WotW Round II: Discussion Thread

Weeeell now, there's technically nothing wrong in voting for yourself, is there? Especially if it's for a good cause and will help preserve anonymity!

Plus you could give yourself a Review and say the pros and cons about your paper!

OK, those are good points. I'll do that.

"Hey, does anyone remember that Moth fella who used to be a part of this? No?"


Hey guys, what's up. First round is happening already? Wow. Looks like I've missed a bunch, huh? I assume we still have a few days before the first threads start closing, so I'll get around to crits later this week, than; I've been out dealing with, you know. Life problems, for a while.

From skimming the thread, though, it looks like we have an issue with prompts? Good. I have an issue with prompts. I personally like the prompts on that like Alice put up; they're very constricting, they're very interesting, and they look like they're going to direct stories in a specific direction, while still leaving room for the authors to work. They certainly seem more like competition prompts than the high-school essay prompts we've seen thus far this round. What's more, they're also varied enough that every pairing will be writing an entirely different story, something I'd far rather see than a tourny full of fantasy / sci-fi essays.

Not to say that we should steal those exact prompts, necessarily, but I for one would love to see our prompts head in that direction. (Especially in terms of how specific they are; part of the challenge should be working around a specific prompt and a tight word limit.[/i])

I know this seems dumb to ask, but wouldn't giving yourself a review make it clear once the polls are up that you voted for yourself, making you look like a loser? I think a lot of people would rather just vote for themselves anonymously, because despite the fact that most people know they'd vote for themselves if given half a chance, they also feel like if people KNOW they're voting for themselves, they'll look like a loser. Does that make sense? It's like giving yourself a 5.

It's almost like, despite the fact that everyone wants to do it, you're still uncool if you do it and people know you did it. Better to do it anonymously.

Well, I guess that's sort of what I was getting at. Although I suppose if everyone else is voting for themselves too, we'll all just be losers together!

Another thing is, despite the fact that these are supposed to be anonymous entries, I think we'll all be able to recognize, say, Crash Landon's stories. I know I could last year. Heck, last year by the end of the contest we pretty much all got the the point where we could identify each other's work quite easily. So wouldn't an anonymous poll allow people to vote more honestly?

So far, I think that I've voted once, and I think that the propts have a lot to do with it.
For instance: I voted for the first one. It interested me. Second one "On the Western Shore", no. Haven't even read. Not to be offensive, but I can kinda tell from the prompt that it might not interest me. So i don't read it, so I don't vote.

Is this wrong?

With the voting system we have, it's kind of unavoidable to encounter some sort of bias (I don't like this genre, prompt, style, etc). Of course we may be able to identify author by their style, it'll probably be inevitable.

I think not reading due to prompt is kind of absurd, I mean what comes from the prompt is whatever the author thinks of when hearing it. It's not necessarily going to be literal or remotely close to what you think of when you read the prompt.

I edited what I was working on earlier today to bring it down to exactly 2600 words. Once I thought with the concept of actually staying in the limit, it was much easier to find more expendable things. I'm still preserving the original 3,000ish word version for myself but the edit works basically as fine too.

Voting for yourself is an odd situation as well. It's better not to do it I feel, as if both authors vote for themselves those two votes essentially cancel themselves out. But if one forgets to vote the advantage of just one vote is a bit too great in polls that have such a "low voter turnout", so to say. Plus the issue of anonymity isn't a big one here. I don't think people are going to go through the public polls and the potential writers/voters and cross people out who could be the writer. It's not as if it's Clue. I think it might be more obvious for someone like me, who types a novel in every rounds thread about the entries and become notably absent in my own.

Originally Posted by Moth

From skimming the thread, though, it looks like we have an issue with prompts? Good. I have an issue with prompts. I personally like the prompts on that like Alice put up; they're very constricting, they're very interesting, and they look like they're going to direct stories in a specific direction, while still leaving room for the authors to work.)

I have to agree with Moth here, actually. The prompts are rather interesting . When I got the Roadster prompt, I was like, wtf is a roadster, but it forced me to think outside of the box a little, and I rather enjoyed that challenge.

Even though I'm now out of the competition, I might consider writing privately using some of these prompts, just to see what comes out of my head.

