Cyn Date:Oct 27, 2013 12:50 AM(Edited:Dec 15, 2013 6:36 PM)Title:October Contest Status
Hi all!
It appears that no one is entering this contest (as it's been active for about 9 weeks now) :'(. If you're still entering, make sure to submit on time and I'll still take a look at whatever entries I get.
I'd like to hear any community feedback on the theme so I can improve future contests. Speaking of which, contests will resume their old monthly schedule rather than the past sporadic announcements we've had this year.
Also, I'm taking suggestions for the November contest so leave your thoughts and comments below!
cge0361 Date:Oct 28, 2013 10:29 PMTitle:Re: October Contest Status
Well, at first I figured I'd sit this one out because reading the prompt did not immediately inspire me. (Why, explained below.) Then I got an idea for an ending, but no story to support it so I thought maybe that would come to me. Nothing came. (That would not ultimately run up against the restriction, again, below.) Then I thought I'd try to see what happens if I just set a few hours aside and let it go at the last minute (e.g., tonight, tomorrow, or next), but if truly nobody is biting, there's no point in knocking out a few thousand words off-the-cuff aside from trying to snag a free medal.gif simply by being the only one(s) to show up, which somewhat devalues them.
Of course, what we don't yet know (and hopefully this thread will reveal) is how many people are simply not vocal about their decision to participate. Perhaps it is an issue that there is enough aspiring writers here to have enough discussion of writing in progress to create pollable forum traffic if something would put that into momentum. I consider how /vp/ spawns dedicated lemon-writer threads from time to time, and wonder how many of them at least lurk here.
From my limited observation, these contests need to be guiding, rather than restrictive, in their guidelines to succeed. Excellent adventure and Odd couples received entries. Adventure's rules gave a list of genres to choose from and only said not to use contemporary period because those genres, as clichés, thrive in non-contemporary settings. This contest was similar, but by excluding Psychic, Ghost, and Dark types, it undermined what makes Halloween special. Instead of focusing on the difference between what "ghost" and "dark" mean to Pokemon versus what it means to we IRL people and using that as the motivation to express treatment of those differences, we're forced to either go slice-of-life with how Halloween would be mechanically celebrated in a Pokemon world (something I already used up in Love Lost Chapter 6) and tell Umbreon and Mr. Mime to stay home (no candy for you!) or try to hammer a Halloween theme into an essentially non-Halloween story. That may be possible; Sang says he has an idea and I still have a couple days in case my muse shows me a way to get to that aforementioned story ending, but this is an uphill climb for any who would try. That would be good if we had a lot of eager writers seeking such a challenge, but obviously there is not enough active participation here to justify barriers to entry that block nearly anything that would come to mind when a potential participant sits down and thinks "what does Halloween mean to Pokemon?" Odd couples also worked, because it was very open ended; find any pairing that doesn't seem like it would click and then find a way for it to click and see where it goes. I recall there was a Domination-fetish contest also failed due to lack of interest. It excluded any author who, by taste or morals, does not write for that one particular fetish. Had it been to choose any fetish and find a way to make it seem "natural" rather than "deviant" in the context of Pokemon, it might have flown. (inb4 sylveon flesh ribbon bondage = it's fairy-pokemonese for "hello".)
In fact establishing a regular contest cycle would be nice, since it would at least encourage an author who passes on one prompt to return a few weeks later to consider the next.
Arcane_Reno Date:Oct 29, 2013 8:26 AM(Edited:Oct 29, 2013 8:30 AM)Title:Re: October Contest Status
I had intended to enter this contest, had an idea ready to go and everything, but, unfortunately, between quite a number of factors, I found myself short on time, as I have also been rushing to complete another project with the same deadline as the contest. :c I've been able to get that one finished (or, at least close, it's still going to be tight for the deadline) but it meant the contest entry was a nonstarter for me, much as I wanted to work on that idea as well. :-\
As for the November contest, barring the extension of this contest (As I said, I for one, was excited about this idea), perhaps something that involves some of the new things we've received in X&Y, or megaevolutions? As an alternative idea, how about a contest themed on exploration? IE, you have to set it in a region which hasn't appeared yet in the games?
