Discussion for the contest goes here. Contest thread:

http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1319910

I already have some ideas.But if I ever win(heh,it's more probable that Newgrounds runs out of shit),I don't want the money.Give it to someone else.

At 10/1/12 09:48 PM, EJR wrote: Have you tried talking to Tom about maybe handing out some store credit prizes?

I thought Tom agreed to give store credit last time? Also, I'm pretty sure I read a shout-out for the last contest in one of the announcements.

"Fo sho" as they say to the $10. I do hope we can get more than a handful of submissions this time 'round. I will most likely pick up a sketch I wrote about a guy who is supersensitive to light; so, now that I have the general idea of where I want to go with it, I will definitely finish by Halloween.

Ekublai and 4 are judging; I'd like to see Deathcon, mhzinski, and starwars on that panel. Ooh! That's a NG Writing Forum Halloween Contest Review Panel Dream Team!

Hey all!

My apologies for not being very active lately. My animation thesis was bound to destroy my spare time. Hopefully, judging will count towards the majority of participation for the next month or two. I will also try to update the highlights thread soon when I can.

Look forward to reading your stories!

At 10/2/12 01:48 AM, DeftAndEvil wrote: Ekublai and 4 are judging; I'd like to see Deathcon, mhzinski, and starwars on that panel. Ooh! That's a NG Writing Forum Halloween Contest Review Panel Dream Team!

I don't think I'll be judging, because it wouldn't make sense for me to judge stories written by people far more experienced than me :P

About the store credit prizes, only reason I haven't PMed Tom about this is that last time he *did* offer store credit, but since only like 6 entries we submitted, almost everyone was going to get a prize, so everyone just decided to not take the prizes and not announce any winner. It was more of a writing event than a writing contest last time.

But if anyone wants to get Tom on the line, feel free to do so. There seems to be more attention this month.

I hope I have time to submit something!

CosmicDeath has so generously agreed to donate $30 to the prize pool!

Deathcon is now a judge! He has also agreed to give the winner an NG "Supporter" badge, meaning he'll donate $25 to NG on behalf of the winner, giving him the supporter upgrade.

So now the prize pool consists of $40 plus a $25 NG donation!

It's so awesome to see members of this diverse community pitching in. Now I'm really excited.

Perhaps in the future we could have some more creative prizes as well, like getting a character of your story drawn for the winning story.

Hmm... I've never been big on writing for a competition, but this one does seem intriguing. I won't win, but the 7000 word limit has enticed me, and I'm a sucker for horror writing. Can't wait to read some of the entries!

Glad to see this event is getting some buzz! Thanks to everyone generous enough to donate a prize or your time as a judge.

I've never really tried to make a horror story. I've been putting some ideas together, and it's been an interesting process. Can't wait to see what people come up with!

I just made a newspost that will keep all the updated info of the contest:

http://4urentertainment.newgrounds.com/news/post/764713

At 10/3/12 09:12 AM, 4urentertainment wrote: I just made a newspost that will keep all the updated info of the contest:

http://4urentertainment.newgrounds.com/news/post/764713

I'm going to use my clout as judge to enforce this: anyone who posts their story without removing the curly quotes will be judged harsher than clean posts.

Before: âEUoetestâEU <== with curly quotes

Tools > AutoCorrect > AutoFormat As You Type > Replace as you type > Uncheck "Straight Quotes with Smart Quotes"

OR

Word Options > Proofing > AutoCorrect Options... > AutoCorrect > Replace as you type > Uncheck "Straight Quotes with Smart Quotes"

After: "test" <== without curly quotes

As usual, please have someone look over your story before you turn it in. If you need someone to peer-edit, just post in here saying that you do. Then, have someone send you a pm and you guys can exchange stories. I'm available for peer-editing but I'm gonna be a judge too, so ... yeah.

Also, make sure it is neat enough for publishing; i.e. no silly typos, fundamental grammar and syntax etc.

At 10/4/12 12:05 AM, Roxxar wrote: i be working on one.

but a question(s):
1) should it be real or fake? or both?

Fiction or non-fiction is welcome. It just has to be horror themed.

2) what if 7000 words cannot contain the story?

Trust me, 7k words is a lot for a short story. If you exceed 7k, then you need to either cut back a ton of material, work on something new, or post an excerpt.

3) by horror, you mean, Slenderman, or spiders?

I'd avoid Slenderman and Creepypasta. Spiders aren't "horror-ful," they are more just creepy. Aim for something that will give you nightmares.

At 10/4/12 12:45 AM, DeftAndEvil wrote: I'd avoid Slenderman and Creepypasta. Spiders aren't "horror-ful," they are more just creepy. Aim for something that will give you nightmares.

I agree here. My idea of an ideal horror story is one that physically makes me cringe and makes my heart actually beat faster. Or, another form of horror is one I read of Stephan King, where the story was so grim that I had to stop reading and go outside because it was seriously affecting my mental well-being.

At 10/2/12 10:06 AM, 4urentertainment wrote: About the store credit prizes, only reason I haven't PMed Tom about this is that last time he *did* offer store credit, but since only like 6 entries we submitted, almost everyone was going to get a prize, so everyone just decided to not take the prizes and not announce any winner. It was more of a writing event than a writing contest last time.

Last year Tom offered store credit for every contest except the writing contest, which had a cash prize (I would know, I got third :) ). So I'm a little surprised as to why he isn't doing that this year. Last year the payouts went something like:

1st- $100
2nd- $50
3rd- $30

I doubt we'll be able to match that based off just donations, but I feel like if this is at least brought up to Tom he may consider it. But what the hell do I know

At 10/4/12 08:01 PM, Ship wrote: Last year Tom offered store credit for every contest except the writing contest, which had a cash prize (I would know, I got third :) ). So I'm a little surprised as to why he isn't doing that this year. Last year the payouts went something like:

The last writing contest was a few months ago, where only 6 people entered. As you can see, the writing section of NG has really dwindled since the start of these monthly writing contests where at least 30 people used to enter.

