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dryanpinney
A small, independent publisher of horror, suspense and dark fantasy
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Winter Shootout 2012 Writing Contest. Sign up!
After the fantastic success of the Autumn shootout, I've been given the green light to run the next adventurous writing contest! The Wild Winter Shootout will begin January 28, 2012! It will be similar to the past competition, with a few tweaks based on participant comments and suggestions.
These contests are always fun, and they spur the creation of highly publishable works. Many shootout stories over the years have found homes in various anthologies and zines, and every participant receives valuable insights into their stories during the review process. Plus, you get to read some really exciting and creative tales from your fellow participants!
The shootout concept is simple. Participating writers are given a prompt and one week to write a short story based on that prompt. The subsequent week, the stories are reviewed by the participants. Story authors remain anonymous until the reviews are final, and the reviews are kept anonymous for fair and unbiased opinion.
Yet again, we'll be setting up a team system, where 2 or 3 groups of writers will be competing head to head. There won't be eliminations, so each writer will get the chance to write and review in 3 regular rounds. After those 3 rounds, the top scoring writers on each team will compete for a Grand Prize, which may involve free books and/or cash!
To sign up, post in this thread, saying you want to participate.
Contest Caveats:
Participation Requirement: If you sign up, please be sure you can handle the workload. You'll need to write a short story in one week and then review 5 to 8 stories the following week (number of stories reviewed will depend on the number of participants we end up having). This will happen 3 times in a row (write, then review).
Negative Feedback: While reviews are expected to be considerate and constructive, they're also supposed to be honest. It is possible someone may provide actual criticism of your story. Be prepared to receive a modicum of negative feedback.
Document Format: Your stories/comments will have to be sent via email in either a .doc or .rtf format. No .docx files! Please make sure you can submit in the stated formats.
Well, I think that covers everything major. Let's see some volunteers!
*Participants of the Autumn Shootout were given the chance to reserve slots in the upcoming Winter Shootout, so the following players are already on board and ready to compete:
Mercermachine
bagabones
stefxgeek
ADSpencer
PatriciaPuckett
That's the bare minimum for one team. We need at least ten more for a 3 team contest, and five for 2 teams.
Join today, and invite your writer friends!
I'd like to participate! :) Thanks and happy new year to all!
I'd love to have a go. :)
Excellent. We have three fresh recruits! Now to get another dozen.
Are we there yet? :)
The last shootout was a blast!
I'd like to participate as well, please.
We're up to 9 already. Hooray!
Mercermachine
bagabones
stefxgeek
ADSpencer
PatriciaPuckett
lapilli
chibi-missy
staceyjane
robertmammone
Still plenty of room. Come on in and sign up!
Hooray! We have our first 10 writers. Let's keep them coming. A few more, and we'll be able to run with 3 teams!
Martin,
Sorry I've been away for a while, but I love me a good shootout.
Sign me up, Cap'n.
Welcome aboard! We've hit the magic 11 number, which is what we had in the previous shootout. I'd like to see at least 4 more players, if we can get them to volunteer. Still over 3 weeks before start-up. We can do it!
I found this link over at ABNA forums, I would like to give this a try.
Game on
Martinus Maximus:
This sounds interesting, but before I throw my hat in the ring I have two questions:
1) How 'short' is a short story?
2) What elements constitute a 'review' in this forum? General 'I liked your villain, but felt his toupee detracted from his aura of sinister-ness" or "I found your story endearing, but was distracted by an overabundance of bizarre adverbs and references to defunct comic book heroes of the 1950's." As a member of Critique Circle, I may have a different interpretation of what this entails during a shootout.
Yours potentially,
Edmund
Excellent questions, Edmund. I hope I can satisfy them.
1: The length of the "short" stories generally sit in the 2-5k range, but this can vary in rounds where there isn't a set word limit. Most writers find this to be a comfortable length to write in a single week, though we've had a few that went longer, and some that were shorter. There have been a few flash fiction stories, as well, though they generally don't score as well when put up against longer stories.
2: The reviews come in 2 parts. First, there is a number score given, which can be a bit subjective based on individual tastes. There will be a guideline chart posted when we get started, giving everyone a basic idea of how the numbers should be used to rate a story's content. The other part is the comments/suggestions, which can be as in-depth or simple as a reviewer wants. Sometimes, a reviewer will only give a brief statement, summing up their opinion of the story, and in other cases they give lengthy commentaries, pointing out things they feel are good and/or bad about the particular work. It's really up to each reader how much they want to put down in that regard.
Martinus:
All right - If there's room, I'll play. Last question: As a team, do we write our short story on a collaborative basis? Or do we merely pool points?
Edmund
Yes, there is plenty of room left. Welcome aboard, Edmund.
The team aspect actually works differently than you might think. The members inside each "team" are really competing against each other, rather than the opposing teams. Each person writes their own story each round, and the stories are then reviewed by members of another team. This way, those who are giving the reviews aren't judging their competition, and are therefore more inclined to give truly impartial reviews. At the end of 3 regular rounds, the writer with the highest point score on each team is deemed the "finalist" and gets to write a 4th and final story. The non-finalists review the final stories to determine the winner.
Hope that clears things up.
Our current participant roster:
Mercermachine
bagabones
stefxgeek
ADSpencer
PatriciaPuckett
lapilli
chibi-missy
staceyjane
robertmammone
michaelst
taylor
karl_g_rich
edmund_wells
If we get 3 more participants, we'll go with 3 teams!
And then there were 13. We have just under 2 weeks before we start, with 2 big slots to fill. Anyone else up for a writing adventure this winter?
