PlaneShift

Fan Area => Roleplaying (Communitive Storywriting) => Topic started by: Caraick on September 16, 2011, 09:56:21 pm

Title: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: Caraick on September 16, 2011, 09:56:21 pm
Ladies, Gentlemen, Klyros and Kran!

I would like to present, for your consideration, a story challenge.  Fun forum contests like this don't happen enough, and so here is my attempt to liven up the mood a bit.  Without further ado, allow me to explain the rules:

Rules and Guidelines



- Contestants will write and submit a story within the context and world of Planeshift.  Stories not actually RP-ed, or stories  RP-ed in game are both perfectly acceptable.
-The story must be original, and your own work.   Keep it under 10 thousand words, please.  :)
- The story must be a new work that has not been posted onto the forums yet.  The idea of this contest is to bring about a new round of fiction into the forums for everyone to enjoy, so we'd like to see new stories, rather than ones you've already written, and others have read before.
- The story does not have to be about your own character, and any subject matter is acceptable.  Stories about the history or back-story of Planeshift are welcome.  Be creative with who or what you write about!  :)
- Keep in mind that others will be reading your story here on the forums, so make sure it's safe for others to read. PG, please. ;)
- Stories should be submitted to my forum account (Caraick) within one month's time.  The final due date for accepting story submissions is October 15.  I'm willing to accept stories received shortly after the deadline if there's reason to be late, but you're making my job much easier if you get them in by the 15th.
-Once all story submissions have been received, I'll post each story in a separate forum post, in a new topic, under the writer's name. 
-After the stories have all been posted into the new topic by myself, the voting window will open.  Voters are allowed to vote for two stories each, submitted again to my forum account via PM. 
-The winner will be the story that receives the most votes, prior to the end-date of the voting window, which will be the 1st of November That's two weeks to read and vote on the stories in the posts.
-Feel free to vote for your own stories, but you cannot vote for the same story twice
-Any questions? Just post a reply in this topic, and I'll get back to you.


Good luck, and happy writing!!





Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: Mask on September 17, 2011, 06:11:41 am
It might be better if people could not vote for their own story - that way, they need to decide which two stories are best.

Who is allowed to vote? Only the authors?
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: miomo on September 17, 2011, 07:22:52 am
This is a great contest, and maybe, finally, I'll finish Miomai's cycles in the Death Realm to submit.

Just a suggestion, why not allow the authors to post their stories directly to this thread, and then on October 15th, add a poll to the thread for voting? This would ease the burden on you while making use of the forum's features.

Already, I have a hunch on who will win. ;)
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: Caraick on September 17, 2011, 09:38:27 am
It might be better if people could not vote for their own story - that way, they need to decide which two stories are best.

Who is allowed to vote? Only the authors?

Anyone who reads the stories is allowed to vote, including their authors.  The thought behind allowing everyone to vote for two stories forces authors to vote for at least one other story, besides their own.


This is a great contest, and maybe, finally, I'll finish Miomai's cycles in the Death Realm to submit.

Just a suggestion, why not allow the authors to post their stories directly to this thread, and then on October 15th, add a poll to the thread for voting? This would ease the burden on you while making use of the forum's features.

Already, I have a hunch on who will win. ;)

Simply for reasons of formatting.  I can post all of the stories side-by-side, and hopefully all on the first page of the topic.  Just for ease of reading and later, ease of voting.
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: Aramara Meibi on September 17, 2011, 10:44:00 am
Are we only allowed to submit one story, or can we submit more than one?
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: Caraick on September 17, 2011, 12:09:17 pm
Just one story per author for the contest.
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: miomo on September 17, 2011, 03:42:34 pm
Nice try Aramara, but I like your idea: the shotgun approach. ;)
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: Caraick on September 17, 2011, 10:47:47 pm
Bwaha!  ;D Aramara is a much better writer than to need to submit any more than one wonderful story.  Good luck to both of you :)
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: Aramara Meibi on September 18, 2011, 12:28:49 am
I'd prefer it if you removed the authors' names when you post the stories in a new thread. Anonymity will remove any chance of voting on factors other than the quality of the story. Another idea would be to post all of the authors who submitted, in an order uncorrelated to the order the stories are posted. That way people can guess as to the authorship of each story (for fun!) if they wanted to.

