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Please use this thread for the discussion relating to the November Monthly Writing Contest, themed "Saints Over Sinners"

Entries thread to follow.

ENTRIES THREAD

Cool. I'm excited for this. Got a good amount of time to work on this.

Saints over Sinners... could be some interesting topics to explore here.

Reminds me of the short story I'm reading now. It's much like an adaptation of Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" (which in turn was a adaptation of "Heart of Darkness") except there are apparently zombies involved somehow.

Haha, yeh mate I am joining this one for sure

oh aye im looking forward to this un i have quite a few ideas :D:D:D:D:D:D:D

PRIZES

Following a brief discussion with Tom, I am pleased to confirm that there will be prizes of STORE CREDIT in the following positions:

1st) $50
2nd) $40
3rd) $30
4th) $20
5th) $10

That's right, there is a prize pool of $150 this time around. I've come up with a concept for my piece and while I don't really care about winning store credit, in case any of you think that it might be rigged, I'm eager to see how my piece compares against your entries.

500 words in and just over 6 weeks to go. Sweet.

Seems like a lot of fun! I'm in it again this month.

thanks!

what the hell is "Halowe'en"
is that some play on words I just fail to get?

Americans know it as Halloween
I think Halloween stands for Hallow Evening (Halloweven and the ' stands for the v)

Anyway... cool concept, as I assumed most writers (if not all) for the Halloween competition ended their stories with the villain/antagonist/monster winning and the protagonist either dying or falling victim. I was pondering an idea that would take place right after the events of my Halloween entry submission, and where the Halloween submission was supernatural, this one would be more of a thriller/crime drama that would tie the whole story together. Huh, I might finish the story but I do not think I will post it.

Seems cool, though I have to admit I'm kind of confused about what the theme actually is. Just a few questions to clear things up:

-Is it just about the aftermath of Halloween in general, or is it supposed to specifically be about the aftermath of something with a "sinister overtone"? Can it just be about Halloween the holiday?

-Do the events of Halloween have to explicitly be part of the story, or can they just be alluded to or implied?

-Do those events have to be something earth-shattering or life-altering, or can it be something more understated?

At 11/1/10 06:43 PM, Dr-Worm wrote: Seems cool, though I have to admit I'm kind of confused about what the theme actually is. Just a few questions to clear things up:

Check out the MWC entries thread. Coop has some rules and guidelines about what the story has to be/do/regard.

At 11/1/10 09:44 PM, DeftAndEvil wrote: Check out the MWC entries thread. Coop has some rules and guidelines about what the story has to be/do/regard.

Yeah, I read those before I posted, but they don't really answer my questions. Or I'm just stupid. Or both.

At 11/1/10 06:43 PM, Dr-Worm wrote: -Is it just about the aftermath of Halloween in general, or is it supposed to specifically be about the aftermath of something with a "sinister overtone"? Can it just be about Halloween the holiday?

I imagine so, since it is "Saints over Sinners" I'd guess that sinners won the Halloween battle, so maybe this one should be how the good guys win the war?

-Do the events of Halloween have to explicitly be part of the story, or can they just be alluded to or implied?

Well there is a word limit, so allusions and mild references would seem more reasonable you might want to check with someone else though.

-Do those events have to be something earth-shattering or life-altering, or can it be something more understated?

Well, the story should definitely show how the events on Halloween left a deeper impression. I think a life-altering event would be more impacting, given you don't have much to develop a more subtle effect, although in my opinion, that would be more impressive. Again, check with someone else.

So let me get this straight, are we allowed to create ANY sinister event, so long as it takes place on Halloween? Sounds a bit dodgy.

Also, what is the word limit? I've been looking everywhere and can't find it :(

At 11/2/10 02:33 AM, tinytim12 wrote: Also, what is the word limit? I've been looking everywhere and can't find it :(

1000-5000 words

At 11/1/10 06:17 PM, MarkP0rter wrote: what the hell is "Hallowe'en"
is that some play on words I just fail to get?

It's the correct spelling for "Halloween" All Hallows Eve, that sort of thing.

