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Old 2011-01-30, 19:20   Link #1
Hiroi Sekai
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EMDAS, AnimeSuki's Monthly Writing Competition (Rules/FAQ/General Discussion)


AnimeSuki's "Elementary, My Dear AnimeSuki" Monthly Writing Competition
"The pen is mightier than the sword."


Thanks to milan kyuubi for the banner!


What is it?
EMDAS is a monthly contest based on SOTM, with a focus on composition of a literary sense instead of an artistic one. It is open to all members of AnimeSuki, and aspires to promote creativity and a desire to improve one's personal skills in composition.

Much like the SOTM contest, EMDAS allows 3 weeks for composing/submitting your entries and one week for voting before the next competition begins. Whoever wins the competition is given the right to decide the following month's theme.


How should themes be decided?
At the end of every month, a winner is chosen and he/she gets to decide what next month's theme will be. The theme must apply to a generally writable topic and specifics such as anime series and characters are frowned upon. For example, a good topic would be "vacation" as it allows for any user to step in and write about, while a topic like "Suzumiya Haruhi" will limit entries to the people who know more about the series and character.

As you've probably figured out by now, a theme cannot be used more than once. All themes must not involve anything that violates AnimeSuki's rules and regulations, and it cannot be 18+; let us make sure that this contest can be kept relatively clean for whatever aged reader/writer that comes along.


So, what are the rules?
1. Within the first 2 weeks of the month, the competition sits in a "creation/submission" phase. During this time, contestants may upload as many entries and edits as you like, in order to receive constructive criticism and maybe even proofread.
1A. While you are allowed to make as many edits and uploads as you wish in the submission phase, you must decide on a single finished product as your final entry. Be sure to edit your entry on the entries page accordingly, as the last draft made at the end of the entries period will become your permanent entry.
1B. Keep in mind that all entries need to have a minimum of 5 words, and a maximum of 1500. This will prevent entries that are far too long and unfair for the others.

2. All entries must be written in English. Multilingual entries may confuse the readers and voters. If you truly wish to incorporate a little bit of extra wording into your entry, be sure to add a referendum under your entry for people to refer to.
2A. All entries must use the standard, easy-to-read Arial or Times New Roman font. You must also refrain from using effects such as coloured and underlined text.
2B. To convey certain emotions, use proper punctuation and capitalization of letters. Also, be sure to proofread your entries to avoid grammar and spelling errors. All text should be aligned to the left, unless the entry requires otherwise. If you are to write dialogue between characters, bold lettering is allowed in listings.

Code:
Captain"Ship to starboard Mr. Hanks!"
Navigator"Aye captain." the navigator whispered.
2C. As for titles/chapters; the main title of your entry must be in Size 5 and all following chapters and headers must be Size 3. Words used in titles and chapters will not count towards the 1500 word count.

3. Any form of composition can be submitted. Be it a haiku, short story, article, sonnet, limerick, ballad, lyrics, or anything else you can think of, be sure to remember the word count limit. A word of warning: it's natural for somebody to consider a 1500 word short story to be better than a 50 word poem due to the amount of content - if you plan on taking the shorter entry route, be sure to do something to make your entry stand out.


4. All entries must be completely original. Copying/pasting excerpts from existing works is considered plagiarism and will result in an immediate disqualification.
4A. There will be times when you need to use quotations from an existing piece of composition. When you do use a quote, be sure to place the entire phrase in "quotation marks".
4B. In the spirit of originality, it is recommended (but not required) that you create a new entry instead of re-using existing works.

5. Contestants who wish to keep their entries private until after the submission phase had ended may private message the contest organizer with their entry. These entries will automatically be posted on the following voting thread to await judgement.


6. If a submission appears to be offensive or reportable in any way, edit out said material before posting an entry.


What are we competing for?

I certainly hope for fun! It's also a great way to improve your writing and composition methods by receiving constructive criticism and seeing other entries. The winner of every month's competition is given permission to choose the next contest theme and has bragging rights for that month. Heck, show off your winning entry via signature, if you wish!


So, is that it?

It certainly is! If any mods/admins or dedicated members would like to assist in the overview and maintenance of this competition and its threads, please send me a PM - would love to hear from you! Good luck to everyone!
"...And that was all she wrote."
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Old 2011-02-01, 03:26   Link #2
Hiroi Sekai
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Sorry for the double post; I was wondering if a mod or an admin can sticky this topic please?
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Old 2011-02-01, 05:07   Link #3
milan kyuubi
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Shouldn't this thread need the 'Discussion' in the title?
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Old 2011-02-01, 05:26   Link #4
Hiroi Sekai
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Good point; adding to my last request then - could a mod or admin please sticky this thread and change the title to "EMDAS, AnimeSuki's Monthly Writing Competition (Rules/FAQ/General Discussion)?

