That's the spirit Francois! Back to the Fallout section. One of us! One of us!

:lmao: I was a much bigger TES fan than I am FO fan... But yeah, it's where I'm at now, :ahhh: I may write something but I HIGHLY doubt it, we'll see...

My input on a couple of points.

"Too many cowboys and not enough indians" is a phrase that comes to mind, be positive with your choice and number of judges, you only need four at the most any more and you reduce the number of potential writers. Look at the standard of those you choose as judges, just because someone makes a lot of posts with a few words in them does not make a suitable judge, helpful, constructive and knowledgeable members is what you are looking for.

Setting a theme is not a good idea as you are limiting the subject of the story, perhaps people don't want to write about or include that idea, give more free rein.

Run this every couple of months, not every month. I was surprised to see it back again when the previous contest is not yet done and dusted, if you do this too often people will get fed up and stop writing - there is a limited number to draw on and most will have other things to do in their life. It would also (hopefully) keep the standard of the writing up rather than a rushed fan fiction just for the sake of getting it in on time.

**Off to read the last batch of stories, see if I agree with the decisions **

Adivsing someone to write over in the Fallout section is not something to be done; it's simply not as good as TES to RP and write. If you want quality, come here. If you want non-stop action with little story, go to Fallout. :shrug:

I wouldn't actually mind some sort of theme or prompt for each contest (eeek, I'm disagreeing with a moderator! :ahhh: )... but then, that's just because I find prompts more challenging than a straightforward "write what you want" contest, and I don't think challenging is what you guys are going for.

I'll definitely stick my nose into the next contest. If you want me as a judge, I'm open to it, and I'm always happy to help out. Otherwise, I'm entering as a writer.

I highly recommend you have BSparrow as judge instead of me, Darkom. As you know, she's an excellent reviewer and would probably do the contest a lot of good.

I wouldn't mind writing, anyway, but coming up with an idea is proving very difficult.

Yeah, that's how I feel about it as well.

Seeing as quite a few people want themes, wouldn't it be a good idea to discuss them?

Of course it's still Darkom's choice, but what themes did people have in mind?

If you want to judge this one you can have my spot. Not that I'm unwilling to judge or anything, but we might as well rotate jobs a bit. Maybe I'll write one for this contest.

Oh, rightio then! I will probably take up that offer it's okay with Darkom.

Are you sure, though? Just to be sure.

Sure I'm sure, the more people involved the better.

Themes don't have to be restrictive, you can just have a line or a name that has to be included somewhere in the story. That way, those who don't want to use the theme can just have it as a random unimportant line in the plot whereas those who want to do more are more likely to come up really creative, so long as you pick something that doesn't pigeon hole the writer too much.

I agree that we shouldn't necessarily add them yet but it might be a good idea for the future.

That's not a theme though, that's more like a writing game or exercise.



Did you have some examples in mind, in regards themes or prompts? It it's a wide theme, which leaves a lot of scope...I'm just concerned about discouraging people from entering, given that there were only 5 entries. It's not bad first time round, but a few more would have been nice.

And I'm quite sure that Darkom will snatch your hand off at the possibilty of you judging...

I've got a few ideas for themes. Keep in mind though, these are mainly off the top of my head at the moment...

-Unfamiliar Territory (an area that we haven't seen in the games, or at least since Arena)

-Historical (an event that happened in Tamriel's past, i.e. before the games)

-In His/Her Shoes (write about an even, ingame or out, from the perspective of an existing character, such as Baurus, Barenziah, or Tiber Septim)

-Colloquial (just an average day in the life of Tamriel)

Just some ideas.

Oh I like those ideas, but I think the writer will need a lot of skill and time to write something as complex as that. But it'd be worth a shot.

Moroni gave some examples that'd I'd go for. Other examples of prompts:

-Start the character in a particular place or circumstance (prison/on the road/in the Imperial City/etc)

-A character loses something at some point in the story

-Include one of the in-game books

-Have a certain NPC (Audens Avidius/Divath Fyr/Malacath/etc) somewhere in the story

The above are the sorts of little challenges that you probably would find in a writing exercise or something... but, again, that's generally how I view short stories. And personally, having little challenges (maybe even just for bonus points instead of universally required to enter the contest) would keep me interested in a contest like this longer, because it would present something new to aim for with each round.

I'm sorry Do you still want to judge? Please submit some examples of your critique. Thank you.


Thanks Rohugh, we might take next month off I agree with most people so far in that themes are a good idea, but they should probably wait a while.


Whatever you would like best to do, BSparrow. We probably have a spot open on the judges ballot (I think Burnt Sierra is the only judge left from last time) *Hand snatched!* So, we would love to have you as a judge, but if you want to write I'm not going to push you one way or the other


Indeed, but once again it is up to her. You can still judge if you like; I like the idea of having three judges per contest. Perhaps recruiting one more if there are a lot of stories.


:( Oh well, another one gone. Thanks for your help, I look forward to your story


Looks good, Moroni. Same to yours BSparrow, but the decision on themes is the same: wait until next time at least. However, if you guys really want to we can put it up for a vote.

Everyone that wants to participate, be it judging or writing, please register an account on Feyfolken. Judges from last time that are going to be writing this time, we will be revoking your moderator priveledges, to be restored should you ever choose to judge again. I'm not doing this to be spiteful, I just can't have you looking at things in the judges only section. I'm sure you understand Thanks again everyone!

You're killing me, Chriso.

Ah, what's the good of being indecisive if no one makes the decision for you?

I think it'd be better if I judge. I'm theoretically writing a book right now, and should probably keep my creative energies focused toward that. Hurray, self-motivation. :twirl:

I'll head over there and sign up.

A quote from a good friend of mine that was at the Fallout section, and is now here:

"The fallout section failed. It was flooded with young fools."


Just a thought...

Arguing over which fan-fiction forum is better is dumb (not to mention very low).

I'm not being serious. I'm only partial to writing in the Fallout section because I know the lore.

Excellent! I'll see you there then. Thanks.

PS Let us know when you finish the book Unless it's your fan fiction, in which case please keep going.



Indeed, please don't spam with debates.

Thanks again everyone, please vote in the first thread over which story is best from last time.

I'm going to have say that, while the idea of themes does sound good, I have to agree that it might be best to postpone it -- at least until there's a large, regular/semi-regular following of contributors. Also, what do you think of, if we do go with themes, having a poll asking, IF you are likely to write for the coming contest, which theme(s) would you likely write for?...I'm guessing that would not be a definite predictor of how many stories we'll see, but it might give us an idea at least (or a false sense of anticipation, LOL, depending on how many folks vote but can't follow through later). As I say, it's just an idea...but it might (?) help avoid picking a theme that sounds really cool, but absolutely no one will write for.

I can't remember enough things about TES to make a good story about... And I certainly can't be bothered to look back at some of my reviews I've made over the past... So I'll just watch from a distance and perhaps touch it with a stick every now and then eye?