StoryMash Creative Storytelling Forum

Hello.

It has been suggested I copy and paste the following .

If it were up to me to organize a contest, then I would apply the following points :

A . EVERYONE GETS TO BE EVALUATED .

B . ANNOUNCING AN EVENT ''A'' PRIOR TO EVALUATION

C . SPECIFYING THE EVALUATION METHOD

D . THE JUDGES ARE TO BE FROM THE STAFF ONLY .

E . THE JUDGES CAN BE ASKED FOR CHOICE CLARIFICATION .

Concerning point A , it is clear . Everyone, no matter how insipid we might think they are, gets a chance to be evaluated by the judges.

Concerning point B . Sounds obvious .In order to avoid confusion, we announce the contest in advance, the advance is determined by the nature of the contest .

Concerning point C .

Example : ''DEAR MASHERS, YOU HAVE A MONTH TO WRITE A STORY . THE GUIDELINES ARE AS FOLLOWS

1. TWO THOUSAND WORDS AS INDICATED BY ''MICROSOFT WORD'' PROCESSOR . IF YOUR STORY CONSISTS OF TWO THOUSAND AND ONE WORDS, IT IS REJECTED .

2 . YOU ARE GIVEN A LAISSEZ-FAIRE APPROACH TO THE STORY CONTENT . HOWEVER, PLEASE REMEMBER THAT DUE TO POLITICALLY CORRECT TIMES WE LIVE IN, YOU MUST INDICATE THAT YOUR WORK IS FICTION IN ORDER TO AVOID ''READER CONFUSION.'' IF THE JUDGES DEEM YOUR WORK TO BE TOO CLOSE TO REALITY, THEY WILL REJECT IT. IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE ABOVE, PLEASE CONTACT US (......) . ALSO, IF YOU FEEL YOU HAVE BEEN REJECTED FOR NO APPARENT REASON, PLEASE CONTACT THE JUDGES AT (...) TO RECEIVE A CLARIFICATION.

3. ONCE A GIVEN MONTH HAS PASSED, THE 24-HOUR WINDOW OCCURS RIGHT AFTER THE MONTH . IF YOU WANT YOUR STORY TO BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT , PLEASE WRITE ''CONTEST'' NEXT TO YOUR TITLE.WITHOUT THE ''CONTEST'' INDICATION,YOUR STORY WILL NOT BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT. THE JUDGES WILL READ EACH STORY SUBMITTED WITHIN THE 24-HOUR PERIOD AND LABELED WITH ''CONTEST'' NEXT TO THE STORY TITLE. THE WINNER STORY WILL BE CHOSEN WITHIN A WEEK,COUNTING FROM THE 24-HOUR PERIOD CLOSURE . STORIES PUBLISHED PRIOR TO AND AFTER THE 24-HOUR PERIOD ARE NOT TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION BY THE JUDGES. THE PEER-GRADES ARE ''ZEROED'' FOR EACH STORY ONCE THEY ARE TAKEN TO BE EVALUATED BY THE JUDGES IN ORDER TO AVOID ''PEER-BIAS'' AND INFLUENCING THE JUDGES .

Yes, every system has got its disadvantages . It's good to minimize them . I hope the staff will read it .

I am passing this on to the rest of the staff--thanks so much for the suggestions!

First, I wholeheartedly concur that life would be easier with an "opt in" for the contests. If not by creating a new area (like Wolfram suggested) your solution of adding (Contest) beside the title would work. This would limit the myriad of entries that weren't/aren't intentional. Posting a new story within a timeframe should not mark it as eligible; posting a contest entry should.

I also agree with a specified word count. I'd say have a basement and a ceiling: 1500-2000, if you want. That's a two-page window to squeeze into. If it needs to be expanded, fine, but list the requirement.

I don't know how to set it so every entrant would be evaluated. The contests are free to enter and I'd think the judges should be compensated for doing work. Evaluations take time and effort. If StoryMash wanted to use an entry fee for the contests, that could work. Deduct the $1.00 [arbitrary amount] from the amount earned through the site. On the downside, this would eliminate first-timers from entering and winning contests. The fact that SM pays winners and doesn't charge entry fees is fairly unique. To evaluate every entrant, that might need to change.

Writers should be allowed to submit only one entry for the contest with a window (a week?). Choose your best. With some authors submitting a dozen new stories in one day, the current system makes judging every entry impossible. Edit it, rewrite it, do whatever you need to do, but for the contest, you shouldn't receive the benefit of "revised - revised v. 2 - revised with happy happies." You want to get feedback from readers before the contest, help yourself. Pick your absolute paramount chapter, fix it as well as you can, and submit it. Got two? Fantastic! You now have one for the next contest.

With the collaborative nature of the site, I think the #-chapters-by-different-authors format is solid, but the opening round becomes the impossible one. It's too open. To solve that, set a base chapter (like the Projects). It can be written by an employee or anonymously, and should not be awarded any prize money. That will provide a basis for judges to work from, rather than saying "anyone write any fiction and you'll all get [hopefully valuable] feedback." Some judges may not know/want to participate in sci-fi, others in conspiracy plots, others in teenage love stories. (For those who base their plots on adolescent-robot-Illuminati groups, I salute you.)

