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At 6/10/09 08:28 PM, Deathcon7 wrote:
If you honestly feel that the story cannot be contained within 4,500 words, then you may want to consider writing something different. You don't want to sacrifice the quality of the piece just to get the word count down. Maybe you can put it aside for something like NaNoWriMo, or expand on it and submit it to one of those short story sites found around the internet.

Or I can write a book and become a millionaire.

Eat your heart out Neil Gaiman, your territory has not been done justice, especially by you.

At 6/10/09 09:36 PM, JackPhantasm wrote: Eat your heart out Neil Gaiman, your territory has not been done justice, especially by you.

Damn, it sounds like you're about to blow mine away and I haven't even got to the part where France sets off the Nukes under the Pacific Ocean yet :(

I've submitted an entry, please review and such :3
It's a sequal to my last entry, I honestly think hemmingway doesnt have shit on me.

At 6/10/09 07:49 PM, AniMetal wrote: Question!

Does the entire story have to take place on the island or can it start off else where then be moved to the island as the crucial main part of the story?

Hmm, I'm not entirely sure myself. People have hinted that their story doesn't start on the island, but then the criteria for entering includes, "The setting of the story must exclusively occur on a small island.". In my opinion, as long as the story is predominantly set on the island with the setting playing an important part in the story, then it should be fine. Putting too much emphasis on other areas might make your entry less island-based, so my advice is to limit the introduction setting wise as much as possible, as hard as that might be.

Other judges might have different opinions on this one.

At 6/10/09 09:14 PM, CaptAcid wrote: I think one of the primary reasons they have a word limit is to help the judges get through all the entries on time, assuming each judge reads all the stories.

Partially I would think so, yes, but I think it's also worth considering that these contests are meant to be focused on short stories. I think the danger of allowing larger and larger word limits is that you start basing contests solely off novelletes, maybe novellas in the end. I'd love to get some long-term contests done at some point as I mentioned earlier, but for a contest that is designed only to last for a month, people might overdo certain things, miss the deadline, etc. if the organisers started introducing larger word limits.

On top of that like I also mentioned earlier, most of the entrants to these contests just tend to be casual writers who might be turned off by putting a focus on longer, drawn-out, detailed entries. I'm kind of crossing my fingers on the front that we might get larger contests for more dedicated writers some day, when the community builds up a little more, not that I'm wanting to exclude anyone.

But yes, I've gone off on a tangent. If anyone wants to discuss word limits for future contests, I'd advise you to get in touch with the organiser, Zerok in this case, but gumOnShoe might be helpful too, if they don't mind being disturbed. Hopefully you can put what I've said above into account if anyone decided to do that, though they are my own thoughts.

I've been gone for what, almost 10 days and I still don't have a story review?

Okay, finished Feed My Eyes and any helpful comments would be highly useful. I'm now deciding if to use that or Clouds In The Sky. I'll probably check through Feed My Eyes and edit it in about a day or two. I'm just glad I finally finished it.

I think I'm nearly done: http://deathcon7.newgrounds.com/news/pos t/327218

Just under 4500 cap. I'm a bit nervous because I really feel like the story just rolls along without much engagement but it couldn't be helped. I intended to deliver an adventure within the word limit, but I think this particular adventure would benefit from a high word count. Oh well. Let me know what you think.

At 6/13/09 10:06 AM, Lost-Chances wrote: Okay, finished Feed My Eyes and any helpful comments would be highly useful. I'm now deciding if to use

lol that's neat like the end it's like a chain mail letter

I just finished my second draft and posted it. If you are one of the previous reviewers, please go ahead and see what you think of my changes. I posted it on my user page as Honeymoon RD2 (Rough Draft 2). I am certainly happier with this variation, although I had to change a few plot points. Most of the changes occured from the middle point onward, for those of you who already read it once.

At 6/12/09 05:43 AM, Coop83 wrote:

At 6/10/09 09:36 PM, JackPhantasm wrote: Eat your heart out Neil Gaiman, your territory has not been done justice, especially by you.

Damn, it sounds like you're about to blow mine away and I haven't even got to the part where France sets off the Nukes under the Pacific Ocean yet :(

key with that: suspense

make me fear the nukes

FEAR THEM

Currently working on a piece for this contest.

Well I am fresh out of ideas.

