I also think that additional restrictions could be interesting. Such as not using the letter E or other gimmicks. I think this gives writers more reason to re-examine their stories. Yeah, winner's choice sounds like a great award as well.
Contest debrief - the good, the bad? Ideas for next one?
The consensus that I have gathered from around the forum seems to be that we should hold more contests in the future. I have thrown around a few ideas, but before we get too far into planning the next one, I think it would be helpful to talk about the last one. So I present a couple questions:
1. What worked well in this contest?
I liked the stories being submitted anonymously (and I'm glad everyone else liked my idea) and think this should be a staple of upcoming contests.
2. What could've been better?
While I originally liked the different subcategory awards, I think we ended up with too many. For instance, "Sexiest Story" and "Character You'd Like to Fuck" were most likely going to be redundant from the beginning.
While carnatic announced the idea well before entries were submitted, it seemed like a lot came together at the last minute. Not really anybody to blame for it, it just happens. Also, having the stories and the ballot on two different sites was kind of confusing.
I would like to get my web page finished in time for the next contest so that there is one agreed-upon place to submit stories and votes for each contest.
Now then... ideas for next time. I've got a couple.
1. The "Best Story" winner from the previous contest either gets to pick a "Winner's Choice" story, or they could vote on all the subcategories and the results would be weighted. For instance, the popular vote would count 75% and the winner's vote would count 25%. Just a little perk that comes with winning.
2. Contest theme ideas: "Taboo" (can't use certain words, e.g. "balloon" or "inflate"); minimum AND maximum word count (e.g. story must be 1000-1500 words); no sex allowed (can't use arousal from inflation as a crutch); rhyme (write a poem instead of a narrative); etc...
Thoughts?
Thu, 07/16/2009 - 15:47
#3
Sat, 07/18/2009 - 20:57
#4
Off the top of my head, here are some ideas:
1) Require the story to involve one source for inflation (such as magic, or a helium tank, technology, or whatever.)
2)Require the story to be written in first person (or second person!)
3)Require the stories to involve one specific element from a list (such as floating, popping, bursting out of clothes, etc.)
4)This is a fun one: list off six random nouns. Each story must contain three of those nouns.
5)Require a setting (set at a high school, set under the sea, set on an alien spaceship, etc.)
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 16:02
#5
not using the letter e would be literally impossible.
I think the 500 word limit is a necessity for any competition of this sort.
I like the idea of 6 random nouns
Anyway, thank you to all of those who picked up the baton when I dropped it. If it weren't for you, especially I123, this contest would have crashed and burned.
Wed, 07/22/2009 - 05:52
#6
Inflate123
It was a great idea and I am very glad to have helped. I didn't wanna step on toes, but I got the vibe that you were just overwhelmed. It was a group effort that led to a group effort, so that's nice. :)
The less awards, probably the better. Even if that does remove one of the two I won. :) "Best character" and "Most erotic" made "fuckable character" redundant.
I like the idea of novel restrictions or arbitrary requirements (was actually surprised I didn't see poetry -- I was thinking an inflation sonnet/iambic pentameter contest would be interesting), but yeah, we can't outlaw the letter E. Requiring six random words is more practical than restricting letters.
First person narrative could be its own contest right there. It clearly worked for Biggest Breath!
I really liked the anonymity; I went into every story super open-minded as a result. And checking every night to see what new stories had arrived was incredibly fun. I was excited the whole week by all the activity.
And I am still very much in favor of hard, low word counts. I know a lot of people struggled with 500, so maybe 750 or 1000 is in order, but it's really one of the best ways to improve your writing -- you make every word count when you only have so much room. Early in my career I had assignments to cover events/albums/concerts and I said "But I can't do that in 150 words!" And my editor said "You can if I'm paying you to do it in 150 words." I realized they were right -- I'd only keep getting jobs if I did what the job required, so it was a career survival skill. It turned out that my good reputation for hitting word counts on deadline opened a lot of doors for me at national publications in a short amount of time. So I know we aren't talking about being paid for this stuff, but that efficiency and ruthless self-editing spills over into everything -- emails, instructions, inflation fantasy, whatever -- and it has made me a more efficient writer overall. It's a good skill to have. And that's the last I'll bore you with it. :)
Wed, 07/22/2009 - 07:41
#7
The one thing I've noticed with the Six nouns thing is you gotta require the writer to make them somewhat prominent. Otherwise, you get offhand lists that don't fit into stories. For example, if one noun was 'robot' than you could get the line "Julia felt like a robot everyday at work." The writer has kinda sidestepped the requirement by just throwing in a throwaway line.
Thu, 07/23/2009 - 19:19
#8
how about 6 memes
Sun, 07/26/2009 - 04:47
#9
Keeping our names off the stories until after the contest was over was a great idea. I agree that we should stick with that.
I wouldn't mind a slightly higher word limit this time around either. Sure, maybe a lower word limit does help to improve writing and yeah I'm all for improvement but I'd like to see what we could pull off with a little extra room to spread our ideas on. Maybe a 1,000 word limit? Just a thought.
The winner's choice idea sounds pretty cool too. It would be neat to have a say in the rules for the upcoming contest. What if someone wins and doesn't respond after the contest to pick the next theme though? Would we have the runner-up decide instead or hand the decision over to Luthor maybe?