At 11/1/10 06:43 PM, Dr-Worm wrote: Seems cool, though I have to admit I'm kind of confused about what the theme actually is. Just a few questions to clear things up:

-Is it just about the aftermath of Halloween in general, or is it supposed to specifically be about the aftermath of something with a "sinister overtone"? Can it just be about Halloween the holiday?

It's probably going to be more effective if it's to do with something sinister. The time this happens doesn't have to be Hallowe'en, but it can be, for a little more impetus.

-Do the events of Halloween have to explicitly be part of the story, or can they just be alluded to or implied?

They can be implied - you can just describe the aftermath scene, as I will be, though I am providing a little background first.

-Do those events have to be something earth-shattering or life-altering, or can it be something more understated?

Up to you really.

At 11/2/10 02:33 AM, tinytim12 wrote: So let me get this straight, are we allowed to create ANY sinister event, so long as it takes place on Halloween? Sounds a bit dodgy.

Any sinister event, though as before, the setting on Hallowe'en is an easy "in" for some writers.

I'm pretty easy going with this - I like to give my writers a broad scope to work around.

Also, what is the word limit? I've been looking everywhere and can't find it :(

1,000 Words minimum; 5,000 Maximum.

Hey I just submitted my story, which I guess doesn't have a name (just realized that lol...But I guess it can be called 10/31/00). This is the first time on the boards, so I am just wondering what my next steps might be. I hope I didn't break any rules, but I read all the posts so I think it should be okay. Anyway I hope everyone enjoys it and I can't wait to read more submissions!

I was considering entering the contest until I saw the 5,000 character limit. That's a big turn off for me since I feel restricted. I wouldn't enter anyway since I've been too busy with school stuff to write.

Oh well.

At 11/3/10 12:29 AM, cactus011 wrote: This is the first time on the boards, so I am just wondering what my next steps might be.

I guess that the best next step you can take is to write some reviews for the current pieces submitted by other authors. Perhaps revisit the July contest, which has just had the results posted and post some reviews for those pieces.

If you give reviews, people will most likely give you reviews back.

At 11/3/10 02:56 AM, Drake wrote: I was considering entering the contest until I saw the 5,000 character limit. That's a big turn off for me since I feel restricted. I wouldn't enter anyway since I've been too busy with school stuff to write.

You've got to take a subjective view of things here - if we upped the word limit to 10,000 or even 20,000 words, people would use massive chains of posts to submit their work. Since the BBS Limit is 4 posts per thread per 1/2 hour, you've got to try and fit what you can in there and 5,000 works nicely.

Also, consider the judges - they've got to read and critique every single submission here and in 6 weeks, that's going to be a lot of words. If there were three or four "epics" that stretched into the 5 figure word counts, we'd be looking at a vastly increased workload.

Remember, quality =/= quantity. Granted, RapeMuffin and Squishy69's entries for July were the longer of the entries that we saw, but the two short narratives scored highly as well.

At 11/3/10 04:55 AM, Coop83 wrote:

At 11/3/10 02:56 AM, Drake wrote: I was considering entering the contest until I saw the 5,000 character limit. That's a big turn off for me since I feel restricted. I wouldn't enter anyway since I've been too busy with school stuff to write.

You've got to take a subjective view of things here - if we upped the word limit to 10,000 or even 20,000 words, people would use massive chains of posts to submit their work. Since the BBS Limit is 4 posts per thread per 1/2 hour, you've got to try and fit what you can in there and 5,000 works nicely.

I see where you're coming from with that. Plus it takes a while to come up with sometime, and lengthening it doesn't necessarily make it the best, and could make it boring.

Also, consider the judges - they've got to read and critique every single submission here and in 6 weeks, that's going to be a lot of words. If there were three or four "epics" that stretched into the 5 figure word counts, we'd be looking at a vastly increased workload.

Yeah, I get that the judges don't want to spend hours combing through long submission after long submission with the occasional short one. And, unless you get dedicated judges who are willing to read a lot (and I mean a lot) in the future, it'll stay the same.

Remember, quality =/= quantity. Granted, RapeMuffin and Squishy69's entries for July were the longer of the entries that we saw, but the two short narratives scored highly as well.

