[X] My Assistant

[tisoz]

Well!!! ARE YOU!!!

Like the description says, is there interest in me putting together another fiction contest? I'll run it like the last one, which I felt had some great entries. You newbies could hit the link in my sig, but I know how fraggin' lazy some people are so here's a quick run down.

I'll wait until I get 10 entries. Why 10 you may ask? Well you may. Because then I can put the titles in a poll format and let you Dumpshockers, many who I don't even know have a chance to vote for the winner and the articulate among you plead your case for your favorite(s) and try to influence my decision. Why 10? Because when I didn't put a limit on number I once got a single entry that I had issues with. I think with 10, at least one entry will be what I am looking for. Why 10? Why not? If this happens, I keep the forums updated on receiving submissions, so authors know how little time may be left.

Right up front - the PRIZE will probably be a FIRST or SECOND EDITION BOOK. The bad news, it may take a few weeks for me to get it as I am traveling the US. The good news, I may be able to deliver it in person as I am traveling the US. If I can't or you don't want to have me deliver it in person, the winner is responsible for shipping cost. I feel this is fair and opens the contest world wide. I had one winner feel I should pay the shipping because the amount was insignificant to him. Complain to me about an amount you feel is insignificant? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I will post the stories without the authors name until the contest has ended and a winner declared, to try to keep the voting on the merits of the work not your feelings toward an author.

All submissions should be unpublished, including posted on websites. I used to search for shadowrun fiction a lot more than I have lately, but I have thrown out at least one submission because I saw it posted elsewhere. I also invite everyone to rat you out, so hopefully you have to sneak it past the entire community. If no one has read it, was it really posted to the web? I don't ask for rights to your stories and neither does it become the property of Dumpshock. (That was clarified a while back by Adam Jury.)

Is there interest? OK. Is there interest from authors?

Do we want to specify a topic?

Suggestions?

[The Dragon Girl]

..Well I know I'm interested do you have a min/max word count?

[kanislatrans]

I had a great time the last time so count me in... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wobble.gif)

[tisoz]

..Well I know I'm interested do you have a min/max word count?

I think I go with... long enough to tell the story, short enough to keep us interested. But no min/max word count. Check previous stories and you can get a feel for length. A few seemed painfully long, and some seemed unfinished.

Really though, I'd rather see if there is much interest first before getting into details. If you must have details, go through the link in my sig and see how I did it in the past. It will probably be similar this time.

[Draco18s]

So here I was sitting here (crouching actually, I just spayed my chair with febreeze) going, "A story? A shadowrun story? What would I write?" And then realized that I don't have to write anything. I've already got the campaign log (in Film Noir format) from...I think it was the only 3e game I played. I wouldn't expect anyone to read the whole thing--it's 102 pages long in 12 point single spaced Times New Roman--though I hear it's quite good (I unfortunately never found the time to read most of it). I would also happily forward the prize--if won--to the actual author, though I'd have to get his address, he moved to Tennessee.

[oboreruhito]

the PRIZE will probably be a FIRST or SECOND EDITION BOOK.

I'm in on this alone, just for the off chance it's Shadowbeat. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

If it won't be Shadowbeat just don't say so kthx

[crash2029]

Y'know I picked up Shadowbeat at a used bookstore last week for 5$.

Slightly more on topic: I would be interested in trying my hand at a writing contest.

I second the motion.

[OneTrikPony]

i'm in. I'm not a fast writer tho so how long does it usually take to get 10 subs?

[Zen Shooter01]

I'm ready. I recommend against a theme or topic, because reading ten stories about the same thing will be boring.

[tisoz]

I'm in on this alone, just for the off chance it's Shadowbeat. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

If it won't be Shadowbeat just don't say so kthx

I usually let the winner suggest titles, and Shadowbeat is a title I have Multiple copies of so I could fill that request.

i'm in. I'm not a fast writer tho so how long does it usually take to get 10 subs?

Seems like 3 months. I usually get 2 or 3 right away, probably already written, but not yet shared. Then a few trickle in over the next couple months until there is only a few slots left, then they get filled within a few weeks. But since it has been a while, and authors may have anticipated another contest - you never know.

[oboreruhito]

Y'know I picked up Shadowbeat at a used bookstore last week for 5$.

The last time I saw Shadowbeat in a bookstore was a week after it came out, and I was short on cash. It disappeared a week later, and I've only ever seen it on eBay and Amazon since.

I know it's worthless and overrated, and if I was super serious hardcore I'd've spent the all of $7 on Amazon for a used copy, but it's the one that got away, man. Nostalgia! Winning it would be karmic justice.

Worthless, overrated karmic justice, but still.

[Zen Shooter01]

Tisoz:

You started this thread asking, "Is there interest?" You haven't said yet if there is or is not a contest being conducted right now. Is there?

[crash2029]

The last time I saw Shadowbeat in a bookstore was a week after it came out, and I was short on cash. It disappeared a week later, and I've only ever seen it on eBay and Amazon since.

I know it's worthless and overrated, and if I was super serious hardcore I'd've spent the all of $7 on Amazon for a used copy, but it's the one that got away, man. Nostalgia! Winning it would be karmic justice.

Worthless, overrated karmic justice, but still.

Oh, I grok ya. I have one of those. One of these days I am going to have a coffee at starbucks in seattle. Every time I've been in seattle I never quite got around to it. One of these days man...

[Chrysalis]

Hi,

I would love to join. Get me something to do during the hot nights here in Libya. However, saying "Shadowrun fiction! Go!!!" for me is unstimulating. I would like a word count - and a topic. It does not need to be a really restrictive topic, but it needs to be something gripping.

Best/Worst Day in Seattle.

