Crystal Island, Moscow | image by Foster + Partners, 2007
Welcome to the Summer Prose Competition! This contest will be carried out in the form of a competition, rather than a tournament. The fundamental difference between the two is how the rounds progress: in a competition, every contestant advances to the next round, and no eliminations occur. The first challenge will be posted on July the 7th at noon PST (Pacific/Protagonize Standard Time, -8GMT). Judgements for the final challenge will be due by noon PST on August the 19th, with the competition closing officially on the 20th.
The Challenges
A writing competition requires that each competitor writes a composition, or a series of compositions. This instalment of the Seasonal Prose Competition will require each competitor to complete five writing challenges of varying degrees of complexity. The challenges will build upon each other, and will be judged both individually and as a whole. Each challenge will have a due date, at least three and a half entire days (84 hours) after the challenge is issued. Competitors posting completed challenges after the due date will be penalized.
The "30 Days of World Building" Exercises
These are the development exercises that inspired the five challenges in this competition. Although it is not required to complete these exercises, some of them will be extremely beneficial to your final entries because of the planning and re-planning that they involve. In a perfect world you might want to complete each of the 30 exercises, but this world isn't quite perfect, is it? As such, the relevant exercises for each challenge will be stated according to the day that they are completed on.
The Entries
Each competitor will need to complete an entry for each challenge. Competitors will submit their entries in their own "story" by start a new Writing Exercise under the categories of Descriptive Writing and Writing Prompt, with the title as "SPC - Competitor's Username." Use whatever tags you like for the writing exercise, but be sure to include one that reads SPC2010. Also, please disable ratings for your writing exercise. All reviews will be done via comments, so star ratings are unnecessary and could create bias.
Competitors are welcome to post whatever planning they do for their entries in the writing exercise as long as the completed challenges are appropriately labelled (if you post your completed challenge on the first chapter of the exercise, subtitle it as Challenge One in bold in the main body). Entries that are not completed in this way will not be counted.
Rules for Entries
While the World Building Competition is no longer, the focus of this Summer Prose Competition will be on the creation of setting and descriptive writing. There will be opportunity to expand beyond simple descriptive writing in all of the challenges, which will be explained and elaborated on in the different challenge descriptions as they are released.
Competitors are encouraged to start from a blank slate so that the constraints of any settings created prior to the competition do not inhibit creativity. That said, pre-existing settings are not disallowed. However, competitors are discouraged from using settings that they themselves have not created: in the case of fan fictions, most of the "world building" going on is "world researching."
No entries flagged as Mature will be accepted as a completed challenge.
The Timing of Dates Posted and Dates Due
All times posted here and during the Competition will be in Pacific/Protagonize Standard Time, which is -8GMT. In an attempt at fairness for competitors in all time zones, all posting times will be at noon* PST, and all due times will be at midnight** PST. All challenges will be both posted on Protagonize.com and emailed to each of the competitors via the Contact Author form on their respective profiles.
*challenges may be issued prior to noon, but never later than noon, should the competition organizer (JackRubashevskiy) be away from a computer.
**because the due date is at midnight, competitors should have their entries in by no later than 23:59:59PST, as indicated by the posting time attached to the Protagonize chapter page.
Email from the Organizer
Upon occasion the organizer of the competition may need to email you. He will use whatever email address you used to register your account on Protagonize, so please ensure that it is up to date before the competition starts.
The Judges and Reviews
This installation of the Seasonal Prose Competition will feature a unique scheme of judging. In short, there will be two forms of judges: panel judges and peer judges. For the sake of clarity, their judgements will be called reviews.
Each competitor is a peer judge, and will be placed into a group with two or three fellow competitors. After each challenge, group members will complete peer reviews of the other members' work, based on a sort of grading sheet that will be provided. Comments are not necessary, but are both polite and fair, especially if you expect comments back. Writing comments will also help judges consider their reasons for the scores they submit.
The panel judges will not compete, although some may elect to complete the challenges to scope out their difficulty. Judges on the panel will rotate through the various competing groups, so that every competitor will receive a panel review from every panel judge at least once. The grading sheet that panel judges use will be identical to the one used by peer judges, but the weight of their grades will be relatively heavier.
