Contest: ENTER November Writing Contest

I thought about it but my Muse is broken. Sorry!

 

I think it's time to call time of death on this topic.

Throwing the Contest open to anyone who wants to devise a worthy challenge.

 

@Bry_Sinclair: Let them write any Trek-related story they want, up to a certain word count. For my part, it's one of the biggest reasons I never enter into contests elsewhere--for some odd reason, they almost always have to stipulate a theme. Yet, I'm almost never in sync. I want to write something else right about then.

For example, I've had a lot of ideas over the past two months, but none have sufficiently lined up with the theme set out in this contest.

 

I could be wrong, but my understanding is that every contest has set a theme within which all submissions need to work, something that allows flexibility but can also challenge a writer to come up with something new and different. Check with a Mod to see what the rules are in devising competitions.

 

Could the Starsong/Surefoot collaboration story that Deggsy O'Brien and I wrote be a possible contender in this contest, Bry? I thought I'd ask.

 

That's nice and everything, but it's useless if you're not getting any submissions.

 

^ So basically, "Everyone write something and post it here"? That's what happens anyway.

 

Spring 2018 Contest. Anything Goes. Literally. Any Trek themed story up to 10,000 words, with one caveat. The story must contain at least a thematic reference to the 1934 Cole Porter song, "Anything Goes." (For those of you unfamiliar, I think it was used in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Bugs.)

 

I have an idea. Theme: mistaken identity, 5,000 words. I actually have a story in mind, based off true events.

 

I could work with that.

While a "write anything free-for-all" allows for much more flexibility, having a theme to structure a story around can provide some valuable basis for inspiration.

 

I vote for mistaken identity

 

So um...is there a theme and if so what is it?

If there isn't a theme this is it the free for all?

 

Think we'd need a mod to clarify what just what the contest should be in terms of themed or not.

@Count Zero thoughts?

 

What the hell happened here?

I clicked on this thread yesterday, and not paying attention, I saw it was the November Challenge, and I saw there was some dithering about the theme and such, and I was like, "well, okay, maybe they just need another entry to get the ball rolling again" and I was thinking about what I might do to get back into fanfic contests here.

And then today I took a closer look at the date of the last post.

Have I got this straight? The trekkies who frequent this forum, the one where we're supposed to have fun writing Trek and reading Trek written by fans like us, just let the forum challenge drop like a hot rock, and let it stay dropped for ten months without any attempt to revive it?? Seriously??? I know I've been away from the forum for a long while, but I've been away from the art forum the exact same amount of time and they still have contests. And sometimes entering the art contest requires using a thousand dollar computer modeling program. All this contest requires is turning on a computer and typing!

Is this what you all want? Just no contest at all? "It's too much to worry about a contest entry and I want to just concentrate on my stuff anyway?" Fine, then just be upfront and say that. Take the poll, "Contest or No Contest" and see how the votes go, but what happened in this thread was shabby, and especially unfair to Bry Sinclair. He was the legitimate winner, his prize was to come up with the next contest, his theme was fine, the contest parameters were fine, and he even broke the ice by posting first. All that was needed to make it a contest was one more entry. Nothing. There's an offer of a theme change. Nothing. Okay, then it's "anything goes," and instead of entries it becomes a seminar on what "anything goes" means, and what truly gets me is Bry asks the mod for help, and the mod is like .

Personally, I think the monthly contest can be saved by getting it back to its basics, simple themes for short fics (2500, 3000, 5000 words) that ficcers can put together in a relatively short amount of time...that is if that's what everybody wants. If we're done with the contests, then let's declare it: The Fan Fiction forum no longer has contests, period. Just not this wither-on-the-vine nonsense.

 

You make a compelling argument, @Admiral2. I'd be willing to enter, if it's decided we should have a contest.

 

As far as I'm concerned we might as well just enter this contest and wake it up from its coma. It hasn't been declared closed, there hasn't been a vote or a winner declared, and even though the entry deadline is technically passed, in the OP it just says December 10th, no year specified. We could just roll that deadline over to this coming 12/10, or pick a later date. We do that, keep the "Anything Goes" theme, and that gets this thread off of life-support.

But yes, we do have to decide if there's going to be a monthly contest for this forum, because that's a commitment. In order for the this to work, the winner of whatever the next contest will be has to be willing to run the contest after that, and others have to enter it so we have a new winner, and the circle continues, or otherwise we just end up right where we are.

 

The contest needs to come back. It invites more writers to show everyone their talents.

 

@Admiral2 suggested a poll. Here it is.