questions, Answers, Comments -- (Formerly: Proposed Competition

As the prize - give or take kudos - is the right to choose the next month's topic**, then the voting would have to have been completed before the next month's competition starts.

Is this the thing you humans call "logic"?

 

[chrispenycate]

Re: Writing Challenge Questions, Answers, Comments -- (Formerly: Proposed Competition

But wouldn't it be even more of a challenge submitting before the subject was announce, nay, chosen, even? Attempting a story that could fit any subject matter that might be decided upon, containing all possible keywords?

Picking one story to vote for is going to be hard so how about a 321 voting system

And the polling site now used does not accept three/two/one, so a new site would have to be found and investigated; I take it you're volunteering to do the research?

Besides, if you've put your choices into order, you already know which one you think is best. You're just trying to avoid hurting other people's feelings.

Which is nice, but not useful, if it complicates the procedure.

I'm more worried about the potential vote (this is voting for all Chrons citizens, whether or not they've written a contribution, like the photo thread, yes) who will stand back because the choice is difficult. Fry and think of them as politicians; they might not be quite what you had anticipated, nor what you would have chosen for yourself (in which case, you should have written something, shouldn't you?) but one of them's got to get in, and the more sufferage, the closer it is to a democratic decision. (Yes, I am aware of creating new words, thank you.)

And I suppose democracy is something to aim for.

 

[Culhwch]

Re: Writing Challenge Questions, Answers, Comments -- (Formerly: Proposed Competition

We could instead have two weeks for submissions and then two weeks for voting.

Two weeks is a bit long for voting. I think we'd end up having a bunch of entries in the first couple of days, then a week and a half of silence, then a bunch of votes in the first couple of days, then a week and a half of silence...

As the prize - give or take kudos - is the right to choose the next month's topic**, then the voting would have to have been completed before the next month's competition starts.

** - It is still this, isn't it?

Yes, it still is.

 

[Quokka]

Re: Writing Challenge Questions, Answers, Comments -- (Formerly: Proposed Competition

But wouldn't it be even more of a challenge submitting before the subject was announce, nay, chosen, even? Attempting a story that could fit any subject matter that might be decided upon, containing all possible keywords?



And the polling site now used does not accept three/two/one, so a new site would have to be found and investigated; I take it you're volunteering to do the research?

Besides, if you've put your choices into order, you already know which one you think is best. You're just trying to avoid hurting other people's feelings.

Which is nice, but not useful, if it complicates the procedure.

I'm more worried about the potential vote (this is voting for all Chrons citizens, whether or not they've written a contribution, like the photo thread, yes) who will stand back because the choice is difficult. Fry and think of them as politicians; they might not be quite what you had anticipated, nor what you would have chosen for yourself (in which case, you should have written something, shouldn't you?) but one of them's got to get in, and the more sufferage, the closer it is to a democratic decision. (Yes, I am aware of creating new words, thank you.)

And I suppose democracy is something to aim for.

I was mainly joking, hence the smilie, but it has less to do with hurting people's feelings then to give more feedback to more entries. I agree it's not needed if it complicates things too much but happy to do the research if it was wanted, just figured this was the thread to throw out ideas for future challenges.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Re: Writing Challenge Questions, Answers, Comments -- (Formerly: Proposed Competition

just figured this was the thread to throw out ideas for future challenges.

As indeed it is. If you don't mention it, we can't discuss it. All suggestions are welcome.

You're just trying to avoid hurting other people's feelings.

I don't see it that way. The only way to avoid hurting other people's feelings would be to make sure everyone had some votes, and a 3-2-1 system wouldn't guarantee that at all. It would simply mean that the winner was decided by some sort of consensus. If there were more at stake, I might be in favor of such a system, but it's much too complicated for our purposes, I think. It's just a friendly competition.

I, personally, like the idea of two votes each. For one thing, no one would have to use their second vote if they had no doubts at all about which story they thought was best. But the second vote would be there for those who were conflicted. We could set it up so that people would have two votes only if there were a certain number of stories -- say 25. If we have a big drop off after the first month or two, we would automatically go back to one vote each.

 

[Parson]

Re: Writing Challenge Questions, Answers, Comments -- (Formerly: Proposed Competition

I like the idea of two votes. If that's possible I would vote (unintentional pun) for that. What is abundantly clear after re-reading the micro stories a third or fourth time is that what constitutes a good story is very different for different people. I don't think anyone should feel they failed or be offended because they did not get votes or were not mentioned among the contenders.

(Just for example of how a good story, any yet... "Lord of the Rings" which is by consensus one of the best of all Fantasy series, just leaves me cold and scratching my head, thinking "What's all the fuss about.")

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Re: Writing Challenge Questions, Answers, Comments -- (Formerly: Proposed Competition

Thirty-six is pretty good for the first month.

By my count, it's 33, but still far more than I thought we would have (and since there may still be a few people who want to write stories but haven't had the time yet, we may reach 36 before the end).

 

[Culhwch]

Re: Writing Challenge Questions, Answers, Comments -- (Formerly: Proposed Competition

I didn't count, just added up the tallies from DA's post before mine, so I'd like to point out that my maths is sound, but DA might like to take off his socks next time he does his sums...

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Re: Writing Challenge Questions, Answers, Comments -- (Formerly: Proposed Competition

We at least agree that there are over 30 stories. (Which is more digits than any of us, I believe, have to count on.)

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Re: Writing Challenge Questions, Answers, Comments -- (Formerly: Proposed Competition

I counted again, and yes, it's 33. I ended up with 36 because I failed to account for a couple of posts that were just comments, and not submissions.

I feel very chagrined, now. Really, really bad. I'm going to go punish myself.

Cul - I didn't get your socks reference. Is that a well-known expression that I'm unaware of?

 

[Culhwch]

Re: Writing Challenge Questions, Answers, Comments -- (Formerly: Proposed Competition

I don't know if it's well known, but it's a play on resorting to counting on your fingers, and, if you need to go above ten, your toes...

EDIT: Oh, and no offence meant, of course! I would figure I ddin't need to add that, but you can never be too sure in this written medium of ours!

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Re: Writing Challenge Questions, Answers, Comments -- (Formerly: Proposed Competition

I am sorry to say that I didn't get that reference immediately, either. I had to think about it for a minute or two, although references to counting on fingers and toes are not uncommon in this household, where some of us are mathematically challenged.

It was the socks that threw me off.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Re: Writing Challenge Questions, Answers, Comments -- (Formerly: Proposed Competition

Yeah, same here. I was thinking, "Socks? Huh?"

And, no, Cul, you didn't need to add that. No offense taken.

 

[Culhwch]

Re: Writing Challenge Questions, Answers, Comments -- (Formerly: Proposed Competition

Good to see my attempt at slight humour went down like the Titanic. Or DA's mathematics grades.