Just like the challenges, reviews will be timed. Both panel and peer judges will have at least three and a half days (84 hours) to complete their reviews for each assigned entry. Competitors posting late reviews will be penalized. Panellists posting late reviews will be asked nicely to step up their game or find a suitable replacement.
Penalties and Evictions
Competitors can receive penalties in the form of reduced scores in the following instances:
* Posting a completed challenge late * Posting a peer review late * Rude conduct towards other competitors or panellists
The competition organizer reserves the right to evict any competitor from the competition at any time if their conduct is unacceptable under the Protagonize Terms of Use, or if they refrain from posting one or more completed challenges.
The Panel of Judges
AnaCristina (Ana) is a teacher by day and a writer by night. She has a penchant for falling in love with fictional characters and adorable kittens of the LOL variety.
Archi_Teuthis (Archi) has been a judge, leader, and champion of the Protagonize Seasonal Poetry Tournaments. She edited her school newspaper and was selected as the English representative for her high school. She calls herself the Chief Squid and enjoys dying her hair pink.
aryst0krat (Chris) is not much of an autobiographer, but he loves reading and is looking forward to seeing what the competitors can do.
Elorithryn (Elo/Elorie) is a 'scientist' by day and a writer by night. She's had real life experience judging science fairs and has decided to try her hand at judging this fair competition. (har har) Full of giggles and grins, you might never guess that she's actually a responsible adult. :}
jdxx (Robyn) is a recently graduated high school student living on a miniscule tropical island, and is still recovering from the hardships of IB. To assist her in this slow recuperation, she relies on the movie rental store, late night peanut butter feasts and the hope for even the smallest bit of inspiration.
JackRubashevskiy (Jack) is the organizer of this competition, as well as the GM of the World Building group. Always aspiring to alliterate, he has made his mark on Protagonize under many names: the Alliterator, he who wears the biggest hat, and Sir Jack Trollbane to name a few.
Lyre is a self-professed literature snob with a serious grammar and spelling obsession. She doesn't consider herself a writer, and so wants to earn her keep as a researcher in the field of genetic disease.
Tasha_Noble doesn't need much of an introduction. Despite having been a nurse and now a so-close-to-being-published writer, she doesn't believe she has found a real job yet (whatever that means).
The Grading Sheet
Each judge, panel and peer, will review the completed challenges based on the following criteria. No half points are to be awarded in any case, no matter how hard you plead with the organizer. It is recommended that after the sheet has been filled out you reread the entry, reflect on the score you gave (writing comments will be very helpful for you here), and reconsider the score you wish to submit.
Mood & Imagery - ( /15) Can you identify the sense of place that the writer is trying to convey? Is there a variety of words and phrases used to convey this mood, or is s/he falling back on a single descriptor?
Because it is being hosted by the World Building Group, this instalment of the Seasonal Prose Competition places particular emphasis on descriptive writing. An author who scores high points in the Mood & Imagery criteria uses clear descriptions and an array of words. If you find yourself feeling the emotion or mood that the author is trying to convey, then they have done a very good job with both their descriptive writing and their planning beforehand.
Look for stand-out words and phrases that convey a clear mood, descriptive passages that paint a clear picture of the setting, and cohesion between the mood and setting. Also keep an eye out for the opposites: words and phrases that are ambiguous or contrary to the mood, descriptions that leave you confused, and disharmony between the mood and setting. Of course, the author might use a contrary mood to make something stand out, and those instances should be judged according to their effectiveness.
Believability & Consistency- ( /5) Can you tell that the writer spent time thinking about and planning the setting he or she is creating? Does the world make sense, even in a twisted way? Is the writer consistent in his/her details, and is there a clear sense of place shared among his/her entries?
This competition requires the competitors to complete challenges that build upon each other, so a consistent setting is necessary. This setting should also make sense to the reader, with explanations worked into the writing if need be.
