Collaborative Creative Writing Community

What makes these eligible? And why not others? I have three stories I have posted to this site and I did not see not one of them here. I was a contender in the last contest that took place and I stayed in the runnings for awhile.....I also see some authors with 2-3 postings here and how is that fair? Please explain, cause this is very disappointing......

Hi there!
These chapters are the root chapters for the stories that are eligible for the contest. Basically, if you write a continuation to one of these chapters (or one of these chapter's continuations), then your chapter will be eligible.

Check out the blog I wrote called "Contest, Contests, Contests"--I go into depth about the terms for the current contest. Here's a snippet:

"As discussed by njharman in his April 21st blog, there are 85 terrific story beginnings that have no subchapters. Therefore, the current contest will be limited to subchapters of these 85 story beginnings.

The reasons that we’ve decided to change the terms of this contest is to encourage the development of stories on StoryMash. As has been the trend, there are tons of story beginnings that get left with no continuing chapters. We want to see what you’re imaginative minds will do with these beginnings!"

I hope this helps to clarify the situation!

Do you have any idea when I should be receiving the check from the last contest? Just wondering because it has been over 2 weeks since it ended and I still have not gotten it

I don't know, Psycho, but I will most definitely let Ethan know.

I'll get back to you on this ASAP :)

But then the people whose minds are working imaginatively on creating the sub-chapters to their stories are not rewarded. Everyone's too worried about winning the contests to be courteous enough to read someone's story thats not part of the contest. All of the votes and comments go to those stories, and the votes and comments of those who could care less about the contests (which are very few) go to those who care about their story.

Hi Nyctitropist,
Thank you for taking the time to comment.

We absolutely don't want you to feel as though we are not encouraging you all to create your own new, fresh stories! Through the feedback and comments that have been made on this blog, many users had given us the input that they would like for the contests to be optional. Many of you users simply enjoy sharing your work and getting feedback. The current contest took this into consideration, giving people the opportunity to opt-out of the contest by not contributing to one of these 85 stories. This is just one reason why the current contest's terms are the way they are.

Another reason is that StoryMash was becoming overwhelmed with root chapters that were not being continued. This list of 85 root chapters are only a portion of those root chapters with no continuing chapters. We are truly simply encouraging you writers to continue great root chapters.

I'm sorry that you've been given the impression that SM is discouraging any type of writing. We love it when people work on chapters for their own root chapters; we also love it (maybe even more, since this is a collaborative writing site) when authors continue fellow writers' chapters. This truly grasps the collaborative mission of this website.

I hope that this helps!

There is only encouragement to complete the contest rather than their own stories.

Question...

I have added a chapter to other's stories and in doing so have noticed that they are not posted on the front screen for review. They end up buried under the old post. This yelids a psuedo invisable piece that does not get viewed and commented on.

So... Why do they not show up as a new post? and.. if only brand new strings can get listed, can you string a new string to an old one?

Thanks

OC

I agree with ocmusicman. I hate it (even when I post a new chapter to an ongoing story, mine or otherwise) when it does not appear on the front screen. It may go weeks without being seen or seen only by authors/writers who are already familiar with my work. Also, why am I a featured author only after dark in most cases? Is it because of the content in my writings or just the luck of the draw? Also, there are writers up here who go months without posting anything. Can there be a way that they have postings on certain days so that those who do post on a regular basis can have their work viewed first? It just amazes me that I can look up here every hour of a given day and see great authors put on a halt while others who have not written anything in 4-5 months or even longer get contiuous views.

This is a hard thing to "fix," as there's no way that we can give all the chapters spots on the front page. However, to give your chapter a better chance of being read, here are some tips:

-Add chapters to the more popular stories that already have established readers. Soon, those readers will be notified directly via email and/or their profile pages of your addition.

- Be sure to use proper tagging (and later genre categorization) so that people who are searching will be able to find what they are looking for.

If you have further ideas, please do share!

On that note, it is also blatantly obvious that specific genres of work get more attention than others. i.e. hard-boiled cops their crossword puzzles or stories about people in the 1950's. These are also the stories that end up selected for the contests. SM should be separated by genre as it is the most important of any story to a reader. No reader will pick up a book to read is it is not the type of story they like, and the surplus of "i.e." readers does not allow for work within other genres to be recognized or reviewed.

I think separating the stories by genre is a great idea! It would make it easier for SM users to go directly to the stories/chapters that they're interested in.

Thanks for the feedback!

I would love to see the character limitations on chapters forever done away with! Its prohibiting and forces cuts, or splits that can serve to ruin the flow of a good chapter. Please, PLEASE get rid of it.
thank you-

Great feedback--I'll definitely bring that up with the developers.

Thanks!

Katrina, any hint about when the next site upgrade might happen?

Hey Shadow~
I haven't heard anything yet, but you all will be the first to know when I do!

Happy writing!

Hey, Kat....
Waht's up with people posting their additions to these storylines as "new stories"?

Hey--
Not sure I understand what you mean. Is there one that you have as an example that I can look at? (If it's easier, you can email me the link at katrina@storymash.com)
Thanks :)

It seems as if everyone is writing a chapter to the same story, October Chill. While it is nicely written, I am not interested in the topic and the story doesn’t generate any desire for me to continue it as I am sure a lot of others feel the same way. But I want to win and I want people to read my work so I almost feel forced to publish a chapter of the story everyone else is writing on just so I can get readers. I know it is out of your control as to what people choose. But do the judges of this contest really want to read the same stories/story line/story theme over and over? And some of the ""front runners" are the same people who've published multiple "front
running chapters" to the same story! To me it just seems a little boring and disappointing at the same time. I think one of Story Mash's themes is versatility yet there isn't much in this contest.

Hi there~
The current contest relies completely on vote rankings, and there are no judges. Therefore, the chapter(s) that have the highest rankings are the winning chapters.

You're right--we have absolutely no control over which chapters authors decide to mash. While some, some as yourself, may not be interested in the "October Chill" story, others, who are contributing to that story, clearly are. It's all a matter of personal taste.

Thanks for your comment!

Hey Allie: The October Chill story is just a group of SM folks who wanted to take one chapter and branch it off into multiple lines - each person started their own branch and the others added to it. It's just for fun. I guess none of us (or maybe only me) realized it would dominate the voting board. It did because we constantly read each others chapters and voted. The new contest sounds like a fairer deal. Good luck and I look forward to reading your stuff.