Escape Artists
The Arcade => Flash Contest IV => Completed Contests => Flash Fiction Contest IV - Cast of Wonders => Topic started by: danooli on August 04, 2016, 05:15:01 PM
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Cast of Wonders Flash Fiction Contest
Submission Window opens Monday August 15 and will remain open until midnight EST Friday September 30.
To be a valid submission to the contest, each story must adhere to the following rules:
1. The story must be no more than 500 words long, not including its title. Do not use the title to skirt around the word count. Word count will be determined using Google Docs.
2. The story must adhere to the general Cast of Wonders submission guidelines (http://www.castofwonders.org/submissions/). Most importantly, it needs to evoke a sense of wonder and be appropriate for a YA audience. We aim for a 12-17 age range: that means sophisticated, non-condescending stories with wide appeal, and without explicit sex, violence or pervasive obscene language.
3. The story must be original and previously unpublished. Stories will be posted on a members-only portion of the forum, so first publication rights will not be spent if your story does not win.
4. The person submitting the story must be the story's author (or acting for the author with express permission) and hold full publishing rights to the story. A story that is derived from a previously published work in another format (i.e. not a short story) is fine (assuming doing so isn't in violation of copyright, obviously).
5. If you are not sure whether your story counts as published or not (for example, if an earlier version has appeared on your blog but nowhere else), please send an email to dani@escapeartists.net with the subject line "QUERY" and ask before submitting. Please do not submit stories that have been entries in a previous Escape Artists contest.
6. The story must be submitted in its final form, as the author intends it to be read by the voting public. We may or may not allow minor typo corrections if those slip in, but as a general rule, we will not allow authors to submit changes to stories, especially not after submissions are closed.
7. Each author may submit only ONE story.
8. Included in the body of the submission must be the title and the text. Any byline will be stripped when the stories are posted in the contest, and will be revealed when either the story fails to advance, or ultimately wins. Feel free to request a pseudonym for the byline, but we will need a legal name if you win for prize purposes.
9. Winners will be paid $30, making this a pro sale of at least six cents a word.
Please blog, share on Facebook, tweet, email, send owls, telephone, text, light smoke signals, and otherwise get the word out.
EDIT: Here is a link to the submittable portal. (https://castofwonders.submittable.com/submit/63377/)
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Oh yeah... Legal name... And here I was just about to change mine.
Better get on with that too.
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Oh yeah... Legal name... And here I was just about to change mine.
Better get on with that too.
<3 So excited for you!
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Woohoo! Looking forward to reading the stories everyone sends in. :)
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Okay. I finally started my story. One word down, 499 to go.
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Okay. I finally started my story. One word down, 499 to go.
Bwahahaha!
Remember, don't count the title! ♡
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Any chance the limit can be adjusted to 521? I JUST CAN'T TRIM ANY MORE! ;D
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Any chance the limit can be adjusted to 521? I JUST CAN'T TRIM ANY MORE! ;D
I had an author tell me yesterday they trimmed an 1100 word story down to 500.
(https://media.giphy.com/media/Vccpm1O9gV1g4/giphy.gif)
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Okay. I finally started my story. One word down, 499 to go.
Bwahahaha!
Remember, don't count the title! ♡
THANKS FOR KILLING ALL MY PROGRESS DANOOLI
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Any chance the limit can be adjusted to 521? I JUST CAN'T TRIM ANY MORE! ;D
I had an author tell me yesterday they trimmed an 1100 word story down to 500.
(https://media.giphy.com/media/Vccpm1O9gV1g4/giphy.gif)
But every word is gold, Danooli, GOLD!
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THANKS FOR KILLING ALL MY PROGRESS DANOOLI
Are you sure it's dead? Mostly dead is still salvageable, no? :D
But every word is gold, Danooli, GOLD!
Sacrifice is tough, I know...but the Goblet of Wonders is very particular!
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Any chance the limit can be adjusted to 521? I JUST CAN'T TRIM ANY MORE! ;D
I had an author tell me yesterday they trimmed an 1100 word story down to 500.
