Pakona and I have been discussing the topic back and forth and have come up with a framework for a number of future writing contests. We thought we should consult the community for further input before we kick this puppy off.
What is Prose That Blows?
It’s the summer of 2009. The fiction side of body inflation was stale and a little moldy. All of the good ideas had been tried. In an effort to help revive creativity on the authoring side, a few writers in the community all participated in a fun little writing contest which was partially for bragging rights, but also to see how well people wrote when given restrictions on what they could write. It was an eye-opening experience that most everyone agreed we should do again. And here we are.
General Contest Rules
Unless otherwise stated for individual contests, these rules apply to ALL Prose That Blows contests.
* Only one entry per person per contest.
* The plot and characters must be original for each contest. Reusing plot elements or characters from past contests, or from other material, is not allowed.
* Each entry must be a full story with appropriate exposition, rising actions, and a climax. Vignettes or story fragments will be disqualified.
* All entries should be edited for adequate grammar, spelling, punctuation, and paragraph usage. Contest organizers reserve the right to edit entries to accomplish this.
* The stories MUST deal with body inflation. For the sake of this contest, we will consider it as the significant expansion of two or more body parts, but I think most of you understand the spirit of the contest. Stories that solely include BE or pregnancy will be disqualified.
How It Works
Submission
Contests will be announced by the Prose That Blows organizers. Each contest will usually involve a specific theme which writers must attempt to adhere to. A submission deadline will be announced with the contest theme, although writers will usually be given about a month to submit their stories. Stories may be submitted at any time between the start of the contest and the submission deadline.
Voting
Following the end of the submission period, the stories will be assigned random numbers, the authors will be made anonymous, and the stories will be posted for public viewing, along with a poll. Readers will be asked to choose winners for specific awards as well as Best Story, which is considered the winner of the contest.
Voting will last approximately one week.
Results
The results of the contest and the award winners will be posted at the conclusion of voting. Award winners will be posted in the Hall of Inflated Egos.
Will there be a length limit this time around? I know you don't want people submitting doorstopper stories, but I just couldn't get my entry for PtB1 down to 500 words. Something like 1,000 or 1,500 would be more reasonable, especially if participants have to conform to a specified theme.
How frequently will these contests be held? I ask because enforcing a theme will inevitably alienate people who aren't interested in it. I'm not a big fan of blueberry expansion, for example, so if that's the theme then I probably won't submit a story. If this is only going to be an annual event, maybe you could give people a choice of three or so themes, and add "best in theme" categories for each of them.
Are you taking suggestions for themes? I have a few ideas which I think are general enough to appeal to a wide variety of tastes, if you're interested.