I know enough from experience that people here will vote for the story that appeals most to them, period, no matter if they know who wrote which story. There will be bias due to prompt, style, et cetera, of course. Everyone has their own preferences, but even the scummiest of people on GFF isn't scummy enough to say "well, this guy's story was CLEARLY better, but I'm voting for this dood cause he's my pal." So I'd love to keep it as anonymous as possible, yes, but I don't think it ultimately matters if the public knows who wrote what story.

I'll admit, when I get the two entries I try to figure out which two authors it is based upon the seeds chart that we got earlier. I try to figure which story belongs to which person based upon my expectation of their normal writing/posting style, but it doesn't really affect my choice in any way. Once I finish reading the two stories they're just that to me: two stories, and one of them I like better than the other.

I have a procedural question: I'd like to post my entries on my DeviantArt site, where I place all of my writing. Is this kosher, or should I wait until the rounds are over before posting them there?

Frankly, I don't think a lot (read: any) GFFers go to my DA, so it wouldn't really be spoiling anything for anybody, but I'd rather ask than risk being disqualified.

I am certainly willing to accept Stop Sign as Kazyl's replacement. Hell, I was almost willing to give him my place.

Out of curiosity, let's just say my story went up against Kazyl's. Who's would win then?

Hello, everyone. I screwed up big time, virtually ignoring GFF entirely, starting the instant after signing up for WotW and ending when Dekoa informed me of my folly over AIM.

I cannot say how sorry I am. It COMPLETELY slipped my mind, and as lame as this is, I have virtually no excuse.

I'm sorry for letting everyone down, please forgive me.

Originally Posted by orion_mk3

I have a procedural question: I'd like to post my entries on my DeviantArt site, where I place all of my writing. Is this kosher, or should I wait until the rounds are over before posting them there?

Frankly, I don't think a lot (read: any) GFFers go to my DA, so it wouldn't really be spoiling anything for anybody, but I'd rather ask than risk being disqualified.

I have no problem with this, but I do advise you to do so After your voting round is finished. It's a bit easier to keep the anomnity since people can click your Sig to get there.

Originally Posted by agreatguy6

So far, I think that I've voted once, and I think that the propts have a lot to do with it.
For instance: I voted for the first one. It interested me. Second one "On the Western Shore", no. Haven't even read. Not to be offensive, but I can kinda tell from the prompt that it might not interest me. So i don't read it, so I don't vote.

Is this wrong?

Um, yes.

Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by Servilonus

I edited what I was working on earlier today to bring it down to exactly 2600 words.

Hold the phone. We get 2600 words? Are you kidding me? I ended up with 2800 and hacked my story ALL TO PIECES to get it down to 2500 words. Those extra 100 words could have made a huge difference in the richness of my characters.

And I didn't save the original version. =(

Quote:

I think it might be more obvious for someone like me, who types a novel in every rounds thread about the entries and become notably absent in my own.

Me too.

Originally Posted by Alice

Hold the phone. We get 2600 words? Are you kidding me? I ended up with 2800 and hacked my story ALL TO PIECES to get it down to 2500 words. Those extra 100 words could have made a huge difference in the richness of my characters.

And I didn't save the original version. =(

I remember it specifically saying in the rules 2500 words, with a tolerance of 50-100 additional over that (though it appears to be edited now and just says 50?).

If you look at the last two entries though, the word counts are 2,546 and 2,573, so it seems that the tolerated limit is 2500-2600 anyway. It sucks you didn't save the original version (I have like 4 different copies of mine right now). I preserved my 3,000 something word one for just personal archives and all. The one I'm entering is just basically for this.

Originally Posted by Dekoa

I have no problem with this, but I do advise you to do so After your voting round is finished. It's a bit easier to keep the anomnity since people can click your Sig to get there.

Probably a good idea. I think that I will pilfer some of the Round 1 prompts for personal use, though--some of them are really quite good! Where'd they all come from?

Originally Posted by Servilonus

...it seems that the tolerated limit is 2500-2600 anyway.

That's good to know. Has anyone had their entry rejected or sent back due to excessive length?

Where are you guys seeing who the authors are after the polls are closed? The only one I see is the first one where Kazyl won by default, and it was announced as an edit to Dekoa's opening post.