Collaborative Creative Writing Community

I assume the panel of judges initially selected by SM are outside the site?

You referred to ranked chapters - the voting will still play a heavy role in this? To clarify, you mean the top 10 as of the deadlines, yes?

Can an author submit multiple entries for one particular chapter? One way to make life easier for the judges would be to limit it to one entry each week. Once a chapter is submitted for the contest, that author is ineligible until the following week. Should (a) improve the quality and (b) preserve the judges' sanity.

I look forward to getting involved.

-- Nash

Hey Nash!
For the most part, the judges are separate from the StoryMash site. A few of us on the SM team will be acting as judges.

Yes, voting will still play a pretty big role in this contest. Unfortunately, we don't have the manpower to be able to read every single chapter that will inevitably be posted during each round (or, more specifically, between the round start and round deadline dates). Yes, the top 10 ranked chapters refers to the top 10 out of the chapters posted between the round start and the round deadline.

As of now, there are no restrictions regarding users only being able to post a certain number of chapters per round. However, as these rules are flexible, I will pass that suggestion around and see what the rest of the team think.

Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment!

Thank you, StoryMash, for being a great outlet.

That's what I love to see :)

This sounds like the best idea so far, will be participating as much as possible.

Great!!

Agree with Cheese…this sounds like the best contest yet. It’s so great that SM listened to the community here and designed a contest with everyone’s suggestions and feedback in mind. We get the independent judges, we get the winners participating as judges…yet the votes of our peers still determines the top 10 for consideration. Perfect. Someone mentioned it before…this is like the American Idol for writers.
(And I nominate Persephonie to be Simon Cowell)

Awesome--I'm glad you guys are as pumped about this contest as I am!!

Great idea! I welcome this...give more people a chance to win!

Exactly :)

I believe that the concept is going to be very encouraging and interesting.Many writers will get a chance to show their writing talent.Well done Storymash!
Rajasir

Thank you! I look forward to the first round getting started!

I think it will be interesting to see how this plays out...I'm new here, so I'm still learning the ropes, to use a cliche that I would likely edit out of any story I was writing...I'm a bit confused by the vote rankings sometimes, and how some stories don't have higher votes while some "stories" still do despite their flaws...but the method of this contest sounds like it will be fun.

Best of luck to all.

Welcome to SM! I look forward to seeing what you write :)

Yeah...that was basically my question, as well...I suggested we have a "Simon"...and now Dog wants me to be "it"....(sniff) .

I did want to make one note to clarify something that I'm afraid might be confusing.

Let's say that I'm participating in round 2, and I decide to mash Chapter A and Chapter B (both chapters which are in the contest for round 1) before the winner of round 1 is announced.

Now, let's say that Chapter B is announced the winning chapter for round 1. And let's say that the chapter I wrote to continue Chapter B is so good that it wins round 2--this is perfectly legit.

So, basically, a continuing chapter does not necessarily HAVE to be written between the round start date and the round deadline date in order to win that particular round. While I believe it makes the most sense to wait until the previous round's winner is announced before mashing, there may be some of you that want to hurry and start mashing some of the previous round's contestants. That's perfectly okay.

Does this make sense to you all? I'm afraid I may have just further confused the situation...

So if we mash a chapter at any time and it (the previous chapter) ends up winning, our chapter is eligible to win in the next round?

Exactly.

Theoretically, then, something like "Janeane's Smile, Kerplow" (which had all 10 chapters posted in one day) could permit one author to sweep the entire contest? Can't say I understand the reasoning on that, unless it's a programming glitch that makes any immediately following chapter to the previous winner eligible. Even so, couldn't the judges eliminate previous winners by looking at the author's name? Seems like that wouldn't be too much trouble. Perhaps I'm missing something.

If any chapter following a winner is eligible, then why couldn't an author submit follow-up chapters for contention anyway?

-- The ever-inquisitive (and occasionally whiny) Nash

No, that couldn't happen because, as stated in the rules, an author can only win one round throughout the competition. After that one win, the author is then added to the judging panel.

I am slightly confused....So, week one, anyone can post a story and a winner will be chosen from the top 10 rated stories. Subsequent weeks, submitted stories must continue from the previous week's winning storylines? So, the "mashing" doesn't happen until we find out who wins each week and we continue on from the winning stories? Is this right?

That is correct. However, theoretically, the "mashing" could happen before the winning chapter is announced. If you write a round 2 chapter that I like, and I decide to mash on it before the round 2 winner is announced, and your round 2 chapter ends up winning the round, then the chapter I wrote is eligible for the contest.

Does that help to clear it up?

got it. thanx

Okay...now that I have read everyone's comments, I see where I went wrong. Sorry. I don't want to be "Simon".....:( No one likes him.

awwww. Simon isn't that bad.

Got it. From your note, I was under the impression that you were the author of Chapters A and B AND the author of the mashes. If you "prematurely" mash someone else's chapter that ends up winning after you've continued it, your mash is eligible. Got it.

Man...I should have had you write the comment. I was going nuts trying to figure out a simple way to write it! And you got it just like that! ;)

Sounds like a great idea to me. I'll be back from training in time to pump something out for the first round!

