Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread

[Milbunk]

Yo, name's Milbunk I'm sure most of you remember me from BL and such so little else to say bout that.

Anyway this is the thread for the discussion of the fanfic contest I promised to help Mike with, since it's still in it's early development stages I'll leave it at that.

So discuss and have fun and stuff.

[Cherry Lover]

Well, since there's just been a contest run on BL, it probably makes sense to make this one a lemon contest, although I'm not totally certain about that yet (it depends on what everyone else has to say about it).

The biggest questions I can see are how we're going to judge the contest and what (if any) prizes we're going to offer. The better option for the contest is probably to have judges, because they will give the author honest criticism and an indication of the issues with their story, but that requires finding people who are suitable to judge. Worse, it's difficult (although not impossible if you do a bit of maths, which I am capable of) to allow the judges to also enter the contest and, given the number of members the site currently has (and the fact that I do not think I would be a good judge), that will seriously limit the possible entrant count. Plus, several of the most obvious choices of judge are likely to also want to enter (Elf in particular). I will see if I can think up a good way to fairly allow the judges to enter the contest (obviously they won't judge their own work), otherwise I'm not sure how best to handle it.

As for prizes, ideally we'd have some, but I have nothing to offer and no money to buy anything with, so I'm not sure what exactly we can do in that respect.

[lantzblades]

The prize could be just winning, or a special name or title or name colour

[Cherry Lover]

Well, "just winning" doesn't really count as a "prize", although it might be the only option. A special title or colour could work, though.

Also, do you have any idea about the judging?

[GabrieliosP]

I wish I could help with the judging, but I'm not good at that. Instead, depending on the thematic of the contest, I might join.

And I concur with lantz in that the prize mustn't be anything related to money. People are entering this for fun, after all, so involving money would get everyone much competitive (and the chances of someone bitching when losing rises drastically).

[Cherry Lover]

Well, it's certainly not going to be money, but previous contests have had artwork and also figures on offer to the winners.

We don't want it getting too over-competitive but, at the same time, we would like people to actually enter (particularly people who otherwise might not bother with the site).

Also, what sort of contest would you prefer? I'm trying to get as much input as possible here.

[GabrieliosP]

Hmmm... I'm sorta confident with any kind of contest as long as I don't have to write lemons or action scenes (especially if it's action scenes). Not to say I can't write those, but these are the ones I have more problem writting.

[lantzblades]

size of the forum 1 to 3 judges.

I think a general fan fiction contest is best, where you can enter a lemon if you want but it's not required.

[Cherry Lover]

Hmmm... I'm sorta confident with any kind of contest as long as I don't have to write lemons or action scenes (especially if it's action scenes). Not to say I can't write those, but these are the ones I have more problem writting.

Ah, well, I was planning on a lemon contest....

size of the forum 1 to 3 judges.

Well, too few means that winning is mostly a matter of pandering to the judge rather than actually writing a good fic, plus you get less useful feedback because you only get one person's opinion. I'd say 3, probably.

I think a general fan fiction contest is best, where you can enter a lemon if you want but it's not required.

The problem is that a) BL just had one of those and b) it is extremely difficult to judge lemon and non-lemon fics together, because they have different goals.

[lantzblades]

The problem is that a) BL just had one of those and b) it is extremely difficult to judge lemon and non-lemon fics together, because they have different goals.

that's why you have a goal or intent score.

[Cherry Lover]

The problem is that a) BL just had one of those and b) it is extremely difficult to judge lemon and non-lemon fics together, because they have different goals.

that's why you have a goal or intent score.

Even so, when BL did a fanfic competition, the people writing lemons complained about trying to compare the two.

[lantzblades]

I'm aware, and they lacked a metric for a fics intent that's why they complained.

[Cherry Lover]

I'm aware, and they lacked a metric for a fics intent that's why they complained.

Perhaps, but it is still hard to fairly compare them.

Also, like I said, if we don't distinguish our contest from the BL one, why would people enter it a few weeks after the BL one finished? Particularly if we don't have any prizes....

[lantzblades]

i dunno, I was planning on being a judge anyway

[Cherry Lover]

i dunno, I was planning on being a judge anyway

Well, perhaps, but we do actually need entrants....