(https://media.giphy.com/media/Vccpm1O9gV1g4/giphy.gif)
But every word is gold, Danooli, GOLD!
Oh no!!!
Thunderscreech is in.
I just deleted my word.
There's no sense even trying.
It's like platform/springboard diving against against China...
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Oh no!!!
Thunderscreech is in.
I just deleted my word.
There's no sense even trying.
It's like platform/springboard diving against against China...
BUT BUT BUT...don't forget there will be THREE winners!!! C'mon, I'm sure you can undelete the word, right? And then, since it's likely to be lonely, you can invite 499 friends to join it! ;D
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Oh no!!!
Thunderscreech is in.
I just deleted my word.
There's no sense even trying.
It's like platform/springboard diving against against China...
HA! I've got a feeling this one is going to be a huge challenge. Can't wait to see what my story looks like after I've brutalized it through more trimming. I wish this was in german, you can make compound words by just removing spaces. Kinda. :P
Looking forward to reading yours! These contests are my favorite part ot EA.
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Oh no!!!
Thunderscreech is in.
I just deleted my word.
There's no sense even trying.
It's like platform/springboard diving against against China...
HA! I've got a feeling this one is going to be a huge challenge. Can't wait to see what my story looks like after I've brutalized it through more trimming. I wish this was in german, you can make compound words by just removing spaces. Kinda. :P
Looking forward to reading yours! These contests are my favorite part ot EA.
Why are you always ruining this for me? My first word was:
Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitänsmütze
But seriously, these are also my favorite part of EA. Let the good times roll.
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Oh no!!!
Thunderscreech is in.
I just deleted my word.
There's no sense even trying.
It's like platform/springboard diving against against China...
HA! I've got a feeling this one is going to be a huge challenge. Can't wait to see what my story looks like after I've brutalized it through more trimming. I wish this was in german, you can make compound words by just removing spaces. Kinda. :P
Looking forward to reading yours! These contests are my favorite part ot EA.
Why are you always ruining this for me? My first word was:
Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitänsmütze
:looks in narrator database for German speakers in case Not-A-Robot wins:
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Oh no!!!
Thunderscreech is in.
I just deleted my word.
There's no sense even trying.
It's like platform/springboard diving against against China...
HA! I've got a feeling this one is going to be a huge challenge. Can't wait to see what my story looks like after I've brutalized it through more trimming. I wish this was in german, you can make compound words by just removing spaces. Kinda. :P
Looking forward to reading yours! These contests are my favorite part ot EA.
Why are you always ruining this for me? My first word was:
Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitänsmütze
:looks in narrator database for German speakers in case Not-A-Robot wins:
Trust me, Dani, German's fine... until you get to the bit where the author adds something like 'in a voice like a rusted piccolo'. :'( PLEASE, AUTHORS. BE KIND TO YOUR POOL OF NARRATORS.
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PLEASE, AUTHORS. BE KIND TO YOUR POOL OF NARRATORS.
And, this folks, is really what it boils down to for an audio fiction podcast LOL
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"Q̵̩̺͍'̴̘̰̮͡m̧̖̻̺̠͞z̩͖͈͍̩͠-͢҉̢͙̥͍͉ͅw̸͖̼͓̼̗͟o̢̞͇̰̩͖ŗ̩͔̠͚̯m̷̟͇̬͜d̨҉̙̲l̯̪̗̠̬͕͘ͅ", the Syzygian Prince trilluped.
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As danooli's eye twitches...
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"Q̵̩̺͍'̴̘̰̮͡m̧̖̻̺̠͞z̩͖͈͍̩͠-͢҉̢͙̥͍͉ͅw̸͖̼͓̼̗͟o̢̞͇̰̩͖ŗ̩͔̠͚̯m̷̟͇̬͜d̨҉̙̲l̯̪̗̠̬͕͘ͅ", the Syzygian Prince trilluped.
I just do fart-noises for those. ;)
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I'm in! Bring it on folks!
