Literature Network Annual Short Story Competition '06

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

The rules of the competition are:

1. The stories should be submitted as email attachments in MS Word format (preferably Times New Roman/12) and should be minimum 500 and maximum 2000 words and your emails should include your Forum names as well. Please send your stories to [email protected]. Please do not post your stories on the Forum!

2. There will be 5 selections (in February, April, June, August and October) throughout the year and only the stories which have been submitted by the first of these months latest will be included in that month's elimination. The five stories which win the each selection will take part in the final voting in November and December.

3. Members can submit only one entry for each selection round. If their story is a winner, they will not be allowed to take part in other selections.

4. The Admin or Moderators are not responsible for editing or correcting of the stories and therefore the writers themselves are required to make sure that there are no grammatical or spelling errors. The submitted copy is final and further corrections by the writers will be disregarded.

5. Only those members with at least 100 posts can vote in the polls.

6. Those who enter the competition agree to keep the information on their identities and stories confidential till the end of that year (only the Admin and Moderators will have access to that information). Those who breach this rule will be disqualified automatically. (Stories which have already appeared on the Forum will be not be accepted.)

7. All entries should be your own original work and not have appeared anywhere else before. Authors retain the copyright rights for the stories submitted to the competition.

8. All submissions must be your sole creative work and written for this particular competition. Anyone found plagiarising will be disqualified from this and all future contests.

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We are now accepting new entries for the June selection!

To answer some questions asked:

-Those of you who have submitted stories for the May elimination can also submit new ones for June.

-Stories which have been posted on the Forum are not eligible.

-Please revise your own work and submit the final copy. Once submitted, making changes will not be possible.

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Originally Posted by Virgil

I agree with Xamonas. 2000 is way to short for a developed story. I can't even imagine 500.

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It's not too short for a developed story!...then again, how do you define developed story? I think a teacher of mine said that once it has an exposition, climax, and resolution that it's a story...and we've been doing that with just 50 words. I know we're voting already, but look at the trouble some are having...I think limitations force a writer to put forth their best and only their best, leaving out, well, you know...(opinion!) ;)

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Originally Posted by Shannanigan

It's not too short for a developed story!...then again, how do you define developed story? I think a teacher of mine said that once it has an exposition, climax, and resolution that it's a story...and we've been doing that with just 50 words. I know we're voting already, but look at the trouble some are having...I think limitations force a writer to put forth their best and only their best, leaving out, well, you know...(opinion!) ;)

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I agree with you, Shannanigan, that limitations sometimes do bring out the best in us, especially creatively. Looking at the stories submitted so far, I am surprised actually that most of the stories are well below the 2000-words limit and they are not lacking for that.

Meanwhile, the on-going voting is only for the first round. There will be other elimination rounds so if you are also interested, you can submit a short story as well.

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

Dear All,

The Literature Network will hold an annual short story competition, which will be open to all its members. The rules of the competition are:

1. The stories should be submitted as email attachments in MS Word format and should be minimum 500 and maximum 2000 words and include your Forum names as well. Please send your stories to [email protected]. Please do not post your stories on the Forum!

2. There will be 5 selections (in February, April, June, August and October) throughout the year and only the stories which have been submitted by the first of these months latest will be included in that month's elimination. The five stories which win the each selection will take part in the final voting in November and December.

3. Members can submit only one entry for each selection round. If their story is a winner, they will not be allowed to take part in other selections.

4. The Admin or Moderators are not responsible for editing or correcting of the stories and therefore the writers themselves are required to make sure that there are no grammatical or spelling errors. The submitted copy is final and further corrections by the writers will be disregarded.

5. Only those members with at least 100 posts can vote in the polls.

6. Those who enter the competition agree to keep the information on their identities and stories confidential till the end of that year (only the Admin and Moderators will have access to that information). Those who breach this rule will be disqualified automatically.

7. All entries should be your own original work and not have appeared anywhere else before. Authors retain the copyright rights for the stories submitted to the competition.

8. All submissions must be your sole creative work and written for this particular competition. Anyone found plagiarising will be disqualified from this and all future contests.

Good luck! :)

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The voting for June elimination will end in 5 days and those who would like to take part in August elimination can submit their stories now (by July 31st).

