I would rather the author just send it to you directly (even before submitting it to me), then when they get the finished story back from you, they can submit it to me. This keeps the version number down on my end and helps quite a bit in keeping things tidy and organized.

If anyone did ask for an edit in a note in the submission, unless you specifically asked for me to forward it to JBlades, I did the edit myself. If I did the edit, I sent you my suggestions for your consideration. If you want them, or JBlades changes, included in your story, you need to resubmit your story to me (with a version number.) Example: 3 Blind Adepts - Fiction Entry 1.1, or if there is not room, Example: A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Meet 1.1 . Enough of the title to distinguish it and the version number or fiction entry is important.

Another thing that is occurring lately is sending me the entry in quotes. This is not necessary. Using the quote feature without sending the story is a way for you to see the formatting I am going to be seeing/using when I post your entry. Do not worry if you submitted the story this way - I can pretty easily omit outer quote blocks, but if I do not have to... well then that is simpler.


Attention Slackers, 7 stories are in. The available slots are filling.

Cool. I actually have a headcold at the moment, so that weekend has been unintentionally extended. As such, I am home and bored, so more editing is more than welcome!

Thanks Alex, glad I could help.

Bumping this up just to keep it towards the front.

I am tempted to write a story, and it seems to be there is still time to crank one out. I seem to have gotten into the game very late though. I think since I have absolutely NOTHING to do next week, I may be able to write it then. These all get posted on dumpshock, you say?

My only question: If I was going to type this in a program with 1 inch margins and 12 point long, what is a good suggested length? Just something to shoot for in general (like a page count)? I always wanted to try my hand at writing Shadowrun fiction. Hopefully I don't completely suck at it.

So, count me in. You should expect my entry within the next 2 weeks (I have midterms at college this week). I have always wanted to write some Shadowrun fiction but haven't before because I wasn't motivated to do so. But now... I feel the urge.

EDIT: My story will be set in SR3, since I know that rulesystem the best. I have already begun writing it.

Also, where do all these stories get posted? Just on dumpshock somewhere? And should I rename my characters to make them as anonymous as possible? A lot of people know some of the character names I would be using, otherwise, and that's probably a bad thing.

the rules system you use is irrelevant. you're writing a story, not running a game. now, admittedly, it's handy to know where you are in the SR timeline, but that's not a rules issue.

as for where to send the story, tisoz has mentioned several times. mail it to him with "fiction contest" or whatever in the title. it's in the first post, just go to page 1 and read it.

I read it and I know where to submit it. I am asking about how these stories get posted once all the submissions are in. And I only mention SR3 because that just means I'll be further back in the time-line and some characters may have SR3 relevant items that are not in SR4 (you know... like cyberdecks).

EDIT: I will definitely need somebody to help me in the "edit" department. I can tell I am wandering between past and present tense and suck at catching my own mistakes.

The entries get posted here on Dumpshock in a thread with a poll. The items in the poll are the titles of the stories. Each of the stories is then posted for reading. They're voted on, in the poll, by the readers here on DS. They are put up anonymously so that people can vote without prejudice, so if people here know the names of all your characters, changing them would probably be a good idea.

As for editing, shoot it to me in a PM here on the boards when you're done and I'll be happy to go over it for you and pass it back to you so you can turn it in to tisoz.

Awesome, many thanks for the explanation. And I will probably do just that (I'll probably get it to you next week sometime, depending on if I get writer's block or not), unless I can con one of my buddies here at school to review it for me.

I am glad someone answers these questions so well as I sometimes wonder if people understand me.

What?

It's not your fault, I just didn't put enough build points in INT.

Update.

I got another story in, calling it a cliffhanger because it is not quite complete, but did not want to miss any deadline. I also had an author say something about withdrawing his story until he can make some changes to it after a, perhaps, too harsh critique from myself. So there is somewhere between 6 and 8 stories submitted.

Eek! I have about six pages written, need one more. Almost done!

-Khadim.

I'm not going to be able to get my entry in in time; I'm taking a creative writing course this semester and that's eating up more of my time that I had thought it would.

Just write a little story. I'd like to see something from you.

I'd just like to say that I've now submitted my story. I don't expect it to win, but I can say that I very much enjoyed writing it so I reckon I've come out ahead already.