Pay attention to things that seem integral to the world, and keep looking for them in each following entry. Take a step back from the writing and exercise some critical thought, especially with things magical, supernatural, or technological. Does their inclusion make sense? Are they integrated into the world logically, or do they seem somewhat out of place? And if they are out of place, was that the intent of the author?
Engagement - ( /5) Is the excerpt easy to read, or did it drag at points? Was it interesting to read and have enough variety to maintain your interest? Did you feel like you were being lectured to, or was this genuine storytelling?
It can become very tiresome to read paragraph after paragraph of descriptive prose, and can take away from the progression of the story being told. Although these challenges are bent toward descriptive writing, it is very important to keep the audience engaged. If you find yourself glued to an entry and immersed in the storytelling, consider giving the author a high score for this criteria.
Things to look for are variation in sentence structure and a balance between descriptions and actions. Take note of the way that the entry flows in relation to the mood: is it smooth, jerky, erratic, logical? Also take into account the words that the author used; having to stop every few seconds to look up a word takes away from the reading experience, and can make the reader feel belittled.
Spelling, Punctuation, & Grammar (SPG) - ( /5) Has the author put in the effort in ensure that his or her writing follows typical grammar conventions and standard spellings, whether Canadian, American, British, or otherwise?
This criteria looks at the polish that the author puts on his or her work. Improper SPG detracts from the other elements of the writing, such as the Mood & Setting and Engagement. Take into consideration the severity of any abuses of SPG: some typos will be recognized by spell-check programs as other words, and so might be passed over by the author. That said, an entry with any abuse of SPG, no matter how small, cannot score a perfect mark in the SPG category.
Scoring
The above review criteria each have an associated number of possible points, adding to a total of thirty for each review completed. Peer reviews will be averaged out for a single peer review score, which will be then combined with the reviews completed by panel judges. Because of this, the reviews of panel judges will be weighed more than those by the peer judges, to help foster fairness across the entire competition.
At the end of the competition, the competitor with the highest score will be declared the winner of the Summer Prose Tournament 2010. In the event of a tie, the judges will decide which competitor deserves the title based on performance over all five challenges.
The Reward
The only prize in this competition is the title of Summer Prose Competition 2010 champion, and the bragging rights that go with it. The only entry fee is a willingness to lose a bit of pride. Therefore, the winner will take all the lost pride of the losers for him or herself. Profile badges will not be awarded at the end of this competition, just as they are not awarded for the Seasonal Poetry Tournament. If you feel this is unfair, please speak with Nick and politely ask him to halt any current site developments in order to design a spiffy decal for you.
please take the time to read through the entirety of the above post before starting the competition or asking me questions regarding the competition. if any questions do arise, feel free to ask them here, on my profile, or via the Contact Author function on my profile.
also: i am posting this now because i will be away for about a week immediately before the competition starts, from the 29th of June until the 7th of July. i am sure that the other panel judges will be able to answer the majority of your questions, though.
Yeah, I reread it all again, and I realized that it stated. I was so tired, 'cause I read it at 5 this morning and wasn't fully paying attention. But thanks.
@Jack and @verse Actually I chatted with Nick over the possibility of badges for the Poetry Tournament and he made me up some :) They're like the Featured Author badges and only available for display off-site, but they do exist. I doubt we could persuade him to initiate on-site badges for this competition or the Tournament, however, because of the seasonal repetition accounting for quite a few badges clogging up profiles after a while.
alright, it's officially one week (give or take a few hours a few hours) until the tournament starts!
unfortunately for you, that also means that i'll be gone for a week. if you have any questions about the tournament, the other panel judges should be able to answer them. in the event that they cannot, then fire me an email via the Contact Author button on my profile. hopefully i'll be able to check in every now and again.
a few small announcements for the competitors, judges, and generally anyone who cares:
tomorrow marks the start of the competition! contestants, you will receive an email containing the first challenge and a step-by-step guide to creating your entry. the challenge will be posted in this thread as well. if you have not yet received an email from myself (i sent one about a week ago) then please contact me immediately via my profile with a message containing the email address you most frequently check.
a discussion thread for chit-chat about the competition has been created, and can be found here.
judges, i will send you an email containing the names of the competitors you will be reviewing in the first round. i will also send the criteria for your reviews, one of which will be new and exclusive to panel reviews.