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So the ads in the casts for this often refer to it as the TriWonders tournament and refer to three challenges.
I'm assuming part of that is to reference the Harry Potter's Tri-Wizard tournament.
But the three challenges... what are they meant to be? The initial, semifinals, and finals?
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So the ads in the casts for this often refer to it as the TriWonders tournament and refer to three challenges.
I'm assuming part of that is to reference the Harry Potter's Tri-Wizard tournament.
But the three challenges... what are they meant to be? The initial, semifinals, and finals?
Trial 1: danooli's gatekeeping. Only qualifying stories make it through.
Trial 2: The voting rounds. Only great stories make it through.
Trial 3: Alligator wrestling. Just because. :P
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So the ads in the casts for this often refer to it as the TriWonders tournament and refer to three challenges.
I'm assuming part of that is to reference the Harry Potter's Tri-Wizard tournament.
But the three challenges... what are they meant to be? The initial, semifinals, and finals?
Trial 1: danooli's gatekeeping. Only qualifying stories make it through.
Trial 2: The voting rounds. Only great stories make it through.
Trial 3: Alligator wrestling. Just because. :P
Bwahahaha! Yes! SpareInch has it right!
Although...Unblinking...you are also correct :)
But the three challenges... what are they meant to be? The initial, semifinals, and finals?
The winners have to pass all three rounds :)
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I was really struggling to get under 500, especially since I started at almost twice the wordcount. Today I kept bouncing off 505. I'd tweak and twist and cut and move and.... somehow end up at 506, or 504 but never getting below 500.
Finally, I gave up trying to slash at it because slashing at it just wasn't working. I went nuts and just rewrote a bunch of sentences I'd 'optimized'. I redid some wording so it felt better because "might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb". Trying to make a story that sounded good should be my goal, I figured, not something that's been pecked to death by a duck. If it doesn't fit here, then maybe I'll find another contest somewhere with a higher word limit. Or I'd have my OWN contest! With blackjack! And liquor!
After a couple minutes of this, I dropped a copy into my wordcount tool to see what the damage was and... it was at 493.
What the what.
So I'm not sure how it happened, but I feel like I busted through some kinda story membrane. Now, I've got this luxury of dropping in a couple definite articles, a couple spice words maybe... it's an amazing feeling. Can I fit 'ridonkulous' (a word I made up in the late 90s and deliberately injected into English by using it loudly and frequently in the lunchroom at the MGM Building in Santa Monica. Why there? I worked there and it was filled with media folks, many of whom obviously spread out through the industry. Mission accomplished, I heard it on 30 Rock a few years ago, one of my bigger life accomplishments) into the story in a meaningful way? Ok, probably not.
If any of all y'all are having trouble trying to trim down to 500, try saving a copy and just having a 'make it better go nuts' session instead of a 'wordcount pecking party'. You never know what'll happen!
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Just finished the first draft.
572 words, all the purest of pure golden yellow gold. And none of them are repetitive, redundant, supererogatory, or repetitive.
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If any of all y'all are having trouble trying to trim down to 500, try saving a copy and just having a 'make it better go nuts' session instead of a 'wordcount pecking party'. You never know what'll happen!
Good advice! Especially the "saving a copy" part :p
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Just finished the first draft.
572 words, all the purest of pure golden yellow gold. And none of them are repetitive, redundant, supererogatory, or repetitive.
Ha! So much for the whole brevity thing
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/50/8a/db/508adb7a75866401a31aa99656a726d9.jpg)
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Getting to the point where it feels like I'm not actually BETTERING my story so it's almost time to submit. The big challenge now is the right title.
Now that I've figured out how to get my word count under 500, I need the right name. How' about this:
"The CrystalCraft descended towards the emerald valley, balanced atop a scintillating Tannhauser Beam that sang a song of movement the gathered Centaurs below could feel to their bones" - By Thunderscreech
Yeah, the word count thing was really kicking my butt, thank goodness I found one little trick to fix it. Editors hate me!
I am terribly unsatisfied with my working title, though. Oh bother. Hope the rest of all y'all are doing well with your stories, whether submitted already or still in process!