Killer!

Katrina!! I am so stoked about this contest! Thanks for listening to the authors and thinking up such a great idea:)

Awesome! I'm glad everyone is so excited about this :)

Is this contest going to be on a separate page like contest #4? I've added my entry and stuff but how are we supposed to see which chapters are the front runners and stuff like that?

Hi there-
Yes, this contest will have a separate page. Until the current contest (contest #4) is over (June 27th), I will be keeping everyone updated with frequent blog posts. After June 27th, you will be able to view the front-runners on the contest page.

Sorry for this confusion!

Okay, I'm new here, as all must be at some point. The rules state that the Round 1 chapters must all start a new story, yet the list of current front-runners includes chapters on down the chain. Are those front-runners for the previous contest?

Yes, those chapters are the front-runners from the previous contest (Contest #4) which ends on June 27th.

Sorry about the confusion! The two contests overlapping caused more confusion than we expected.

Thanks!

Sounds good. Can't wait to see who comes out on top.

I can't wait either! :)

Where is the page with the current #5 contest stories? If I posted a chapter yesterday or today..where does someone find it to vote on before the 28th?

I am going to be constructing a blog that will be updated continuously with the chapters written that are eligible for contest #5 today...so it should be posted either today or tomorrow.

Sorry for this delay!

nice!

What do the numbers next to the comments mean? Sometimes there is a one and sometimes a two. Where would I read about the purpose of these numbers?

Those numbers simply refer to how useful or useless the community finds that particular comment. Do you see the arrows (up and down) next to the numbers? You can put in your own two cents worth by voting a comment up or down. All comments begin with a "1".

I hope this helps!
Thanks!

Can someone tell me, please, where to go to find out how to post. Every time I try my story runs together in one long paragraph. How does it work?!?
Thank you someone...

Hi there~
You really shouldn't be experiencing those issues. What browser are you using? Are you pasting your text directly into the chapter editor, or are you using the "Paste" tool that is in the actual editor itself (versus hitting CTRL V)?

Let me know!

Thanks!

Are they all going to be branched off of Thou Shalt Not kill? Because I would like to take a crack at something else.

Yes, they are all going to branch off of "Thou Shalt Not Kill." The goal of this contest is to have a completed story by the end of it.

However, please do take a crack at other chapters out there--while they won't be eligible for this particular contest, the goal of this site is to be as collaborative as possible with as many different stories as possible.

Happy writing!

Hey Dwayne,
Your guess is as good as mine. What is it that makes you want to read one chapter over another? If you read author X's first draft of a chapter and see that he/she wrote a second draft, wouldn't you be curious to see what he/she improved/changed? I don't have a solid answer for you because I (and the rest of the SM team) don't have any say in what the SM community reads and votes on.

I hope this helps!

Hi Dwayne,
As mentioned in this blog post, we brought up the idea of having previous round winners act as judges, and it was met with positive feedback, so we decided to instill that rule. As far as it not being fair--we have implemented the judging guidelines (http://storymash.com/blog/2008/07/16/judging-guidelines/) to ensure that all of the judges are on the same page when it comes to voting and judging standards.

I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help.

Thanks!

Hi Dwayne,
The judges don't necessarily post their votes directly on your chapter. As the judging guidelines blog post explains, the judges' votes only count towards the contest, not towards the general ranking of the chapter. All of the judges forward their votes directly to me so that we can enter the votes through the back end of the site. This is to answer your question as to why two judges commented on your story but your story only had one vote.

Also mentioned in the judging guidelines blog post is the fact that only one chapter per author is eligible for each round of the contest. So even though the site shows that author A has three drafts of his/her chapter in the contest, we judges are only voting and commenting on one of those chapters.

I hope this answers your questions.

Thanks!

The JUDGES' ranking score has nothing to do with the chapters' general ranking. Sorry I wasn't more clear about that.

I hope this helps!

As stated above--the SM users vote on the chapters, and the top ten ranked chapters are the ones that the judges then comment and vote on.

What I was explaining to you was that the judges' votes do not affect the overall ranking of the chapter--the judges' votes only affect the outcome of the contest.

I hope this helps!

Hi Dwayne~
While I appreciate your humor, I feel as though your take on this contest is completely wrong. If you look at the top ten chapters that were in round three, you'll see that several of the authors (including the winner, chloe) have only been a SM user since June or July. Therefore, it would be somewhat ridiculous to say that they're part of the "good old boys club" or any other "clique."

Also, this contest is the very first one that SM has had where the winner is not chosen SOLELY by the chapter's ranking. If you would like to see the discussion we had when we were coming up with the rules for this contest, feel free to visit: http://storymash.com/blog/2008/05/29/new-contest-proposal/

I hope that you do continue to participate in the contests, but if you don't, that is your choice.

Thanks!