Thank you
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Old 2011-02-02, 09:29   Link #5
felix
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Quote:
Originally Posted by papermario13689 View Post
Sorry for the double post; I was wondering if a mod or an admin can sticky this topic please?
There's no real need. As long as the thread is linked in the corresponding monthly thread it should be sufficient. You shouldn't follow SotM's example on this one, if you look closely that thread is just dead weight at the top of the forum and hardly ever used.


BTW any possibility of changing the size rules for the next one. I feel like poetry and such are cheating by following the same limitations. Perhaps go with the idea in the other thread of having two sizes and possibly two separate voting categories; ie. for the current limits, that would mean making poetry limited to something like 150 words. Or go with just no limits (other then fitting in one post), as it seems the limit is too challenging for people — the idea of what 1000 words would have been like is very very scary. It seems even your own story (genesis) would have been a close call for that one.
[edit] a 3rd alternative might be to run the contest once with out a limit, and set the limit there after based on how that one goes
Also, maybe I'm just a fast reader, but going though your story, which is roughly 1000 characters was fairly surprisingly quick (and I've read it word for word), so the initial fears that if the limitations is too high people could not read all entries may have been a little overdone with the current limit.
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Old 2011-02-02, 14:15   Link #6
Hiroi Sekai
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I apologize, but I beg to differ on this topic. It's a general rules/FAQ (and discussion last) thread. The main reason I ask it to be stickied is for that exact reason, actually. As people need to see the rules but not post about it, it'll probably drop from the first page quickly.

Actually, let's face it. Like I've mentioned it before, no matter how long poetry gets, it'll have to go through quite the battle against short stories to win. Also, unlike short stories, poetry follows a generic pattern. The writer can over vary the number of words within that pattern, so setting a small limit for them would be beyond unfair. In regards to your no limits idea, what do people take as your final entry? Are they to read your entire story in order to vote for you? I warn you, I would read it because I love to read, but not everyone would. The current is 1500 words, plenty of leeway for a short story - I edited and compressed "Genesis II" multiple times to have it fit in the limit.

I completely understand where you're coming from with this, but this isn't a "reading" contest. It's a creativity/writing contest. When you can compose a full plot and develop characters by only using 1500 words or less; that's the show of true talent and what will earn you the victory. It's a good sign that you can zoom through the story like that; a voter can do so with multiple stories without being felt like they're held down by one.
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Old 2011-02-02, 14:40   Link #7
felix
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Quote:
Originally Posted by papermario13689 View Post
Actually, let's face it. Like I've mentioned it before, no matter how long poetry gets, it'll have to go through quite the battle against short stories to win. Also, unlike short stories, poetry follows a generic pattern. The writer can over vary the number of words within that pattern, so setting a small limit for them would be beyond unfair. In regards to your no limits idea, what do people take as your final entry? Are they to read your entire story in order to vote for you? I warn you, I would read it because I love to read, but not everyone would. The current is 1500 words, plenty of leeway for a short story - I edited and compressed "Genesis II" multiple times to have it fit in the limit.

I completely understand where you're coming from with this, but this isn't a "reading" contest. It's a creativity/writing contest. When you can compose a full plot and develop characters by only using 1500 words or less; that's the show of true talent and what will earn you the victory. It's a good sign that you can zoom through the story like that; a voter can do so with multiple stories without being felt like they're held down by one.
Hm. We could just have both... I been thinking a little over this, and agree with you pitting poetry and short stories is kind of hard. I'm somewhat assuming it's going to be fairly awakward for the voters as well; if we get a poetry entry. So what do you think of something like this:
  • we allow people to enter both (ie. you can have a Final Story Entry and Final Poetry Entry)
  • you can only have one of each, but you can enter with both (ie. have a poetry entry and a story entry)
  • each one is voted separately
  • winners of each picks a theme (if someone wins both, he pickes only one theme not two)
  • next months contestants can pick one of the themes
Double winners (or even triple winners) have worked in SotM, so the theory works in practice. People generally have a lot of fun with double themes since its a little less restrictive, similarly contestants have more opportunities to be creative. You can post your original poetry entry for example ^.^ And I could post one as well. So it's also an opportunity to diversify the contest. A additional benefit is the themes can be more specific to poetry or short stories; for example I would think a "riddle" theme would be interesting for poetry but may not be fair for short stories. In a scenario with double theme, it's not a problem.

