Dark Side of the Moon

Type Moon => Fanfiction => Topic started by: Milbunk on April 19, 2013, 09:03:07 AM

Title: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Milbunk on April 19, 2013, 09:03:07 AM
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.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on April 19, 2013, 02:59:54 PM
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.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: lantzblades on April 19, 2013, 06:55:12 PM
The prize could be just winning, or a special name or title or name colour
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on April 19, 2013, 07:12:22 PM
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?
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: GabrieliosP on April 19, 2013, 08:17:06 PM
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).
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on April 19, 2013, 08:22:39 PM
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.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: GabrieliosP on April 19, 2013, 08:39:36 PM
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.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: lantzblades on April 19, 2013, 08:53:56 PM
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.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on April 19, 2013, 09:03:10 PM
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.

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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.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: lantzblades on April 19, 2013, 09:20:07 PM
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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.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on April 19, 2013, 09:21:59 PM
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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.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: lantzblades on April 19, 2013, 09:24:58 PM
I'm aware, and they lacked a metric for a fics intent that's why they complained.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on April 19, 2013, 09:46:08 PM
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....
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: lantzblades on April 19, 2013, 09:55:05 PM
i dunno, I was planning on being a judge anyway
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on April 19, 2013, 10:03:15 PM
i dunno, I was planning on being a judge anyway
Well, perhaps, but we do actually need entrants....
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: lantzblades on April 19, 2013, 10:07:58 PM
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Well, perhaps, but we do actually need entrants....

you assumed i'd be one?
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on April 19, 2013, 10:18:01 PM
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Well, perhaps, but we do actually need entrants....

you assumed i'd be one?
Not necessarily, but we do need to find a way to get people who currently aren't on the forum to join in....
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: lantzblades on April 19, 2013, 11:44:36 PM
nothing special really.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on April 19, 2013, 11:58:06 PM
What?
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: GabrieliosP on April 20, 2013, 12:10:13 AM
lantz.... I just can't connect your last statement to the flow of conversation. Care to elaborate?

Oh, and even if it's a lemon contest, I still wanna join, even if my lemon writting abilites aren't that great.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: lantzblades on April 20, 2013, 12:11:49 AM
I mean that we don't need something special for this contest to get people to join
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on April 20, 2013, 12:32:21 AM
Oh, and even if it's a lemon contest, I still wanna join, even if my lemon writting abilites aren't that great.
Ah, OK, good.

Honestly, my inclination is to go for a lemon contest, but so far most people seem to be against that, so I'm not sure.

I mean that we don't need something special for this contest to get people to join
We need some reason for them to bother to come over here to enter, particularly since BL just had a contest.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: lantzblades on April 20, 2013, 12:40:37 AM
i'm not against a lemon contest
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on April 20, 2013, 02:33:53 AM
Well, yeah, but you're also not entering it, I presume....
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: lantzblades on April 20, 2013, 02:58:15 AM
depends on number of entrants and rules
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on April 20, 2013, 03:09:53 AM
What do you mean?
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: lantzblades on April 20, 2013, 03:35:01 AM
just what i said, if we only have a limited number of entrants I'll likely enter assuming the rules aren't too strict.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on April 20, 2013, 03:46:06 AM
What do you mean by "strict"?
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: lantzblades on April 20, 2013, 03:56:54 AM
on bl there was a rule against beta reading and the like.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on April 20, 2013, 04:08:53 AM
Really? I thought they were encouraging it....

But, yeah, beta-reading will definitely be allowed. The idea is to get lots of good fics, not to test people's grammatical skills or ability to notice their own mistakes.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: KAIZA on April 20, 2013, 04:09:31 AM
Well...since I suck at giving criticism, I guess I could be an entrant. If I could, I would offer prizes, but unfortunately, my art skills still count as mediocre in that regard.
I'd prefer if it were general, but if it's lemon...well, I guess I'd have to pop that cherry at some point.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on April 20, 2013, 04:13:56 AM
Well, I would do a general contest, but I'm a bit wary because BL just did one, so I don't see that many people bothering to enter, aside from the people who are already here. At least a lemon contest is something a bit different.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: KAIZA on April 20, 2013, 04:14:35 AM
Also, I don't remember the contest having anything against betas. What I remember was some discussion about point distribution, particularly Technical when betas are involved.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: lantzblades on April 20, 2013, 04:16:51 AM
KAIZA your art is great.

