Author Topic: Escape Pod Flash Fiction Contest 2016 - Announcement  (Read 8006 times)

eytanz

  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 6109
on: January 11, 2016, 08:21:21 PM
The next wave of the fourth incarnation of the Escape Artists Flash Fiction Contest is coming. Escape Pod is landing in early 2016. Every author may submit one original story of 500 words or less for consideration between January 15 and February 15. Sharpen your pencils and get your stories ready to submit. The three winning stories will be purchased and run as an episode of Escape Pod. Stories will be published on a members-only section of the forums, so first publication rights will not be expended by participating in the contest. It’s easy to be become a member. Transparency is important to us, so all the pertinent details and rules will be posted under “The Arcade”. May the odds be ever in your favor!



Tango Alpha Delta

  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 1778
    • Tad's Happy Funtime
Reply #1 on: January 14, 2016, 06:00:08 PM
One? ONE?!?!?!!1! But I wrote two!  Now I have to choooooose!

This Wiki Won't Wrangle Itself!

I finally published my book - Tad's Happy Funtime is on Amazon!


Ocicat

  • Castle Watchcat
  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 3722
  • Anything for a Weird Life
Reply #2 on: January 15, 2016, 12:54:03 AM
One? ONE?!?!?!!1! But I wrote two!  Now I have to choooooose!

I guess you have a leg up on the next EP contest in a couple years!  :D



Tango Alpha Delta

  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 1778
    • Tad's Happy Funtime
Reply #3 on: January 15, 2016, 01:49:07 PM
...or for Pseudopod. One of them made my wife yell "Creepy!"

This Wiki Won't Wrangle Itself!

I finally published my book - Tad's Happy Funtime is on Amazon!


Moritz

  • Lochage
  • *****
  • Posts: 512
Reply #4 on: February 17, 2016, 10:58:33 AM
I'm a bit undecided about the announcement policy this year. Last year's pseudopod contest had a lot of announcements in the preceding episodes, which got on my nerves, but this year, it's so absent from the cast that I almost missed the deadline.



eytanz

  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 6109
Reply #5 on: February 17, 2016, 01:41:12 PM
It's not so much a policy as some external factors making the planning fall apart a bit. There are lessons being learnt for the next contest.



Unblinking

  • Sir Postsalot
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 8729
    • Diabolical Plots
Reply #6 on: February 17, 2016, 02:45:29 PM
I'm a bit undecided about the announcement policy this year. Last year's pseudopod contest had a lot of announcements in the preceding episodes, which got on my nerves, but this year, it's so absent from the cast that I almost missed the deadline.

Honestly I was kind of relieved that there weren't several weeks of announcements beforehand on each podcast, because that got reaaaally tiresome when multiplied by 3 casts.  (which might be 4 now if CoW joins in the announcement fun)



Fenrix

  • Curmudgeonly Co-Editor of PseudoPod
  • Editor
  • *****
  • Posts: 3996
  • I always lock the door when I creep by daylight.
Reply #7 on: February 17, 2016, 02:50:37 PM
Each new announcement up front and then to the back thereafter until there is another new one seems like a reasonable approach.

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


Unblinking

  • Sir Postsalot
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 8729
    • Diabolical Plots
Reply #8 on: February 17, 2016, 07:07:52 PM
Each new announcement up front and then to the back thereafter until there is another new one seems like a reasonable approach.

 What do you mean "to the back hereafter"?  At the end of an episode instead of the beginning?



Fenrix

  • Curmudgeonly Co-Editor of PseudoPod
  • Editor
  • *****
  • Posts: 3996
  • I always lock the door when I creep by daylight.
Reply #9 on: February 17, 2016, 07:13:08 PM
Each new announcement up front and then to the back thereafter until there is another new one seems like a reasonable approach.

 What do you mean "to the back hereafter"?  At the end of an episode instead of the beginning?

Yes. Front is hard to skip. Back is easy.

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


matweller

  • EA Staff
  • *****
  • Posts: 678
Reply #10 on: February 17, 2016, 07:19:54 PM
That's generally how I try to run any multi-week announcements unless I'm instructed otherwise.



Unblinking

  • Sir Postsalot
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 8729
    • Diabolical Plots
Reply #11 on: February 17, 2016, 07:24:47 PM
Each new announcement up front and then to the back thereafter until there is another new one seems like a reasonable approach.

