Writing Contest: Submissions thread

[gumOnShoe]

ONLY POST FINAL SUBMISSIONS IN THIS THREAD. DO NOT POST ANY COMMENTARY, UNFINISHED STORIES, OR ANY OTHER POSTS IN THIS THREAD.

Posts should have:
1) Title of Piece
2) Link to the exact blog post your story is in
3) A short summary of your story, or brief introduction if you find it necessary.

All discusion goes here: http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/9008 31
Updated Rules and Regulations: http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/9008 31

Newgrounds Writing Competition - May 2008
Introduction

This page serves as the centralized rules page for the Newgrounds Writing Competition for May 2008. To discuss the competition, see the discussion thread. To enter a submission see the submissions thread. For the most up to date rules, requirements and frequently asked questions scroll down below the Important Links Section.

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Required Theme

Whoah Whoah Whaoh.... Required what did you say? Unfortunately you need to work at least one of these ideas into your work, or should I say FORTUNATELY. Ok, not funny, but seriously the three themes you have to pick from are listed below. You do not need to correctly quote them at any point in your story, and in fact they might be very very vague. But the point is, they are supposed to either help you get writing or start thinking creatively. Take them as you will, but you must use at least one in an apparent fashion in your work, at least one point. If you can find an interesting way to use the theme, with out making it central to your work, thats alright too.

Theme numuro uno, something simple like a prompt:

1) Yeah, I'm starting to feel I shouldn't have left that at home today.

Theme dos, a challenging mix of words:

2) Tropical envy, a recipe for mayhem.

Theme three, opportunity:

3) Saying the wrong thing at the right time, only to find out it was the right time and the right thing, which later turned out not to be so great.

If you don't like them I must apologize. I hope you find an advantageous way to use them.

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Rules
1. The competition begins May 1st with the posting of the discussion and submissions thread.

2. Users must submit their entries no later than Saturday May 31st Standard Eastern Time (Newgrounds Time).

3. The character limit on your story is 32,768, which is the limit imposed by newgrounds on news posts. Keep in mind that spaces and carriage returns contribute to this limit.

4. Submissions must all be prose; that is, submissions must all be in the form of a short story. This competition is not related to poetry as it is extremely difficult to compare the worth of a poem to the worth of a story.

5. Submissions must adhere to at least one of the three required themes listed above. The existence of themes was requested by the users who helped plan this competition. Every effort has been made to give you a wide range of topics to write on.

6. Any evidence of plagiarism will result in disqualification. If you received inspiration from some other source, it might be wise to post a link in your summary or mention it.

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Submitting an Entry

Please note that once an entry has been submitted to the submissions thread it will be regarded as complete and a judge may read it before the end of the competition. If you are unwilling to commit and feel like editing your story, post it in the discussion area instead.

If a submission is found to be edited after the time of your post in the submissions thread, you may face disqualification.. Only link to completed works in the submissions thread. You have been warned.

1) Post your entry in a single news post. The length of your story is limited to the character limit imposed by Newgrounds on news posts.

2) Go to the submissions thread and post all of the following

- - I. A direct link to the news post which contains your submission, not just your user page.
- - II. The title of your story.
- - III. A summary of your story.

3) Wait until June to see how you did.

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Judges:

There are seven judges for this contest, all volunteers. They're putting in time to read your work and rip into it, so hats off to all of them. The judges are (in no particular order, except alphabetical)

Bolo
FBIpolux
gumOnShoe
Monocrom
Positively-Negative
Rabid-Echidna

Plus a mystery judge who has chosen not to be named so that he may loom over you and slink in your shadows as necessary.

The job of the judges is to eventually rate all of your pieces. Top five entries will be submitted in order by each judge gumOnShoe who will then tally the results, hopefully within the first 2 weeks of june. So, everything will hopefully be tallied by the 3rd week in June ("maybe sooner").

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Other Suggestions

Basic grammar is important, unless the dialogue you are writing has a specific dialect you wish to show. Ensure that you there are no errors before submitting. Grammar is not a field you will be judged on, but it will detract from your standing if it makes your story unreadable.

Paragraphs are highly important. We as judges don't want to be reading a huge wall of text, so keep breaking up your story where it makes sense, keeping ideas to paragraphs and helping move your story along. Just as we do not want to see a huge wall of text, we don't want to see single excessive use of single sentence paragraphs. Make sure your work is not broken up and choppy. It is not a matter of posting style, we would rather your entries be readable. So do your best to make sure that your paragraph structure makes sense. Also, single spaced entries only. I don't know how you'd do double-space, but I don't want to see you try either.

Additionally, this is the internet and no stranger to explicit ideas or pornography. I would like to discourage you from seeping your work in these internet ideals. Though you will not be disqualified, a judge may feel turned off by your work and choose to give you lower marks. Remember you are trying to impress us, and very few of us are impressed by people who have sex with <insert person here>.