May I offer my congratulations to the June winner, proving that even a Dragon can be gracious in defeat. Best of luck in the finals for you! ;) My story did get one vote, (thanks someone!); I voted for another myself, so as not to gild the lily... http://www.cosgan.de/images/kao/figuren/g065.gif

I don't know if this has been answered already or not, but is there an August elimination or no?

Pendragon, I don't mean to push, but...

PLEASE comment on my story!! :(


Ahem...sorry for the loss of composure, but I was extremely flattered that you voted for it (I hold your opinion in high esteem), and I could not help but wonder why.

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Originally Posted by rabid reader

I don't know if this has been answered already or not, but is there an August elimination or no?

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Yes, there is an August elimination, which will take place in August. Meanwhile, those who are interested can submit their stories till July 31st.

WHAT??

Aww, nuts...I thought the deadline was the end of June, so I rushed in a piece... :bawling:

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Originally Posted by RobinHood3000

Pendragon, I don't mean to push, but...

PLEASE comment on my story!! :(


Ahem...sorry for the loss of composure, but I was extremely flattered that you voted for it (I hold your opinion in high esteem), and I could not help but wonder why.

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I voted for your story, Robin, because I am a huge fan of the surprise ending. When your, ah, hero, finds out that he is now framed for what is going to seem like a rape/murder to the law, no matter how much he may protest, and describes it as the coroner wishing his entrails were already in a jar, it's pretty drastic and dramatic. And of course there are the two enigmatic statements made by Eve: "You look cute when you're unconscious." and "I can't believe I slept with that creep." It makes you wonder if she isn't some type of psycho, taking one last victim with her to the grave. Not bad at all.

BTW, I wrote The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln for that contest and would appreciate your thoughts. Good luck, mon ami!
;) :nod:

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Originally Posted by Pendragon

BTW, I wrote The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln for that contest and would appreciate your thoughts. Good luck, mon ami!
;) :nod:

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Pen,

If you would like to get some feedback on your story, it would be a good idea to start a new thread and post it in the General Writing section for everyone to read and review.

:)

Are we allowed to submit more than one story in one round?

edited: ah sorry... :D I just checked the rules, and it say we can't. Also, I won't get to know the author of the Killing Word until the end of the year because he/she won. :(

Btw, Pendragon, I really, really enjoyed your story of the assasination of Abraham Lincoln. The plot is fresh and exciting. The ony thing that could have been improved is the title. To me, it sounds like a lecture or a historical documentary- which is NOT one of my favourite genres. :D But it was excellent- I didn't get to vote, because by the time I found out about this writing section, the thread was closed. :(

I thought the Killing Word was superb too- who wrote it? Well Done to all of you! :nod:

2000 words are too short to produce anything! It severely cripples one's creativity!!! Can we change this please? :) Pretty please?

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Originally Posted by Adelheid

I thought the Killing Word was superb too- who wrote it? Well Done to all of you! :nod:

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Just one thing to say to that :):

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Originally Posted by Rules

6. Those who enter the competition agree to keep the information on their identities and stories confidential till the end of that year (only the Admin and Moderators will have access to that information). Those who breech this rule will be disqualified automatically.

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True. I found that out after I wrote the post. :D and I corrected myself 3 posts ago. :lol:

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Originally Posted by Adelheid

2000 words are too short to produce anything! It severely cripples one's creativity!!! Can we change this please? :) Pretty please?

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Hi Adelheid,

It is nice to see you back on the Forum :)

To answer your question regarding the word limit, if you scan this thread very quickly, you will notice that this issue has been dealt with couple of times.

Competitions aim to choose a winner through a challenge they set. We don't have subject/genre restrictions but would like the stories to be no more than 2000 words. It is a challenge but that is what competitions aim.

Please also note that the winners are chosen by other Forum members. I am not sure how many of us would be willing to read 5000-word stories to choose a winner. Many members who kindly read the stories and vote in the polls do not submit stories themselves but do it out of a literary interest and good Forum-camaraderie. :)

I would also like to repeat that the stories that have been submitted so far rarely reach the 2000-word limit and none are lacking because of their shortness. Also, the number of submissions we receive proves that even though it is challenging, writing good stories within this limit is not an impossible task and rather than crippling their creativity, it seems to fuel it! :)

Last chance to submit your stories for the August elimination! Tomorrow I will post the new poll.