I don't know how other people feel about this, but I would like to host the submitted stories on my site, with the owner's permission and once author names are revealed. I'd even like to go back and host previous story competitions if the authors were okay with that. I get a fair bit of traffic to my Shadowrun page and I'm willing to layout and PDF up people's stories. I'll do a proper fiction page for them if people like this idea. tisoz - what do you think? It seems a shame that all this work should just slowly slide down the forum pages into obscurity.

Thoughts on this?

And thank you tisoz for running this comp. I'm really going to enjoy getting the feedback from Dumpshock on my work (albeit anonymously )

-Khadim.

I'm up for the idea, knasser. I'm anxious for people to see my work, so the more exposure, the better as far as I'm concerned.

I like the idea too!
of course Ill have to run the idea by my Agent and the legal department...Oh,wait I don't have either of those....hold on a second, I'll go ask the wife...

She say Ok, but we keep the movie rights...damn smart girl, that one!

I'd be fine with either of mine (Rooftops or Angels) from previous contests being hosted on another site. Let me know if you want more, because...well..I've got it.

There's always Shapcano's site.

This is great. I've dug out the previous Shadowrun fiction competition threads and I'm ready to contact authors where I can. I'm going to wait until tisoz responds to this, though. Tisoz - don't want to intrude if this is unwelcome. Would you be okay with having "Entries from the Tisoz Shadowrun Fiction Competition" on my site? It's always nice to check logs and see a few hundred downloads.

Btw, how close are we to seeing the entries. I wont know whose stories are whose, but I know there are people entering that I'd like to see their work.

-Khadim.

As long as just appearing on your site does not give you ownership or limit the creator's rights. (I think there was one site that included in the fine print that anything submitted to the site became the property of the site owner.)

Sliding into obscurity? I thought I had all the contests linked and cross linked through the link in my signature? Oh, well, I am sure that is too complicated for some people.


Isn't that the best kind? Then you know it concerns the story and not something personal?


Ooh! Flatter me with recognition.

Sounds ok, with the previous caveat about ownership or rights.


I now have 7-9 entries, so I am waiting on 1-3 entries/edits.

This is probably the final week or so. If I get more than one more entry, I'll ask the couple of authors that talked about edits and/or cliffhangers if they want to wait until next time.

Absolutely! I am always very careful to emphasize the authorship of any materials that are not mine and though I obviously can't control what happens after something has been downloaded I'll quickly remove anything from my site if people change their mind. Also, as I PDF everything up, it is at least a little more complicated for people to distribute without the authors name attached.



True, but I got 34 visits to my site yesterday alone and that's without having posted any new content for quite a while. I'm going to reorganise my site and add an RSS feed so the stories will be pretty prominent forever more. And I think Shadowrun could really do with more fiction.



True - it is at least 'the healthiest kind'. Of course the feedback might all consist of 'boorrrriinnnng' but I I'll like it just the same.



Yeah - that's the intention. I just really want to host everyone's stories, so was hoping you'd be okay with that.



Right - I'm absolutely not claiming any rights over these stories and will even endeavor to remove them as fast as I can if someone ever changes their mind. The sole thing I will do will be to reformat them as PDFs for easier download.

HMHVV Hunter, kanislatrans and Critias - I am taking your comments above as go aheads, and I'll PDF up your stories in the near future. I'll let you know when and where they're up. Critias - I'm definitely interested in more of your work, but I'll focus on getting the tisoz materials up first as I think a good variety is what's needed first. If anyone else wants to proactively give me permission, that would be great, otherwise I'll be trying to reach the story authors by PM / email later when I have time to go through the threads.

-Khadim.

No prob. Just lemme dig up my page where I've got the collected links to all my other junk, and I'll toss you a PM with it -- you can use any of 'em you want to, or not use 'em, or whatever. I've got maybe ten or twelve Shadowrun stories there (prob'ly half of my total stuff, I'd guess).

Are you looking for this page Critias? I'm a bit of a fan...

Knasser, I did think of something I would like you to do when arranging the stories. Please include in the PDF or in the way the stories are grouped if the stories were on a specific topic. I know there was a Holiday/Christmas batch. I think my thread title may mention the topic.

Yup, that's the one. Thanks. *signs an autograph*

Critias, did you use a prior contest as writing credit or award you had won to help break into the writing market?