 What do you mean "to the back hereafter"?  At the end of an episode instead of the beginning?

Yes. Front is hard to skip. Back is easy.

Harder if you're driving.  I rarely fast forward past anything these days. 

The level of repetition of the Pseudopod flash fiction contest did get to be much too much.  I found myself reciting with the announcement every week as if I were a child reciting lessons by rote in a classroom for a grade, and focusing on the weird way that Graeme emphasized "chips of wood" every time he said it just to give me something to do while I listened to it again.  Between the submission period announcements and the voting period announcements multiplied by 3 across the EA casts, it was really quite a lot of repetition.



Fenrix

  • Curmudgeonly Co-Editor of PseudoPod
  • Editor
  • *****
  • Posts: 3996
  • I always lock the door when I creep by daylight.
Reply #12 on: February 17, 2016, 08:04:58 PM
Each new announcement up front and then to the back thereafter until there is another new one seems like a reasonable approach.

 What do you mean "to the back hereafter"?  At the end of an episode instead of the beginning?

Yes. Front is hard to skip. Back is easy.

Harder if you're driving.  I rarely fast forward past anything these days. 

The level of repetition of the Pseudopod flash fiction contest did get to be much too much.  I found myself reciting with the announcement every week as if I were a child reciting lessons by rote in a classroom for a grade, and focusing on the weird way that Graeme emphasized "chips of wood" every time he said it just to give me something to do while I listened to it again.  Between the submission period announcements and the voting period announcements multiplied by 3 across the EA casts, it was really quite a lot of repetition.


Graeme did a great reading on those, didn't he? The Lottery one fills my heart with joy.

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


Unblinking

  • Sir Postsalot
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 8729
    • Diabolical Plots
Reply #13 on: February 17, 2016, 08:12:44 PM
Graeme did a great reading on those, didn't he? The Lottery one fills my heart with joy.

It filled my heart with joy the first 3 times I heard it.  :)



Tango Alpha Delta

  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 1778
    • Tad's Happy Funtime
Reply #14 on: February 18, 2016, 01:54:17 AM
Graeme did a great reading on those, didn't he? The Lottery one fills my heart with joy.

It filled my heart with joy the first 3 times I heard it.  :)

There's a part of my brain that arbitrarily recalls him reciting the phrase "...and ravening with deliiiiight!" in the middle of long meetings.

This Wiki Won't Wrangle Itself!

I finally published my book - Tad's Happy Funtime is on Amazon!


Windup

  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 1226
Reply #15 on: February 19, 2016, 04:14:08 AM
...or for Pseudopod. One of them made my wife yell "Creepy!"

But it's not really horror until she says, "What is wrong with you?"

"My whole job is in the space between 'should be' and 'is.' It's a big space."


SWORDMUZIC

  • Extern
  • *
  • Posts: 1
Reply #16 on: February 28, 2016, 05:29:34 PM
Hello there,



Tango Alpha Delta

  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 1778
    • Tad's Happy Funtime
Reply #17 on: February 29, 2016, 03:15:03 AM
...or for Pseudopod. One of them made my wife yell "Creepy!"

But it's not really horror until she says, "What is wrong with you?"

How do I know when she is saying that because of the writing, as opposed to it being a time of day?

This Wiki Won't Wrangle Itself!

I finally published my book - Tad's Happy Funtime is on Amazon!


shanehalbach

  • Matross
  • ****
  • Posts: 189
  • Clockwork Lasercorn
    • shanehalbach.com
Reply #18 on: March 04, 2016, 10:36:38 PM
What's worse is that I'm trying to catch up on old episodes and I'm screaming, "AAAAHHHHHH THE PSEUDOPOD CONTEST IS ALREADY OVER"

The good news is the timing is pretty consistent on them and I know exactly how far ahead to skip...


Unblinking

  • Sir Postsalot
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 8729
    • Diabolical Plots
Reply #19 on: March 04, 2016, 11:13:12 PM
What's worse is that I'm trying to catch up on old episodes and I'm screaming, "AAAAHHHHHH THE PSEUDOPOD CONTEST IS ALREADY OVER"

The good news is the timing is pretty consistent on them and I know exactly how far ahead to skip...

Ha!  Yeah, I imagine.  Timely announcements do not age well in the archives, and less so the more often they're repeated.