Monthly Writing Competition April Edition

How we're doing this (How it works)

Depending on the success of this thread we're going to attempt to run a monthly short-story writing competition. Every month, on the first of the month, a theme will be given and then it shall be up to the writers of our happy little forum to write a piece based on their interpretation of the theme. Any of the readers are free to leave their comments and critique. There shall be a panel of judges each month who will judge the pieces and declare a winner.

And for winning you get... bragging rights and the power to choose next months theme.


Rules

-Piece must be long enough to be judged but not excessively so
-It must be relevant to the theme
-It must meet the deadline (end of the month)

Feel free to submit more than one entry and to edit your entry anytime up to the deadline.

This months theme is Self-Doubt

And this months judges are: Gavril, Not Provided, gaiusimperator and Athell

Anonymous entries should be submitted to me (Athell).

Get to it.

shouldn't the writers post anonymously?

I don't think it's necessary, we're going to be impartial in our judging.

Sounds good. Though maybe i'll right one when it's one a theme that I can easily imagine about. right now the only story I can think of that fits the theme is cheesy as hell.

Cheesy is fine. We need people to take some interest.

I have taken interest already; I love writing and I believe it has come to my attention that I wish to write a book eventually. So, the theme, is it too be set in the Elder Scrolls universe or no?

In Elder Scrolls.

Yep Elder Scrolls Universe based around the theme.

Ok. Just let me flesh the story out as I only imagine the basic idea.

Easy-Enough. So it's due the end of the month? And we just post it in this Thread?

Also, What is the minimum amount of words and maximum length? There any specifics on the least and or maximum sentences in a paragraph, and maximum or minimum length on the piece entirely?

I think the pieces should be submitted anonymously. Who will be doing the judging?

Yeah but how? Read the OP kid.
Minimum, none, just so long as you manage to tell your story effectively. Maximum, use your best judgement. Nothing about paragraphs at all, that's up to you as a writer.

Yeah post it here by the end of the month.

sweet shall do so.

There are many ways. The stories could be collected by a third party member (someone who isnt voting or writing), and sent to you or someone, who would in turn post them to a thread. See, simple as that. Use your brain and put forth some effort, kid.

How short are we talking here? I don't want to write a novella.

I'm for anonymous judging too, btw. Seems like a much better idea.

Tell me then, how does one dictate who the victor is in the contest if they all are anonymous?

When the impartial person receives, say 5 stories, he removes the name from each one and gives them a number so when he sends them to each judge the author is simply 1,2,3,4 and 5 (for example). Its not a difficult concept if you think about it. The judges then make their votes by saying "jeez, I like 1". So 1 receives most votes, the impartial person then reveals who wrote number one.

That was tough

We have a monthly contest on the Fallout side, have since November, if you want to scroll through a couple. Then you can see the different length stories. I might suggest, as it has become a problem on the other side. The judges need to try to keep tabs on the stories, just so their voting doesn't end up being posted two weeks into the month. That is why I no longer submit stories, because with my hectic schedule, two weeks sometimes is not enough. Like I said, it is just a suggestion. I look forward to my first Edler Scrolls writing adventure, should be a lot of fun.

Maybe we could PM our stories to Athell (or another judge) then they can assign them numbers as mentioned above. They post them, then reveal whos is whos after the voting?

"The panel of judges has decided that the writer of [title of story] has won this month's competition."
The winner steps forward. If someone lies about who wrote it, the middle man mentioned earlier will settle the dispute.

I support getting an impartial third party to send them in. Anyone would do.

Eh. I truly dont think it matters. But my system works to avoid bias.

We should also have a fourth party that bakes cupcakes.

Well, we're half through with April already, so it's a bit of a time crunch.

May or may not do this. Probably not. Not really digging the theme. I'd volunteer to serve as an impartial party, though.

Damn right.