I'm glad you're taking this initiative Caraick. The Daughters have discussed doing something similar ingame. We wanted to hold a storytelling contest, not to take away from the poetry contest of the Klyros Junction
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: Caraick on September 18, 2011, 10:45:12 am
I'd prefer it if you removed the authors' names when you post the stories in a new thread. Anonymity will remove any chance of voting on factors other than the quality of the story. Another idea would be to post all of the authors who submitted, in an order uncorrelated to the order the stories are posted. That way people can guess as to the authorship of each story (for fun!) if they wanted to.

I'm glad you're taking this initiative Caraick. The Daughters have discussed doing something similar ingame. We wanted to hold a storytelling contest, not to take away from the poetry contest of the Klyros Junction

I had considered making the story posts anonymous; one of my other motivations for having the authors simply PM me with their stories.  However, it would be an easy giveaway when the stories are involving the author's characters, as to who the author is.  Still, I'm entirely up for running this the way that you all would like to have it, so I'll gladly change it to that way, should it seem popular with others.

Good luck on your stories, everyone!

Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: Aramara Meibi on September 18, 2011, 10:52:10 am
I had considered making the story posts anonymous; one of my other motivations for having the authors simply PM me with their stories.  However, it would be an easy giveaway when the stories are involving the author's characters, as to who the author is.

very true very true... hmm... considering this is a story CHALLENGE, maybe us authors can challenge ourselves to writing about each others' characters? kinda as a character exchange swap... i don't know, that'd have to be agreed upon on a personal basis I guess.

Are collab works allowed or do they have to be single author?
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: Caraick on September 18, 2011, 11:01:11 am


very true very true... hmm... considering this is a story CHALLENGE, maybe us authors can challenge ourselves to writing about each others' characters? kinda as a character exchange swap... i don't know, that'd have to be agreed upon on a personal basis I guess.

Are collab works allowed or do they have to be single author?

I think that'd be a fun idea, perhaps for a second, slightly different, contest.  As for this one, I think we'll just identify each author with their story, unless there's a massive public outcry  :P

For this contest, it's single author stories only.
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: Jilata on September 19, 2011, 02:41:07 am
are those storys IG or written here in the forum? I would participate if it is in the forum ;)
I don't have a char who likes writing IC...
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: steuben on September 19, 2011, 03:15:37 am
forum elder moogie had a great idea.

but dang nabbit i would like more time for this... i don't write terribly quick. though i do have single line that i could build a short story around.
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: Jilata on September 19, 2011, 06:41:07 am
oops... should have read the whole thread  :-[

*now thinks about what she should write*
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: Caraick on September 19, 2011, 02:44:47 pm
@Steuben: If it seems like most people need a bit of an extension on the due date, I'll gladly move back the submission deadline  :)

@Jilata: >_> Good luck!   :thumbup:
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: novacadian on September 19, 2011, 07:18:55 pm
The advantage of posting to this thread or, simply, one that the author creates is not really clear to me. Perhaps if there were categories of voting; like best character development, best story line, etc. it would make a more positive competition; giving positive feedback to a number of authors. To just vote first past the post on one story seems to be an overall negative approach to supporting game story writing, and their authors, in my opinion.

- Nova
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: Caraick on September 19, 2011, 09:26:43 pm
A couple very good ideas, Nova, let me clarify one point, though.  The authors PM their stories to me, and I'll post them in a separate forum topic, one by one.

With regards to the topics: I think that's an excellent idea, and I believe I'll use it, if you don't mind.  We'll still retain the overall favorite story category, but if we get enough submissions, I'll include categories like "Best Character Development", "Most Exciting Plotline", "Best Hero/Villain", etc.

Thank you for the ideas!  :flowers:
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: novacadian on September 19, 2011, 09:44:19 pm
Thank you for the ideas!  :flowers:

Your welcome.  ;)
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: Aramara Meibi on September 20, 2011, 12:13:17 am
well said Nova. I was already excited to partake because i find joy in writing and reading what others have written. I think the whole idea will push each author to explore new boundaries which will result in some good reads. Here's me cheering everybody on.
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: Jilata on September 20, 2011, 01:37:44 am
hm... now I do have a question... I have written down my first idea, which is only 465 words long at the moment (there will be more after I reworked it), still I am not too sure if there would be that many more. Is that a problem? Like the text should be for example be between 9 thousand to 10 thousand words long?
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: Caraick on September 20, 2011, 02:50:38 pm
Write as little as you'd like, or as much as you'd like.  The word limit is just a rough guideline to help people who are going to be reading the stories to be able to do so without spending an entire evening in front of their monitors  ;D

Quality, not quanitity!  :thumbup:
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: Caraick on October 03, 2011, 05:21:20 pm
(Shameless double post)

Little more than a week left for the submission deadline! So far, only one story has been received, but I'm looking forward to reading the others that come in!  :D
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: Caraick on October 09, 2011, 09:41:09 am
Attention all!