Nope. It never really occurred to me to do so.

It was some fan fiction (my 100+ page mamajama, over on Privateer Press's forum), Blisters and Bayonets, that actually got me my first gig. A few of the Spinespur guys were looking for a writer, one of 'em remembered the popularity of that thread, and they tossed me a few PMs over on some other forums for the hook-up. I wasn't actually looking for work at the time, since I've got a full time job and all that good stuff, but I sure wasn't gonna say no.

That same fanfic is also what got me my work for Privateer Press themselves, in fact. I ran into a few of PP's guys (their head writer and the editor of their magazine) at GenCon and we were chatting it up, and one of them recognized my forum handle (scrawled on my 'con badge) and said "Oh, hey, I read your story, it was good stuff." I didn't squeal like a fangirl, though. Promise. Kept my cool the whole time, daddy-o.

Oh, too bad for me.



I wondered about the contest thing, because back when I was going to college, I was trying to get into a creative writing class that had already closed when I went through registration. The way you went about getting into classes at that point was going to the professor and begging them to sign a waiver allowing you to attend.

Well, I did this, but so did half a dozen other students in a class of about 18. After class, all seven of us were asking this poor grad student to please let us into her discussion section. Some snobby girl kept on recounting her writing pedigree that included some award of which I had never heard. (Also, I was coming back to school after being away for about 4 years, which made me older than all these other students and almost the same age as the instructor.) Another was talking about how her writing sample must have gotten lost in the mail, another had done this, and so on. I was on the end of the line and hardly got to speak. The instructor admitted that no one who was already in the class had done the requisite of submitting writing samples over the previous semester so that should not be a factor. She said it would be about as fair for everyone if we just drew lots.

For one of the few time in my life I had this premonition that I would win if we drew lots, but I really did not trust premonitions, and before I said anything about agreeing with her, the first girl started in about her accomplishments and awards - again. The teacher kind of shut her down this time and said everyone should then get a chance to say why they thought they should be the one to get into the class. This also happened to occur in front of about half the original class that had hung around for whatever reason, so we had a decent sized audience. We got to hear the first girls pedigree for about the third time, then everyone actually got to give their reasons. My only reason was it was an elective for me, a blow off class, that I thought would be halfway enjoyable, not too difficult, and might help me communicate better in business and life.

But when my time came, none of those reasons sounded special enough so I just lied. The more impressed they seemed with the lie I was telling, the bigger lie I would tell. I think I started off with having travelled the country after going to college and taking a couple introductory writing courses and now I wanted to write about my travels and I finished by saying I had gotten a few articles published in some newspapers and magazines (I have had 2 student stories published in newspapers.) The teacher said it sounded like I was more qualified to teach the class than her (about this time that premonition I was going to win came again) and had I really done all that? (She hadn't commented on anyone else's reason.) I admitted no, I was pretty much making it up as I went, but wasn't it more interesting than all the other reasons they heard, and let's draw straws.

The teacher laughed, ripped up some bits of paper, marked them with O's and and X, put them in her hat and had us draw. I drew last, got the last slip of paper but it was the winner.

Still not contented, Miss. Pedigree claimed the draw wasn't fair because the hat was not over my head and I could see. Big deal as there was only the one slip to see and pick, and quickly five other losers agreed. The teacher was speechless at this point, but here came the premonition again, so I said, "Fine. Let's draw again." The teacher this time made sure the hat was over my head and let me draw first. I pulled out the winner and said so as I slapped it on the desk. Miss. Pedigree started to say something, but I cut her off saying no way was she going to ask for best 3 of 5.

And that is how I spent the remainder of my luck.

Oh yeah, the point was, if I had won a contest like this, I would have probably said so. Then again, maybe the award Miss, Pedigree kept bragging on was no more prestigious than winning something like this. (I will say most of the stories that have been submitted in the past are better than about anything I read in that class. That class also had me looking up the definition of literature.

Yeah, school's funny that way sometimes. I'm going back in the Fall, myself, after...erm...seven years off, or so? I'm not terribly looking forward to it. I only went full time for two years, then was a semester-on, semester-off, sort of student. Then a...uhh, yeah. A "the better part of a decade off" student. But if my wife can bust her ass (at five years older than me), go back to school, work her tookuss off, and become a nurse, well, heck. I can at least go back and wrap up my stupid History degree.

