Luka's 2015 Novella and Novelette Challenge and Contest

Dreaming said:
As to the format, I think posting each chapter as a new thread with links to the next chapters would be good. No different from posting a short story really. That way people can post comments on a chapter by chapter basis. I think it would be a great way for us all to become better writers. :)
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I don't know if posting chapters or parts as entirely new threads would work. I could see it working if we were to post a story all at once, 3 threads in a row sort of thing, but I could see that also allowing (encouraging?) people to post Part 1 in August, Part 2 in October and Part 3 in November. It could make reading a little hard.
 
I was thinking all at once, but yeah, I can see how it could get real messy real quick! :D Perhaps for the sake of tidiness there could be a new sub forum called 'Novelette's', or 'Novelette Contest'.

The first chapter could contain links in the first post, like a contents page maybe. Or else the casual reader may wind up reading a novelette backwards, or just jumbled up like a Tarantino movie. :D
 
While I'm all for novelettes/novellas, I don't think we'll be able to get a subforum for it. I don't see that being very likely.
 
Agreed, hmm. Thinking about it. How many chapters is a novelette? If five people enter with between ten and twenty chapters each, that's a whole LOT of threads. It'll eat up the stories subforum in no time... :(

We could just make a mess and see what happens. :D Or maybe just post the first chapter here, and have a link to the rest (as Jussslic suggested) off site on Tumblr or Google Drive, or add txt or pdf files. There are security issues with off site links and attachments though, but I think a fair warning in the main contest would cover that, and a little common sense in terms of looking at a links address before clicking it. I guess it would be safer and tidier to post the whole thing in one thread.

In terms of helping each other to improve our writing though, it would be better all round to post each chapter at different times individually, maybe over the space of a year.

Perhaps as a rule in the contest we could have a defined amount of chapters? To follow the same outline each.

In fact, here's a cool idea! Hows about doing one chapter a month that would end in a whole novel/novella, but each month we would vote on who wrote the best chapter for that month? Kind of like a short story contest, but ongoing. :)

It could run over the duration of a year, and if you miss a deadline its not really a problem if you submit it and catch up for the next month. :)
 
Like novels, novellas and novelettes don't need to have chapters. Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels are a prime example of this. My novellas have mostly had "parts" and, usually, I split them into thirds.

Those are some good ideas, though I don't know how a year's worth of "chapters" would turn out. Even 6 months seems a bit long to me for the purpose of a contest. But I can understand why 6 months was said before.
 
I've collaborated (am collaborating) with other writers on stories in the collaborative stories thread and have with my brother also on two of my comp entries It's fun and gets some great results... but I'm not so sure about making it a prerequisite in the comp.

Also making it a prerequisite that entrants post chapters as they're written is ok for writers who are used to preparing their plots ahead of time and following a deliberate preplanned plot. I'm not one of those writers, unfortunately. Most of what I write happens by happy accident - so if I couldn't go back to chapter three and set-uo (or justify) the great idea I've hand for chapter 6 (in the writing process or in the draft process) I think it it'd feel like I was writing with my toes. I'd be aiming for a B+ or higher standard for the submitted draft so I need to use every advantage and bit of exxperience I can swing.

if people like the idea of posting in a serialised way. I will read and give my opinion though. I'd be interested reading them all either way.
 
Thinking more on this, I'm not too hot on the idea of writing a chapter a month over the course of a year. As you said, @Luka Datas, you would have to have the story all planned out to really do it justice. I would rather do a single story, posted all at once in whatever manner and/or place is decided to do that, and be done with that story, for that time.

Luka, were you thinking each contest would have a particular theme?
 
I'm going to do some research later tonight on novelette/ novella formatting and I'm not really sure.

Asimov wrote NIGHTFALL based on a quotation his editor gave him from Ralph Waldo Emerson:

If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore, and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God!

His editor thought the people would go mad..

and BICENTENNIAL MAN was written for AMERICA'S bicentennial celebrations as part of a planned writer's project of collected short fiction that only he finished a story for.

THESE are possible approaches.although Charlotte's probably your go to girl for ideas about what best sparks longer fiction efforts.
 
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Well, you all have been busy.

I didn't even know this thread existed. How long have you all been talking about another contest?

Some thoughts:
  1. Formatting that many words for the forum is a daunting task. But it is possible. You simply have to break up the text and post it into a story thread in chunks. It's just extra work, but completely doable. I would suggest just using the Stories sub-forum and posting in chunks (either all at once or over time is completely up to you).
  2. We could use the old Stories section (as mentioned by RedMage), but it was part of the old website and has yet to be integrated into the new forum and front page. I'm sure updating it is not high on @daigoro 's to-do list. However, it does seem to be functional so you all can use it if you'd like. However, it automatically divides up the text into pages. If I recall correctly, the page cut off is around 1000 words or so. So, a 10k story would be about 10 pages.
  3. No one is going to read the stories except those participating and maybe not even them. It's just how it goes. Scheduling it so that it doesn't interfere with the other contests is ideal, but that won't bring in more readers.
By the way, we were considering a site-wide contest. Where we would have judges and prizes and everything. We'd promote it on the front page of the site and it would be "official". But, for some reason, that didn't go anywhere (probably because someone (probably me) dropped the ball). Anyway, if we were to do that, it might usurp this contest.
 