So it doesn't really make sense if Tom offers cash prizes and only 5 people enter, and everyone who enters, regardless of quality, gets a prize.

But I hope by reviving the contests we can revive the community and hopefully get more people to regularly be active in the writing scene so future contest would be deemed worthwhile to have official prizes.

Just my 2 cents.

Can my story be based off of a horror movie franchise? Cause I really wanted to do a story within the Saw universe.

At 10/5/12 10:39 AM, powerdude964 wrote: Can my story be based off of a horror movie franchise? Cause I really wanted to do a story within the Saw universe.

Sorry for this second post, but I just need to say right now, I'm on both ends with my question here:

Part of me wants to do this kind of story because not only am I terrible at making my own type of story, but I also want to make it as a tribute to the franchise, as it seems to be one of the few franchises that actually interests me. The other part of me doesn't want to do it because not only does it seem very lazy and unoriginal, but that there are many, many people out there who HATE the Saw franchise, and would think that I would be stooping down to a much lower level. Not to mention, it wouldn't be very scary nor frightening in any sort of way. So, to change my question: What do you guys think? I'm seriously going cross-eyed just thinking about which decision would be best.

At 10/5/12 10:49 AM, powerdude964 wrote: So, to change my question: What do you guys think? I'm seriously going cross-eyed just thinking about which decision would be best.

Making something original is always better. Sure it may be harder, but it's tons more fun, and you would have something that you could call completely your own.

At 10/5/12 06:08 AM, 4urentertainment wrote: The last writing contest was a few months ago, where only 6 people entered. As you can see, the writing section of NG has really dwindled since the start of these monthly writing contests where at least 30 people used to enter.

So it doesn't really make sense if Tom offers cash prizes and only 5 people enter, and everyone who enters, regardless of quality, gets a prize.

But I hope by reviving the contests we can revive the community and hopefully get more people to regularly be active in the writing scene so future contest would be deemed worthwhile to have official prizes.

Just my 2 cents.

Ohhh I see now. I've been inactive for quite some time so I wasn't aware of the monthly writing contests (dang!). Hopefully this one takes off then, because in the past it has been great to read dozens of other peoples' stories. Oh well, still looking forward to submitting mine regardless.

I'd like to submit a story but be exempt from the prizes. Is this possible?

At 10/5/12 04:02 PM, Deathcon7 wrote: I'd like to submit a story but be exempt from the prizes. Is this possible?

Definitely. You could pass along the prize since you're a judge anyway.

At 10/5/12 04:02 PM, Deathcon7 wrote: I'd like to submit a story but be exempt from the prizes. Is this possible?

It ain't stopping me. The way I see it: the more entries, the better.

At 10/9/12 03:27 PM, TheCrimsonWidow wrote: Damnit, I was just writing a horror story that was getting good when I saw the thread. I thought, hey I could submit it here. Then I saw it: 7000. I've gone way past that, so I guess I'll make something new.

Or you could edit.

Which I'd like to point out to everyone: peer review before you submit. This isn't a race, it's a test of strength. Submitting your story 5 minutes before the cut-off will not be held against you. Similarly, being the first story submitted will award you no favor.

At 10/5/12 04:02 PM, Deathcon7 wrote: I'd like to submit a story but be exempt from the prizes. Is this possible?

I'd like to tag along with Deathcon on that note. Now I just need to come up with something worthwhile. Horror always seems to be the hardest genre to write for (and yet Stephen King makes it look so damn easy).

At 10/10/12 07:29 PM, Roxxar wrote: what if our story were to be quite long, and we needed to post seperate parts? or can we not do that in the contest?

It's okay to split it up if you have to, just don't go over the word limit.

At 10/11/12 05:59 PM, Roxxar wrote:

well, sure. but i mean, like...a saga...or something. like, say you leave your contest story with a cliffhanger...and you want to continue it in the contest thread. would the seperate parts count as well, or will they all just be counted as one big lump post?

or did you mean that?

I think, for the purpose of this contest, you should try and make a self contained story. If you decide to expand upon it further at a later time that's great. However, you are limited to only one entry for this contest, so when you post your story, that should be all of it.

Did anyone notice this?

The Halloween Writing Contest is already in progress and we'll toss $25 store credit to the winning entry.

http://www.newgrounds.com/collection/halloween2012

I don't think I'm gonna have mine finished in time! Crunch Time: GO.

At 10/23/12 10:31 PM, starwarsjunkie wrote: I don't think I'm gonna have mine finished in time! Crunch Time: GO.

I only just figured out the premise for mine yesterday. Unfortunately it's a really good premise so, to indulge my ego, yes, it's going to be amazing.

Although this is not a requirement, please aim for a minimum of 750 to 1000 words. The stories submitted thus far have really suffered from the same thing: underdevelopment. 1000 words is definitely enough for a scary story, but every sentence must be top-notch in order for the entire story to be solid and for the tension (and suspense--goddamn! the suspense!) to develop.

I'm aiming for about 2000 words, which is about 4 pages, I think. Good luck to everyone!

(Also, judges, be sure to read and review the stories as they are posted. That way, we can convene November 1, 2, or 3 and discuss the entries and also submit final scores and decide the winners on time. I expect stories to trickle in with most of them being turned in Oct. 30 and 31. I can't see a reason why I shouldn't have my top 10 by November 2, which is a Friday. Results should be posted by November 6 (Tuesday morning), and ideally on Nov. 5. I'll be contacting you guys individually as the month progresses. Lemme know what you guys think.)