Author Topic: Escape Pod flash contest - official discussion thread  (Read 63551 times)

Max e^{i pi}

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Reply #50 on: September 12, 2012, 03:08:49 PM
US time?

And even "US Time" isn't very specific, there are 4 major time zones in the country.  :)
Also a smattering of minor time zones.
Like, my aunt Ruthie is approximately 17 minutes ahead of everybody else in the immediate vicinity.

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Talia

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Reply #51 on: September 12, 2012, 03:12:48 PM
Are submissions due by midnight on the 15th? Or close of business? US time?

(leaving things very very last minute as always)

Midnight on the 15th. I'd go by Eastern Standard Time for that (although the official word I have is "around" midnight on the 15th. I'll get clarification when I'm able, but that's a decent guideline to start with).



Listener

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Reply #52 on: September 12, 2012, 07:53:16 PM
Let's say an author submits two flash stories that take place in a shared universe but do not depend upon each other -- like, for example, two Star Trek episodes might be. Let's say Story 1 is in Round 1 and does not move on, and as a losing story has the byline revealed. But Story 2 doesn't show up until Round 6, and astute readers figure out who the author is that way. I realize it doesn't really matter, because we're voting based upon story merit, not author name, but author name can still influence a story. For example, if we know a story is written by Tim Pratt or Mike Resnick, we go into those stories with certain preconceptions and expectations.

So, basically, the question is: is there a plan for if this should happen?

It's kind of obvious why I'm asking, isn't it...

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Talia

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Reply #53 on: September 13, 2012, 03:06:37 AM
Are submissions due by midnight on the 15th? Or close of business? US time?

(leaving things very very last minute as always)

Midnight on the 15th. I'd go by Eastern Standard Time for that (although the official word I have is "around" midnight on the 15th. I'll get clarification when I'm able, but that's a decent guideline to start with).

Make it PST instead of EST.

Don't have an answer for you yet Listener but asking around. :)



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Reply #54 on: September 13, 2012, 01:43:30 PM
Don't have an answer for you yet Listener but asking around. :)

Maybe in that case there should be a special request to keep the author name from being revealed (which is an option anyway).  Although, anyone who's reading this thread probably has a hint of this anyway.  :P

In any case, I guess I wouldn't think that particular aspect of anonymity is too big of a deal.  I imagine that there are plenty of stories for which some people could figure out the identity (i.e., I read slush at the Drabblecast, so if a story has been submitted there I may know the name, or if a story has been run through a critique forum like Critters or Baen's Bar).  The important part, to me, is that the submitters follow the stated guidelines, and that the voters don't try to dig for author information, and try to vote based on story merit.



CS

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Reply #55 on: September 13, 2012, 02:01:40 PM
Hey, I submitted a story to the Flash contest and just registered to ask a question.

I submitted the story almost two days ago and have not recieved a reply and, although I know eytanz said that it can take a while for the emails to be processed and responded to, I'm worried that I may have somehow formatted the email incorrectly. Below, I've recreated the format of my email and would like to know if there is anything wrong with it. Thank you.



Subjectline: EP FLASH SUBMISSION: "Title of Story"

Body of email

Title: Story Title
By: CS
Email: "email address"
Wordcount (Including Title): "no words"

"The Story"

End of body of email.



Talia

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Reply #56 on: September 13, 2012, 02:22:00 PM
Hey, I submitted a story to the Flash contest and just registered to ask a question.

I submitted the story almost two days ago and have not recieved a reply and, although I know eytanz said that it can take a while for the emails to be processed and responded to, I'm worried that I may have somehow formatted the email incorrectly. Below, I've recreated the format of my email and would like to know if there is anything wrong with it. Thank you.



Subjectline: EP FLASH SUBMISSION: "Title of Story"

Body of email

Title: Story Title
By: CS
Email: "email address"
Wordcount (Including Title): "no words"

"The Story"

End of body of email.

It looks fine to me.   You may not get a response until the 16th or later, so relax and consider yourself "submitted." :)



Listener

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Reply #57 on: September 13, 2012, 02:28:48 PM
Don't have an answer for you yet Listener but asking around. :)

Maybe in that case there should be a special request to keep the author name from being revealed (which is an option anyway).  Although, anyone who's reading this thread probably has a hint of this anyway.  :P

In any case, I guess I wouldn't think that particular aspect of anonymity is too big of a deal.  I imagine that there are plenty of stories for which some people could figure out the identity (i.e., I read slush at the Drabblecast, so if a story has been submitted there I may know the name, or if a story has been run through a critique forum like Critters or Baen's Bar).  The important part, to me, is that the submitters follow the stated guidelines, and that the voters don't try to dig for author information, and try to vote based on story merit.