Now that August elimination is in progress, we are accepting stories for the October leg. The deadline for that one is September 30th.

Good writing and good luck everyone! :)

The last leg of the competition's voting turn out bothered me somewhat. Let's look at it objectively. We normally have, what, eight stories to choose from? That means there are eight authors. That should be eight votes right there. If you cannot bear to vote for yourself as back when I entered the Assassination of Abraham Linclon, but voted for Robin's story, or this round, where Kelly freely admited he had a story in the line-up but voted for the eventual winner, then surely you can choose another writer's story as worthy of voting for. And if you decide your own story is best, go with your heart, but vote! Others reading the stories, I urge you to do the same. Someone worked a long time on their story, and certainly among such a group of readers as ourselves someone should find it interesting! I got one vote on the above mentioned story, and it came from a total stranger. I PMed him to thank him for the vote and we had a nice chat. Someone has to vote or the competition soon becomes tiresome. We are a literature forum. And no matter who writes the story, it's literature. Read and vote! :)

Very good point, Pen.

I did notice that the number of views of the stories were just a tad higher than the number of voters. Keep in mind that it is the begining of the school year or in the middle of summer for some, even I had a hard time getting a vote in on time (and I didn't vote for myself, because I read the stories and found two others better, in my personal opinion). I have to wonder though, if you had time to read all of the stories, then you must have had time to click on which you liked best?

Perhaps the next round will be better because of the timing, perhaps not, but with the number of active members we have in the forum, it does seem that there is a little room for wonder as to where the voters are hiding...

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Originally Posted by Pendragon

The last leg of the competition's voting turn out bothered me somewhat. Let's look at it objectively. We normally have, what, eight stories to choose from? That means there are eight authors. That should be eight votes right there. If you cannot bear to vote for yourself as back when I entered the Assassination of Abraham Linclon, but voted for Robin's story, or this round, where Kelly freely admited he had a story in the line-up but voted for the eventual winner, then surely you can choose another writer's story as worthy of voting for. And if you decide your own story is best, go with your heart, but vote! Others reading the stories, I urge you to do the same. Someone worked a long time on their story, and certainly among such a group of readers as ourselves someone should find it interesting! I got one vote on the above mentioned story, and it came from a total stranger. I PMed him to thank him for the vote and we had a nice chat. Someone has to vote or the competition soon becomes tiresome. We are a literature forum. And no matter who writes the story, it's literature. Read and vote! :)

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I have to admit that up till now, I haven't check out any of the stories posted, due to my free time limitation. And I did have this intention to vote blindly for certain names, due to my personal preferrences. But I quickly realized that would be completly unfair to others! Ok, I'll try to read them and hopefully vote for one.

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Originally Posted by Shannanigan

I did notice that the number of views of the stories were just a tad higher than the number of voters. Keep in mind that it is the begining of the school year or in the middle of summer for some, even I had a hard time getting a vote in on time (and I didn't vote for myself, because I read the stories and found two others better, in my personal opinion). I have to wonder though, if you had time to read all of the stories, then you must have had time to click on which you liked best?

Perhaps the next round will be better because of the timing, perhaps not, but with the number of active members we have in the forum, it does seem that there is a little room for wonder as to where the voters are hiding...

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Hi Shannanigan!

Indeed, I did read every single story, time not being a factor for me, I have way too much of it on my hands. And when I voted, I voted for the one that had the most meaning to me. It was a tougher choice this round, and timing was critical to the vote count I'm certain, but still, even in past rounds there are so few votes for the stories. And we went all most half the month this time with only 4 being cast! That was stunning. BTW, I found your story well written and interesting, so do not demean yourself. You may yet find the winning circle! Good luck! Pen.