and yeah sure i'll enter lemon or not.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: KAIZA on April 20, 2013, 04:41:47 AM
KAIZA your art is great.
Well, I'm flattered, but I don't really think it's prize-worthy (especially compared to others I've seen).
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Milbunk on April 20, 2013, 05:50:01 AM
I think that it would probably be best to play this relatively safe for it's first outing, maybe have a general category or if you want multiple ones then nothing too specific.

Also it would be a good way to attract more people to this forum if you wanted to do that.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Alice on April 20, 2013, 06:50:36 AM
I like the words Mil is saying. :) But yeah, since the forum's still on the smaller side, it might not hurt to have the categories for entries be on the broad side of the spectrum.  And we should hopefully have more people soon. :)

But yeah, sadly I have no prizes to offer other than giving the winner a fancy glowy name and a special usergroup due to lack of money. :( I can, however, judge if need be. I can also enter. ;)

And your art is good KAIZA. :D Whether you think it's prize worthy or not is entirely up to you though. :)
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on April 20, 2013, 01:48:32 PM
I think that it would probably be best to play this relatively safe for it's first outing, maybe have a general category or if you want multiple ones then nothing too specific.

The thing is, we need to find a way to get people to enter a contest with no prizes on a forum they don't usually go to that is being run about a week after the BL contest finishes. I don't think "playing it safe" will work, because everyone will just see a generic fanfiction contest and think "nah, not worth it".

There was significant demand on BL for a lemon contest, so why not run one of those? It is at least different, which means people are more likely to come over for it.

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Also it would be a good way to attract more people to this forum if you wanted to do that.
Attracting people to the forum is basically the whole point of it. Personally, I don't expect much of interest to me personally from the contest (because Sakura one-shots are often hard to write and most authors don't care), but it will be of interest to other people and, if we can get enough entrants, people will come over here to read the entries and post stuff about them.

I like the words Mil is saying. :) But yeah, since the forum's still on the smaller side, it might not hurt to have the categories for entries be on the broad side of the spectrum.  And we should hopefully have more people soon. :)
The thing is, I don't think that actually works. The broader the categories the harder it is to judge and compare the fics, and the more likely people are to get pissed off. Which, of course, means they just won't bother to enter.

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But yeah, sadly I have no prizes to offer other than giving the winner a fancy glowy name and a special usergroup due to lack of money. :( I can, however, judge if need be. I can also enter. ;)
Well, yeah, that's the thing, none of us can really offer much in the way of prizes.

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And your art is good KAIZA. :D Whether you think it's prize worthy or not is entirely up to you though. :)
Well, I would say it is certainly as good as one of DP's fics, at least, and the BL contest had that as a prize....
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: lantzblades on April 20, 2013, 07:25:03 PM
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Well, I'm flattered, but I don't really think it's prize-worthy (especially compared to others I've seen).

if you say so dude, better then me certainly

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that is being run about a week after the BL contest finishes.

uh, you realize we need time to enter and then write it right? it'll be open for longer then a week.

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(because Sakura one-shots are often hard to write and most authors don't care)

the latter might be true, the former not so much.

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The thing is, I don't think that actually works. The broader the categories the harder it is to judge and compare the fics, and the more likely people are to get pissed off. Which, of course, means they just won't bother to enter.

have category winners and then an overall winner then.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on April 20, 2013, 09:19:49 PM
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that is being run about a week after the BL contest finishes.

uh, you realize we need time to enter and then write it right? it'll be open for longer then a week.
Well, yes, obviously, but people need to decide whether to enter pretty early on....

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(because Sakura one-shots are often hard to write and most authors don't care)

the latter might be true, the former not so much.
The former is also true to some extent, particularly in the action category.

