Author Topic: Pseudopod Flash Fiction Contest IV Rules  (Read 65431 times)

Thunderscreech

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Reply #50 on: September 16, 2015, 04:02:36 AM
I procrasturbated so long I almost missed out, but I got my zero-baketime casually edited attempt in just in time.  Not a genre I feel comfortable in, but anyone who reads my entry should be able to tell that right away.  :D

Looking forward to reading everything that's out there and getting some good feedback!



Bdoomed

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Reply #51 on: September 16, 2015, 06:21:00 AM
Wow, you all astound me!  218 entries submitted this year!  I am very excited to be hosting once again and I can't wait to get this party started (or should I say bloodbath?)

During the rest of this month I will be setting everything up and getting the stories in groups, getting them posted, etc.

One disclaimer: stories often lose specific formatting when they get transferred over to the forums.  As stories go live, if you are an author and notice a discrepancy of how you want your story formatted, please please PLEASE let me know and I will do my best to fix it as soon as possible.  As I get the stories on here from Submittable, I am trying to retain as much formatting as possible, as well as maintaining/promoting readability.  I am not perfect!  So again, please let me know if you need your story's formatting edited once it goes live.

Hope you all have a fun contest!  The first group should go up on October 1st!

I'd like to hear my options, so I could weigh them, what do you say?
Five pounds?  Six pounds? Seven pounds?


Moritz

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Reply #52 on: September 16, 2015, 08:03:35 AM
Congratulations to everyone who submitted! We made the 0eth round!

My goal this time is to make it at least into the 2nd round  ;D
« Last Edit: September 16, 2015, 08:46:51 AM by Moritz »



Not-a-Robot

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Reply #53 on: September 16, 2015, 09:21:43 AM


You can absolutely vote for yourself.



WOOHOOO!!   The contest hasn't even started and I already have one vote!  Does it get any better than that?



Unblinking

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Reply #54 on: September 16, 2015, 03:40:43 PM
One disclaimer: stories often lose specific formatting when they get transferred over to the forums.  As stories go live, if you are an author and notice a discrepancy of how you want your story formatted, please please PLEASE let me know and I will do my best to fix it as soon as possible.  As I get the stories on here from Submittable, I am trying to retain as much formatting as possible, as well as maintaining/promoting readability.  I am not perfect!  So again, please let me know if you need your story's formatting edited once it goes live.

A note along those lines:
To participants in the contest, when you are reading the stories, keep in mind that if there ARE strange mid-sentence line breaks or other weird formatting issues may just be an issue with getting the stories transferred to the forum, and may not actually be meant to be there by the author.  So I try to give those a fair shake when they come up anyway.  (I'm guessing it'll be less common this time, last time we put story in body of email, and email wreaks havoc with linebreaks in particular)



Mithos

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Reply #55 on: September 16, 2015, 05:20:46 PM
Got two submissions in, can't wait to see what everyone came up with! Only been listening to Pseudopod for a couple of months now (I started listening during a nonstop road trip across the continental US, so I probably owe my life to them ;) ) and after looking at previous contests, I'm incredibly excited to see what scurries out from beneath the bed this go-round!

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8BitDlite

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Reply #56 on: September 16, 2015, 05:46:09 PM
Looking forward to seeing everyone's work. (And I second the comment from Unblinking about being kind to formatting weirdness.)



Animachina

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Reply #57 on: September 16, 2015, 09:42:26 PM
Oh them nerves!  ;D

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Portrait in Flesh

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Reply #58 on: September 16, 2015, 11:07:19 PM
Looking forward to seeing everyone's work. (And I second the comment from Unblinking about being kind to formatting weirdness.)

Formatting/display issues can be forgiven, but the Stern Finger of Puritan Disapproval will waggle away relentlessly at poor proofreading of the actual story itself.

More likely than not, that is.

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Jaboui

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Reply #59 on: September 17, 2015, 01:37:43 AM
We need stories to vote for!  The suspense is killing me... I hope it lasts.  :)



MCWagner

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Reply #60 on: September 17, 2015, 02:28:53 AM
Whew.  Battled a major writer's block over the last month but got two entries in.  (Hope I did it right... I'm always paranoid that I shoved them in through the out door or something.)

One quick note for everybody:  in one of the contests last time around, there was a bit of a dust-up over fraudulent voting.  Turned out the author was entirely innocent... a friend or relation tried ballot stuffing without their knowledge, got caught, and soured things a bit.  To that end, if you plan to encourage outside participation (without saying which entry is yours, of course) and you know you've got friends who might try something similar, please encourage them to play fair.  (Long way round of saying, if you know your cousin considers himself a "133+ haX0r" you can invite him to vote, but tell him to behave himself.)

Everyone was a little let down by the accusations of cheating last time, and I think we'd rather avoid that kind of drama.  I used to run a somewhat similar contest in the past, and, in my experience, a spirit of fair play is a fragile structure.



starktheground

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Reply #61 on: September 17, 2015, 12:04:39 PM
Quick question:

So, the voting is open to everyone on the forum and not just the contributors? I don't have a strong feeling about it either way, just curious. Thanks!



Thunderscreech

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Reply #62 on: September 17, 2015, 01:02:36 PM
Quick question:

So, the voting is open to everyone on the forum and not just the contributors? I don't have a strong feeling about it either way, just curious. Thanks!

"It's a 218-way tie!  What amazing luck!"



Not-a-Robot

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Reply #63 on: September 17, 2015, 01:11:26 PM
Quick question:

So, the voting is open to everyone on the forum and not just the contributors? I don't have a strong feeling about it either way, just curious. Thanks!

