Ho Ho Ho! December Flash Fiction Contest!

**Scorpion** · December 2nd, 2009, 03:06 PM

I bow to you as well Rich. Superb.

But you pretty much destroyed me here! I've been pondering and pondering for the last two days ... nothing. No idea. Simply nothing. And then I read your story ... And I say to myself "GAWD how am I supposed to top that?". Now, even the slightest hint of an idea seems trite and boring compared to your tale; I'm discarding them quicker than ever!
I shall struggle for a little bit longer. If nothing comes up, then this will be a month of reading and learning for me.
Again, well done.

**DailyRich** · December 2nd, 2009, 03:23 PM

Geez guys, you're gonna give me a complex here.

Sincerely, thank you for the kind words.

**NickeeCoco** · December 2nd, 2009, 03:25 PM

I'm just worried that my story is going to be buried under Christmas spirit.

**Hereford Eye** · December 2nd, 2009, 03:35 PM

Hey, guys, there's three votes to be earned. Even if an Everyday Writer sneaks off with one, there's still the other two. I'll take two out of three every time.

Wait, it occurs to me that this could be a scam so that the Everyday witer and myself can garner all the votes and thereby take control of the Flash Fiction Contest. Power corrupts, we know, and we are perfectly willing to be corrupted. Therefore, we suggest that you all cease writing; do not enter the December contest but be sure to vote. The scam won't work without voting.

**tmso** · December 2nd, 2009, 03:49 PM

HE, wouldn't you like that...all the power...

I'll submit, if only to torture everyone. I'll make sure mine is dark and depressing like the last two (of my entries, not the two that have been entered so far).

**Daddy Darth** · December 2nd, 2009, 04:09 PM

Oh boy - I am going to not read Rich's until I put mine to bed. I am sure it is wonderful as usual. Just dont need the pressure. Mine shall have some Christmas cheer for you all. Just gotta - it is December after all.

Scorpion it is only the 2nd - you have mucho time. Take a breath put Mr. Rich out of your mind - you can do it. Oh and have a drink of nog - that will get the creative juices flowing.

**venustar** · December 2nd, 2009, 07:03 PM

Here's mine. Kanshi: http://www.sffworld.com/community/story/4034p0.html

Like I said earlier...it's not holly, it's not jolly...in fact, it's rather depressing. What can I say? I'm 1/16th Grinch.

Enjoy it anyway, I command you!

**suibom** · December 2nd, 2009, 07:16 PM

Haha.. that's ok. According to my family I'm Grinch Incarnate. I think my story might back that up, if I can get it finished.

**venustar** · December 3rd, 2009, 12:13 PM

Originally Posted by suibom

Haha.. that's ok. According to my family I'm Grinch Incarnate.

So does that mean we're...related?

**Fung Koo** · December 3rd, 2009, 12:24 PM

Unrelated to the what the rest of you are yammering on aboot...

Some of your may have noticed that there's a new sub-forum called "Stories." This sub-forum is visible only to logged-in members of SFFWorld. It is an option made available by Daigoro to share content free from risk of the "prior publication" monster.

(Everyone say thank you... 1, 2, 3: "thaaaaaaaaaaank yoooooooou"

)

The sub-forum will be used to host stories for contests run at this site. Additional uses (crits, etc) may be considered in future. We're still figuring out the administration of the sub-forum, and will be setting up the sub-forum rules shortly.

Another feature of the sub-forum is that it allows for uploaded attachments. Yes, you read that correctly -- you can now upload your story in all its formatted glory.

So, if you want to upload your story, rather than posting it to the Stories section, you may do so in this thread:

http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24994

As indicated in that thread, I figure we should use this month's flash fic contest to hash out the rules.

**Sterling13** · December 3rd, 2009, 12:34 PM

This month's all-powerful ruler concurs - Please post your stories as a .doc attachment in the new sub-forum.

Many thanks Daigoro!

Italics, italics, my beautiful italics!!!!

**venustar** · December 3rd, 2009, 12:45 PM

thaaaaaaaaaaank yoooooooou

**zachariah** · December 3rd, 2009, 12:51 PM

While I do think this is great, it raises the thorny subject of standardisation. Or rather, the lack of it.

Once everyone gets to use their choice of font and fiddles around with margins (or god forbid, decides that two sides of A3 are acceptable), we could end up with a 5000-word entry that 'fits on two pages'.

**SuperFede** · December 3rd, 2009, 12:54 PM

Originally Posted by zachariah

While I do think this is great, it raises the thorny subject of standardisation. Or rather, the lack of it.

Once everyone gets to use their choice of font and fiddles around with margins (or god forbid, decides that two sides of A3 are acceptable), we could end up with a 5000-word entry that 'fits on two pages'.

I already asked this and has been answered in the other thread. It has been changed from 2 pages to 1200 words.

**Sterling13** · December 3rd, 2009, 12:55 PM

Originally Posted by zachariah

While I do think this is great, it raises the thorny subject of standardisation. Or rather, the lack of it.

Once everyone gets to use their choice of font and fiddles around with margins (or god forbid, decides that two sides of A3 are acceptable), we could end up with a 5000-word entry that 'fits on two pages'.

Yeah, that's why I'm going to keep this one relatively "un-standard" in terms of formatting, and base this solely off of word count.

A 1,200 word limit should cover any stories that were able to fit under the old "2 page" rule.

For future contests, we can adjust down to the 1,000 word flash fiction standard, and perhaps even decide on a standard format.