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Scrabbling over here with my flash writing :) Convinced myself I would make a YA specific story as I've never written that before but may return to just my normal creepy self. Excited to jump back in the wolf pit with everyone.
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YA can absolutely be creepy ;D
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If any of all y'all are having trouble trying to trim down to 500, try saving a copy and just having a 'make it better go nuts' session instead of a 'wordcount pecking party'. You never know what'll happen!
Excellent!
When I find myself around 20% over word count, line editing and pecking at words is usually pretty successful. More than that, and it's time to start cutting ideas, scenes, or characters. There's nothing like a hard word limit to force you to decide what your story is really about. For me, the resulting story is always better for it.
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YA can absolutely be creepy ;D
Well I think that's definetly where I'll be living. Wrote one that was surprisingly optimistic? Not sure if I love it enough. Might write another. Thankfully flash is fast
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"Q̵̩̺͍'̴̘̰̮͡m̧̖̻̺̠͞z̩͖͈͍̩͠-͢҉̢͙̥͍͉ͅw̸͖̼͓̼̗͟o̢̞͇̰̩͖ŗ̩͔̠͚̯m̷̟͇̬͜d̨҉̙̲l̯̪̗̠̬͕͘ͅ", the Syzygian Prince trilluped.
You stay out of my slush pile!
(Not you, Thunderscreech... dem werdz, tho...)
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It is done. I have done it. There is now no going back. Unless there is, but I shan't check. There will be no checking.
Also, hello and stuff...
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It is done. I have done it. There is now no going back. Unless there is, but I shan't check. There will be no checking.
Also, hello and stuff...
hehehehe...nope. there is NO GOING BACK!!! The Goblet of Wonders has taken hold of your words and shan't spit them out again until after 10/8!
bwahahaha!!!
(And, welcome! We're actually quite nice around here...except for that nasty goblet....)
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Appreciated! I seldum visit fora anymore, but it's nice to see them still kicking about. I'll be adding CoW to my subscriptions as soon as I've finished the present audiobook (90 hours of JG Ballard!).
Hope the entries are pouring steadily into the goblet.
John
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Alright, I've finally stopped agonizing over each word and submitted so I'm committed. Somehow, my eructation came in at a correct word count. I've never written YA before so I don't know what kind of Harry Potter slash fiction all y'all are going for, but I tried to cover all the major bases. I always meant to ask what the 'YA' stands for anyways?
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I always meant to ask what the 'YA' stands for anyways?
"Yellowstone Adjacent". CoW only publishes stories that take place in Wyoming, Montana, or Idaho.
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I always meant to ask what the 'YA' stands for anyways?
Defining YA is not easy. And, we tend to have a more liberal and broad definition than many. I tend to look at what YA doesn't include, instead of what it does. No gratuitous sex, violence, drug use, obscenity.
Our submission guidelines (http://www.castofwonders.org/submissions/) page goes into more detail :)
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I always meant to ask what the 'YA' stands for anyways?
"Yellowstone Adjacent". CoW only publishes stories that take place in Wyoming, Montana, or Idaho.
Phew! I lucked out, then, this is going to be one wild Hogwarts field trip.
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I always meant to ask what the 'YA' stands for anyways?
Defining YA is not easy. And, we tend to have a more liberal and broad definition than many. I tend to look at what YA doesn't include, instead of what it does. No gratuitous sex, violence, drug use, obscenity.
Our submission guidelines (http://www.castofwonders.org/submissions/) page goes into more detail :)
Wait, no profanity??
checks 579 word manuscript for profanity...
removes profanity...
489 words. Perfect.
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I always meant to ask what the 'YA' stands for anyways?
Defining YA is not easy. And, we tend to have a more liberal and broad definition than many. I tend to look at what YA doesn't include, instead of what it does. No gratuitous sex, violence, drug use, obscenity.
Our submission guidelines (http://www.castofwonders.org/submissions/) page goes into more detail :)
Wait, no profanity??
checks 579 word manuscript for profanity...
removes profanity...