"It's a 218-way tie!  What amazing luck!"

As far as I gather from the announcements and everything else, all members are invited to vote.



Fenrix

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Reply #64 on: September 17, 2015, 01:36:52 PM

Quick question:

So, the voting is open to everyone on the forum and not just the contributors? I don't have a strong feeling about it either way, just curious. Thanks!


Authors submit stories for consideration. The crowd decides which stories get thrown to the lions. We encourage all community members to read and vote for their favorites.


We need stories to vote for!  The suspense is killing me... I hope it lasts.  :)


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Moritz

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Reply #65 on: September 17, 2015, 02:40:40 PM
"It's a 218-way tie!  What amazing luck!"

Well, there are groups first, so you vote a winner of each group. Even if only the authors participated, it would mean you could get more than your own vote, unless everyone was really weird and only voted in their own group for themselves  ;)



Bdoomed

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Reply #66 on: September 17, 2015, 04:31:42 PM
218, by the way, was the number in the submissions box.  There have already been some disqualifications for various reasons, a misplaced submission for the general submissions box, etc.  The number will most likely go down a little bit more as I continue to go through all of the submissions.

Authors, please note: If you decide to send your story elsewhere for consideration before/during the contest and it gets published elsewhere, you are required to disqualify yourself from this contest.  The contest is for original, unpublished works only.  We won't fault you for sending your story elsewhere.  If you get it published somewhere else, congratulations! Seriously, good work, but you should remove the story from this contest.

As Fenrix said, voting is available to anyone who joins the forums and makes a post, so long as they play fair.  A lot of this contest is based on the honor system, but there are ways we can catch cheaters.  We encourage all of you to tell your friends about the contest and get them to come join in on the fun, just don't tell them which story is yours until that story has either lost or wins in the end.  This contest is super fun when everyone plays by the rules, plays fair, etc.  Even if your story loses, you should walk away with a decent amount of feedback and well wishes.  Writing is brutal, and the goal here is to make that brutality at least a bit fun.

As always, feel free to contact me with any questions/concerns you have.  Best way to get my attention quickly is to e-mail me at Brian@escapeartists.net.

I'd like to hear my options, so I could weigh them, what do you say?
Five pounds?  Six pounds? Seven pounds?


Fenrix

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Reply #67 on: September 17, 2015, 04:53:46 PM
Also keep in mind that 99% of the stories have to lose the contest.

There is a nonzero chance that we may approach some of the runners up to purchase their stories. However, PseudoPod not historically been very forthcoming with additional purchases, so get your hopes too high.

That said, I know PseudoPod has purchased some stories that ran in other flash contests for the other Pods. Unblinking's story for the Escape Pod flash fiction contest about the happy little murderbot found a home in one of the Flash on the Borderlands episodes. I know I'm forgetting at least one more.

All cat stories start with this statement: “My mother, who was the first cat, told me this...”


Unblinking

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Reply #68 on: September 17, 2015, 06:03:59 PM
That said, I know PseudoPod has purchased some stories that ran in other flash contests for the other Pods. Unblinking's story for the Escape Pod flash fiction contest about the happy little murderbot found a home in one of the Flash on the Borderlands episodes. I know I'm forgetting at least one more.

:) 



Not-a-Robot

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Reply #69 on: September 17, 2015, 08:30:56 PM
Also keep in mind that 99% of the stories have to lose the contest.


Conversely, 1% of the stories have to win the contest.  That means, my cup is currently 1% full.



starktheground

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Reply #70 on: September 18, 2015, 12:53:01 AM
Neato. Sounds fun!



South of No North

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Reply #71 on: September 18, 2015, 03:32:35 PM
A non-zero chance is all I need and almost all I ever get.
Looking forward to reading all the wild variations of horror to come.......and then judge  them.
This will be my first time in this kind of contest, a process so transparent. As well as potential to get truly honest feedback even in the " unlikely event " my story doesn't make it passed the first round.

Good luck everyone & hurry up Oct. First.


 
« Last Edit: September 18, 2015, 03:36:49 PM by South of No North »

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KiKo75

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Reply #72 on: September 18, 2015, 09:13:53 PM
Utter newbie to the Pseudopod/EA forums as well, although I've read several of the podcasts and previous contest stories. So, let's see, if I start Sept. 21 and maintain the rate of one-a-day, I can have all my fingernails gnawed off by Oct. 1st. Perfect! But seriously, thanks for the chance and I'm looking forward to reading stories and receiving feedback. Let's do this thing, fellow presumed humans . . . :)



benjaminjb

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Reply #73 on: September 18, 2015, 11:12:56 PM
Bdoomed, thank you for all the work you put into this!

As the flash contest both got me back into writing and into interacting with some loverly people here, I'm enormously fond of it.

Can't wait to read everyone's stories!



DoWhileNot

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Reply #74 on: September 19, 2015, 02:40:44 AM
Yep, I agree with everything said about the coolness of Bdoomed, but also everyone that reads and comments.  The quality of the critiques during the contests has been amazing.  These contests work great as writers workshops as well.  And it doesn't hurt if your story wins... or almost wins.  Almost winning here is just as good as winning with all of the support that everyone gives out.

Still, it can take some thick skin to read through the critiques and see where everyone totally missed the point of your story and then realize that maybe they missed the point because you did a crappy job of writing it.  *Rolls eyes at self*

I only managed one story this time... we'll see how it does.  I'm not expecting anything amazing except for good solid critiques.