Challenge One Every setting evokes a certain mood or emotion. For example, compare Middle Earth with the Middle East and the mood associated with each. Pair the setting you wish to create with a distinct mood, and write a scene describing it. This scene need not be limited to descriptive writing; it can feature characters as well. However, make the creation of your setting the focus of this challenge, as you will be working with it for the duration of the competition.
The completed challenge should be between five hundred (500) and one thousand (1000) words, but points will not be subtracted for length except in extreme cases. This challenge was inspired by exercises from days one and three of the 30 Days of Worldbuilding.
Completed challenges are due at midnight sharp (before 23:59:59PST) on Saturday, July 10th.
@JackRubashevskiy It says we'll get penalised for posting late, and can get disqualified for not posting an entry at all. At what point do the judges assume it's not-posted rather than just posted late?
I ask because I know in advance that I'll have difficult on both days this weekend - I'm at a sleepover, and although there's internet access, it'd come across as pretty anti-social. I'm fine receiving penalties, because that's only fair, but I'm worried I might get disqualified because of the lateness.
EDIT: Nevermind, if we have that long to complete challenges, I should be okay. I thought it was a 24-hr deadline.
Nope, we didn't want to give anyone a 24 hour deadline seeing as we all have to squeeze either writing or judging into our normal everyday lives. *grin*
@Sareneth, i'm hoping that there is never a case of someone failing to post a completed challenge at all, so i haven't really made any rules about it. if that sort of situation pops up i'll discuss it with the other panellists. most likely the cut-off for late entries will be once reviews for that challenge are finished and the next challenge has started. again, i don't see this happening, so i'm just speculating what conclusion might be reached. (:
also, regarding deadlines for both challenges and reviews, i have them set up to allow for 84 hours of completion time, with deadlines and start times alternating between noon and midnight so that everybody has a fair share of "awake completion time."
Question (and I hope i don't trod on anyone's toes with this). Are we still required to write all of our challenges on one set location? Or can we change them with each challenge? For example maybe this first challenge I want to do in a fantasy-esque world but the next challenge woudl be suited better for a post-apocalyptic scenario?
yes, you can move about the single world you are creating to different areas. so if Tolkien were part of this competition, he could complete the first challenge in the Shire and the second in Mordor.
no, you cannot switch entire scenarios. that means that Lewis wouldn't be allowed to complete one challenge in Narnia and another on Perelandra. the emphasis of this competition is on world building, and each challenge has been made to build upon the challenges completed before it. that means that it's also easier to stick with one setting in the long run.
Crystal Island, Moscow | image by Foster + Partners, 2007
Welcome to the Summer Prose Competition! This contest will be carried out in the form of a competition, rather than a tournament. The fundamental difference between the two is how the rounds progress: in a competition, every contestant advances to the next round, and no eliminations occur. The first challenge will be posted on July the 7th at noon PST (Pacific/Protagonize Standard Time, -8GMT). Judgements for the final challenge will be due by noon PST on August the 19th, with the competition closing officially on the 20th.
The Challenges
A writing competition requires that each competitor writes a composition, or a series of compositions. This instalment of the Seasonal Prose Competition will require each competitor to complete five writing challenges of varying degrees of complexity. The challenges will build upon each other, and will be judged both individually and as a whole. Each challenge will have a due date, at least three and a half entire days (84 hours) after the challenge is issued. Competitors posting completed challenges after the due date will be penalized.
The "30 Days of World Building" Exercises
These are the development exercises that inspired the five challenges in this competition. Although it is not required to complete these exercises, some of them will be extremely beneficial to your final entries because of the planning and re-planning that they involve. In a perfect world you might want to complete each of the 30 exercises, but this world isn't quite perfect, is it? As such, the relevant exercises for each challenge will be stated according to the day that they are completed on.