At 6/16/09 09:36 AM, Sawdust wrote: Well I am fresh out of ideas.

Well, do you have any samples of what you were currently thinking of doing, or have all of your ideas been taken by others?

Finally done. In the words of Peter Griffin, "...and now we play the waiting game."

After going through a couple of ideas, I've settled on an idea that's got me back into writing horror. I'm about 500 words into my story, which is a bit of a psychological piece. I've got plenty of time to type it up, so it should be a piece of cake.

My final revision is done since I was not getting any further comments to crtique it with. I hope you all enjoy it, good luck to all other contestants!

Managed to do the second draft which is on the userpage. Any further advice of how to improve it would be appreciated.

At 6/18/09 05:07 PM, Lost-Chances wrote: Managed to do the second draft which is on the userpage. Any further advice of how to improve it would be appreciated.

HeyI reviewed it, hope you find it helpful.

After so many of you patiently allowed me to review your submissions, I think it is only fair that I let all of you take a few jabs at mine now that I have finally finished it. It's up on my userpage right now. To be serious, I would really appreciate any and all constructive criticisms you have about my story. I'd like to improve it however I can, and your opinions help me greatly. I probably won't submit my story until right before the contest closes, so please comment whenever you can or when it is convinient for you.

At 6/20/09 04:15 AM, CaptAcid wrote: HeyI reviewed it, hope you find it helpful.

Reviewed yours by the way, just in case you didn't notice it ;P

Oh right, this.

Hmmm I've got two, 3 hour bus rides coming up in early July, perhaps that'll be a good time to get readin'.

At 6/24/09 01:05 AM, Zerok wrote: Oh right, this.

Hmmm I've got two, 3 hour bus rides coming up in early July, perhaps that'll be a good time to get readin'.

Yeah, don't doubt it. I got most of my judging done last month on a 10 hour bus ride. Laptop battery died in the end though.

At 6/24/09 01:13 AM, WritersBlock wrote: Yeah, don't doubt it. I got most of my judging done last month on a 10 hour bus ride. Laptop battery died in the end though.

I was thinking about using... get this... old fashioned paper!

Fuck.
I forgot about this. lol

Screw it.
I'll do next months. :p

At 6/23/09 03:18 AM, blakedatch wrote: After so many of you patiently allowed me to review your submissions, I think it is only fair that I let all of you take a few jabs at mine now that I have finally finished it. It's up on my userpage right now. To be serious, I would really appreciate any and all constructive criticisms you have about my story. I'd like to improve it however I can, and your opinions help me greatly. I probably won't submit my story until right before the contest closes, so please comment whenever you can or when it is convinient for you.

Hey I reviewed it, I hope you find my comments useful. By far one of the best entries so far if I may humbly say so.

At 6/24/09 01:16 AM, Zerok wrote:

At 6/24/09 01:13 AM, WritersBlock wrote: Yeah, don't doubt it. I got most of my judging done last month on a 10 hour bus ride. Laptop battery died in the end though.

I was thinking about using... get this... old fashioned paper!

WOAH! I'm attached to my computer. I do almost all of my writing and judging on my computer. Gets the job done. Most of the time.

At 6/24/09 01:21 AM, Mexifry wrote: Fuck.
I forgot about this. lol

Screw it.
I'll do next months. :p

Seven days, left. Still time to write a story.

I ain't skipping this one that's for sure.

At 6/24/09 10:20 AM, WritersBlock wrote: WOAH! I'm attached to my computer. I do almost all of my writing and judging on my computer. Gets the job done. Most of the time.

I see what you mean. Once I get into it, I find writing on the computer to be good enough, provided I've got a dictionary, a thesaurus (both helped by online options) and an actual idea that could be said to be complete. My weakness is that when using the computer to write, my idea fizzes away at times, even if I write it down and list the themes I want to address.

I'm working on a longer piece now that should be done over the summer, now that college has ended. I want to get it done idealistically by the time I start university, or at least within a month of starting. Eh, I'm not doing it professionally here. Most of that will probably be done on the computer, unless I find a nice place ot write around.

Hey, guys, I just submitted my story Roman Betrayal. Can somebody read it and give me a review? Thanks.

Here's my complete draft for the story. I would like some criticism first before submitting, if you people would be so kind to do so.