Sun, 07/26/2009 - 05:41
#10
Inflate123
It occured to me that song parodies would work for a competition, too.
Or sonnets. Iambic pentameter FTW! :)
Sun, 07/26/2009 - 22:52
#11
So, I had no idea where to put this. I could have put it in the art forum, but since it pertained to these stories, specifically . . .
I have decided to make a quick sketch of each story, showing off the predominant inflation scene. Here are the first seven
http://keldorfeign.deviantart.com/art/Firsthree-131002954
http://keldorfeign.deviantart.com/art/Secondfour-131004088
I tried to keep them without showing any 'naughty bits' just because I don't like drawing that stuff. If I haven't gotten to yours yet, don't worry, I will try, it may just take me a few days though.
Mon, 07/27/2009 - 00:19
#12
brilliant.. makes me wish even more that I had entered
Tue, 07/28/2009 - 05:53
#13
Inflate123
So cool! First the contest inspired the writers, then the writers inspired other writers, now the stories are inspiring artists!
Tue, 07/28/2009 - 06:43
#14
I have to agree with Inflate123. This is insanely awesome. I was secretly hoping some artists might get inspired by this contest, and I'm delighted to see my hopes weren't in vain. XD This contest really seems to have stimulated the creativity of the community as a whole, which is, needless to say, a truly wonderful thing.
Tue, 07/28/2009 - 06:46
#15
dragon_6860
No doubt :-D hehe, I almost don't want to wait till next year :)
Wed, 07/29/2009 - 22:08
#16
I read about half of the entries, and enjoying the entries so far. Wishing that I had something to enter into the contest now. -_-;
But the contest, sounded great from the start, especially to hidden author name. And on the ideas, the random words sounds like a fun idea. And having a category for first-person stories would be nice as well.
Can't wait for next year contest now. ^_^
Thu, 07/30/2009 - 04:11
#17
http://keldorfeign.deviantart.com/art/Third-Three-131427687
Third page, only one more page, and three more stories to go.
Sat, 08/01/2009 - 00:32
#18
doubleintegral
Who said anything about waiting a year? I was thinking we'd take 2 or 3 months off and then hit it again.
Mon, 08/10/2009 - 20:07
#19
doubleintegral wrote:
Who said anything about waiting a year? I was thinking we'd take 2 or 3 months off and then hit it again.
Hmm... a bi-yearly contest would be nice. <__<
Thu, 04/29/2010 - 03:10
#20
Was anyone else aware that it's been about a year since the 500 word story competition we had back in 2009?
I know we discussed another story contest in this particular topic a while back but it seems, it never really took off and I was a little curious if we would ever do this again. I kind of enjoyed the first one and I wouldn't mind partaking in another if possible, but that's just me.
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 16:23
#21
doubleintegral
Pakona wrote:
Was anyone else aware that it's been about a year since the 500 word story competition we had back in 2009?I know we discussed another story contest in this particular topic a while back but it seems, it never really took off and I was a little curious if we would ever do this again. I kind of enjoyed the first one and I wouldn't mind partaking in another if possible, but that's just me.
I was thinking about this the other day. I also would like to do one again, and since Carnatic flipped a lid I will volunteer to help organize any future contests (along with anyone else that wants to help).
Any ideas on what the new theme(s) should be? Some possibilities that I thought of:
- No sex or sexual arousal (cliche-buster)
- Place a size limit on the inflatee
- Taboo (certain words, such as "balloon" or "inflate" for example, cannot be used in the story)
- Minimum story length, e.g. 1500 words
Sat, 05/01/2010 - 23:13
#22
unfortunately, I was not around for the contests and am now sorry I wasn't. However, I have read several of the resulting content that came from it. One thing that I think is imperative as an emphasis/focus/award is originality. Many. Stories can turn out to be somewhat redundant and if originality is stressed then people will be forced to be more creative.
Also, from what I'm gathering by this thread, there was a shortage of stories until the very end. I think that with a new contest (and hopefully more frequent than once or twice a year) there will be a surge of story entries. People who were unable to compete last time (like me) will whant to participate on the next go around.
Just a thought.
Sun, 05/02/2010 - 02:48
#23
doubleintegral wrote:
- No sex or sexual arousal (cliche-buster)
Personally, I'd be curious to see what kind of stories a rule like that would bring in.
Also I wouldn't mind trying that word limit thing again.
Sun, 05/02/2010 - 04:13
#24
dragon_6860
I think we need a maximum story length more than a minimum, otherwise people just write too long...heh, I know I would :)
Hmm...I agree with the idea that one or two of the categories could've been squished into one. The poll part can work better next time, as there are options to let you vote, and the actual survey can be written as HTML code so you can put it wherever.
As for the Themes, I'm worried that we don't have enough stories to break it up into different styles. I do like the idea of the next contest being you can't use certan words, in addition to the word count. I know that some people didn't like the word count, but i think it was the best part of it, it really make you think about how to write and to streamline. I liked it :) The "Winner's Choice" award also looks good to me, something for the guy who won last time :-D
No, I would not want to live in a world without dragons, as I would not want to live in a world without magic, for that is a world without mystery, and that is a world without faith.