N. E. White said:
Well, you all have been busy.

I didn't even know this thread existed. How long have you all been talking about another contest?
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Since this last Thursday :)

Some thoughts:
  1. Formatting that many words for the forum is a daunting task. But it is possible. You simply have to break up the text and post it into a story thread in chunks. It's just extra work, but completely doable. I would suggest just using the Stories sub-forum and posting in chunks (either all at once or over time is completely up to you).
  2. We could use the old Stories section (as mentioned by RedMage), but it was part of the old website and has yet to be integrated into the new forum and front page. I'm sure updating it is not high on @daigoro 's to-do list. However, it does seem to be functional so you all can use it if you'd like. However, it automatically divides up the text into pages. If I recall correctly, the page cut off is around 1000 words or so. So, a 10k story would be about 10 pages.
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Yeah, #1 is how I see us having to do things for this. I don't know about #2; it's not actually for contests and, as you said, it hasn't been merged into the new site on XenForo. I'm not certain how much trouble it would be to use when it automatically divides text into pages.

3. No one is going to read the stories except those participating and maybe not even them. It's just how it goes. Scheduling it so that it doesn't interfere with the other contests is ideal, but that won't bring in more readers.
By the way, we were considering a site-wide contest. Where we would have judges and prizes and everything. We'd promote it on the front page of the site and it would be "official". But, for some reason, that didn't go anywhere (probably because someone (probably me) dropped the ball). Anyway, if we were to do that, it might usurp this contest.
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I don't participate in the current contests, nor do I read or vote on them. But I have the feeling there are few people who read their entries who don't also write entries. So your point, Nila, is very well made.
 
Thanks Nila.

For me the comp would be about pushing myself, achieving a deadline and improving my plotting/ writing skills and I'd be happy even if only two or three people read what I'd written and got back to me with their impressions/ suggestions BUT if you already have a novella/ novelette comp in the works --- and it has prizes --- it might be an OK thing to be usurped by.

If it's not happening in the unforeseeable future though. I'd rather be doing a thing than no thing. while I'm waiting and while the iron's hot, so to speak.

The scheduling was mainly for me (to be totally honest) cause I actually do read all the stories and give my impressions of them. I like getting them from others about mine so I give them mine about theirs. What's the point of posting in a forum if you really don't care what anyone else thinks?
 
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Luka Datas said:
What's the point of posting in a forum if you really don't care what anyone else thinks?
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Did you feel that? I just sent you a kiss.

Bless our heart, I wish everyone thought that way.

We can always try it. If you get interest, you get interest. If not, it will just fall by the wayside.

If I happen to get the site-wide contest going (woohoo!), then the novella/novelette contest can just be postponed until that is finished.

I can't say whether I would participate, but as always, I'll read and vote. :)
 
I think a site wide contest would be cool and could have the added benefit of drawing attention to the other competitions. Even if readership is small, any and all feedback is useful and appreciated.
 
@N. E. White, what do you mean by "site-wide contest"? I though the contests in the Writing Forum were open to the whole forum section of the site, which is open to every member and visitor to SFFWorld.com. Is that wrong?
 
RedMage said:
Is that wrong?
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Nope - not wrong. The current forum contests are open to any forum member. Obviously, if you are not a forum member, you will have to create an account to join in.

By 'site-wide', I mean we would announce the contest on the main part of the site (and promote it on SFFWorld.com social media channels) and solicit entries from anyone, forum member or not.
 
N. E. White said:
Nope - not wrong. The current forum contests are open to any forum member. Obviously, if you are not a forum member, you will have to create an account to join in.

By 'site-wide', I mean we would announce the contest on the main part of the site (and promote it on SFFWorld.com social media channels) and solicit entries from anyone, forum member or not.
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Cool!

Next Question: are there any details you can give us about this contest? Is it a writing contest? Is there a word limit or a theme?
 
RedMage said:
Next Question: are there any details you can give us about this contest? Is it a writing contest? Is there a word limit or a theme?
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Oh, dear. I shouldn't have mentioned it.

Like I said, I dropped the ball on it. I asked Dag sometime ago if he would be interested in hosting a contest and, if I recall correctly, he was mildly interested, but there are some legal issues. I didn't pursue it (or try to overcome those legal issues) so we just kind of forgot about it. Actually, now that I think of it some more, I believe we decided it wasn't worth the effort. Maybe sometime in the future, but it won't happen this year.
 
N. E. White said:
Like I said, I dropped the ball on it. I asked Dag sometime ago if he would be interested in hosting a contest and, if I recall correctly, he was mildly interested, but there are some legal issues. I didn't pursue it (or try to overcome those legal issues) so we just kind of forgot about it. Actually, now that I think of it some more, I believe we decided it wasn't worth the effort. Maybe sometime in the future, but it won't happen this year.
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Ok, so maybe we should just proceed with Luka's idea.
 
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