POLL TIME!
Alright, so. My life is hopefully moving in a direction where I'll be able to spend a LOT more time hangin' out with folks here, like I used to. I'm super excited for that, and I'm excited for some of the opportunities that potentially opens up...
Like more contests!
I know it's been a long time since I've ran any, but honestly, I'd really like to start doing so again. They were always a really fun way to get writers posting, and more than a few of my favorite stories have come from them.
Contests can be hard work, though: between coming up with ideas and organizing prizes and delivery, there's a lot that goes into them.
And this, today's pseudo-poll-thing. I wanna know what it is y'all would like to see from contests.
Do you prefer challenges based on very specific or more general themes?
Do you prefer challenges for longer stories, or shorter ones?
Should contests include multi-part stories, or require stories to be single-posting to keep the views fair?
In fact, how should the "winner" of contests be judged?
And prizes! What kind of prizes do people prefer: ebooks, or cash, or amounts donated to the site's upkeep in your name? (The last one is always a good one: BCTS can't afford to really sponsor these on its own, so such donations are always a huge help.) Or maybe I could offer something like a piece of art drawn for your story as a prize.
I wanna know folks' thoughts on all of this, and anything else you'd like to add, up to and including any contest ideas you think might be fun to see in the future.
I love you all, and I hope that together we can keep making BCTS an amazing place for transfic.
Melanie E.
Comments
A mix is good
The two that I like are the ones like The Crush (single post, short time frame) and those that required posting by chapters (a fixed number would be good to keep it fair) with the winner being the one who retained readership through the chapters.
As far as prizes I prefer something that can be donated back to the site. I won a subscription to premium stories that I never got around to activating. But when the prize was cash (another contest) I PM'd the sponsor to donate the money to BCTS. I wasn't the only one to do so.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
If it makes you feel better, the premium subs amounted
to site donations too: those always came either out of my own pocket, or the pocket of a benefactor who I won't name in case they don't wish to be named.
Much as I'd like to claim that running these contests is entirely a way to give back to writers, ultimately their point always is to drive more engagement for the site as a whole, readers, authors, and commenters.
*hugs*
Melanie E.
I write what I write
I am up for any challenge, but as for length, my preference is short.
I don't mind writing to a specific themes, or even a set up situation, but any contest has to be looking for variety.
As for judging, I have no idea. I would like to think that the ‘mystically ineffable’ style is more applicable to our fiction rather than close analysis.
Prizes? Winning would be all the prize I would want - here's hoping ...
Maryanne
Judging is always the hardest part.
I've done a number of different methods in the past, from polls to counting comments/votes to other more obscure metrics for determining the victor.
With BCTS having a Patreon now, I may try and convince Erin to let us run polls on there to determine the victors, since they seem to have better built-in polling software than Drupal does? Leastways, I dunno how to do it in Drupal.
Melanie E.
Oh, Gosh!
Hmmmm . . . . I think to be the most fun for readers, the contest should go for a single short story format with a hard cap on the number of words, and just use a few words that the story needs to relate to in some way. My reasoning: What would be most fun for readers is to read a bunch of stories from a bunch of authors, each with a unique take on the idea. Keeping the stories short should stimulate both the supply and demand side.
As for prizes -- I'm always game to donate back to the site. But a cover from you, Melanie? That's priceless. Or, as an alternative? An avatar? :D
— Emma
Any art you wanted really, within reason :)
And most of my contests I've ran in the past certainly fit within the criteria you lay out.
As a matter of fact, just as a reminder for folks, a few years back I posted multiple "Year of Challenges" prompt sets in our forums here, and those are still up and available should anyone be looking for inspiration. There's a LOT of them to choose from.
Melanie E.
Contest Idea
I think several contests based on fanfics might be fun. One from Star Wars, one from Harry Potter and one from Avatar.
hugs :)
Michelle SidheElf Amaianna
I'd be down for doing fanfic contests, just not Harry Potter
I respect that a lot of folks in the community still love the universe, but I won't run a contest that in any way supports engaging in the works of a known transphobe.
Star Wars or Avatar could be fun, though! And maybe a few other highly universal fandoms to consider :)
Melanie E.
Honestly
Most Harry Potter fanfics are better than the source material.
hugs :)
Michelle SidheElf Amaianna
It's not about the quality,
it's about the universe of content they'd be a part of.
I loved Harry Potter as a high schooler, but I won't even watch the movies again until things with JK change or she's out of the picture.
Melanie E.
Anything
Prizes: for me, at least, the fun is writing and reading the stories, who cares if you win or not? That said, if I wrote something and actually won some sort of cash prize, I'd want to donate it to BigCloset. Silly prizes are also great fun (like a selfie of Melanie E in a tutu?) And I recall some SFF writer (Scalzi?) promising a story for the readers of his website if readers would donate to worthy cause X to a total of Y dollars.
