Writers Race--- It Is Done!!!! * 1st--duskwings, * 2-DarthIshtar & Drabbo_Fett, 3-Indra

Welcome to the first Star Wars Fan Fiction Writers Race! Unlike other challenges this one will test not only your skill in various types of writing but your ability to write under a time constraint. In addition, this race is guaranteed to present you with challenges never seen on these boards before, including ones that will have you working to complete other?s thoughts and ones in which you will attempt to cause the judges emotional upheavals.

There will be ten timed challenges of varying difficulty, length, and fun. Points will be awarded after each challenge and the participant with the most points at the end of the tenth challenge will be the Writers Race Winner.

There is no sign up; you may join the game whenever you want simply by submitting a challenge entry, but the earlier you begin to participate the better your chances. The Winner will receive accolades from all the other participants (see Rule #6) and will be known as the first Writers Race Winner for as long as this game shall continue.

Some of the challenges will be announced in advance; whereas some of the challenges will begin with little advanced warning (this thread?s title as well as this first post will keep you informed of important times and dates).

Make sure to read all of the following rules and get ready to have FUN...


Rules and Guidelines

1. As this race takes place on these boards, you must adhere to regular board rules (rating, restrictions, etc.).


2. Unless otherwise mentioned, stories may be from any era and may be cannon or alternate universe.


3. Unless otherwise mentioned, submissions must be PMed.


4. Since judges will be given the stories without authors? names you may not post a submission anywhere else on these boards until after the winners for that specific challenge have been announced.


5. In accordance with Rule 4, submissions must be written for the challenges; they cannot be taken from an already-posted story.


6. Everyone involved must post in at least one of his/her personal stories (if he/she has one) a congratulations message to the winner at the conclusion of the Race. If you are not willing to do this, then do not participate in the game.


7. Throughout the game unannounced Signature Checks will be made and all participants with a link to this game in their signature will receive an extra game point.


8. You must have Fun. If you are not having fun, you must bang your head against your computer until you feel happy. If you do indeed pass out prior to feeling happy, upon regaining consciousness remind yourself that this game is more fun that banging your head against the computer.


9. Once a story is submitted/posted it may not be edited. If there is an edit in your post, it will be disqualified.


10. You may only have one entry per challenge unless otherwise noted.


11. You must turn away from All dark-side tendencies such as complaints, meanness, criticisms, etc. There is good in you and for this game we only want to see that side of you. If you have a problem or suggestion for improvement, PM me. Do NOT discuss problems, complaints, etc. in this thread. Only fun and happy thoughts are allowed here.


12. All times are based on Board Time.


13. If you miss a contest/challenge and would like to earn some points?known as Judge Points-- by helping to judge, please post ?I AM WILLING TO JUDGE? in
    this thread as soon as you can after the challenge is begun. Judges will be chosen based on earliest posts with priority given to new judges.

Advantages of Playing

1. You will have fun (See Rule 8)


2. You will meet other writers and occasionally get to work with them


3. You will be able to tell all your friends that you participated in the first ever Writers Race


4. You will have your name all over the boards if you win.

Disadvantages of

 

Kettch, your name on a thread always brings good things. Congratulations on coming up with something so incredibly different and interesting. I can't wait to see what comes out of this.

One question: how long do you antipate this running?

Shaindl

 

Awesome idea.

 

This looks like it'll be totally awesome!

 

Hmm, looks like much fun! I'll have to wait and see what it is, though.

 

Looks like fun! *refuses to bang her head on her computer because she will have fun.*

 

This looks like fun! Great idea.

 

Shaindl
Thanks. I appreciate you saying that. I do hope it turns out well. Actually, there are two special challenges that I especially think will be a Lot of fun and very amusing.

Everyone
As for how long it will take, I am aiming for a total of 2-3 weeks. That would average to a challenge every other day. But the ultimate length will depend on the judging. I want each challenge judged prior to announcing the next one so it will depend on how many volunteers I get to help with judging.

I know that may sound like a lot of writing but a lot of the challenges are short (one will be limited to three words, kind of).

I am glad that ya'll are interested in it. I really do think it will be a lot of fun.

 

This is the coolest idea I've ever seen. I have no idea how you came up with this, but I love you for it.

 

This sounds great. I'm looking forward to seeing hte results. Who knows, I may even get brave and try to compete. I know, It's a crazy thought...

 

I am sooooo in. This sounds like loads of fun. I will have to make sure I don't catch any more nasty virii from the other members of the household though.

KD

 

How long on average will there be per challange?

 

This sounds like fun! Hope I'll have the time to join in

Query: How is the judging to be done? I know you mentioned that entries would be sent to the judges blindly, but how many entries per judge and how would scoring or ranking or anything be done? Just asking because I remember the Valentine's Day contest from last year. There were hundreds of entries and judging took weeks. If each judge has to wade through even a fraction of entries: i.e. 30-40, it would take a considerable amount of time, and then heaven forbid there was a tie or something. Just asking because I think anyone who volunteers for judging might want to know what they're in for

 

I am glad ya'll are excited about this.