Hi Dwanehoover
FYI - I for one was never a cheerleader! and don't know nashvilleb(winner round2) was but would assume he wasn't either(lol). I just found the site about a month ago and was the new kid on the block. I assure you its not a popularity contest - or knowing noone, I wouldn't have won -I found if I tried to comment on other people's work- which I was nervous to do at first- they'll most likely read and comment on yours out of curiosity, if nothing else. I have a few stories noone's read yet either. Hope you stay in the game!We nerds have to stick together!
Chloe

I decided to come back and see if and how anything had changed. I guess not.How is any contest fair if you pick 1 and only 1 story to branch off of? 3 or 4 yeah maybe but one, that's just setting things up to only fit one type of writer. I really wanted to write again and I really wanted to believe things had changed but I guess we can't all be happy, sad thing is only people happy are those everyone else has voice concern about, favorites, cliques and whatever. Take Care and enjoy the set the way it is it forces the rest of us out of contests and looking for somewhere else to write.

Hi there,
The current contest is not, by any means, how each of the future contests will be handled. After weighing in the feedback from many of the site's users, the SM team decided to use this format.

I would greatly encourage you to check out the projects page, as we have two projects that you may be interested in: http://www.storymash.com/projects

Thanks!

So.. I just entered my chapter at 01:50 utc 8/7/08. Did i miss the deadline?

:( Yes, I'm afraid that you did. In the future, I would recommend getting your chapter posted as soon as possible so that fellow SM users have a chance to read and vote on your entry (and to make sure that you get in before the deadline).

so, i'm confused... right now there is a chapter, competing in round 6, that was published on aug 17th. That chapter is in the finals. The deadline for round 6 was Aug 17th.
During round 5 I submitted my chapter the day of the deadline and was told i missed the deadline. So, what gives?

I actually wasn't the one to cut off this round of the contest. I've emailed the person who ended this round to find out what time, etc., it was ended.

so... still confused....

The owner/programmer asked me to tell you that he made a mistake, but he refuses to disqualify the chapters published once he listed them as finalists.

Ok. Well thank you for your time.

Katrina,

I just sent you an e-mail with a story attachment for chapter six competition. It is still Sunday, Aug. 17th, but I am unsure what I might have needed to do to get my story "published" in time for competions. Until now, I thought I just had to submit it to your attention. Please let me know if my story is eligible for chapter six competion, or, if I missed a procedure along the way, please let me know what I need to do to properly submit a chapter story to be competitive for the remainder of the contest. Thanks.
Jeremy Desposito

Hi Jeremy! I just emailed you about this situation. Do get back to me and let me know if you have any questions.

If I entered my story on the last day on the deadline, would it be considered in the next contest or would I have to write a new one?

I would like to join this

Terrific! The winner of the current round will be announced within the next few days. Once it is announced, you simply must write a continuing chapter to the winning chapter in order to enter the contest. Just read the story up until the current round, and then write your own continuing chapter and click "Write Next Chapter." Then, copy and paste your chapter into the box and click on "Publish."

Good luck! If you have any further questions, please email me at katrina@storymash.com.

Don2Wise~
If you happen to submit your chapter after the deadline, it will not be eligible for any of the contest's rounds. But you are more than welcome to continue participating in the contest by mashing off the most recent round's winning chapter.

Let me know if you have any further questions.
Thanks!

Is "Thou shall not kill" a theme?

i'm not sure i understand how the contest works. Can i submit my latest story in three parts for consideration?

"Thou Shalt Not Kill" is the story that is part of the current contest. If you would like to take part in the next round (round nine) of the contest that begins in the next day or two, then you must simply mash the winning chapter of round eight. The winning chapter will be announced in a blog post as well as on the contest page.

If you have any other questions, feel free to shoot me an email (katrina@storymash.com)

Hi I'm confused. I've been reading thE comments and it started making my head hurt. How do you join?
Sorry I'm new.

Hi there!
All you have to do is click on the "Contest" button on the right hand side of the webpage. That will take you to the previous nine chapters of the current contest. Simply read those and get caught up, and then if you want to take a stab at the final and tenth chapter, start writing!

To officially submit your chapter for consideration, click on the ninth chapter and then "Write Next Chapter." Once you hit "publish," your chapter will be entered in to the contest and will be viewable from the Contest page.

If you have any further questions, shoot me an email at katrina@storymash.com.

Thanks!

can I enter this lastround, and where do I submit the material?

Hi there!

You can absolutely still enter!

All you have to do is click on the "Contest" button on the right hand side of the webpage. That will take you to the previous nine chapters of the current contest. Simply read those and get caught up, and then if you want to take a stab at the final and tenth chapter, start writing!

To officially submit your chapter for consideration, click on the ninth chapter and then "Write Next Chapter." Once you hit "publish," your chapter will be entered in to the contest and will be viewable from the Contest page.

If you have any further questions, shoot me an email at katrina@storymash.com.

Thanks!

Help- I entered mine yesterday but hit save and didn't realize I had it as a draft! I was so panicked about the utc time I didn't double click. is it too late?

Hi Chloe!

Since it seems that the only thing you did "wrong" was not hit the publish button, we will absolutely enter you in to round ten. Please email me your chapter (katrina@storymash.com), and I'll have it published.