Finally, we encourage you to be creative and off the wall. The required themes are merely guidelines, and though, they must in some way be apparent, they should not rule your work. Don't be afraid to try something dangerous or exciting in your writing. Creativity and writing expertise will win this competition. If you are unsure of an idea or are having a hard time starting, feel free to go to the discussion thread and start bouncing ideas off of others.

If you find you want more constructive criticism, inspiration, or a perspective. I might suggest that you hop on over to www.fourthperpective.com (FP). FP is similar to newgrounds in some ways, but its focus is on writing and not flash. So, if you have any content you wish to present or any questions, there are plenty of users over there with experience and its a great way to get your story out for people to see. In short, its a good place to go during and after this contest if writing is something you enjoy doing.

[gumOnShoe]

Bad copy pase:

Most Updated Rules and Requirements: http://plausiblefiction.newgrounds.com/n ews/post/112115

[gumOnShoe]

One more update because of a typo, I am on a roll, triple post: http://www.fourthperspective.com/

[OneWhoListens]

My story
Title: The BASAR Development
Summary: In an escalating galactic war, one group of soldiers must seize a deadly new technology from the hands of their enemy. Danger, drama, and of course, humor, ensue.

Btw, please ignore the odd line breaks in the story on the news post. It didn't look that way when I was typing it. Thanks.

[Phantom]

This is: The Nomad

I wrote it quite some time ago, but I believe that it has quite a bit to do with one of the main topics you provided, that being opportunity. And, this is a revamped version, currently on available here on Newgrounds, as of May 3rd.

"The Nomad" Is about a young man who comes has spent his life submerged in rage, when he comes across a deserted child and makes a tedious journey nation wide, to bring him home. the End is supposed to be a surprise.

Judge away.

[Wargrave]

Effects of War

It's not bad.

[yurgenburgen]

Title: Town Trouble.

Summary: Two strangers with familiar names meet in a nightclub, but one of them has plans that the other couldn't begin to imagine. I chose the first theme for this story although it only seems to crop up later on as you're reading it. It is a bittersweet folk tale.

Enjoy!

[Earfetish]

Friends Forever
Opportunity

Written before I read this thread

[Earfetish]

At 5/11/08 10:25 PM, Earfetish wrote: Friends Forever
Opportunity

Written before I read this thread

summary - darkness, bleakness, hostility, pain, emptiness, killing people

lol it's pretty good tho

[TheGoldenYoshi]

Legacy

This is a story I worked on all through last week. I hope you enjoy it. Here are the author comments from the post:

This is a short fiction piece I wrote about my parrot, Zanke, and my interpretations on what his life is like. The piece was inspired by two stories written by David Sedaris. One called "Repeat After Me", which inspired me to write about my own bird, and the other is a piece he wrote for the radio program "This American Life", in which he gave animals a voice, just as I do in my piece. I believe this falls under the theme of tropical envy (due to the parrot being a tropical parrot, as well as his envy for other inhabitants of the house), as well as opportunity (due to the parrot having the opportunity to leave a legacy with the turtle).

Also, I will be handing out cash prizes to the winners(cause I'm cool like that).

First Place: $10
Second Place: $5
Third Place: $1

Sorry if they are kind of low, but I'm not made of money. And yes, these are the official prizes, authorized by gumOnShoe.

[TheGoldenYoshi]

At 5/14/08 07:53 PM, OneWhoListens wrote:

At 5/14/08 04:17 PM, TheGoldenYoshi wrote: I will be handing out cash prizes to the winners(cause I'm cool like that).

First Place: $10
Second Place: $5
Third Place: $1

Niiice! Paypal?

Also, cool story.
So if you win do you pay yourself?

This should probably go in the discusion thread but what the hell, if i win first i'll pass down the money and split it between third and second, same if i win second place. the method of payment will be winners telling me their address, where upon i'll stick a crisp bill in an envelope. international winners can exchange the money themselves

[Hamalo]

Attack of Teh Noobs

The is purposely spelled teh

Alright, this is a story I wrote a year or so ago. I know that the sentence structure is crap and all of that...but its readable. I wrote this in a thread and people said they wanted to be included in it, so there are a few random users in there.

Summary:

this is a fiction story about what Newgrounds would be like if it was a real place. The war between mods and noobs, the friction between regulars and noobs that have no idea what their doing. 1337 h4xx0rs on murdering rampages and more.

[Mishypie]

Yellow Ribbon

Summary-

Bill is a character who is more sinister than we first percieve. Is it to do with Simon, his annoyingly up-beat colleague, or is it do with the broken microwave?

Thanks in advance.

[VihnoVerde]

Tropical Mayhem

Comfrotably sitting on her couch, a girl recalls the events of her day. Did she really mean to kill... ?

[Scribbler]

God Bless You, Aaron Hartley.

... Aaron Hartley has problems. The world is about to end and only he knows how to save it. The trouble is Aaron has ADD and exhibits an unusual passion for oddly-colored coats. His duplex serves as host to a small population of pornographic male actors and they all want to use his bathroom. Appreciate this tale of a young man whose obsession with coats leads to the discovery of an archaic form of time travel.

