Prose That Blows: The Sequel (input requested)

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.

RenegadeKamui
RenegadeKamui's picture

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.

doubleintegral
doubleintegral's picture
notsosupersaiyan wrote:
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.

Currently the plan is to have a word limit for each contest. It may not always be the same, but it will most likely always be somewhere in the 500-1500 word range.

Quote:
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.

We were thinking one new contest every two months or so. Give people a month to write their stories, the voters a week or two to vote, and then everyone gets a 2-3 week break before the next one.

Quote:
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.

Post or e-mail 'em. Always looking for ideas.

doubleintegral
doubleintegral's picture

By the way, we are also cutting back on the number of awards this time around. There will be 4-6, at most, for each contest.

Pakona

doubleintegral@gmail.com

PK-Pakona@hotmail.com

Should anyone want to E-mail some suggestions or ideas...

RenegadeKamui
RenegadeKamui's picture
doubleintegral wrote:
We were thinking one new contest every two months or so. Give people a month to write their stories, the voters a week or two to vote, and then everyone gets a 2-3 week break before the next one.

That sounds like a good idea. Often enough that if you don't like the theme, you can just wait until the next contest.

doubleintegral wrote:
Post or e-mail 'em. Always looking for ideas.

I'll email them to you and Pakona.

Kurg

Personally, I'd recommend keeping the word limit relatively short. Short, punchy stories often have more impact, are easier for voters to read through, and can help motivate writers who might otherwise be intimidated by a large word-count. The word-limit doesn't have to be as low as it was in the previous contest, but keeping it lean and mean would probably be a good idea.

If this does get up and running, I'll definitely try and participate, schedule allowing. Giving myself tangible deadlines seems to be the only way to get me motivated.^^;

"A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men."

dragon_6860
dragon_6860's picture

I agree. I thought the low word count was actually a good thing, as people won't get tired of reading. 1000 words may not seem like much, but when you have 10 or 15 stories...it adds up quickly. Also it was a fun challenge to actually write a story that had plot, characters and everything in that kinda space. Lots of fun :)

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.

doubleintegral
doubleintegral's picture

A couple thoughts:

- The 500 word limit will be used again, just not as the central theme of the contests. We don't want the same old shit every time.

- We wanted to ease off on the barriers to entry. While the first contest did spur on a lot of creativity, it probably also scared off some writers. Our goal is to make the first couple of contests a little on the easier side before introducing some more difficult restrictions. We've thrown around some ideas... some are downright sinister.

dragon_6860
dragon_6860's picture

Really? Did the first contest have a lot of restrictions, save the 500 word limit? I don't really recall any...

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.

doubleintegral
doubleintegral's picture
dragon_6860 wrote:
Really? Did the first contest have a lot of restrictions, save the 500 word limit? I don't really recall any...

The first contest only had the 500-word limit. We are only introducing more elements to make the contests more challenging, which will (hopefully) introduce a new level of creativity.

Let me be clear: this is not an exact continuation of the first contest. We are using the same name, but think of us more as the 2004 version of Battlestar Galactica.

dragon_6860
dragon_6860's picture

Heh, gotya. Looking forward to the next contest!

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.

rjp101

I'll certainly be up for entering this year.

Short 500-1000 word stories do seem the way to go as it makes it much easier when it comes to judging/voting and a few simple restrictions should make for some interesting ideas.

doubleintegral
doubleintegral's picture

Your submission will certainly be welcome.

Seeing as how no one else has chimed in, I guess I'll just post the first contest we've got planned and see who decides to contribute. Maybe later tonight.