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The thing is, I don't think that actually works. The broader the categories the harder it is to judge and compare the fics, and the more likely people are to get pissed off. Which, of course, means they just won't bother to enter.

have category winners and then an overall winner then.
Well, yeah, that is pretty obvious. It does mean that we need categories, though.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: lantzblades on April 21, 2013, 01:33:42 AM
genre categories are rather easy
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on April 21, 2013, 01:45:18 AM
Yeah, definitely. It does divide the entrants up, though, and even BL only got a couple of entrants for some of the categories....
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: lantzblades on April 21, 2013, 01:48:08 AM
I think that that's fine
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Elf on April 21, 2013, 03:24:37 AM
I actually agree with Mike on the Lemon Contest thing.

Back in the day F1 use to do lemon contests and they were amazing.  (And he had some good swag too, which was also good for the prizes.)

Plus a strict lemon contest would deviate this forum's contest from BL's.  Plus, Type-Moon started as an eroge, we're playing homage to it's roots.

Also for prizes, Arashi was saying he'd donate stuff to make his own contest.  Maybe someone should get in touch with him.  I know Milbunk's been talking to him lately.  I'd do it, but we have some issues between the two of us.

As for how it should be ran, maybe both a voting system and a judging system.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: lantzblades on April 21, 2013, 03:36:30 AM
you have a great point Elf
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: KAIZA on April 21, 2013, 03:46:30 AM
About the prizes, if it's any consolation, I am trying to improve on my art right now, to at least make it more passable as a prize. Not sure if great prize, but at least something acceptable.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: lantzblades on April 21, 2013, 03:53:08 AM
that would be a wonderful prize Kaiza
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on April 21, 2013, 04:14:07 AM
I actually agree with Mike on the Lemon Contest thing.

Back in the day F1 use to do lemon contests and they were amazing.  (And he had some good swag too, which was also good for the prizes.)

Plus a strict lemon contest would deviate this forum's contest from BL's.  Plus, Type-Moon started as an eroge, we're playing homage to it's roots.
Yeah, exactly.

A lemon contest is more restrictive, but it's also different from the BL contest. Further, I don't think the two (lemon and non-lemon) mix all that well in the same contest, because the point behind a lemon is different.

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Also for prizes, Arashi was saying he'd donate stuff to make his own contest.  Maybe someone should get in touch with him.  I know Milbunk's been talking to him lately.  I'd do it, but we have some issues between the two of us.
Yeah, it would definitely be a good idea to get him involved.

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As for how it should be ran, maybe both a voting system and a judging system.
Hmm, what do you mean?
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: lantzblades on April 21, 2013, 04:30:29 PM
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Hmm, what do you mean?

judging is one part of the evaluation and voting is the other half
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on April 21, 2013, 04:41:08 PM
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Hmm, what do you mean?

judging is one part of the evaluation and voting is the other half
Well, OK.

The question is how you would make that actually work. Comparing votes and judging is not easy, because there's no direct conversion rate.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: lantzblades on April 22, 2013, 12:27:40 AM
two winners?
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on April 22, 2013, 12:46:51 AM
two winners?
Yeah, that's possible.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: KAIZA on April 22, 2013, 02:33:31 AM
Well, there could be a Grand Winner, chosen by the judges, and a Popular Choice, chosen by user vote. Each with their own prizes. And unlike Grand Prize and Category Winner, it can be the same fic.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on April 22, 2013, 02:43:39 AM
Honestly, I'd say that the Grand Prize should be picked from the category winners. It's a bit silly to say that a fic is the best in the contest but not the best in its category....
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: KAIZA on April 22, 2013, 02:45:44 AM
Honestly, I'd say that the Grand Prize should be picked from the category winners. It's a bit silly to say that a fic is the best in the contest but not the best in its category....
It is; what I meant was, similar to BL's contest, the Grand Prize is not chosen as the best in its category to avoid repeat prizes.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on April 22, 2013, 02:58:38 AM
Honestly, I'd say that the Grand Prize should be picked from the category winners. It's a bit silly to say that a fic is the best in the contest but not the best in its category....
It is; what I meant was, similar to BL's contest, the Grand Prize is not chosen as the best in its category to avoid repeat prizes.
Well, personally, I'd say that they'd still be category winner, but there wouldn't be a prize given out for it (i.e. there would be one less prize overall). It seems a bit odd to reward a fic for coming second just because the winner of the category it was in was the overall winner.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Elf on April 22, 2013, 03:00:41 AM
Well if this is a Lemon contest then there is only one category.

