Should Wordforge have another writing contest?

I really enjoyed reading the stories that came out of the first one we had a long long time ago. Whatever happened to it?

I'd say now is a good time to have one, to attract more people here and give this place a semblince of respect once more - so people don't think all we do is troll and be mean to each other all day.


In terms of prizes, I just blew this week, and next week's paycheck on a Laptop, ( ) so I do not have any money to give,

but I am sure that if people scrounge around, they can find something pretty valuable that could make some good prizes.

For example, I was cleaning out some one in the basement tonight, and lo and behold, there were a bunch of Star Trek novels I had asked for one Christmas long ago. Some of these had not even been read once! (cause I got myself a car and no longer had to take a bus, where I did most of my reading.)

There is Star Trek TNG: The Dominion War, That three part book where the covers join together to form one picture, and DS9 Rebels books, all in damn near mint condition. Some of these books look like they were fresh off the shelf of a Barnes & Noble.

Also, I wouldn't mind giving away some of the stuff I bought and hardly ever use, such as a brand new Guild Wars MMORPG (which is FREE to play by the way - store price, $40-$50), a The Sims 2 game which has been installed once and is now sitting on my shelf collecting dust, (still prolly $40-$50 in stores) and other various odds and ends.

I bet if other Wordforgers did the same, we could come up with a big list of pretty awesome prizes that could be awarded. Maybe others could throw in gift certificates, etc if they feel like it.

Anyways, I think it would be cool to have another writing contest, maybe this time, it could be a science fiction short story contest.

What do you all think?

Is that the one where Storm chipped in paypal bucks for the prize?

Wow, helluva while since we did that.

The dispersed nature of wordforge makes paypal/electronic vouchers the most suitable prize for such a contest IMO.

I'd hand over free webspace/upgrades etc, except people already have that...

That gives me an idea ... why not call it WRITING FOR CRAP and you can win stuff we have stored away in our basements? I smell a PR effect here

I can add an autographed copy of Catalyst of Sorrows to the prizes.

Great idea, BTW, Scorp.

I would be very interested in seeing another writing contest here, with or without prizes, with or without my participation

I'd participate.
ANd I'd also offer, as a prize, a fine hardback edition of the first Dark Tower novel.
That oughta get Mewa AND Cass AND Trinity in here

I would play along this time. No accusations of poll rigging possible when my story wipes the floor with you guys

Serious question: Who are the judges?

(And before anyone asks - no, not I.)

I dunno, maybe "everyone"?

Good damn question.
An unbiased panel, of course, but beyond that, someone who also has a firm grasp of good literature. Also, someone who's willing to read possibly very bad stories.

Everyone I can think of has either said they won't do it (Garamet ) or are probably gonna participate.

I'll go look through our members list and see what names I can cull.

Also, what sort of contest is everyone interested in? Sci-fi short story like Scorponok said? or something else?

Word limits? (i.e. ~3000, ~1000, >4000, <50?,)

Set characters, names, or concept, or is it free reign?

Here are some possibilities for judges that I culled. ANyone else have other ideas?
AlphaMan
Asyncritus
Chris
Chuck
El Chupacabra
Elwood

Also, I don't think it should be limited by a distinct genre.
Althought a word limit would be helpful for the judges.
6,000 words might be reasonable.

Also, multiple entries, or just one?

And wouldn't it make more sense for the judges, as non participants, to work out any boundaries?

Why a dedicated jury? Last time, the good folks of WF decided in a poll. You just need to make sure that nobody knows which story is by whom or the good, old clique-ism will prevail.

How can we do that? We'd need someone to have all the stories sent to them, so they could be posted under one user name then. Who would do that? Or is there an easier option?

^ you'd need a head honcho, yes. Back in the day I put all the stories into neutral Word docs and posted them under my name. I was the only one who knew who wrote what (aside from the particular author of course).

Some stories, though, it's easy to tell who wrote it.
I mean, we all know what Diacanu's style is like

Shit, you're right.
Well, I'm out of that one too then.

Why not try and write in a different style?

Which is why I think the idea of an impartial panel of judges is a good idea.
It's how most writing contests are judged.
I really think that would be the best way to do it, rather than for instance making Diacanu write in a style he isn';t familiar with. Who'd wanna quash that quirky D style, after all?!?!

EDIT: to Miniborg.

*Holds hand next to mouth, and mutters out the left side*
Quiet, I needed an excuse.

I'd be up for this.

Last time we didn't have a genre requirement, just a theme. The story had to be built around the idea of "liberty," however the writer chose to interpret that. We could do the same thing this time, with a central theme that all the submissions had to touch on.

Make it no more than, say, five thousand words. That should be enough to let people do as much as they want. Any format - prose, screenplay, script, poem, etc.

I also liked the blind voting. No-one knew who the authors were, they just voted for the stories.

Nooo...I want a sci-fi theme! I can only watch so many Trek reruns.

And yeah, I agree it should be anonymous....Since Cass kept it all a secret last time, let her do it this time too.

And if people are going to vote for Diacanu just because he is Diacanu, that is pretty damn sad, especially if someone else's story is better. I'd vote for him because his stories are good, not because he is Diacanu.

OK, let's do this! Maybe it'll attract more love than the WF NaNoWriMo! I shall hurry and get the head honcho's opinion & tech magic.

Oh, and prizes

I shall enter this as well. Looks like I'll have to get to writing my mininovel.

Can't, I'm entering this one.

Personally I still think that a public vote would be ... better ... somehow. More tastes, more representative results.