The Entries
Each competitor will need to complete an entry for each challenge. Competitors will submit their entries in their own "story" by start a new Writing Exercise under the categories of Descriptive Writing and Writing Prompt, with the title as "SPC - Competitor's Username." Use whatever tags you like for the writing exercise, but be sure to include one that reads SPC2010. Also, please disable ratings for your writing exercise. All reviews will be done via comments, so star ratings are unnecessary and could create bias.
Competitors are welcome to post whatever planning they do for their entries in the writing exercise as long as the completed challenges are appropriately labelled (if you post your completed challenge on the first chapter of the exercise, subtitle it as Challenge One in bold in the main body). Entries that are not completed in this way will not be counted.
Rules for Entries
While the World Building Competition is no longer, the focus of this Summer Prose Competition will be on the creation of setting and descriptive writing. There will be opportunity to expand beyond simple descriptive writing in all of the challenges, which will be explained and elaborated on in the different challenge descriptions as they are released.
Competitors are encouraged to start from a blank slate so that the constraints of any settings created prior to the competition do not inhibit creativity. That said, pre-existing settings are not disallowed. However, competitors are discouraged from using settings that they themselves have not created: in the case of fan fictions, most of the "world building" going on is "world researching."
No entries flagged as Mature will be accepted as a completed challenge.
The Timing of Dates Posted and Dates Due
All times posted here and during the Competition will be in Pacific/Protagonize Standard Time, which is -8GMT. In an attempt at fairness for competitors in all time zones, all posting times will be at noon* PST, and all due times will be at midnight** PST. All challenges will be both posted on Protagonize.com and emailed to each of the competitors via the Contact Author form on their respective profiles.
*challenges may be issued prior to noon, but never later than noon, should the competition organizer (JackRubashevskiy) be away from a computer.
**because the due date is at midnight, competitors should have their entries in by no later than 23:59:59PST, as indicated by the posting time attached to the Protagonize chapter page.
Email from the Organizer
Upon occasion the organizer of the competition may need to email you. He will use whatever email address you used to register your account on Protagonize, so please ensure that it is up to date before the competition starts.
The Judges and Reviews
This installation of the Seasonal Prose Competition will feature a unique scheme of judging. In short, there will be two forms of judges: panel judges and peer judges. For the sake of clarity, their judgements will be called reviews.
Each competitor is a peer judge, and will be placed into a group with two or three fellow competitors. After each challenge, group members will complete peer reviews of the other members' work, based on a sort of grading sheet that will be provided. Comments are not necessary, but are both polite and fair, especially if you expect comments back. Writing comments will also help judges consider their reasons for the scores they submit.
The panel judges will not compete, although some may elect to complete the challenges to scope out their difficulty. Judges on the panel will rotate through the various competing groups, so that every competitor will receive a panel review from every panel judge at least once. The grading sheet that panel judges use will be identical to the one used by peer judges, but the weight of their grades will be relatively heavier.
Just like the challenges, reviews will be timed. Both panel and peer judges will have at least three and a half days (84 hours) to complete their reviews for each assigned entry. Competitors posting late reviews will be penalized. Panellists posting late reviews will be asked nicely to step up their game or find a suitable replacement.
Penalties and Evictions
Competitors can receive penalties in the form of reduced scores in the following instances:
* Posting a completed challenge late
* Posting a peer review late
* Rude conduct towards other competitors or panellists
The competition organizer reserves the right to evict any competitor from the competition at any time if their conduct is unacceptable under the Protagonize Terms of Use, or if they refrain from posting one or more completed challenges.
The Panel of Judges
AnaCristina (Ana) is a teacher by day and a writer by night. She has a penchant for falling in love with fictional characters and adorable kittens of the LOL variety.
Archi_Teuthis (Archi) has been a judge, leader, and champion of the Protagonize Seasonal Poetry Tournaments. She edited her school newspaper and was selected as the English representative for her high school. She calls herself the Chief Squid and enjoys dying her hair pink.
aryst0krat (Chris) is not much of an autobiographer, but he loves reading and is looking forward to seeing what the competitors can do.
