Pod Castle Flash Contest - Rules

[Varda]

Anyone else find themselves dropping in super frequently today to check if the first batch has posted yet?  Jeepers, this has me shivering with antici

....guilty!

[benjaminjb]

What's the standard recommendation for voting if you're an author in the contest? Should I avoid even voting in any brackets my piece appears in? Or should I only cast two votes -- ones NOT for my pieces?

Thanks!

You should absolutely vote for your own and in your own groups. Sometimes it's the only vote your story gets, 

And definitely comment on stories in your own groups. Just be careful not to give away which stories are yours or to bad mouth others to garner votes for your own. (Not that I think you would do that).

But one of the great benefits of this contest is getting so much feedback from so many people, so return the favor and comment as much as you can. 

I agree with Cutter McKay: there's nothing wrong with voting for your own piece (and whether you do that because you think yours deserves a vote or because it's yours, that's between you and your browser). And since the feedback is very often very helpful, I'd also say go head and comment on the stories in any batch, whether or not you've got a story in the mix.

(With the addendum, as Cutter says, that you play fair in the comments: don't give away your authorship, don't unduly critique other pieces, and don't give special authorial insight into your own piece.)

[Seraphim]

Dare I disturb the universe? Sept. 4, awaiting the long anticipated first batch…drumming nervously with all six fingers of time.

[evamommy]

Time has six fingers, eh? Interesting. :-)  But I'll see your six fingers of time, and raise you 40 fingers of contestants. (Or at least 32 fingers and 8 thumbs.)

[Ocicat]

I have all the stories set into groups, I'll post more details in a bit.

I'm expecting to get to actually posting the 12 stories in the first group tomorrow.

[Cutter McKay]

I have all the stories set into groups, I'll post more details in a bit.

I'm expecting to get to actually posting the 12 stories in the first group tomorrow.

Thanks for the update, Ocicat! And thanks for all your efforts.

[evrgrn_monster]

I have all the stories set into groups, I'll post more details in a bit.

I'm expecting to get to actually posting the 12 stories in the first group tomorrow.

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

[gavinjf]

I have all the stories set into groups, I'll post more details in a bit.

I'm expecting to get to actually posting the 12 stories in the first group tomorrow.

Thanks for the update, Ocicat! And thanks for all your efforts.

Thank you, Ocicat!

[Lacrymosa]

There is a schedule!

Things are happening!

How exciting x.x

[Samanthropologist]

Augh! So much waiting! The tension! The excitement!
Delicious...
Good luck everyone!

[Seraphim]

Just a trifle confused…is this first group of stories up? I see the schedule thread and the notice that only those who have submitted may vote thread…but I don't see the first stories yet. Am I just jumping the gun or something else?

[Cutter McKay]

Yeah, Ocicat said the first group probably won't actually be up until tomorrow morning.

[Seraphim]

Thanks. Just saw that…I'm the kind of guy who tends to read half the directions and scan the pictures before attempting to put the "whateveritis" together…sometimes I get nipped at the ankles for my haste.

[Ocicat]

...the notice that only those who have submitted may vote thread…

It's only those who have posted in the forums (ever) may vote.  People who did not submit to the contest are more than welcome to participate! 

_...tomorrow.

[Cutter McKay]

[Wilson Fowlie]

Ocicat, will you be posting here (or somewhere) to notify when new groups go up? I can sign up to get notifications for topics, but not (I don't think) for new Child Boards.

Oh, also: thanks very much for doing this, by the way, both as a contestant and a reader!

[heyes]

Here's what I do - It's not perfect, but work and life have been kind of nuts for a while so I don't have as much time to devote to this as I did when we did the Escapepod contest.

I make a list of the six or eight stories that show up in each group and then do a really quick read of them.  As soon as anything annoys me in any of the stories I stop reading and the story gets an NA vote.  This is kind of my version of the blue line of death, and it usually happens within the first couple sentences.

Then I go back and carefully read the ones that I liked and give them a vote of 1 to 5 with 5 being the best.

And then I vote for the ones with the highest scores - usually we'll get three votes in each group of  the first round of stories.

Oh, and if my story is in the group I have a nervous breakdown and click on refresh every 2 seconds as I watch the scores move around and try not to scream at the screen about how crazy it is that people are voting for THAT story instead of mine.

This is a very reasonable method in my opinion. I'm doing something similar.

[Thunderscreech]

Need....  moar....  stories.  Three days between is going to be brutal.

[Cutter McKay]

Need....  moar....  stories.  Three days between is going to be brutal.

A-men

[Windup]

Given limited time to comment, I've settled on a triage method. 

First priority is to comment on stories I almost voted for, but didn't.  My reasoning is that these are stories that are pretty good, and for which I'm apparently part of the intended audience, but have what in my view is a "fixable flaw." My hope is that my comments will be useful if the author wants to rewrite it and to take it to another market, or possibly helpful in future stories.

Second priority is to say something about stories I voted for, though I think the authors have gotten the feedback of my vote, so it isn't as important to comment on them as it is on the "almost made-its." Besides, there's usually less to say.

Finally, comment on the stories I never seriously considered voting for.  I probably won't get to those very often.  In many of those cases, I feel that I'm so far removed from the story's intended audience that my feedback wouldn't be very useful, or the story needs a more detailed and nuanced critique than I can give in this environment. 

Of course, I may ignore all this and comment on anything that really grabs me, because, hey, this is supposed to be a hobby, right?   

[Portrait in Flesh]

I'm going to apologize in advance if my comments sound terse or crabby.  My Little Miss Sunshine membership card expired earlier this year.

[Windup]

Ooooh. Maybe that should have been a second contest entry. Necromancy-as-argument-settler? Has it already been done?

I think Rashomon qualifies, at least as far as consulting the dead in an attempt to settle a dispute. Though in the story, consulting the departed couldn't give a definitive answer. It seems the dead, too, have their axes to grind...

[Varda]

Anyone else waiting up until midnight, just in case the stories post?

I'm sure Ocicat's got nothing better to do on a Saturday night than feed us more flash fiction when the clock rolls over... right right? 

[Ocicat]

Second group is up for voting!

[heyes]

This is my first time voting or submitting in one of these Flash Contests. It's a weird set of feelings. On the one hand I desperately want my story to do well and I'm doing a marginally good job handling that. On the other hand I'm finding myself feeling very protective, maybe even possessive, over the stories for which I have cast my vote. Sheesh.