We know you've been waiting, and now it's time for the next phase of the Cast of Wonders Flash Fiction Contest: the reading-and-voting phase!
We apologize that it's taken so long to get to this point. We had planned to open this phase of the contest on October 2, but for some reason understood only by the Escape Artists technical staff, we had technical difficulties with the Forum that forced us to delay until now. Big thanks to our technical staff (and some other folks who pitched in) for working things out!
We received a total of 113 stories that met the contest criteria. They'll be posted for voting in one of a dozen groups. Five groups will contain ten stories each, and seven groups will contain nine stories each. The stories for each group were chosen randomly by computer. The authors have not been notified about which group their stories will appear in.
Groups will be posted every other day. Each group will be open for voting for one week. Only Forum members who have made at least one post in the Forum will be able to see the stories and vote. (If you need to make a post, feel free to introduce yourself in this thread.)
Traditionally, Escape Artists flash fiction contests have welcomed helpful comments on and discussions of the stories. In a recent Escape Pod contest, a Forum member asked: "What kind of feedback do contest participants want on their stories?" The answers were illuminating -- so much so that I recommend you read the thread (
here) before commenting.
Please keep a couple of other things in mind when you're drafting your comments on stories. First, although we encourage discussions (including disagreements), all discussions should be conducted according to
The One Rule To Rule Them All (Maybe Two) of the EA Forums. The short version:
Be civil and respectful. Click on the link for the long version, including details and examples.
Second, Cast of Wonders is a young adult fiction podcast. As a result, our contests tend to draw more submissions from young authors -- some as young as 12, or even younger. So, even more than in other contests, it's particularly important to keep your comments constructive.
About voting: Members will be able to vote for up to three stories in each group (but can always vote for fewer than three). Once each member casts a vote on the stories in a particular group, they will be able to see the vote totals on the stories in that group. Personally, I think this method heightens the excitement of a contest.
If you are sharing a computer, living space, or router with someone else who will be voting or creating an account, make sure to message me on the Forum and let me know. Failure to do so may lead us to believe that you're trying to cheat, and could result in various adverse effects such as account deletion and/or banning.
At the end of the voting period for each group in Round 1, the top three vote-getters will move on to the second, semi-final round. We expect to have four groups of nine stories in that second round. Again, members will have the chance to vote for their three favorites in each semi-final group. The top three stories from each group in the semi-finals will move on to the final round.
Initially, stories will be posted anonymously. Authors of the stories that do not advance to the next round will be revealed at the end of each round. All author names will be revealed at the end of the contest. Please do not try to publicly guess the identities of the authors. Any posts containing such guesses will be deleted and the poster will be warned.
So get ready, because the door is opening and it's just about time for the contest to begin!