Topics: hard to say. I never know what will catch my fancy, so a wide variety is IMHO a good idea. Given how slow I am, challenges that ask for shorter stories are more likely to get something out of me than longer ones.
Me in a tutu!
*AIN'T gonna happen!*
Last thing I wanna do is emotionally scar every member of this site: what's once been seen cannot be unseen.
That said, I was serious about offering art as an option, so if you wanted me to draw something like my avatar I use on social stuff in a tutu, I'd do that. :)
Melanie E.
OH! Yes! A thousand times yes!
Adventure? Romance? Fanfiction? What fun. But shall we be limited to Lucas and Cameron and Rowling? I should hope rather not. But surely as long as we all have fun in the doing? To paraphrase my dear Jane Bennet?
Love, Andrea Lena
Well, this blog is all about dredging up suggestions!
So I'm all ears for other ideas :)
Melanie E.
Even the sky is no limit!
The first great thing I've always taken from your challenges and the challenges of others is that goal of bringing us as writers out of ourselves, so to speak. The stretching of approaches and viewpoints about what we as writers are capable of doing. I've enjoyed every challenge, as I expect others have as well. However it plays out, I thank you for challenging me and for your encouragement!
Love, Andrea Lena
Stepping Outside of Our Comfort Zone
How about an essay contest?
Between 1,500 and 2,500 words on one of the following topics in classic essay format.
Intro Thesis
Three Main Ideas
Conclusion
Topics:
Is it possible for a transperson to find authentic love?
Is the world fair to trans people?
How can a transperson find happiness?
What is more important to a transperson's presentation, the mind or the body?
Is family an aide or a hindrance to a successful transformation from M to F or F to M?
What is the perfect age to come out as trans?
What transperson do I admire most?
What careers are the most trans friendly?
As I've put this list together I've realized that many of my stories tried to answer these questions. It just would seem interesting to see fiction writers try writing essays.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Essays could be a hard sell, but interesting to see a return on.
Though reading through your list, I think you'd get a lot of conflicting opinions, and I'm sad to say I don't know if I trust our community to be able to discuss these things reasonably these days.
That said, editorial content and essays are certainly an under-explored content category on the site. I might have to put in some tight Rules of Conduct if I ran this, but it could definitely return some very informative and fascinating results.
Melanie E.
I like it
I haven't written anything in a while and I think this would be fun. I like the idea of a hard cap on words 2500-3000? I would prefer a topical theme:
First Time
2 Weeks in the Hamptons (or wherever)
Redemption
A New Career
Best Friends
2nd Chances (In honor of Dawn)
Cover Art or an Avatar from Melanie would be an awesome incentive. :D
DeeDee
Great suggestions!
I'd def go somewhere other than the Hamptons though: I know I for one have no experience with such a hoity-toity place and never will, so I'd rather offer a place that's more generally accessible.
Like Thailand. :P
*hugs*
Melanie E.
Denny’s?
JK! I trust you Melanie!
— Emma
Grand Slam!
Melanie, the Hamptons were a bit tongue in cheek. I'm thinking a 'Great Gatsby' setting. Perfect for love; a vacation; mischief; murder; coming out??? I trust you Melanie, make a decision sweetie. We're all firmly behind you... :D
DeeDee
An idea
I had an idea for a contest. Basically, you post the beginning of a story, some situation where a bunch of characters are introduced, say a party, ceremony, at a bar or other public place or something. You post that from the point of view of a character who isn't really important to any of their stories, just an observer who sees them in passing, like a bartender or just someone sitting on a park bench or something. Each character is given a name or nickname in the person's mind and a brief description as part of the intro bit. Maybe some observations on things like body language or the way they're moving or carrying themselves as well to give people a starting point. Then each contest entrant chooses one of the characters to develop the story of why they're there and where their story goes from there. If the intro bit is generic enough, you could get a wide variety of stories from that launching point.
I think that it would be interesting to see the variety of genres that could come up. you could get sci-fi, urban fantasy, real world, magic, comedy, mystery, or a mix of different genres emerging from one simple moment.
*big hugs*
Amethyst
Don't take me too seriously. I'm just kitten around. :3
A small suggestion to contest-entry writers ...
For writers of contest entries, please indicate if it's a stand-alone, or the beginning of a series.
In one contest, I mis-voted (sigh, not in favor of) the beginning of a series.
I tried really hard and could not find any >story< in what I (too-)later learned was the 'world-building' intro to a series. So I gave all the other stories 'higher marks'. :(