The only time I had to try and bargain my way into a class was when I wanted into a persuasive speaking class while I was short one of the pre-req's. I told the Professor that, obviously, if I was able to talk her into letting me into the class I should not only be allowed to sign up, but should be allowed to skip all semester and still score a passing grade because I'd been so dazzling with my argument there was nothing left for her to teach me. She agreed that that would've been true, but let me know there was no way she was going to bend the rules to let me in because there were other folks also signing up after the semester had started, and several of them had the Speech pre-requisite where I did not, so there was simply no way she was going to let me sign up.

The first rebuttal to pop into my head was snarling something about lighting her face on fire and putting it out with a stapler, so I just smiled and said "maybe next semester."

I guess my story's not really as cool as yours.

Should have gone with that - it's a strong example of persuasive speech that she probably hadn't heard before.

Wow, that's weird. I'm back in school currently after a 7 year break. I had no idea it was this popular a thing to be doing on DS...

I had written a couple short stories for this contest, but I'm not really happy with either of them...

SR13

Update time!

I have 8 stories submitted. One author asked me to withdraw his entry and the cliffhanger author said to go ahead and post the entry and the end might get posted up later, if it hurt his chances of winning, so be it.

Waiting on 2 more entries.

Don't make me write two stories!

Bored at work, and got a character background I've been kicking around in my head and fleshing out lately. Might turn it into a story if I've got the time this shift.

EDIT - Story's done. Went a little long, I tried to shorten it up, but oh well. Still deciding if I want to submit it for this or just post it to be read (maybe alongside the others, but not for a prize). I dunno. I just like for my stuff to get looked at, y'know? Anyways. Gonna email it to my account at home, make my wife give it a quick once-over, then decide what to do with it.

Please submit it! The sooner tisoz gets to ten, the sooner we all get to see each others work.

And though it must be nice to win, it's the taking part that counts.

-K.

Here, here!

I think ten entries is too many. First, it takes months to accumulate ten entries - we're two and a half months in and we don't have ten yet. And, supposing each entry is twenty pages long, ten entries will make 200 pages. It will be hard to find a large number of volunteer judges who will have the time to read that much.

Five or six entries would make for a more manageable project.

End it now!

End it now!

End it now!

End it now!

End it now!

End it now!

End it now!

I'm holding onto this one. So, uhh, ignore all that in my last post, sorry. It's written up, but I might have something else in mind for it.

If there's still a need for another submission, I might cook something else up just to help the contest reach critical mass. But this one's not for super-public consumption, just yet.

Woah - wait! We're expecting twenty-page entries? I don't want to make revealing comments about my own story but it is not twenty pages long. I would expect most entries to be a lot shorter than that.

-K.

I was just guessing. To be clear, I am not a contest organizer and have no authority. From Tisoz's posts in this thread, I believe there is no length minimum or maximum.

Even if the average entry is fifteen pages instead of twenty, that makes 150 total pages. Which is still a lot to read.

Did I mention that I think you should end it now?

If you poke around in Tisoz's signature line, I think you'll find most entries are even shorter than that. This is a short fiction contest. Most of the writers are well aware of the attention span of your average forumite.

it's been an eternity, but i think i might toss my hat in the ring. i'm sitting short right now, but i'm thinking if i run it out to the next point to stop at, it'll be too long for here. i might dig some other stuff up tho...

I'd like to add something. Until about two hours ago I was working on an SR fiction on my laptop. Then it crashed, and all that's left of the save file is the title. Fuck. Remind me to keep an updated paper copy next time.

Keep an updated paper copy next time.

I feel your pain though. I lost 3 years worth of lyrics and poetry when my last system fried. thought I was safe cause I had it backed up on CD. still can't find the damn CD. Paper and a three ring binder is still the safest storage system IMHO. locked in a fire safe. surrounded by razor wire and land mines.

i just email myself a copy of whatever document it happens to be. send it to a dedicated gmail account or something and you have current backups accessible anywhere. and takes no paper and next to no time.

Bumping this.

Any idea when this is going to go off?

Hopefully soon, the wife says she misses me


"quit staring at that screen, nobody is going to be sending in their story at 4:30 in the morning!!"

The suspense (or lack of sleep) is killing me!