If it's big enough, there can be two winners:  People's Choice - the one that wins by popular vote and Judge's Choice, the one selected by the judges.  Also, for each story, the judges must post their own reviews, very in depth ones, about what they liked about the story, what needed work, and DEAR GOD GET THE BRAIN BLEACH in the story.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: KAIZA on April 22, 2013, 03:06:53 AM
It seems a bit odd to reward a fic for coming second just because the winner of the category it was in was the overall winner.
You do realize that's how I got my prize last year, right?  :-\
Plus, if even second place can get a prize, more motivation.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on April 22, 2013, 03:12:41 AM
Well if this is a Lemon contest then there is only one category.
True. Which does actually make the prizes easier to handle....

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If it's big enough, there can be two winners:  People's Choice - the one that wins by popular vote and Judge's Choice, the one selected by the judges.
Well, that works fine however many entrants we have, although it would be possible to win both, of course.

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Also, for each story, the judges must post their own reviews, very in depth ones, about what they liked about the story, what needed work, and DEAR GOD GET THE BRAIN BLEACH in the story.
Yeah, definitely, although we do need to actually find people who are capable of judging and willing to do so....

You do realize that's how I got my prize last year, right?  :-\
Oh, I see, lol.

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Plus, if even second place can get a prize, more motivation.
I don't see why, particularly since it's only true if you are up against the overall winner.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: KAIZA on April 22, 2013, 03:27:11 AM
I don't see why, particularly since it's only true if you are up against the overall winner.
Last year there was a prize for second place. Grand winner was the cup with drawing from Tusia, 1st places were figures and 2nd places were drawings by Artee.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on April 22, 2013, 03:32:14 AM
I don't see why, particularly since it's only true if you are up against the overall winner.
Last year there was a prize for second place. Grand winner was the cup with drawing from Tusia, 1st places were figures and 2nd places were drawings by Artee.
Ah, OK, fair enough.

Still, if it's a lemon contest it won't have categories anyway (as much as I'm tempted to ask for a BDSM category :)), so it won't matter.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Milbunk on April 23, 2013, 08:10:02 AM
Another thing I'm concerned about is if you choose to make it a full on lemon contest, not a lot of people are willing to write lemons or will be too nervous to do so.  (For example we only had two lemon entries in my recent contest we only had two entries for lemon.)
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Alice on April 23, 2013, 08:44:34 AM
Another thing I'm concerned about is if you choose to make it a full on lemon contest, not a lot of people are willing to write lemons or will be too nervous to do so.  (For example we only had two lemon entries in my recent contest we only had two entries for lemon.)
Yeah, that's a definite risk (while I'd probably consider trying, I know I'd be more than a little nervous, to be perfectly honest ^_^"). Another problem is that if I take on judging duty, I'll probably be somewhat limited in my judging capacity. I'm still on a bit of a learning curve when it comes to lemons, so it's possible my judging may not be the strongest for that type of contest. It may be possible to work around it though. Even if we can't pull off a lemon contest just yet though, there's likely something else we can do in terms of creating a unique and fun contest for people to enter into. :)
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on April 23, 2013, 12:24:25 PM
Another thing I'm concerned about is if you choose to make it a full on lemon contest, not a lot of people are willing to write lemons or will be too nervous to do so.  (For example we only had two lemon entries in my recent contest we only had two entries for lemon.)
Just because people don't write lemons for a non-lemon contest that doesn't mean they won't enter a lemon contest. For one thing, people have said before that the two don't overlap well, and lemons don't tend to do that well overall in a non-lemon contest.