Elorithryn (Elo/Elorie) is a 'scientist' by day and a writer by night. She's had real life experience judging science fairs and has decided to try her hand at judging this fair competition. (har har) Full of giggles and grins, you might never guess that she's actually a responsible adult. :}
jdxx (Robyn) is a recently graduated high school student living on a miniscule tropical island, and is still recovering from the hardships of IB. To assist her in this slow recuperation, she relies on the movie rental store, late night peanut butter feasts and the hope for even the smallest bit of inspiration.
JackRubashevskiy (Jack) is the organizer of this competition, as well as the GM of the World Building group. Always aspiring to alliterate, he has made his mark on Protagonize under many names: the Alliterator, he who wears the biggest hat, and Sir Jack Trollbane to name a few.
Lyre is a self-professed literature snob with a serious grammar and spelling obsession. She doesn't consider herself a writer, and so wants to earn her keep as a researcher in the field of genetic disease.
Tasha_Noble doesn't need much of an introduction. Despite having been a nurse and now a so-close-to-being-published writer, she doesn't believe she has found a real job yet (whatever that means).
The Grading Sheet
Each judge, panel and peer, will review the completed challenges based on the following criteria. No half points are to be awarded in any case, no matter how hard you plead with the organizer. It is recommended that after the sheet has been filled out you reread the entry, reflect on the score you gave (writing comments will be very helpful for you here), and reconsider the score you wish to submit.
Mood & Imagery - ( /15) Can you identify the sense of place that the writer is trying to convey? Is there a variety of words and phrases used to convey this mood, or is s/he falling back on a single descriptor?
Because it is being hosted by the World Building Group, this instalment of the Seasonal Prose Competition places particular emphasis on descriptive writing. An author who scores high points in the Mood & Imagery criteria uses clear descriptions and an array of words. If you find yourself feeling the emotion or mood that the author is trying to convey, then they have done a very good job with both their descriptive writing and their planning beforehand.
Look for stand-out words and phrases that convey a clear mood, descriptive passages that paint a clear picture of the setting, and cohesion between the mood and setting. Also keep an eye out for the opposites: words and phrases that are ambiguous or contrary to the mood, descriptions that leave you confused, and disharmony between the mood and setting. Of course, the author might use a contrary mood to make something stand out, and those instances should be judged according to their effectiveness.
Believability & Consistency- ( /5) Can you tell that the writer spent time thinking about and planning the setting he or she is creating? Does the world make sense, even in a twisted way? Is the writer consistent in his/her details, and is there a clear sense of place shared among his/her entries?
This competition requires the competitors to complete challenges that build upon each other, so a consistent setting is necessary. This setting should also make sense to the reader, with explanations worked into the writing if need be.
Pay attention to things that seem integral to the world, and keep looking for them in each following entry. Take a step back from the writing and exercise some critical thought, especially with things magical, supernatural, or technological. Does their inclusion make sense? Are they integrated into the world logically, or do they seem somewhat out of place? And if they are out of place, was that the intent of the author?
Engagement - ( /5) Is the excerpt easy to read, or did it drag at points? Was it interesting to read and have enough variety to maintain your interest? Did you feel like you were being lectured to, or was this genuine storytelling?
It can become very tiresome to read paragraph after paragraph of descriptive prose, and can take away from the progression of the story being told. Although these challenges are bent toward descriptive writing, it is very important to keep the audience engaged. If you find yourself glued to an entry and immersed in the storytelling, consider giving the author a high score for this criteria.
Things to look for are variation in sentence structure and a balance between descriptions and actions. Take note of the way that the entry flows in relation to the mood: is it smooth, jerky, erratic, logical? Also take into account the words that the author used; having to stop every few seconds to look up a word takes away from the reading experience, and can make the reader feel belittled.
Spelling, Punctuation, & Grammar (SPG) - ( /5) Has the author put in the effort in ensure that his or her writing follows typical grammar conventions and standard spellings, whether Canadian, American, British, or otherwise?
This criteria looks at the polish that the author puts on his or her work. Improper SPG detracts from the other elements of the writing, such as the Mood & Setting and Engagement. Take into consideration the severity of any abuses of SPG: some typos will be recognized by spell-check programs as other words, and so might be passed over by the author. That said, an entry with any abuse of SPG, no matter how small, cannot score a perfect mark in the SPG category.