489 words. Perfect.
hahaha! nice!
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I shouldn't have submitted so early...waiting is ha-ard!
I want an oompa loompa NOW Dani!
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I shouldn't have submitted so early...waiting is ha-ard!
I want an oompa loompa NOW Dani!
Tell me about it Shane! I'm reading these stories and want EVERYONE to read them! 12 more days...just 12 more days! (Should I mention that it was my decision to extend the submission window? :) no? OK, I won't mention it then!)
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Should I mention that it was my decision to extend the submission window? :) no? OK, I won't mention it then!
(http://i.imgur.com/QHnYmUn.jpg)
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I did it! :)
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Should I mention that it was my decision to extend the submission window? :) no? OK, I won't mention it then!
(http://i.imgur.com/QHnYmUn.jpg)
::danooli makes a note to keep an eye out for Thunderscreech's entry and laughs maniacally::
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I did it! :)
Yay!
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::danooli makes a note to keep an eye out for Thunderscreech's entry and laughs maniacally::
(http://i.imgur.com/1SdePSU.gif)
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Almost have my story done... there'll only be two in my family submitting this time. I'm assuming that the same old rules apply for us- we'll tell the moderator who we are and what stories we submitted, and then we won't vote for each other. Anything else?
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Almost have my story done... there'll only be two in my family submitting this time. I'm assuming that the same old rules apply for us- we'll tell the moderator who we are and what stories we submitted, and then we won't vote for each other. Anything else?
Nope, that sounds about right :)
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Video footage of us watching the calendar now:
(http://i.giphy.com/hLZJMpPcjyyYg.gif)
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*panicking*
I have never been this late before. I don't know if I can make it! ImhVe something. It's bad. I d Not like it. I need to rewrite it. Friday is my birthday, people. I'm not supposed to be panicking on my birthday. Would the story please just rewrite itself?
*wanders off muttering*
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No worries FireTurtle. I'm right there with you. Still in the editing process, and leaving town on Friday. That means... one less day...
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You can BOTH do it!
*waves pompoms*
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Woo, completed and submitted. Although I'm not sure if in the end my story was kicking with life or in its final death throes...
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submitted. *bites knuckles and looks nauseated*
Sometimes, (after much flash fiction contest experience) the stories feel good, complete, and basically ready to fly. Other times they feel iffy, incomplete, incoherent and barely ready to crawl out of the primordial word ooze. This was one of the latter. But I did it. Phew. H
Not-a-Robot and FireTurtle have not missed the contest!
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*bites knuckles and looks nauseated*
That'd be a killer title.
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*bites knuckles and looks nauseated*
That'd be a killer title.
and titles aren't counted for word count!
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and titles aren't counted for word count!
That's why my story has a 224 word title! It's BRILLIANT!
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*bangs head on desk*
Came in over the word count despite Word and Pages both agreeing I was at the magic number. Google Docs is my enemy. Trying to figure out this submission editing thingy. Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy (pronounced like Khannnnnnnnnnnnnnn)
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I've entered my story!
So excited...and nervous.
Thanks for running this.
~rose
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*bangs head on desk*
Came in over the word count despite Word and Pages both agreeing I was at the magic number. Google Docs is my enemy. Trying to figure out this submission editing thingy. Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy (pronounced like Khannnnnnnnnnnnnnn)
LOL! You're in good company, there have been quite a few over the word limit :) All have been resubbed and are now 100% qualified :)
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I've entered my story!
So excited...and nervous.
Thanks for running this.
~rose
You're very welcome! Thank you for entering, and good luck!
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Just a few hours to go!
(http://i.giphy.com/G24WeLwelOqJO.gif)
Stay on target, writers!
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Very hard making the leap from CoW reader to poster. Big Brother is pulling in my driveway as I type this, I presume??
11h 40min to go....
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Hey,
Welcome new posters! Theses contests are great, and despite what you may hear, comments are never too harsh. They are usually very helpful. It's usually that writers can get a tad sensitive about their darlings. I know that I can.
