2012 Forum Anthology Contests

**virangelus** · May 15th, 2012, 12:38 AM

Ahh, and here comes my challenge in these things.

I'm far too "wordy" for my own good in these short-story situations. But I think it will be a good experience for me in learning how to nip and tuck unnecessary details.

I think I'll go with the usual main stay of just throwing everything together and taking out the things not necessary for the story to survive. It is, after all, easier to hit the delete button than to add new words in.

13% through the first anthology, with 1572 words but I've barely just laid out the "theme stated" part. I'm sure I'll have to get my red marker out here.

**JunkMonkey** · May 15th, 2012, 04:04 AM

Yipee! after sort of thinking about this for ages a couple of characters started having a conversation in my head last night. - This is how my stories usually come about. I hear a snippet of conversation in my head, write it down and then try to work out who these people are and why they are doing what they're doing. I may well be wrong about what they are doing at the moment. I usually am.

**tmso** · May 15th, 2012, 09:09 PM

Woohoo! Glad to see Vir and JM interested in this project. I'm so looking forward to all your submissions.

I may have another STUPENDOUS announcement to make...but not yet.

I don't know about you all, but this is a lot of fun putting this together. I feel we'll create something we can all be proud of.

**virangelus** · May 17th, 2012, 05:07 PM

15% through my short story so far. At this point, I've gotten so excited about the particular setting that the characters will be in that I've found myself wanting to write this MORE than the Summer Scifi I set out to write. Interesting how that happens.

TMSO, for the "Wind" portion (and yes I'm thinking way ahead) I have a story in mind, but I'm not sure it's matching the rules of the contest. I'll PM you later.

**CMTheAuthor** · May 17th, 2012, 06:50 PM

Well, my submission is in. Time (and the other SFFWorld members) will tell if I make the cut.

**tmso** · May 17th, 2012, 11:08 PM

Howdy, Folks. I'm sensing a problem.

First, you all keep announcing your submissions. That's fine, but remember, I'm trying to keep the voting anonymous (maybe I should abandon that?).

Announcing isn't a problem if I post all the entrants at the same time (June 15th), but I'm thinking maybe it would be better to post them as they come in.

I'm thinking of doing that, becuase I'm thinking of a different sort of voting system. Instead of voting in one thread, with three votes each, I'm thinking more of a rating system for each story. So, each story will have a poll to it, that poll would have options like:

In a few years, you will be awesome.
Needs a bit of work, but I made it to the end.
Time well spent, thank you.
Great story! I'd buy that.
I love it! More, please.

The three stories that get the most in ratings (points) for each contest, ends up in the anthology.

This way, all the stories get some sort of rating (that's precious feedback for an author), and I don't have to wait until after the deadline to put the stories up.

With this approach, however, to keep the anonymity, authors will have to refrain from responding to any ratings/votes/comments that they may get early on in this process.

What do you all think?

Deadlines would not change, of course, just the way we vote for the stories. Bad idea, good idea, stick to the plan?

**virangelus** · May 17th, 2012, 11:36 PM

Ehh, I don't mind how it's done TMSO. Though I hope by announcing my percentage complete is not foiling any of the anonymity for you. I was thinking I'd write, finish, then I'd give it to you, and you'd post it when you were good and ready.

(At the risk of carrying on my crime, 20% complete)

**JunkMonkey** · May 18th, 2012, 03:57 AM

Out of curiosity, virangelus, how do you know it's 20%? I only know a story is finished - when it's finished. There comes a moment when I just know that 'that's it'. Often what ends up on the screen is vastly different from what I started out with. Sometimes what I thought was going to be a story ends up as a cartoon.

**Wulfen** · May 18th, 2012, 09:54 AM

TMSO, not sure I like that, as that potentially penalizes someone who can't submit until closer to the deadline. Someone who has their story posted now, compared to later, will potentially have a lot more points built up by the time polls are closed.

