Cafe Doom's Fourth Annual Writing Competition Rules and info

Started by Ed, August 03, 2008, 04:46:34 AM

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dracken

^Why Betrulove?

In all honesty that's how most slush piles are sorted, that's how readers read in the real world (they pick a magazine, read the first few sentences and then if they are not interested put it down). If a story is not strong enough to survive then it doesn't deserve to survive! I actually think this system is better than many others becuase there are so many people involved that you have a decent chance your story will interest someone.
More of me at: Dracken.co.nr

Sallyq

If you read back through this thread, Betrulove, you'll see that you've just banned Ed from his own competition. :grin:

I personally favour the idea of all stories being read through in their entirety, since we're not magazine editors, but contestants who've been called upon to judge.

But the fact is that none of us know if that will happen. Some people might only read a half of the entries and pick their favourites. Others might decide by the eenie meeny miney moe system and not read any of the entries at all. There's no way of checking what people have done. I think we just have to trust that everyone will do the right thing. I know Ed will ensure everything is done fairly.

Grillmeat

Draken said:
QuoteIn all honesty that's how most slush piles are sorted,

Agreed.
As harsh as that sounds, if you are submitting to any paying market (and even a few "for exposure only markets" I know of) you better have the attention of the editor by the first paragraph or you are done.  There are just too many entries to do it any other way.
Personally, for this competition, I am hoping to read them all but the reality is that with a short turn around to judge and forty stories to read that may be asking a bit much.  If your story is strong from start to finish it will get the read it deserves.   :afro:
OMG!! Soylent Green is people!!!

delph_ambi

Exactly.

When I have a mountain of stuff to read and limited time, that first paragraph had better grab me. There's no point in taking forever to wade all the way through something if the opening is a mass of grammatical errors and pleonasms. It had better have something else that is astonishingly good about it, or I'm moving onto the next story, having had a quick skim through to check that things don't improve along the way.

If I come across a brilliant story, on the other hand, I'll read it a few times just for the sheer joy of the writing.

If all the stories entered in this competition are works of rare genius, I'll still be reading them at Christmas. Let's hope there are some real stinkers, or this is going to take a very long time!

Ed

Heh - a stinker or two generally finds its way into the comp. :fugly:

Re the reading each and every story in its entirety - it would be great if everybody had the time and patience to read every word of every story, but that's just not how it is, and I think one of the great strengths of this competition format is that it gives (especially new) writers a very good insight into what it's like inside the publishing industry - how stories are selected by editors, and how they are received by the reading public.

No doubt, as the voting progresses, you will see a broad spectrum of opinion regarding which are the best stories. Pretty much every story will get at least one vote, which means somebody out there thinks it's a very good story. Some people will no doubt have not read all of the story - they'll have got to the bottom of page one and then lost patience with it, others will have read it all the way through and thought it was crap. This is exactly what your stories go through in the real world, when they find their way to a real editor - some will love your work, others will hate it, and I think that's a very important lesson to learn in the writing game, because the thought of having somebody out there who loves your work is what keeps a lot of people writing, submitting, finding their niche, not giving up.
Planning is an unnatural process - it is much more fun to do something.  The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression. [Sir John Harvey-Jones]

catephoenix

It is not the bang that terrifies, but the anticipation of it - Alfred Hitchcock

http://fright-fest.blogspot.com
www.strangemeninpinstripesuits.com

Ed

I'm aiming to get them posted in about an hour to an hour and a half's time :afro:
Planning is an unnatural process - it is much more fun to do something.  The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression. [Sir John Harvey-Jones]

catephoenix

Cheers, Ed. I'm switching off for the evening now so I'll print them all out in the morning. I have a long train journey (well long for me anyway) on Sunday so I'm hoping to get a fair few read on the way there and back. :dance:
It is not the bang that terrifies, but the anticipation of it - Alfred Hitchcock

http://fright-fest.blogspot.com
www.strangemeninpinstripesuits.com

Sallyq

I take it we've still only got 7 days to read them, Ed?

delph_ambi

I've just skimmed the whole lot and picked my winners.  :afro:

(not really)

Ed

Quote from: Sallyq on October 31, 2008, 04:40:27 PM
I take it we've still only got 7 days to read them, Ed?

No, I think as long as there are no strong objections we should extend to ten days. Make your choices by midnight GMT on the 11th November, please :smiley:
Planning is an unnatural process - it is much more fun to do something.  The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression. [Sir John Harvey-Jones]

canadian

I plan on reading through all of the entries. Because I didn't enter, I can't vote but it will be interesting to see how my choices stand up to the final results.  :cool:
If people stand in a circle long enough, they will eventually begin to dance. -- George Carlin

Sallyq

Quote from: delph_ambi on October 31, 2008, 04:42:07 PM
I've just skimmed the whole lot and picked my winners.  :afro:

(not really)

Oh I just looked at the titles and picked mine :grin: :grin: :grin: No, not really either. I read 5 stories last night, but I'm out all day today so I'll have to play catch up tomorrow. If anyone is interested in my method, I'm giving them marks out of ten. I realise that means that quite a few will get the same marks, but then I can start looking at the high scorers to see which ones stay with me.

catephoenix

Phew! I've just finished printing them all out. Some intriguing titles.
It is not the bang that terrifies, but the anticipation of it - Alfred Hitchcock

http://fright-fest.blogspot.com
www.strangemeninpinstripesuits.com

delph_ambi

I do the 'marks out of ten' thingy too. Definitely the easiest way.

There are a few of superb titles there, which have induced a bad case of 'title envy'. It will be interesting to see if those stories live up to their promise, or if the best stories will be the quiet, insidious ones, that creep up on you unawares, lulling you into a false sense of security with a mundane title...