Another thing I'm concerned about is if you choose to make it a full on lemon contest, not a lot of people are willing to write lemons or will be too nervous to do so.  (For example we only had two lemon entries in my recent contest we only had two entries for lemon.)
Yeah, that's a definite risk (while I'd probably consider trying, I know I'd be more than a little nervous, to be perfectly honest ^_^"). Another problem is that if I take on judging duty, I'll probably be somewhat limited in my judging capacity. I'm still on a bit of a learning curve when it comes to lemons, so it's possible my judging may not be the strongest for that type of contest. It may be possible to work around it though. Even if we can't pull off a lemon contest just yet though, there's likely something else we can do in terms of creating a unique and fun contest for people to enter into. :)
Well, yeah, it is a risk, but I think it's better than the alternative, which is to run a contest that is identical to the one run on BL a few weeks ago, only with worse prizes and on a forum that no-one is yet a member of.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: lantzblades on April 23, 2013, 08:27:02 PM
so i had an idea, lemon or otherwise that maybe the contest should have a common premise for the entries. it makes it more like a straight contest and emphasizes creativity and makes it very different from bl.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on April 23, 2013, 08:49:18 PM
The problem with that is that it forces people to write a certain type of story, and they might not want to write that particular type of story. And, it's difficult to design a premise that is fair to everyone (i.e. not excluding certain characters, settings or writing styles). Also, it likely means we'll get a large number of similar fics. I'm not keen on the idea overall, but if someone can suggest a good premise then it might work.

I had an idea for how to organise the contest. Basically, my plan was for the contest to have three categories, which would be porn, lemon with plot and non-lemon. However, rather than entering a fic into one of the three categories, a fic is entered into and judged in all of them unless the author requests otherwise. That allows people to write PWP, lemons with a plot or non-porn without having to subjectively compare a porn fic to a non-porn fic. Of course, each category would have different judging rules (in particular, the porn section would be judged on hotness and not on plot, whereas the non-lemon stuff wouldn't be judged on hotness at all), so the fics would get different scores for all three categories. Their overall score would be the highest of the three.

Also, to counter the problem the BL judges had, I'd add the possibility of judges to remove points outside of the designated scoring system for things like really awful presentation (where the writer has clearly not bothered with beta-reading), horrible OOCness (to the point that it's an "in-name only" fic) and, in particular, an otherwise good fic that is only tenuously related to the Nasuverse, if at all. Thatmeans that you won't need to set up the scoring system such that any remotely well-written fic will score at least 50 even if the plot, characterisation etc. are terrible (in particular, the "technical" aspect wouldn't need so many points allocated to it, because a fic that was clearly not up to standard would lose points for it) and it would also give the judges more discression to handle situations where the author really should lose points, but they can't find a good category for doing so.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: lantzblades on April 24, 2013, 11:04:21 PM
you have a point still it would make it different.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on April 24, 2013, 11:18:25 PM
you have a point still it would make it different.
Yeah, I don't deny that, but I'm not sure it makes it different in a good way.

Like I said, though, it's a total non-starter unless someone can come up with a good premise. Because, if we chose this option and a good premise doesn't present itself, we're going to get nowhere.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: lantzblades on April 27, 2013, 09:33:51 PM
how about a poll to decide the contest's content.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on April 27, 2013, 09:42:07 PM
how about a poll to decide the contest's content.
Well, it's possible, but honestly I'd rather we work it out sensibly. I do not want a contest that will end up failing because it's too similar to the BL one or because it has a premise that no-one actually is interested in.

In particular, I am not going to accept the "theme" idea until we actually have a theme, to demonstrate that it's actually viable. I do not want us saying "yeah, let's have a theme contest" and ending up getting horribly stuck because we can't think of a good theme to run it on.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: lantzblades on May 17, 2013, 11:53:20 PM
I meant in general, if people are interested in writing normal fics or lemons in particular, and speaking of is anyone else still interested?
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on May 17, 2013, 11:56:32 PM
Well, I'm definitely still interested, but we need some judges, and also some entrants....
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: lantzblades on November 11, 2013, 02:13:16 AM
Given our influx of new members I think this deserves a revival
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on November 11, 2013, 02:17:23 AM
Yeah, although we definitely need someone to organise it. I will have some money soon, though, so prizes are a bit more possible.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: lantzblades on November 11, 2013, 03:10:55 AM
Names Milbunk or myself should have the time, although the former two may correct me if I am assuming incorrectly.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: The Man With All The Cute Boats on November 11, 2013, 03:31:48 AM
Yeah, I don't really have the time to organize it all. Sorry.