There is Less than one week until the final submission deadline! If you're still planning on entering the contest, please submit your story soon, or at least let me know it's in progress!
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: Aramara Meibi on October 12, 2011, 11:58:24 am
 \\o// \\o// \\o// \\o// \\o//


that is all.
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: Caraick on October 12, 2011, 01:06:28 pm
T-minus three days!  :woot:
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: Aramara Meibi on October 13, 2011, 09:23:57 pm
I would like to request that once all entries are submitted, and each is posted in its own individual thread, that those threads be locked until after the voting is done. This would prevent any opinionated statements being made about each work, avoiding the creation of bias in the reader. Once voting is complete, however, is the time for critiques to be made.
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: Caraick on October 13, 2011, 11:29:11 pm
I've planned to put a simple request to the forum moderators to this effect.  I would prefer to simply have all of the stories in a single thread, and space for comments located in a different thread.

Good point, I'm glad the idea has some support without me having to propose it  ;)
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: Caraick on October 14, 2011, 07:05:23 pm
One day until the submission deadline!! If you haven't already, get your stories in, or let me know it's in progress!
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: Caraick on October 15, 2011, 10:43:05 pm
Thank you to everyone who's submitted their stories!! As of today, I'm only waiting on one more submission, then the deadline will have passed.  Expect the stories to be posted in the next two to three days, then the two week voting period will commence!

Good luck, everyone!  :flowers:
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: Caraick on November 16, 2011, 11:13:31 pm
I apologize sincerely for the delay for this post. Real-life has a way of throwing things in your way when you want to get things done on PS.  Thank you so much to everyone who voted, and an extra special thanks to all of my authors who labored over their stories!   :) Without further ado, the winners of the Story Challenge!





The Winner for the Best Short Story is.... TIED! Between "A Groffel Tale" by Jilata, and "Slayer of Bugs" by Rhateru!  :flowers:

The Winner for the Best Long Story is.... "My Number is" by Mariana!  :flowers:

The Winner for the Most Interesting Character is... Lazarene, from "Confessions of a Clamod" by Miomo!  :flowers:

The Winner for the Best Plot Line is... TIED! Between "My Number is..." by Mariana, and "Enter Icerra", by Aramara!  :flowers:

The Winner for the Most Creepy Story is... "My Number is..." by Mariana!  :flowers:

The Winner for the Best Sad Story is... TIED! Between "The End of All Things",\ by Tessra, and "A Groffel Tale," by Jilata!  :flowers:

The Winner for the Most Funny Story is... "Slayer of Bugs" by Rhateru!  :flowers:

The Winner for the Best Surprise Ending is... "Confessions of a Clamod" by Miomo!  :flowers:

The Winner for the Most Dark Character is... Rhianon, from "My Number is..." by Mariana!  :flowers:

The Winner for the Best Action Scene is... Kelan's Death, in "Enter Icerra" by Aramara!  :flowers:

And the Winner for the Best Overall Story is... "The End of All Things" by Tessra!  :flowers:






Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: miomo on November 17, 2011, 06:09:07 am
Congratulations everyone.

Thanks to Caraick for putting this together. It's no small effort posting the stories and tallying the votes. We all appreciate it, and I know I had fun.

Now, what do we win? A rivnak for all of our characters? ;)
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: Eleirit Kcelmien on August 30, 2016, 08:02:38 pm
IM TOTALLY JOINING!

awesome idea
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: Jessamine on August 30, 2016, 09:16:54 pm
IM TOTALLY JOINING!

awesome idea
You realize the post before yours was about 5 years ago..I highly doubt this is still going on...
Title: Re: The Great Planeshift Story Challenge
Post by: Eleirit Kcelmien on August 31, 2016, 06:24:39 pm
oh, yeaah