Your opinion?
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Old 2011-02-02, 15:02   Link #8
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I definitely think poetry and short stories should be judged separately or else it's very unfair. Also, maybe we could leave a limit off for now and see how it works out...
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Old 2011-02-02, 15:14   Link #9
Hiroi Sekai
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Sorry guys, the limit stays. I've been in plenty of writing competitions and I know whenever one goes astray, it's because they allowed the writer's creativity run without any boundaries. I actually won a writing contest once where we had to use EXACTLY 200 words. After that ordeal I'm glad with anything that gives a little bit of leeway, but not too much.

However, I am liking the 2 separate judgement idea...to an extent. Having a final poetry and final short story judging would make sense, but I don't like the 2 separate theme idea. ANYTHING can work with both poetry and short stories. Even felix's suggestion - A riddle theme from a short story could simply be like a short Professor Layton or The Riddler parody (just an example, be sure to follow the rules!). Anything works, so we should keep the one main theme.
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Old 2011-02-02, 15:39   Link #10
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The alternative (that was also used in SotM) is to have the winners decide on a theme together. Frankly I think this was not used anymore since it causes delays. It's hard to agree on one theme since it means someone is suggesting and someone is accepting the suggestion.

I have a hybrid solution. Each winner picks a theme, last one to pick (ie. whoever is slow) must pick a theme that's compatible with the first one. Because they pick independently there's no slowdown in the contest proceedings. Contestants must make their entries fit both themes at the same time (in the limits of reason).

So in short options are:
  • Easy Difficulty (two themes, pick one)
  • Normal Difficulty (one theme) — turn around for theme may be slow
  • Brutal Difficulty (two themes, both must apply)
Your call Mario...
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Old 2011-02-03, 04:17   Link #11
Hiroi Sekai
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As I said, I think we should only have one theme. I could have the two winners send out their theme choice and choose a theme that applies to both if necessary.
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Old 2011-02-03, 04:39   Link #12
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^ That would be unfair to the winners, since you would be choosing the theme.

[edit] Also, technically two themes as one = one theme
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Old 2011-02-04, 06:52   Link #13
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Also, regardless if we do multiple categories or not this needs to be resolves since the possibility of vote draws always exists.

Well, unless we devise some sort of system to resolve that to one winner or never have it happen.
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Old 2011-02-04, 16:42   Link #14
Hiroi Sekai
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Yes, you're right about that. I'm hoping to actually try out the one theme/competition idea (combining every form of writing into one competition) for at least February and March to see if there's actually a problem with it or not.

Until then, I want to start composing ideas in case we do need to switch it.
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Old 2011-02-05, 07:21   Link #15
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In the case of having two winners, one for poetry and one for short story, instead of hybridizing themes, how about having a coin flip decide between two different themes? IMHO, I'm lukewarm on the idea of having separate themes for poetry and prose, as I think it would stifle creativity, but hybridizing two different themes might just dilute the effect each one would have had individually. One will be left out, but it's a pretty fair way to do things.
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Old 2011-02-05, 08:12   Link #16
felix
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Originally Posted by wassupimviet View Post
In the case of having two winners, one for poetry and one for short story, instead of hybridizing themes, how about having a coin flip decide between two different themes? IMHO, I'm lukewarm on the idea of having separate themes for poetry and prose, as I think it would stifle creativity, but hybridizing two different themes might just dilute the effect each one would have had individually. One will be left out, but it's a pretty fair way to do things.
How is it fair. You would lose even after winning. And over a petty 50/50 toss on top of that. If we're going to do it like that might as well not have a theme at all, or winners picking themes at all. Frankly the way the discussion is going, it seems this hole theme business (borrowed from SotM) is merely getting in the way of other more important matters. If you look at the discussion so far, you'll notice that "writing" is far in the back of all this theme restriction talk. Am I the only one who finds that a bit strange, I mean isn't that what the contest is about? We don't really have a established "writing community" at all, so I think the contest is getting a little ahead of itself.

Additionally, if you look at the entries so far, even though we all fit the theme in our own way, it's all very washy when it comes to theme—entry association. Mario's entry is pretty close, but given it's his theme you have to wonder which came first, the idea for the entry (his first one) or the theme. We may be tacking this theme a little too lightly as well. Yeah yeah, so in SotM it works and it's all just for fun, but in SotM the theme just forces you to search for a image, or in the case of a few themes, apply a certain one-two steps. In writing on the other hand a theme takes far more liberties away; and IMO it's a far harder restriction then people give it credit.

And to top it all off, isn't the winner picking a theme for next contest giving him a really really big advantage? I mean think about. People love the "this fits best the theme" idea when voting, and it's generally one the first things to come to mind. If the winner just picks the theme, he can just pick something that favors whatever he wants to write (intentionally or not). This isn't the case in SotM because the themes influence only goes as far as what you're searching for.