I could judge. Or I could participate, I guess, though I am in a hell of a rut.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on November 11, 2013, 02:46:45 PM
Well, we certainly need someone to organise it. Milbunk probably has the time, but I'm not sure if he has the interest....
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Elf on January 05, 2014, 08:03:51 AM
. . . So, I got an idea for a Lemon Contest.

We can call it "Fifty Shades of the Dark Side of the Moon: A Lemon Contest".

There can be four categories:  I'll Take Vanilla (Het), Stockings and Scissoring (Yuri), Eyelashes and Buttsex (Yaoi), and Command Spell (Kinky shit).

There can be a winner for each category and then a winner over all.

Like for a prize I could offer a lemon fic with the winner's chosen pairing (or threesome)  with a specific prompt.  Except for like scat or water sports (urine, golden showers etc).  Elf doesn't play that. 
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Xamusel on January 05, 2014, 08:19:32 AM
I vote for this particular contest to be run. I mean, seriously, this might be able to help me with my lemony content.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on January 05, 2014, 03:17:45 PM
Yeah, this definitely sounds like a good idea.

Who is going to judge it etc.? I assume we'd need people who are capable of fairly judging all the categories, which eliminates most of us, I suspect.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Elf on January 05, 2014, 04:43:12 PM
I could judge.

I've written het, yaoi, yuri, and kinky shit before.

Besides, I'm the Mistress of Porn!  Not only will I judge the porn, I'll have critique with it as well.

If we can think of some other prizes, because hey, someone might not want me writing them a story, I think we can do this.  I'd just suggest not even starting to contest until like August.  Gets the BL one out of the way and out of people's minds.

We can have someone's email set up for anonymous entries so I don't know who I'm judging so I can be as fair as possible.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on January 05, 2014, 04:50:18 PM
Well, August sounds quite a long time to wait, and I think Mil runs two contests a year anyway, but I agree we probably can't do it right now. You judging certainly makes sense, the question is whether we want or need other judges as well.

And, yeah, we need other prizes, if only because you can't really be expected to write four stories.... No idea what to pick, though, things like figures tend to have the issue that people only really want figures of characters they like.

As for the e-mail, I can set up a site e-mail address (i.e. a darksidemoon.net address) for the contest, and either have it redirect straight to you or, if that isn't anonymous enough (I think it might not be, you'd still see the e-mail address of the sender I think), have it redirect to me (or anyone else) and then I can forward it to you.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Elf on January 05, 2014, 04:58:14 PM
I would suggest at least one or two more judges.  Just so we can get a good average of scores. 

Milbunk does one contest a year, Arashi did another in the Spring/Summer.  So there are technically two fanfic contests on BL, but neither of them are lemons.

As for the prizes, honestly, I think figures are a good idea.  Have four figures and the story to choose from.  Grand Prize gets first pick, then the second highest scored gets second pick and so on and so forth.  That's what F1 did and it worked.

A lot of Type-Moon fans like more than one character.  First time I won second place I got the Aoko, second time I got R. Shiki, and those were the two I wanted most for the contests.  I'm not saying something uber expensive like a figma, but trading figures would work.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on January 05, 2014, 05:01:54 PM
I would suggest at least one or two more judges.  Just so we can get a good average of scores. 

Yeah, the question is who.

Quote
Milbunk does one contest a year, Arashi did another in the Spring/Summer.  So there are technically two fanfic contests on BL, but neither of them are lemons.

Yeah, then August seems like it'll just clash with Arashi's. Also, it's a really long time away, and the forum really needs more activity....

Quote
As for the prizes, honestly, I think figures are a good idea.  Have four figures and the story to choose from.  Grand Prize gets first pick, then the second highest scored gets second pick and so on and so forth.  That's what F1 did and it worked.

A lot of Type-Moon fans like more than one character.  First time I won second place I got the Aoko, second time I got R. Shiki, and those were the two I wanted most for the contests.  I'm not saying something uber expensive like a figma, but trading figures would work.