---

"A post-modern look at time-travel mixed with equal elements of ultra-violence and witty story-telling. A perfect blend of absurdist humor and transgressional fiction that serves as a breath of fresh air for the bizarro literary genre."-Tom Fulp, Newgrounds

"This story isn't for me. It's too complex and doesn't have enough penis in it. That being said, I still enjoyed reading it but it just isn't for me. A very well-written story with tons of imaginative ideas but just not for me. No cock. I love it, just isn't my cup of tea."-Will Stamper, Newgrounds

"Writing isn't my thing... With an obvious passion for modern fairytales, Aaron's story means a lot to me. I can relate to a lot of what happens to him making this story somewhat predictable but still hilarious familiar-sounding. 5 cock jokes from me!"-Johnny Utah, Newgrounds

[whatty]

Girl

Piece follows theme one.

[36Holla]

The Cellphone

A story that stresses how much life can change with the most seemingly insignificant act. I guess it would be along the lines of the first theme. Hope you guys don't think that it totally sucks.

[ZeeAk]

Tropical Envy

Jasan, Deacon, and their pilots are flying over the Amazon rainforest, when everything goes wrong.

[WritersBlock]

I think I'm finished. I was too tired to edit the last chapter and a bit, so... blah.
Link!
The Butcher of Krankhafte
It is the winter of 1941, in Berlin, Germany. The parents of the protagonist fall deathly ill of a plague. The protagonist goes to his parent's home town of Krankhafte to try and find a cure for their disease, but things are much worse than they seem...
I tried to write this in the H.P.Lovecraft style of macabre horror. At almost 30 000 characters, I hope it doesn't drag too much. Enjoy!

[TacticalShoe]

That Smell

My submission for the writing contest uses the tropical envy theme in a way that many people, I believe, would not have thought of.

Overlooked. That's what she was, really. Julia Fern had never been a woman that had attracted a lot of attention to her. That is, until she discovered a radical new perfume that would change her life forever.

[gumOnShoe]

ToastOfWar6789 asked me to post this for him as he is currently banned. This is a valid submission for the contest incase any judge was wondering.

Title-Misfortune

Summary-It is a story about a hunter and his dog meeting a witch in the woods. He told her he would kill her if she didnt give him three wishes. And the rest is well.... youll have to read for ur self...

Link-http://toastofwar6789.newgrounds.co m/news/pos t/130363

Hope you like it.

[subpar]

Okay, here goes nothing. I'm submitting my story. Enjoy!

Title: Homecoming
Theme: #1) Yeah, I'm starting to feel I shouldn't have left that at home today.
Length: 3,600+ words; 19,300+ characters.
Summary: Anthony, a quiet teenager with a troubled past, takes a shortcut on the way home from school. Little does he know, his past is about to come back to haunt him.

[WritersBlock]

At 5/31/08 12:04 PM, WritersBlock wrote: My submission

Oh damn, I forgot to mention, it uses theme 3, if you couldn't tell. In a roundabout way...

[gumOnShoe]

Due to the horrible storms that ravaged the United States and removed power to several users (I am told anyway), I will neglect closing this competition until the west cost ends this day. So, If by 4am newgrounds time you haven't submitted, then you're out of luck. Of course you should get it in as soon as possible, but I don't want anyone to be depressed cause they lost power and couldn't post.

Tres minutes till the actual deadline. 4 hour buffer zone, then no more entries will be accepted.

TO THE JUDGES:

Please read and judge these submissions by June 14. What I need from you is your top 5 picks in order from best to worse. Please signify which is the best and which is the worst. Also, include a score out of 10 for me on each entry.

You may give your comments to people in whatever matter you see fit. I'll post honorable mentions and the winners in 2-3 weeks.

Thank you for participating everyone and good luck (though its a bit late for that).

[Monocrom]

Okay, Gum isn't here. And, it's past Midnight EST or NG Time as well.

That means the contest is officially over. NO MORE SUBMISSIONS AFTER THIS POST.

We're done! Thanks to all those who submitted.

[Monocrom]

Crap! My comp froze for a minute and I missed Gum's post.

I guess everyone can ignore my previous post.

[gumOnShoe]

At 6/1/08 12:04 AM, Monocrom wrote: Okay, Gum isn't here. And, it's past Midnight EST or NG Time as well.

That means the contest is officially over. NO MORE SUBMISSIONS AFTER THIS POST.

We're done! Thanks to all those who submitted.

Stealth judge!!! w00t. ;)

You still have till 4am.

[Loki]

I guess I'll have to print all that stuff and read this at work.

I'm glad we got a fair amount of entries :)

Sadly I didn't have time to finish my own story, I need to write about 10,000 more characters... I'll get it done though, and will post it in my userpage soon enough :P

[JackPhantasm]

SO LATE fuck.The Theme

It's not even done oh well.

[Kidlazarus]

Alright, here it is.
Title: Jacob
Summary: A zombie survival story.
Theme: Opportunity (near the end).
Length: ~6,400
This is the first serious short story I actually enjoyed. Please excuse the missing indentations, I'll fix that as soon as possible.