Bébinn Heffernan Date:Nov 12, 2013 8:40 AMTitle:Re: October Contest Status
I was actually writing up an entry, but decided not to turn it in at the last second, in part because I'm afraid the Fraternity of Shadows would have stormed into my house and stole my Ravenloft 3E book if they saw what I made. I did adhere to the type restrictions, but the setting and idea I had would have been a disgrace to the setting and idea thanks to my writing not being up to snuff, so I opted to deepsix the story and sit it out. (It doesn't help that Ravenloft, like other Gothic horror universes, is unforgiving to people with no familiarity of the genre or godlike writing skills, since its horror is extremely subtle; I felt I forced it.)
Flygon Date:Nov 15, 2013 3:49 AMTitle:Re: October Contest Status
I had had a story, but I decided it's plot was simply too... stupid. It's nigh impossible to get away with a story that can involve both Zombies, Virtual Reality, and other such related mindfuckery without attaching the words "Star Trek" and "Holodeck Malfunction" somewhere to it.
Date:Oct 27, 2013 12:50 AM(Edited:Dec 15, 2013 6:36 PM) Title:October Contest Status
It appears that no one is entering this contest (as it's been active for about 9 weeks now) :'(. If you're still entering, make sure to submit on time and I'll still take a look at whatever entries I get.
I'd like to hear any community feedback on the theme so I can improve future contests. Speaking of which, contests will resume their old monthly schedule rather than the past sporadic announcements we've had this year.
Also, I'm taking suggestions for the November contest so leave your thoughts and comments below!
~Cyn
~My fire shall always burn eternal~
Date:Oct 27, 2013 2:40 AM Title:Re: October Contest Status
Date:Oct 28, 2013 10:29 PM Title:Re: October Contest Status
Of course, what we don't yet know (and hopefully this thread will reveal) is how many people are simply not vocal about their decision to participate. Perhaps it is an issue that there is enough aspiring writers here to have enough discussion of writing in progress to create pollable forum traffic if something would put that into momentum. I consider how /vp/ spawns dedicated lemon-writer threads from time to time, and wonder how many of them at least lurk here.
From my limited observation, these contests need to be guiding, rather than restrictive, in their guidelines to succeed. Excellent adventure and Odd couples received entries. Adventure's rules gave a list of genres to choose from and only said not to use contemporary period because those genres, as clichés, thrive in non-contemporary settings. This contest was similar, but by excluding Psychic, Ghost, and Dark types, it undermined what makes Halloween special. Instead of focusing on the difference between what "ghost" and "dark" mean to Pokemon versus what it means to we IRL people and using that as the motivation to express treatment of those differences, we're forced to either go slice-of-life with how Halloween would be mechanically celebrated in a Pokemon world (something I already used up in Love Lost Chapter 6) and tell Umbreon and Mr. Mime to stay home (no candy for you!) or try to hammer a Halloween theme into an essentially non-Halloween story. That may be possible; Sang says he has an idea and I still have a couple days in case my muse shows me a way to get to that aforementioned story ending, but this is an uphill climb for any who would try. That would be good if we had a lot of eager writers seeking such a challenge, but obviously there is not enough active participation here to justify barriers to entry that block nearly anything that would come to mind when a potential participant sits down and thinks "what does Halloween mean to Pokemon?" Odd couples also worked, because it was very open ended; find any pairing that doesn't seem like it would click and then find a way for it to click and see where it goes. I recall there was a Domination-fetish contest also failed due to lack of interest. It excluded any author who, by taste or morals, does not write for that one particular fetish. Had it been to choose any fetish and find a way to make it seem "natural" rather than "deviant" in the context of Pokemon, it might have flown. (inb4 sylveon flesh ribbon bondage = it's fairy-pokemonese for "hello".)
In fact establishing a regular contest cycle would be nice, since it would at least encourage an author who passes on one prompt to return a few weeks later to consider the next.
Date:Oct 29, 2013 8:26 AM(Edited:Oct 29, 2013 8:30 AM) Title:Re: October Contest Status
As for the November contest, barring the extension of this contest (As I said, I for one, was excited about this idea), perhaps something that involves some of the new things we've received in X&Y, or megaevolutions? As an alternative idea, how about a contest themed on exploration? IE, you have to set it in a region which hasn't appeared yet in the games?
Amateur writer, professional slacker.
Date:Nov 12, 2013 8:40 AM Title:Re: October Contest Status
Date:Nov 15, 2013 3:49 AM Title:Re: October Contest Status