I took some comments on my last story in the Escape Pod contest, integrated them, improved my story, and I ended up selling it. I also saw another story from the EP constest published in another market. So, contests like these provide some great feedback and benefit authors.
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Very hard making the leap from CoW reader to poster. Big Brother is pulling in my driveway as I type this, I presume??
11h 40min to go....
Haha, no, no, that's just my ice cream truck. Your neighbors eat a ton of ice cream... just keep ignoring it.
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Now the wait for the first round, looking forward to it! Any numbers available yet on how many submissions there were?
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Now the wait for the first round, looking forward to it! Any numbers available yet on how many submissions there were?
According the the submission grinder there are 18 pending submissions. I go by "the rule of 5." Take the submission grinder number, multiply by 5.
I'm guessing about 90-97
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I will have all of the fun stuff up shortly!
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Fun stuff! Can't wait :)
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Welcome greenroom!
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It's usually that writers can get a tad sensitive about their darlings. I know that I can.
Gah! You don't have to drag MY name into this! :P
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It's usually that writers can get a tad sensitive about their darlings. I know that I can.
Gah! You don't have to drag MY name into this! :P
From my Merriam-Webster app
tad\ˈtad\
noun
1 : a small child; especially : boy
2 : a small or insignificant amount or degree : bit <might give him some water and a tad to eat — C. T.
Walker>
3 : a writer; especially : one that runs EA wikia
a tad : somewhat, rather <looked a tad bigger than me — Larry Hodgson>
Examples
there's more than just a tad of hyperbole in the critics' praise for the promising young writer
grandfather never tires of telling us about the days when he was just a tad
it's usually that writers can get a tad sensitive about their darlings
8) 8) 8)
Good luck to everyone tomorrow. I hope to have as much fun by this contest as I did by the last two.
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Looking forward to reading the entries!
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I'm so excited to read the entries, too!
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Just saying hi so I can post in the contest forum. Thanks!
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We're so glad to have you all here! Welcome! ;D
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I can't find the stories! Can someone give me a link?
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You've made a post so they should be visible to you now?
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Ah, so we must post for visibility. Good to know. :)
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In case anyone is wondering why we require people to make a post to see the contest entries (in this and other contests)-
Every day we get between 10-50 bots sign up. Most of them do nothing, but some of them copy&paste the entire forum and mine it for data. We've had cases where parts of the forum were replicated elsewhere. This isn't a big deal most of the time, but if a contest entry gets copied elsewhere on the internet, the author may lose the ability to publish it later. This is all rather unlikely, but we don't want to take even minor risks with our contributors.
Also, because of the bot problem, we regularly do forum purges and delete all inactive accounts. Posting once makes you safe from that purge. It would be rather inconvenient to everyone involved if you created an account, started participating, and then it got deleted, so that's another reason we want people to post before they do anything else in the contest.
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Hi,
I'd like to read the stories submitted.
Thanks.
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Hi,
I'd like to read the stories submitted.
Thanks.
Ok, you're in a desert walking along in the sand when all of the sudden you look down and you see a tortoise crawling towards you. You reach down and flip it on its back...
I'm helping, eytanz!
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Super congratulations to the winners, great stories! Can't wait to hear them. EA folks, thank you for putting this contest on. It was an amazing experience as always and my favorite part of Escape Artists. I mean, I love listening to the normal podcasts, but the writing challenges are electrifying and really force me to develop as a writer. You guys rock!
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Ahh, the inactive account purges would explain why I'd create an account, come back a few days later, and it would be gone.
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Thanks to all the writers, the readers, and the EA admins who make everything go and find perfect Harry Potter names for every group!
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Ahh, the inactive account purges would explain why I'd create an account, come back a few days later, and it would be gone.
Bet you it doesn't happen again. ;)
...and find perfect Harry Potter names for every group!
The names came out of a hat. Honestly, I saw Danooli doing it. She would put the hat on top of a voting group and it would say a name, and that was the name she gave the group. ;) ;)