Art:AADM/Third round
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Contents
Entry Instructions
Entrants will turn their assigned short story into a novella of 15 000 - 40 000 words. We will be using a different word counter for this round of play.
To what degree do I need to integrate my assigned short story?
- Your novella should be based on your short story, and you should include as many of the events, locations, characters, and plot points from the short story as possible. You are not restricted to the contents of the short story; you may add additional events, locations, characters, and plot points. You may change perspectives and pick a new main character. You may do whatever you like, but remember that the judges will be marking you on how well you integrate the short story into your entry.
- One option avaliable to you is just tossing the short story into as a prologue or first chapter. This is perfectly permissible.
To what degree do I need to integrate my assigned SHORT (Bulwer-Lyttony/Nanofic)?
- If you've been assigned to a short story that was once a Bulwer-Lyttony, a chapter in your novella (not necessarily the first one) must start with the Bulwer-Lyttony entry verbatim. If you've been assigned to a nanofic, you do not have to include it, verbatim or otherwise. (Presumably, if you've been assigned a story that was a nanofic, the short story incorporated the nanofic well enough that just worrying about the short story should get more than enough coverage of the nanofic.)
When is the deadline?
- You will have at least two months to complete this round of play. If you need more time after two months, we can allow more time, but if one or two entrants are holding everyone else up, the host may give a two-week warning and activate the guillotine clause. Once the clause has been activated, the contest will close in two weeks with or without all of the stories in hand.
What is the judging rubric?
- Up to 75 points for Authorship
- Did you LIKE this story?
- Would you read more by this author?
- Was the ending satisfying?
- Was the style of prose pleasant?
- Is this a good story?
- Up to 15 points for Nitpicking
- Starting at 15 points, deduct for particularly glaring errors or omissions. (Misused five-dollar words, sudden and jarring leaps between place and time, difficulty with suspension of disbelief, etc.)
- Up to 30 points for Creativity
- In a vacuum, how original are the plot, characters, settings, and broader story?
- Did you see that coming?
- Is the story trite and unoriginal, or does the author dig deep and find profound things to say?
- Up to 20 points for Inclusion of Short Story
- How well does the author incorporate the Short Story?
How can I avoid being nitpicked?
- The most commonly-nitpicked things in the second round of play were:
- Misused five-dollar words (To make up some examples, "the cat leapt about and then sat on its posterity", "his face was as crepuscular as the craggy, salty cliffs", "the boiling water simmered before foaming over in a great, bubbly credenza", and so on.) If you're about to use a high-falootin' word, check the dictionary before you use it. I'm amazed at the vocabulary of some of my judges, and you'll be equally astounded if you test them. :)
- Redundancy and repetition ("The other day Milo and I went to the park on Tuesday", "I looked around the empty room and found nobody there", etc.)
- Logical holes (For example, if you're going to base your story on a navy ship, make sure you know enough about naval ranks to figure out that, say, a Commander outranks a Lieutenant. It's also good to know how many masts a sloop has, that a treasure chest full of booty would probably require three to five men to carry it, and so on.)
- Poor descriptions ("The monster was tall", "she was beautiful", "he smelled bad", "Shaft was one big, baaaaad m*****f***a", etc.) Don't be afraid to use adjectives and full elaboration.
- Sudden jumps through time and space. While changes like that can be a useful and fruitful effect, they have a place and time.
Anything else?
- Yes. Your story must be divided into at least six chapters. You may include as many as you like, but you must have at least six.
Writing/Submission Instructions
Please submit your entry by e-mail to thatponytailguy@gmail.com. Include your forum username somewhere in the body of the message, and attach each chapter in a separate .txt format file. Only .txt files will be accepted; .txt files are generated by Notepad or equivalent programs, and a program to create them should be avaliable on every computer produced since 1985.
If your chapters are numbered ("Chapter 1", "Chapter 2", etc.), then I'll assume that's the sequence you want them entered in. If your chapters have specific names ("The Boy Who Lived", "The Vanishing Glass", etc.), then please include a table of contents in the body of your message telling me which order they go in.
If you would to change the story title, please note this in the body of your message.
Paragraphs and Section Breaks
If you want to use indented paragraphs, just enter them using the tab key. If you don't, then don't.
To indicate a section break, insert four dashes side by side (----) with a single blank line above and below. These will be converted into proper section breaks during formatting.
Upon Submission
When I receive your e-mail, I will format the entry and then upload it to a Judgebot-style interface. I'll e-mail you back with the link to your story, and you can report back any stylistic changes you'd like to have happen.
Please refrain from making "corrections" to the body of your text after you've entered it. If you ABSOLUTELY OH EM EFF GEE NEED TO MODIFY MY ENTRY after submitting it, you can do so, but that will make me a very sad panda.