Yeah, that does work. Personally I'm unlikely to be interested in anything other than the story, but then I'm likely to enter anyway because I want the contest to work....

I don't know if we have any prizes available, though. I don't have any, and I'm not sure I can think of anyone else who does.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Elf on January 05, 2014, 07:50:21 PM
Well, what about getting KAIZA to donate some artwork?
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on January 05, 2014, 08:00:49 PM
It's possible, yeah.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Elf on January 06, 2014, 12:25:36 AM
Then that could work.

Maybe we could have a Judge's Pick and a Reader's Favorite, one for each prize.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Alice on January 06, 2014, 12:30:42 AM
I like this idea. :3 I'll judge if I absolutely have to, though I'd rather participate, especially if there's potentially going to be prizes involved. Would someone like Arashi be interested in donating prizes, though? That'd be one thing we'd have to set up for sure I think.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on January 06, 2014, 12:36:54 AM
Then that could work.

Maybe we could have a Judge's Pick and a Reader's Favorite, one for each prize.

Yeah, that's possible, although with lemon fics it's difficult for most people to judge them all equally. I couldn't judge a gay fic, for example, I just don't find it arousing.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Elf on January 06, 2014, 12:44:23 AM
Well, you were wanting to participate anyway, Mike.

Maybe someone could go digging to see if anyone wants to donate any prizes?

(Sorry, I don't have anything to donate and money's kind of tight.  I am offering an Elf story personally written for them though.)
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on January 06, 2014, 12:47:43 AM
Well, your offer is definitely really good, we just need more than one prize, really.

And, yeah, I wasn't offering myself to judge, I was just saying that I'm not sure most people can judge the entries equally, which makes a "reader's favourite" category a bit difficult to make work here.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Elf on January 06, 2014, 12:55:18 AM
People just vote on whatever story they like best.

Hell, we can just ditch the categories, make it straight porn everything's welcome, yaoi, yuri, het, and the kinky and then people judge what their favorite is.  Then the judges have their favorite.

So technically we have two prizes, one for Judge's and one for Public.

However the Judging would have a scoring system though.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on January 06, 2014, 01:10:56 AM
Well, I do like the idea of the categories. For one thing it encourages a bit more variety, and it also differentiates it a bit from the normal lemon contests. Even if there are no prizes for them I still think they should be there.

Also, having the readers judge really encourages people to write popular pairings and methods of sex, because unpopular ones just won't win.

It depends somewhat on what we can get, though....
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Elf on January 06, 2014, 01:26:01 AM
Well, we can go with the four categories and then get a "People's Choice" one as well.

. . . That also means we'd probably need five-six prizes.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on January 06, 2014, 01:28:24 AM
Yeah, we need to find some way to get hold of more prizes....
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Alice on January 06, 2014, 01:44:28 AM
I think the first step then is figuring out who we can ask and then asking them. Can't hurt to ask as many people as we can, after all.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on January 06, 2014, 01:51:44 AM
Yeah, definitely.

Although, honestly, I'm not sure how important the prizes really are. From what I've seen with the BL contest half of the people entering don't even want them (although I suspect Elf's offer of writing a fic won't get turned down...). Having something is good, but I don't think we necessarily need a prize for each category.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Alice on January 06, 2014, 02:04:25 AM
That's certainly true. :) ...Would certainly motivate me though. :P

...because I have no Nasuverse figures so far and it makes me sad. :<
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Elf on January 06, 2014, 03:33:44 AM
Hell, I'll admit, it motivates me.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on January 06, 2014, 03:51:32 AM
Well, yeah, having some prizes is definitely good, but if we can't get enough we can still have categories without a prize for them.
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: The Man With All The Cute Boats on January 06, 2014, 04:01:48 AM
Can a prize be a picture of me shirtless

because that's all I got really

btw I'd totally be down for judging, if the hunt goes on
Title: Re: Fanfic Contest Discussion Thread
Post by: Cherry Lover on January 06, 2014, 04:10:46 AM
Well, more judges would be useful, if you think you can handle anything that comes up.