TVTropes Writing Contests - Discussion Thread

IMHO, I think they ought to be contacted. If they drop out, then two might be enough. Maybe postpone another week if they don't drop out, then give 'em the boot if they don't post their scoring by then.

Well, personally I'm conflicted about it since they did actually write that they are busy, for what it's worth, and there already is an agreement that they can judge when they have the time, so giving them the boot now, with or without actually talking about it with them, seems like a bit of a ... genital move.

On one hand, I can see how wrapping up the contest is a desirable thing, and on the other hand I'd rather not kick anyone out or force them to quit just like that when the whole thing has been one schedule slip after another anyway.

As such, I am kind of for letting them do it if they still want to do it, even if it takes time.

I agree with Kazeto. As long as JHM still wants to do the evaluation, we might as well wait a bit more.

Kazeto has a good point, but at the same time this has gone on a really long time. I'm inclined to go with Water Blap's suggestion, but wait 2 weeks instead of 1.

And yeah, let's just release the entries.

edited 6th Nov '17 9:50:00 PM by AwSamWeston

Sent the PM to JHM. Now we wait.

Also, the last activity on the fora of bravo104 and SUNGOD was in mid-September, and they are the only ones who haven't told what their stance on publishing the entries is. Do you think we should call this one already? We could wait for what JHM would say, the point could be moot that way.

edited 6th Nov '17 5:35:12 AM by Millership

bravo104 is still active on the wiki (link to edit history), don't forget. SUNGOD's edit history is blank, so I have no idea about them.

Gonna vote yes on releasing the entries early; I can't see the harm in it. As for JHM, I think we should just see if he gets back to us within the next few days.

I really don't have strong feelings about releasing the entries early, given that they will, of course, remain anonymous, although I have some reservations.

I will definitely still be participating in the contest. I feel bad about delaying things for so long, especially given that I feel like there were times much earlier in the process where I could have taken the opportunity to read and judge the stories but refrained due to being in a bad headspace, after which point things got far more externally hectic.

Not to bury the lede, but my family has to move soon and we've been dealing with some ongoing financial and medical stuff which has kind of put me in a weird place; additionally, I have something of a job writing anime reviews for an old and established web publication which, while far from a massive workload, adds an extra layer to the "things that need doing." I also have social obligations, moderation positions elsewhere, and sometimes just need to chill.

None of this is meant to give you the impression that I am to be pitied, or that laziness was not a factor here—procrastination is in my blood, much as I am loathe to admit it—but it does sometimes feel a bit Sisyphean.

And that means that even if the entries do get released, personally I will wait with reading them until you do. Because I'm weird like that.

PS. No pressure or anything.

Glad you're still in.

Well, I think that's enough consensus for the publishing thing, and SUNGOD's not been active on the fora and the wiki for quite a long time. Imma go and post them.

P.S. And done.

edited 10th Nov '17 9:29:47 AM by Millership

Make a new one! We're almost at the end of the year, we should have monthly contests!

Yeah, right, except for the part where each part took more than a month. If you went with a monthly contest your judge volunteers would probably reach for pitchforks and torches come this spring.

For now a yearly contest is doable. We can start planning the next one maybe a month after this one ends (to give everyone time to develop their own suggestions).

But that's the point. I mean, if the whole point of the contest is just getting the feedback, maybe smaller texts and less time would be fine. We probably could have a list of themes of the whole year. So people that need more time to write could have it.

Anyway, I don't know, but i think we could have smaller texts that are easier to judge and read monthly. But just my opinion. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Maybe we could have those smaller, that anyone could read and judge, and bigger ones that take more time and are for bigger works.

I don't know. Just a tought.

In the end, it all comes down to whether we have enough people willing to participate, format is secondary to that. Eight is clearly not enough. Do you, Rod Warrior, personally, want to participate, have enough free time and willing to commit to the contest? If you do, then it's a start, at least. If not, then there's no point in discussing this at this stage, when we haven't even finished the current contest. If getting critique on your writing is your only goal, you can do that at many places besides this contest.

edited 6th Dec '17 6:06:12 AM by Millership

Actually, I think I would rather be a judge than a contestant, given that my english is not very good.

That said, I would love to give feedback and receive feedback, and probably would write something if they were smaller texts that could be easily read and written.

Anyway, count me in if you need help!

edited 7th Dec '17 4:49:29 AM by RodWarrior

Having been a judge for the most recent contest, there's absolutely zero need to make the texts smaller. Even the longer ones were extremely manageable and each entry could be read in 15 minutes — 30 tops. And having the minimum word-count that we did actually challenged contestants to put some work into their writing!

No, what we need is more contestants, more advance-notice for the contestants, and a lot more publicity across the site.

But more importantly, what we need is judges who will commit to reading submissions early. I'll admit I was part of the problem — I submitted my critiques a week before the judging deadline — but that said, I was also the first one to submit critiques. That's not to gloat, more to illustrate just how badly we need good judges. If a recovering procrastinator can get his butt in gear and still be the first to submit, that's saying something.

I say we start exploring contest themes for a February launch, with judging complete by the end of April. I'll be happy to judge again — it was fun to read new stuff!

This is pretty much my view as well. The problem isn't that we had short deadlines or large word-count requirements, It's that, inevitably, some people will always bail due to real life stuff and when the number of participants is so low that's a problem.

A February launch for the hypothetical next contest sounds good, there should be ample time to organize that.

I do not really have anything to add to that so I'll just write that I agree.

I'd like to propose a theme for the next contest: "You find a Glowing Green Rock on the side of the road. What do you do?"

edited 19th Dec '17 7:36:41 PM by AwSamWeston

Sounds like something that may end up giving hilarious results. I'm sold on the idea.

Alright, it's been a while since this contest's seen any life, we still going?

As far as I know, we're still waiting on one more judge before we can officially close the Tenth TV Tropes Writing Contest. We still haven't had an actual vote on whether we want to wait for that last judge or not, but discussion has leaned more toward "wait."

That was about a month ago. Not sure how people feel now.

Well, the tentative score has already been posted so I'm guessing people don't feel much of a need to close it for the sake of closing it.

If there is another contest in the work and it has to be closed then that will be that, but at least for now there isn't really a need to do so so right now I guess we wait.

I think it's time to start building up another contest. I'm happy to judge, but this means someone else will have to be the anonymizer.

Who else is interested? I'll compile a list and get a new forum thread going.