The number of the view is not a reliable source on how many members actually have read the stories as it is quite possible that the same members opened the same stories more than once. However, I am also a little disappointed with the low number of votes cast. It is true that during the summer months many members are away but still, like Pen pointed out, one would expect to see more interest in a short story competition on a literary forum like ours, where members come together because of their dedication to literature. I think it is a privilege to be able to have a say in the outcome of a competition of this sort! :D

Hopefully, there will be more members voting in the upcoming polls. For now, please keep sending your stories for October (the deadline is September 30th)! :)

Maybe we should all include a link in our signature reminding people to read the stories and vote!

good idea Aimus :) once I find out how to insert a link I'll do it :)

i've got another question about the rules: can we submit stories we've published in the general writing section before? It's happened twice now and only one of the two people who did it were honest enought to say so and change their story (let's call them Robin H. or R.Hood).
I figured if we post a story in the general writing section, ppl might read it and remember the author (even if he/she deletes the story afterwards), so it wouldn't be anonymous any longer.
I mean, that's fine with me, except I refrained from submitting a story I've posted in General Writing before, although I'd really have liked to submit it. Now others are doing it anyway, so that makes me a bit grumpy (I'm not talking about you, Robin). Why stick to the rules if the others don't? *bummer*

I mean, could we have some clear rule? like, Admin or Scher say 'no' and nobody'll do it or they say 'ok' so everybody can feel free to recycle stories?
sorry to be such a pain in the ... opposite end of the body than the one that starts with an 'a'

In the initial days of the competition, there have been some couple of incidents that stories which had appeared in the Forum earlier were accepted in the competition (because it was not openly stated in the rules till that moment). However, now it is not allowed. We would like all the stories submitted to be original works and editing an already submitted story does not qualify as an 'original' work.

Even though we do our best to check the authenticity of the stories submitted for competition if there are incidents we overlook, please do let us know through PM. Such entries will be disqualified immediately (even if they are the winners) because it is not fair on other entrants.

That's weird -- I don't ever remember putting my work on the forums until after the close of each respective elimination.

oh? I thought you said something along those lines, Robin. sorry if I misunderstood you :)
thanks for the clarification, Scher

*laughs* I don't think I'd have to worry much there! The stories I've put on the forum for reading have been from my Shadow mysteries, and there I'm limited to around 500 to 600 words. Try writing a story that is a mystery under those restrictions! The one that went up on John Olson's The Shadow Magizine in Review Website last week made number 28 for me. I still have a dozen lined up with the editor, and no plans to stop. I've put them under "Brain Teasers" before. I have many ideas for short stories, many outlines, but I'm sometimes lazy when it comes to writing. Got to get back at it though! ;)

The last week to submit stories for the competition's October elimination (deadline: September 30th). I would also like to remind that this is your last chance to submit stories for this year's competition as in November and December we will be voting to determine the winner of 2006!

Good luck to all those who are planning to enter the competition! :)

Going once...

Going twice...

And as the poll seems to be locked and done, may I be first to congratulate the writer of The Swan. http://www.cosgan.de/images/midi/sportlich/a040.gif http://www.cosgan.de/images/midi/froehlich/k015.gif You did it! ;) :) :thumbs_up

Well, looks like the one I wanted to win won, so I'm happy about that. They were all good though. Well done to all who entered.

Yes, congratulations to the author of The Swan! And to the second, third, and fourth place winners: Thank you--your stories were all very enjoyable, well written, and unique.

Do we now get to find out who made the stories? Do we get to actually discuss them? I'd be very interested to know why we variously voted the way we did. I suppose it's an allowable question, being that the polls are not anonymous.

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Originally Posted by Jean-Baptiste

Yes, congratulations to the author of The Swan! And to the second, third, and fourth place winners: Thank you--your stories were all very enjoyable, well written, and unique.

Do we now get to find out who made the stories? Do we get to actually discuss them? I'd be very interested to know why we variously voted the way we did. I suppose it's an allowable question, being that the polls are not anonymous.

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Good thought Jean-B. I would like to know why people voted the way they did. I accidentally explained my thoughts in a post within this thread after I voted.

Well, after a nail biting few days the Short Story Competition is finally over!

Congratulations to Snowpetal for ‘The Swan’; an excellent short story and a well deserved winner.

Well done also to all the other entrants. The quality was consistently high, which made it such an exciting competition right up to the end.

A big thank you to Sheherazade, Admin and the Literature Network itself for organising and hosting the competition.

Looking forward to next year’s competition!

Zippy.