Great ideas by both of you here. I think the single most important issue is the 'opt-in' idea. I think this should be implemented as soon as possible, hopefully for the next contest. Word minimums and maximums are good too along with only allowing one entry. These would all cut back the number of entries that the judges would have to read. Also the having to pay to enter a contest is an interesting idea, and I would not mind putting a dollar or so of the money I've earned into entering the contest, though like Nash said, this would stop newcomers from entering the contest, but would perhaps also encourage newcomers to write more chapters so they will get read more and thus earn enough to enter a contest. I look forward to seeing at least a few of these changes implemented as soon as possible though I understand not for the current contest.

I'd need a lot of people reading my stuff before I could enter then... In four-ish months, I haven't yet earned a dollar :} Maybe next year summer I'd be able to enter a contest then...

I'm not sure that "write more to get read more" works - especially if "write more, edit less" takes place. I like quality over quantity myself.

I like the current contest format, and I've agreed with many of the improvements suggested. Especially designating an area specifically for the contest. However, in between the major 5-10 chapter single storyline contest. I think it would be great to have a contest that goes to the best continuation of established stories throughout StoryMash within a time period. The only stipulation would be that it could be an addition of a story from the same author.

I meant to say: "The only stipulation would be that it couldn't be an addition of a story from the same author."

I guess we need to proofread our comments better too:)

I had another idea for the next contest. Close the entry period a week or two before the judging period. Then give the SM community that time to read and vote on the eligible chapters before the judges rank the top ten.
Right now I'm trying to read and vote on as many chapters as I can, but there's just no way I'm going to hit all the deserving chapters before the entry deadline.

This is actually something we're going to start with round two (not a week, though)--I'll be posting a blog soon to explain.

I added my comments/suggestions earlier on your contest blogg.

Here is another. I think it would be nice for us to have the opporunity to have a public ranking of our current writing abilities....

when we create or update our profiles, give us something to check off that would appear (in a shortened format) with our monikers.

For instance, novice, intermmediate, seasoned, professional, judge, staff.

This would allow the general reader to anticipate the level of quality one might expect to read from any given writer.

As far as contests go, we can enter them under under these catagories. This way, someone 12 years old and new isn't automatically put up against a more seasoned writer, and has a fair shot at winning at his or her experience level.

Of course, there is a honor system that has to be in place with this type of qualification rating. Someone anxious to win a round might lable him or herself as a novice and enter that division and possibly win, even though he or she is, by most standards, an intermmediate or seasoned writer.

In this case, SM would have jurisdiction and could change the writer's status or ask them to post the entry at a higher level of qualification.

What do you think?

I don't like this at all. Will readers really want to read a novice's work? No, they will only read the better works by the 'better' authors. If you expect that a chapter will be crap because the author is a novice, why read it? I know I wouldn't.
I think ranking authors is a very bad idea, no offense Persephonie. Judging writing abilities is akin to judging art, incredibly difficult because of the creative freedom.
Also, the more contests, the more money SM would have to have to give away.
One more point about the 12 year old going up against a more seasoned writer. "The only way to get better at Chess is playing someone better then you." Same goes with writing. Putting a 12 year old in the same contest as a more experienced writer is good. The 12 year old will read the more experienced chapters and learn.
That is why I dislike the ranking idea.

This would also help us instantly know the level of critique we should expect form those adding comments for us. :)

Oh, yes! I like Nash's suggestion of an entry fee! Even if one is new to the site and has not accrued any money, if they choose to enter, they can be in the negative. For instance, my daughter has one entry on this site and has written about 5 comments, so her earnings are low. Let's say for the sake of arguement that she has earned 50 cents. She wants to enter a contest with a $1.00 fee. Her total earnings are now at negative 50 cents. She can build her funds by adding more submissions and commenting on other's stories. By the time the contest ends, she has the potential to earn the money back and pay the entry fee. If not, she cannot enter another contest until the deficit is accounted for. A one time allowance for the negative funds can apply to users who have joined the site within the 60 days or so prior to the contest.

"She can build her funds by adding more submissions and commenting on other's stories." One flaw with this statement: you don't earn money by commenting, and commenting doesn't always earn you readers. Mashing onto other stories gives you a better chance of earning readers, but that's no guarantee either. Somewhere, you mentioned you get friends and family to come read - and that's probably the best advice.

The 60 day clause would limit a great number of members from joining the contests - especially if each round required an entry fee. Money doesn't actually accumulate quickly. There would be a lot of discouraged writers.

You don't earn money when you comment? Some days, that's all I do and I see my earnings go up....so I just assumed. It doesn't have to be a 60 day limit....that was just a suggestion...SM would definately have to figure out which way to work that.

Nope - or at least, I don't. I read and comment a lot. I checked, this will be comment 274 for me. Over the past week, I've earned 13 cents - and that's the most I've earned in a one-week period ever. I blame it entirely on the contest.

Like I said in my above comment, maybe I'd be able to enter a contest next summer sometime. ;)

Your money goes up when people read your stories.