Toy Soldiers

Why you should not drink the water.

Machines are water to the oil of mages.

The chip-Chop Note

etc.

[Draco18s]

Oh, I grok ya. I have one of those. One of these days I am going to have a coffee at starbucks in seattle. Every time I've been in seattle I never quite got around to it. One of these days man...

If you do, you have to find the Starbucks just south of Pioneer Square (Renraku Archology, IIRC) and visit the one with the original more mature logo out front.

Also nearby (besides a tour of the Orc Underground--er I mean, the Seattle Underground) is The Mystery Bookshop.

[tisoz]

Hi,

I would love to join. Get me something to do during the hot nights here in Libya. However, saying "Shadowrun fiction! Go!!!" for me is unstimulating. I would like a word count - and a topic. It does not need to be a really restrictive topic, but it needs to be something gripping.

Best/Worst Day in Seattle.

Toy Soldiers

Why you should not drink the water.

Machines are water to the oil of mages.

The chip-Chop Note

etc.

The contests with assigned topics got the fewest entries and the most abuse. Like "Where were you on the Night of Rage?", got a story about drinking in a bar and minute, tangental, sporadic accounts heard from a trid broadcast about riots. Not the Fiction I hoped for where the writer puts his characters in the thick of things on the docks of Seattle. In fact I'd have to check to see if ANY story was set on the Seattle docks or the buses carrying the metahumans down to the warehouses. I've had a few PCs that lived through the Night of Rage and tell about it in their backstory, one even takes responsibility for perhaps starting the riot. I was hoping for something along those lines, so felt kind of taken advantage of.

If you want a topic, I can assign you one I'd like to read about, but not everyone is going to desire to write about it. One of the first rules of writing is writing about what you know. Not everyone knows all the little things about Shadowrun. I'd like to see a story from the POV of a serious Rigger. I'd like to see some about astral quests, but I am sure someone would take the opportunity to take a story set anywhere and say it was on a metaplane with a paragraph getting there and another at the end getting them back. I'd like to see stories set in the history of Shadowrun, from a few years in the future after the awakening - really more in the time when shadowrunners arise - about historical events - I have a story in mind about a character I have written about that was on Flight 329 (I think that was it) that gets attacked by a gragon and goes down. Since it is a part of the official history, I'll probably have a third person telling it like an urban myth or ghost story around a campfire, thus just that persons assertion of what happened.

I hope you see the problem with assigning topics. If you NEED topic suggestions, just ask.

Word Count. I've read some stories that were very short and very well done. Others should have been shorter, as in left blank. Some 1000 page novels are hard to put down as they keep your interest heightened and you can't help but keep turning pages. I'm afraid if I assign a word count, I'll get padded stories, or some great stories won't be submitted because they can't and shouldn't be edited down to save space.

That's why I suggest it be long enough to tell the story. This kind of discourages just the cool scene submission, which is sometimes the majority of what I got. I also suggest it be short enough to hold our interest. If someone submits a novel length story that people just can't stop reading (or can't wait to get back to if they MUST take a break), then I think everyone will appreciate the submission - even if it takes them a week to get through it. Hopefully there's more to like and earns you kudos when voting time comes, but there's also more chances to have weak spots that people will criticize and a shorter submission may not have any weak spots.

I would take a look at the old contests and see what seems to work in this format. There are polls attached for people to vote their favorites and people did comment on the stories. What worked then is probably what will work now.

[Draco18s]

I'll happily send you the film noir logs written by one of the players. Just tell me where. I hope you enjoy them (and Jim keeps telling me I need to read them--I just don't have the time).

[Chrysalis]

I would like to give me a few topics. I will personally see about word count, but it will not be anymore than 3000 words (if I can't say it in six pages, I doubt I can say it in 60).

[tisoz]

I'll happily send you the film noir logs written by one of the players. Just tell me where. I hope you enjoy them (and Jim keeps telling me I need to read them--I just don't have the time).

I'd say something along that line should be posted to the vignettes thread or in the Welcome to the Shadows section. I'd like stories with story structure.

I would like to give me a few topics. I will personally see about word count, but it will not be anymore than 3000 words (if I can't say it in six pages, I doubt I can say it in 60).

I'll think about this today and give you some topics tonight.

[crash2029]

If you do, you have to find the Starbucks just south of Pioneer Square (Renraku Archology, IIRC) and visit the one with the original more mature logo out front.

Also nearby (besides a tour of the Orc Underground--er I mean, the Seattle Underground) is The Mystery Bookshop.

Cool. Now I have a bunch more stuff to do in seattle. Too bad it's three hours away and I don't drive. Ah, well. C'est la vie, at least for me.

[TeOdio]

I've been sitting on an interesting one I've been doing to get back into writing shape. It'll give me incentive to finish it. Let me know when you want it by and you can count me in.

[tisoz]

I would like to give me a few topics. I will personally see about word count, but it will not be anymore than 3000 words (if I can't say it in six pages, I doubt I can say it in 60).

Halloween
Finding an abandoned baby
Enchanting an item
doing laundry where it would earn karma
retrieving incriminating information from a vehicle in the Lone Star impound yard
Having a run go bad, getting shot up (figure about 3/4 dmg filled), on foot, and left alone with opposition looking for you, and the tendency for aninmals to attack the weak and injured.

[ludomastro]

I'll probably throw my hat in the ring as well. RL is kicking my butt right now so we'll see.

[Kerenshara]

I just realized that the arc involving Kerenshara, just in terms of posted bits in the Vignette Thread is well over 13,000 words. That's over a quarter of the way to being a legitimate entry level novel.

[Zen Shooter01]

Tisoz:

The suggestions in your last post are optional, right?