EMDAS, AnimeSuki's Monthly Writing Competition (Rules/FAQ/General Discussion)
http://img859.imageshack.us/img859/7762/emdas1.jpg 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. 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. 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. 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." |
Sorry for the double post; I was wondering if a mod or an admin can sticky this topic please?
|
Shouldn't this thread need the 'Discussion' in the title?
|
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:) |
Quote:
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. :eyespin: :heh: 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 goesAlso, 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. |
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. |
Quote:
Your opinion? |
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...
|
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. |
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:
|
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.
|
^ That would be unfair to the winners, since you would be choosing the theme. :p
[edit] Also, technically two themes as one = one theme |
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. |
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. |
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.
|
Quote:
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). :heh: :p |
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.
|
Quote:
Can you spot the problem with the objectivity? :p Quote:
|
Quote:
Quote:
|
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
|
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 18:48. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.