Scoring
The above review criteria each have an associated number of possible points, adding to a total of thirty for each review completed. Peer reviews will be averaged out for a single peer review score, which will be then combined with the reviews completed by panel judges. Because of this, the reviews of panel judges will be weighed more than those by the peer judges, to help foster fairness across the entire competition.
At the end of the competition, the competitor with the highest score will be declared the winner of the Summer Prose Tournament 2010. In the event of a tie, the judges will decide which competitor deserves the title based on performance over all five challenges.
The Reward
The only prize in this competition is the title of Summer Prose Competition 2010 champion, and the bragging rights that go with it. The only entry fee is a willingness to lose a bit of pride. Therefore, the winner will take all the lost pride of the losers for him or herself. Profile badges will not be awarded at the end of this competition, just as they are not awarded for the Seasonal Poetry Tournament. If you feel this is unfair, please speak with Nick and politely ask him to halt any current site developments in order to design a spiffy decal for you.
please take the time to read through the entirety of the above post before starting the competition or asking me questions regarding the competition. if any questions do arise, feel free to ask them here, on my profile, or via the Contact Author function on my profile.
also: i am posting this now because i will be away for about a week immediately before the competition starts, from the 29th of June until the 7th of July. i am sure that the other panel judges will be able to answer the majority of your questions, though.
cheers,
jack.
Also a reminder to everyone: Don't forget to follow this topic!
PS- My older brother is a graphic designer, and I could ask him to design some badges if you'd like :)
-Will
:} Eloirthyrn
@Seattle, challenges will posted at noon PST on July 7th, as it says in the very first section.
unfortunately for you, that also means that i'll be gone for a week. if you have any questions about the tournament, the other panel judges should be able to answer them. in the event that they cannot, then fire me an email via the Contact Author button on my profile. hopefully i'll be able to check in every now and again.
cheers!
jack.
:} Elorithryn
tomorrow marks the start of the competition! contestants, you will receive an email containing the first challenge and a step-by-step guide to creating your entry. the challenge will be posted in this thread as well. if you have not yet received an email from myself (i sent one about a week ago) then please contact me immediately via my profile with a message containing the email address you most frequently check.
a discussion thread for chit-chat about the competition has been created, and can be found here.
judges, i will send you an email containing the names of the competitors you will be reviewing in the first round. i will also send the criteria for your reviews, one of which will be new and exclusive to panel reviews.
g'luck everyone!
Every setting evokes a certain mood or emotion. For example, compare Middle Earth with the Middle East and the mood associated with each. Pair the setting you wish to create with a distinct mood, and write a scene describing it. This scene need not be limited to descriptive writing; it can feature characters as well. However, make the creation of your setting the focus of this challenge, as you will be working with it for the duration of the competition.
The completed challenge should be between five hundred (500) and one thousand (1000) words, but points will not be subtracted for length except in extreme cases. This challenge was inspired by exercises from days one and three of the 30 Days of Worldbuilding.
Completed challenges are due at midnight sharp (before 23:59:59PST) on Saturday, July 10th.
I ask because I know in advance that I'll have difficult on both days this weekend - I'm at a sleepover, and although there's internet access, it'd come across as pretty anti-social. I'm fine receiving penalties, because that's only fair, but I'm worried I might get disqualified because of the lateness.
EDIT: Nevermind, if we have that long to complete challenges, I should be okay. I thought it was a 24-hr deadline.
:} Elorithryn
also, regarding deadlines for both challenges and reviews, i have them set up to allow for 84 hours of completion time, with deadlines and start times alternating between noon and midnight so that everybody has a fair share of "awake completion time."
yes, you can move about the single world you are creating to different areas. so if Tolkien were part of this competition, he could complete the first challenge in the Shire and the second in Mordor.
no, you cannot switch entire scenarios. that means that Lewis wouldn't be allowed to complete one challenge in Narnia and another on Perelandra. the emphasis of this competition is on world building, and each challenge has been made to build upon the challenges completed before it. that means that it's also easier to stick with one setting in the long run.