As for the duration of the challenges it will again vary from challenge to challenge. The first one will be twenty-four hours since it is the first. Approximately half of the challenges are what I call long challenges (1-2 pages) and half are short (half a page or less). The longer challenges will be given more time (approximately 4-24 hours) and the shorter ones can be as little as twenty minutes.

As for the judging...it will somewhat depend on the amount of judges. This will be easier to judge than most challenges because (at least for this first game) the challenges are no more than two pages, with some of them being around 100 words.

Also, not all the challenges need to be judged. It's kind of hard to explain without giving away the challenges but in some the winners will be self-evident.

The judging itelf will also be somewhat simplified in that each challenge will focus on a specific goal. For example, one challenge might be to cause the reader/judge to cry. The judge would then read the alloted entries and simply pick out which stories came close to making him/her cry. Items like grammar, characterization, etc. would not be considered in the judging. Of course those things add to the total story impact but the main point of the judging is to pick the story that comes closest to the purpose of the challenge. Each challenge will state exactly what aspect the stories will be judged on in order to determine the winners.

As for the commitment of the judges I estimate that they would spend an hour or less judging. As I mentioned, many of the challenges will be short so a good number can be read in an hour.


.

 

Twenty minutes? Will it be announced in advance when those will be? Or will I have to call in sick and give up food and sleep for two weeks to win this? Not that I won't, mind you.

 

I think I don't quite get it. When a challenge is only twenty minutes, does that mean that everyone has to write something in twenty minutes or that you post what the challenge is and then everyone has to submit within twenty minutes? Maybe I'm being stupid here, but that would mean that people from across the big pond probably couldn't take part, because when it's evening on the boards, it's early morning here and I guess most people would have to work. Am I missing something here?

 

I really can't say much more about the twenty minute challenges without giving too much away. The only thing I will say is that I think they may end up being the most fun.

As for announcing the challenges, the ten major challenges will be listed in advance. The only spontaneous ones will be small ones like the Sig check (that are worth a point or two at most).

The times of the challenges will vary (some at nighttime, some at the morning, some in the middle) since people are on the boards at varying parts of the day.

I know things can't be perfectly fair for everyone involved but the game is set up so that you don't have to (and I'm not expecting you to) take part in every challenge.

If you'll notice the first challenge is given 24 hours and it should be able to be written in a few minutes.

You could say it would be better to make all the challenges 24 hours to give everyone equal opportunity but then I could not give half the challenges I am planning. For long challenges it's better to go to another thread (there seem to be quite a few popping up lately and some of them seem to be quite interesting).

This game is for something different. A chance to have fun with some regular and then some extremely unusual challenges. It's not your typical challenge thread.

And, I want to emphasize that it is not necessary to participate in all the challenges. There are ten total (excluding little things like the Sig check) and for many of them 1st place will be 6 points, 2nd will be 5 points and 3rd will be 4 points. So a person who wins 1st in the first challenge and does not participate in the second will be only slightly behind a person who wins third place twice.

Everything is set up--with one exception--and ready to go. It may not be perfect but the goal is to have fun and whatever kinks we come across we can change for the next time (if there is one).

On that note, why don't I go ahead and see what times would be best for you. Be aware that not everyone can be pleased but if you are going to participate, then please post (in board time)when you

1. Can be on the boards,
2. Cannot be on the boards, and
3. Prefer to be on the boards.

PS--Healer, thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately the reason I can't do that is because the 20 minute challenges require you to work with others. I know it sounds confusing but I really don't want to give away what it is until right before the challenge.

Indra, don't feel bothered. I haven't given you enough information to understand the 20 minute challenges yet. As soon as I tell you what the challenge is you'll probably think, "so that's what she's doing! Where in the world did she come up with that idea???" Hopefully you'll also think, "That was great," afterwards but we will see. As for those across the pond... There are two 20 minute challenges and I was aiming to put one at optimal time for the US and one at optimal time for them down under.


Drabbo--Don't give up food and sleep. Especially not any chocolate food.


.

 

I'm not sure if I'll join, but I can say that I'm on these boards at noon EST. Question about the rules: Can we upload our stories to nonTFN sites such as ff.net and our personal sites or email them to friends before the challenges are over?

 

1. Can be on the boards ~ 1pm - 9pm board time (sometimes sooner, sometimes later... depends on the day)
2. Cannot be on the boards ~ 9pm - 11am
3. Prefer to be on the boards ~ 5pm - 9pm

 

Sounds very intriguing. Since I can't write anything in under a week, I'll watch this avidly from the sidelines. Good luck to all!

 

The more you explain, the more confused I get. But it still sounds like fun.

Can be on the boards: If I go for obsessive, 6am-2am. But not all the time or every day.

Cannot be on the boards: If I'm still being obsessive, 2am-6am. But I may have to be off earlier or stay off later most days.

Prefer to be on the boards: Most days in the last month I have been able to be on from about 1pm to 5pm and then again about 9pm to 11pm give or take an hour.

I'm willing to give Drabbo a run for his money on this one. At least as far as attendance goes.

KD