I'm going to agree and disagree. There have been many great short works of many kinds, yes, but I don't like the thought of writing something that has the potential to be a great, lengthy read put into shorter form. To be honest, yes, I know where you're coming from, Coop, but if you're really shooting for something, the restraint can be a problem. Just sayin', man.

At 11/3/10 07:05 AM, Drake wrote:

At 11/3/10 04:55 AM, Coop83 wrote: Remember, quality =/= quantity. Granted, RapeMuffin and Squishy69's entries for July were the longer of the entries that we saw, but the two short narratives scored highly as well.

I'm going to agree and disagree. There have been many great short works of many kinds, yes, but I don't like the thought of writing something that has the potential to be a great, lengthy read put into shorter form. To be honest, yes, I know where you're coming from, Coop, but if you're really shooting for something, the restraint can be a problem. Just sayin', man.

I see where you're coming from and I'm not writing off the longer works as boring, by a long shot. I also understand that something that you've written as a longer piece can feel "cheated" by making a condensed version. In spite of that, I often encourage authors to write extended versions of their contest entries to "break free" of the limits for the purposes of expanding their portfolios.

With this in mind, I'll ask if you've put forth an entry for the NG Anthology? That's something where a word limit means little, but the quality is needed to produce works well enough to produce extras issues, should it be a success.

If you're looking for inspiration on other stories (I suspect not from what I've seen of you so far on NG), then look no further than the topics used for MWC8; MWC9 and MWC10 - you might find some inspiration there that befits your requirements.

I've never done one of these before, but i'll give it a shot. I'm also gonna challenge myself and forbid the inclusion of zombies. Wish me luck.

Guys, please pay attention to the rules before posting. The word limits are there and stories that fall short will be disqualified. Especially reaching the 1000 mark. The contest just opened, there is no need to jump ahead on opening day just to get something down. Take yer time.

Dude, check this out and see what you think. I want to know if this is good reading or not. My contest submission.

I take it I was removed from consideration for being a judge? If so, then I'll try to put in my story as a contestant, but if so, then I'll set aside some time to judge.

Does the story have to be directly related to Halloween, or can it be about an event that HAPPENED on the day of Halloween, like say a party or anniversary that didn't have a Halloween theme? Also, does there have to be an immediate resolution in the story, or can it be progressive as the story continues towards the end? Reason I'm asking is, is that I wanna write about true events that happened in my community on Halloween that had nothing to do with costumes, candy or whatnot, it just involved a lot of people starting a lot of problems that the hero has to overcome. Something life-changing DID happen though, so yeah could someone get back to me about this? I'm itching to get this off my chest, but want to know if it's allowed first.

Thanks,

~Warrior-STH

At 11/6/10 06:46 PM, Warrior-STH wrote: Does the story have to be directly related to Halloween, or can it be about an event that HAPPENED on the day of Halloween, like say a party or anniversary that didn't have a Halloween theme? Also, does there have to be an immediate resolution in the story, or can it be progressive as the story continues towards the end? Reason I'm asking is, is that I wanna write about true events that happened in my community on Halloween that had nothing to do with costumes, candy or whatnot, it just involved a lot of people starting a lot of problems that the hero has to overcome. Something life-changing DID happen though, so yeah could someone get back to me about this? I'm itching to get this off my chest, but want to know if it's allowed first.

The Halloween bit was just a suggestion to get folks started, seeing as this was set up so shortly after the Halloween contest. It's merely pushed that something sinister happens that the hero then has to resolve.

You can do whatever with the story in terms of progression, just remember the word limit.

At 11/4/10 04:25 PM, funnyhomeboy wrote: I take it I was removed from consideration for being a judge? If so, then I'll try to put in my story as a contestant, but if so, then I'll set aside some time to judge.

I needed a commitment there and then, I was unsure about you, so I called in other help. Perhaps next time?

At 11/9/10 07:30 AM, sinfulwolf wrote: The Halloween bit was just a suggestion to get folks started, seeing as this was set up so shortly after the Halloween contest. It's merely pushed that something sinister happens that the hero then has to resolve.

You can do whatever with the story in terms of progression, just remember the word limit.

Yeah, it doesn't have to be anything to do with Hallowe'en, merely a good guy coming to prominence, resurgence or something similar around a particularly nasty event. Could anyone tell that I watched The Crow recently?