Maybe we should consider alternatives.

Getting back to the multiple winners problem, are we still doing "three favorites" when voting? I don't know how much of a good idea that is should we end up with only the current three entries (or relatively few).
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Old 2011-02-05, 08:37   Link #17
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Well, fair in the sense that, if we're going to cut out someone's idea, a coin-flip would be pretty objective and all. I see where you're coming from, I concur on many parts, and I do think that having themes can be limiting. On the themes, though, I think limiting what you can write about encourages creativity, in the whole "desperation breeds innovation" kind of way, and gives some form of unity to all the entries in a particular month. The advantage-disadvantage is something that needs some talking about, though, I agree.
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Old 2011-02-05, 08:56   Link #18
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Originally Posted by wassupimviet View Post
Well, fair in the sense that, if we're going to cut out someone's idea, a coin-flip would be pretty objective and all.
Picture this: We have two winners one chooses "Genesis" another "Robots". Mario does the coin flip and comes to us and tells us "Genesis" won.

Can you spot the problem with the objectivity?

Quote:
Originally Posted by wassupimviet View Post
I see where you're coming from, I concur on many parts, and I do think that having themes can be limiting. On the themes, though, I think limiting what you can write about encourages creativity, in the whole "desperation breeds innovation" kind of way, and gives some form of unity to all the entries in a particular month. The advantage-disadvantage is something that needs some talking about, though, I agree.
Did you know, there are no prodigies in writing (unlike all the other arts). There's no child-genius, actually most established writers started at a fairly old age. This is because writing is a very conscious act, and reflects a lot on the person. A theme does not mirror any of this. If anything I'd compare it to a monkey wrench thrown into the works for fun sake. The more I think about it, the more I feel a "theme" adds nothing to the creativity of the entries, and just steers writers into various directions they don't want to go, leading to weaker entries then we could have. And that's if it doesn't discourage them from entering at all. I would not enter at all if the theme was "giant robots" for example, I could think of a few other themes I would not even consider entering.
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Old 2011-02-05, 09:40   Link #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by felix View Post
Picture this: We have two winners one chooses "Genesis" another "Robots". Mario does the coin flip and comes to us and tells us "Genesis" won.

Can you spot the problem with the objectivity?
Why, I always trust complete strangers on the internet!

Quote:
Did you know, there are no prodigies in writing (unlike all the other arts). There's no child-genius, actually most established writers started at a fairly old age. This is because writing is a very conscious act, and reflects a lot on the person. A theme does not mirror any of this. If anything I'd compare it to a monkey wrench thrown into the works for fun sake. The more I think about it, the more I feel a "theme" adds nothing to the creativity of the entries, and just steers writers into various directions they don't want to go, leading to weaker entries then we could have. And that's if it doesn't discourage them from entering at all. I would not enter at all if the theme was "giant robots" for example, I could think of a few other themes I would not even consider entering.
Conversely, it might lead some to explore places they never would have otherwise and find that they really like it. I agree with you about 90% of the way, but, EMDAS being a competition and all, I feel there should be a unifying theme for the entries so that it's not just a collection of ideas (which is great, but has its own place). I'd be hard-pressed to compare a dystopian-cyberpunk story exploring nihilism society with a Victorian-era set romantic comedy, and adding a shonen-style action mecha short to the mix would blow my mind.
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Old 2011-02-05, 09:58   Link #20
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Originally Posted by wassupimviet View Post
Conversely, it might lead some to explore places they never would have otherwise and find that they really like it.
If only writing were so easy. But like I said it's not like SotM where you just need to find a render; and arguably people there have a though time even with just searching (at times). Also, no offense intended, but isn't this a little pretentious. Shouldn't the contest be a little more, lets say, humble and open. The forum is big, but the writing community (excluding bloggers and such) in it is fairly small (and that's a pretty generous assessment at the moment).

Quote:
Originally Posted by wassupimviet View Post
but, EMDAS being a competition and all, I feel there should be a unifying theme for the entries so that it's not just a collection of ideas (which is great, but has its own place).
It be great if that was all it did, but it doesn't seem like it. As I stated already, I feel the theme is doing quite the opposite all too well. This is why I'm asking we should abandon the idea and try looking at alternative methods of achieving the goals.

Quote:
Originally Posted by wassupimviet View Post
I'd be hard-pressed to compare a dystopian-cyberpunk story exploring nihilism society with a Victorian-era set romantic comedy, and adding a shonen-style action mecha short to the mix would blow my mind.
I don't believe the theme actually solves that problem... if you look at the current entries. It's almost ironic you would say that.
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