Yeah, I mean, I don't care if people know who wrote the two stories. I'm just trying to preserve anonymity for the purposes of voting only. And honestly I'm not that worried about it on a personal level.

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CS

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Reply #58 on: September 13, 2012, 02:46:39 PM
It looks fine to me.   You may not get a response until the 16th or later, so relax and consider yourself "submitted." :)

Thanks, Talia. That's taken a load of my mind.



Faraway Ray

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Reply #59 on: September 13, 2012, 11:46:03 PM
Bah. I got a late start and no way I'm going to finish anything by the deadline. Still aim to have fun with the voting though.  :)


A story of lust, violence and jelly.

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TroaAxaltion

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Reply #60 on: September 14, 2012, 07:44:45 AM
Hey guys! The last day for submission approaches and I still haven't seen a confirmation... I sent it a couple days ago now. Just wanted to get my two cents in again before I send my next story tomorrow...



Listener

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Reply #61 on: September 14, 2012, 12:13:29 PM
Bah. I got a late start and no way I'm going to finish anything by the deadline. Still aim to have fun with the voting though.  :)

I wrote and submitted both of my stories this week. I just didn't have any inspiration until now. You do still have about 40 hours...

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kibitzer

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Reply #62 on: September 14, 2012, 12:21:11 PM
Yeah. I'm still waiting for inspiration. Heh. That's the problem with not really practicing writing...


Max e^{i pi}

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Reply #63 on: September 14, 2012, 12:40:21 PM
I have a story in my head, but it's not a good one :\
Might try writing it out anyway...

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Reply #64 on: September 14, 2012, 01:28:36 PM
I have a story in my head, but it's not a good one :\
Might try writing it out anyway...

Just write it!  Let the unwashed masses decide.  :)



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Reply #65 on: September 14, 2012, 01:29:17 PM
Bah. I got a late start and no way I'm going to finish anything by the deadline. Still aim to have fun with the voting though.  :)

You still have plenty of time.  Even if you type slow, a 750-word upper limit isn't much!



Chuk

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Reply #66 on: September 14, 2012, 09:28:08 PM
Yeah, I need to know if midnight on the 15th means the night between the 14th and 15th or the end of the 15th, start of the 16th. :)

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Talia

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Reply #67 on: September 14, 2012, 10:56:27 PM
End of 15th, start of 16th. Good point, hadn't thought of that.



TroaAxaltion

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Reply #68 on: September 15, 2012, 05:46:35 AM
Still no confirmation! Should I resend my story...??? Help! ;w;



Talia

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Reply #69 on: September 15, 2012, 01:34:15 PM
Still no confirmation! Should I resend my story...??? Help! ;w;

You're good to go.  No need to resubmit.



Thunderscreech

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Reply #70 on: September 15, 2012, 06:12:52 PM
I imagine it must be a busy day at eaflash@gmail.com today, I just submitted my second story a few minutes ago.  I'm really looking forward to reading everyone's entries again and getting feedback.  Hopefully I managed to apply some of the great notes I got last time to this batch.  :)



TroaAxaltion

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Reply #71 on: September 15, 2012, 09:40:51 PM
Second story submitted! Huzzah! Still haven't got a confirmation for the first one though. lol



eytanz

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Reply #72 on: September 16, 2012, 12:48:26 AM
Sorry everyone about confirmations - I was stuck for a few days on an island with no Internet (though I was told in advance I would have access there), and have fallen seriously behind. I now have a connection but not for long so I can't handle the backlog. Will send out all confirmations tomorrow evening once I'm in the USA. I'll post a note here once they've all been sent so you can know if you should have received yours.



Dem

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Reply #73 on: September 16, 2012, 09:06:09 AM
The 750 words includes the title, but not the byline.
Oh!

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Listener

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Reply #74 on: September 16, 2012, 12:35:25 PM
The 750 words includes the title, but not the byline.
Oh!

On the bright side, if you included the byline, you just got at least three words back.

Also, fun fact: Google Docs inflated my word count by about 30 so once I had the story cut down to 750 I suddenly found myself with 30 more words when I ported it into Word. Your mileage may vary, of course.

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