Contest Entry Discussion

[Antmusic]

Great idea Dan. As long as everyone who entered gets to vote (as you said) this works quite well!

[JJ Holden]

I think it'd be a fun exercise if, after the voting is done, those who felt constrained by the character limit finished "Author's Cut" versions of their entries and posted them.

Looking at my particular story, I'm in two minds about this. Mine came in originally at around 11,500 characters, and I had to rip out an entire character in order to make the count. It peeved me at the time, but the more I look at the story, the more I think the edit worked.

Regardless of the vote, I'm actually quite happy with how Tapestry came out. I've been going through some literary boot camp training this last few months on short stories, and I think it's starting to work.

[Craig Wallwork]

Maybe I missed this in one of the other threads, but 11 stories, that short, wouldn't they all fit into a chapbook? I know there are some others stories already included for the chapbook (big names, right?), but the word count is very low. And from what I’ve read this far, I would buy MOST of the stories published in this competition.

[RichardThomas]

yeah, i said that a couple pages back that somebody ought to put together an anthology out of this contest - even if it wasn't CD, some energetic mind with some design skills here could certainly put something together (ebook or otherwise) to showcase all of this great work - assuming these stories don't get snatched up before then

[Craig Wallwork]

Very cool idea, Richard. Would love to see some of these voices breach the nation.

[Ricky]

That sounds like a fair way to do the final vote, Dan. Good way to weed out the "recruitment" voting, as you said.

[C.W. LaSart]

If I was you Dan, I wouldn't say what the post limit is-I would keep that card close to the vest

[weirdosayswhat]

yeah, i said that a couple pages back that somebody ought to put together an anthology out of this contest - even if it wasn't CD, some energetic mind with some design skills here could certainly put something together (ebook or otherwise) to showcase all of this great work - assuming these stories don't get snatched up before then

Unless Cemetery Dance wants dibs, I'd be interested in putting something together. I've been looking to add book design to my portfolio and this gives me an excuse. Plus, too many good stories are getting overlooked and more exposure is always a good thing. Assuming, of course, that people wouldn't rather try to sell their polished stories on their own. I don't know that they could, though, since they're available for free right here. I admit I'm not entirely sure how that works.

[RJK1981]

I think that way of voting sounds great. I'm sure the final 3 will rightfully be winners, especially with doing it that way, though there will definitely be others that are good who won't be in the final 11. That is unavoidable though.

Writing for this contest was not easy, never been limited by such a short length before. Definitely was an interesting challenge. The editing was harder though as I had to cut quite a bit, and come back to it many times to finish it, and could still go back to it now to edit it, lol. Reading the stories made me realize how much I sometimes tend to be a proofreader/editor in my own head as I quickly notice missing or extra words (or incorrect words, for that matter).

I haven't had the chance to read all the stories, but my opinions of stories do go up before even reading them when they are formatted to be easily readable here since it easy to do so since you can preview your posts. Bad formatting won't make me not vote for a particular story, but it does make it harder, especially if there is something that is good and easier to read here.

[Dan Hocker]

I'm already brainstorming up a plan of what to do with some of the "runner up's"

[bsaenz24]

Just a thought.....maybe the last round of voting should be restricted to forum members who were registered BEFORE the contest was even announced.....I can't imagine people would have created new logins before the contest was announced as there would have been to logical reason to have done so.

[weirdosayswhat]

I'm already brainstorming up a plan of what to do with some of the "runner up's"

Awesome!

Ah, one more group to go and my votes will be in. Then it's back to slumberland.

[C.W. LaSart]

Just a thought.....maybe the last round of voting should be restricted to forum members who were registered BEFORE the contest was even announced.....I can't imagine people would have created new logins before the contest was announced as there would have been to logical reason to have done so.

That would eliminate the majority of the participants, though.
I didn't even know about the forum until I stumbled across the contest.

[peteOcha]

That would eliminate the majority of the participants, though.
I didn't even know about the forum until I stumbled across the contest.

Maybe then those registered before the contest and all the participants. Dan already said he would make sure that all who submitted a story for the contest would be able to vote.

[C.W. LaSart]

Maybe then those registered before the contest and all the participants. Dan already said he would make sure that all who submitted a story for the contest would be able to vote.

That would work then, if he is able to do that. I hate dealing with computer stuff, I can't even begin to IMAGINE what a headache all this must be to run!