I don't mind the point system, as long as all stories are revealed together.

**tmso** · May 18th, 2012, 10:52 AM

Okay, I will expose them all at the same time, but will muddle over the idea of voting vs rating.

Out of curiosity, virangelus, how do you know it's 20%?

I'm not virangelus, but I do the same thing. I guestimate how long I expect a story to take. I also outline, so that gives me a good idea how many words a story might end up at. For each major plot/story point, I figure I'll have a scene. Each of my scenes range between 1,000 to 2,500 words, more or less depending on how much description I use. I add up the scenes and times that by an average. It doesn't always work, but it gives me something to shoot for.

**JunkMonkey** · May 18th, 2012, 05:29 PM

Sounds very organised. I start in the middle and work outwards. (Which is probably why I so rarely actually finish anything.)

Personally I like the 'put all the entries up at one go' approach. Apart from anything else, I think it might put me off entering if I read three stonkingly brilliant stories using a similar theme to my entry before I had finished writing it.

And

If stories start going up one by one, discussions will start and it will soon be obvious who wrote what and any possibility of anonymity is out of the window before you can say 'Jack Robinson'. (Damn! my cliché bins are getting empty, I need to stock up.)

I have just edited a previous post of mine to make it less obvious which is my story when they are put up.

**CMTheAuthor** · May 18th, 2012, 07:18 PM

All apologies, tmso, although I didn't see a problem with maintaining anonymity while knowing which people were involved.

After all, unless some of us are either master computers hackers or experts of literary analysis AND willing to take the time to do either, its not like we're going to know specifically who wrote what. Ditto on the feedback thing, if it's handled carefully.

**virangelus** · May 18th, 2012, 07:53 PM

Originally Posted by JunkMonkey

Out of curiosity, virangelus, how do you know it's 20%? I only know a story is finished - when it's finished. There comes a moment when I just know that 'that's it'. Often what ends up on the screen is vastly different from what I started out with. Sometimes what I thought was going to be a story ends up as a cartoon.

JM, I'm like TMSO, I am a bit of a planner. When I begin forming a story, I am usually able to "see" the beginning and the end of the story, and then I am also able to see little "moments" here or there, sometimes just conversation, sometimes something else. I then try to organize these "flashes" or these "waypoints" as I call them into a story structure matched against the Hero's Journey or Blake Snyder's beatsheet. As I hit these waypoints during the course of my writings, I can mark "done" on an excel spreadsheet and it calculates percentage.

Yeah, nerdy, I know. But it's holistic enough to let me track based on story substance rather than mere word count. Also, it makes my left brain feel quite happy to have that number, rather than feeling like it's stuck in the chaos of my right brain with no end in sight.

**MrBF1V3** · May 18th, 2012, 10:31 PM

Originally Posted by CMTheAuthor

After all, unless some of us are either master computers hackers or experts of literary analysis AND willing to take the time to do either, its not like we're going to know specifically who wrote what. Ditto on the feedback thing, if it's handled carefully.

..or if some of us are well read, r.e. the styles of the authors involved. No system is completely fool proof, so if any of you want to 'open your gifts before Christmas' you could probably find a way to do so. The question is; is it worth it?

I've finished a rough draft and am entering the time of editing. That means I'm approximately 7.3451893% done.

B5

**Sarunus** · May 19th, 2012, 05:28 AM

I'm a "sort-of" planner. For shorter works, I put out a loose plan, really not much more than an origin and a destination for my story (as I work only in linear plots for now). If it's FF or a short story, I don't usually write it down. After that I'll just fill it in from there.

Originally Posted by MrBF1V3

I've finished a rough draft and am entering the time of editing. That means I'm approximately 7.3451893% done.

B5

Wow. I might be the opposite. Once I've finished my first draft with FF or a SS, I'm 92% done. I'd be curious to see how it breaks down for most people. Methinks I could do with a greater emphasis on editing.