Contest Entry Discussion

[TerryE]

So I could post a story for critiques now, if I wished to? That might be kind of fun, actually.

I attended a workshop several years ago, and afterwards most of the participants stayed together in a Yahoo group to critique each other's work. The person who set it up made a schedule of one story per month, and created the random order for us to submit stories for critique. That was a closed system, so a lot less danger of plagarism there. Unfortunately everyone kind of drifted away after a year or so.

I'm sure that Dan is too busy to moderate such a group here, and there might be an issue as to whether Cemetery Dance as a publisher should be involved without it being a contest. But if someone has the savvy to set it up, hey I'd be interested in joining.

[mlouisdixon]

If you're looking to participate in an online writing group, you might be interested in www.zoetrope.com. The Horror Library has an office there where people can post and critique each other's stories. To join, simply sign up on Zoetrope.com, do an "Office Search" and look for "The Horror Library". Ask for an invitation to the office and R.J. Cavender will get you in.

MLD

[Dan Hocker]

I attended a workshop several years ago, and afterwards most of the participants stayed together in a Yahoo group to critique each other's work. The person who set it up made a schedule of one story per month, and created the random order for us to submit stories for critique. That was a closed system, so a lot less danger of plagarism there. Unfortunately everyone kind of drifted away after a year or so.

I'm sure that Dan is too busy to moderate such a group here, and there might be an issue as to whether Cemetery Dance as a publisher should be involved without it being a contest. But if someone has the savvy to set it up, hey I'd be interested in joining.

I am most certainly too busy to moderate / organize something like that. However if someone is interested in running something like that on this board, I would be more than happy to work with them to get it set up and running.

[Nik Houser]

It appears so, but also take note of his statement about even unregistered users seeing it. That would likely make it unsellable. So you would just be posting free fiction for critiques sake.

Yeah, I've been thinking about that, too. Bummer.

[ozmosis7]

Of course, looking at the other side of things, many authors offer free fiction on their websites to draw people to the site. I have several myself. So if you are going to offer something for that purpose, it would never hurt to get it critiqued first.

[Dan Hocker]

I can make a subsection of the writer's corner, similar to the contest submission section, that can only be viewed by registered users.

[Nik Houser]

Now THAT sounds pretty great!

[Dan Hocker]

http://forum.cemeterydance.com/forum...ring-Your-Work

[RichardThomas]

I had to disagree with what he said about a bad writer working hard to become a good writer. It was something along the lines of practice doesn't matter, if you're bad you're bad. I personally think with practice and hard work you can dramatically change your writing and even your ideas. They may be bad at first, but you learn what work's and what doesn't and you can polish ideas and make them better, add flavor and character to them.

if you have any ability to write, you CAN improve - go to a college, an MFA program, or take online classes, read the how to books, whatever - you CAN get better - when i started to get serious about writing about four years ago i was terrible - broke all the rules, never had a good narrative hook, was always telling, instead of showing, then i studied with Craig Clevenger, Monica Drake, Max Barry and Jack Ketchum and i've gotten so much better

The Cult (chuckpalahniuk.net) has a good workshop if you're interested, i AM a moderator there, but for only $40 a year you get access, pretty good deal - Zoetrope is a great community, or start your own private group - biggest thing you can do is read, study the masters, and learn from what they do well - whether it's King or Straub, Heinlein or Bradbury, Palahniuk, Ketchum or Franzen, you can really get a lot out of reading great authors

just my two cents

[ozmosis7]

Another good one is Cafedoom, which I attend. Fair warning though, they don't hold any punches, but that is what will make you a better writer. There are some talented people there. I am unsure if they are looking for more members or not, but you can always stop by and ask Ed if interested.

[Nik Houser]

I think it's funny when one group of stories has less views than another, but more votes. It looks like that's happening a few places. I'm not being sarcastic or mean-spirited, I really do think it's funny. At first I was worried about tons of people being driven to the polls, but honestly, you guys posting here are so damn cool, getting to know you would have made it worth it even if I came in dead last. The fact that this community (by which I mean the Writer's Corner) seems to have really blossomed overnight is a testament to how many cool peeps are reading and writing horror out there. APPLAUSE for all, authors, readers and CD staff!!! Also, this was not a complaint about the voting process. I think CD did a great job with such a huge turnout of stories.

[C.W. LaSart]

I think it's funny when one group of stories has less views than another, but more votes. It looks like that's happening a few places.

I think that this is due to a lot of things. Although I'm not saying that there isn't any vote padding (or whatever you want to call it), I think that others things factor in as well. Interacting on these threads is going to get you noticed, and more people will read your story then and hopefully vote for it. Also, some of the past allegations towards certain members is bound to get more attention. I have gotten 400 hits to my website this week alone. Just proof to everyone who is new at this, that it is important to interact with potential readers and get your name out there

[Nik Houser]

Very true. And I think that the extra votes with less reads could certainly be due to folks reading a few stories, then voting before they read them all. Sorry if it sounded like I was blaming vote padding. I think that's part of it, but that there are several other factors as well, including people reading them on the giant thread, then going to the individual groups to vote.

[Dan Hocker]

Views also don't actually mean the number of times the story has been read. Every single time you open a thread it counts as a view, even if you have already read it. A deceptive author could push up his views to make their story look popular. Not that anyone would do that (nor would I really care if anyone did as it's not something anyone could prove).

[C.W. LaSart]

Absolutely! We all know there is some padding, and I think it would be naive to think differently in this sort of contest. I have encouraged people to come vote on the stories, and everyone is welcome to google search and see that I have. They will also see that I haven't asked for any votes. A lot of people ask to see my writing, and I don't publish free work, so if they don't want to pay, this is a chance to read one of my stories, as well as everyone else's. This contest has attracted a lot of forum members for Dan, and if just part of them hang around (the people I have asked to check it out are horror fans so they probably will) then it is a win for the forum. I for one, am enjoying the interraction and plan to continue with the forum, though I truly only joined for the contest.