Collaborative Creative Writing Community

Is there a limit to the number of versions of the next chapter you can submit per round?

This whole contest is a joke. What criteria is used to determine a score? The judge's feelings. You rate a piece of work with no specified criteria on its effectiveness or lack of effectiveness? Every work of art or something esteemed of value has specific criteria established to determine its worth. For example, a diamond's clarity and other such factors are rated to determine the value of a diamond. What are these judges basing their decision on? Instead of scores being posted, categories should have been rated. Examples of clarity would include: plot development, use of figurative language, character development, etc..., This current contest seems completely subjective and heavily influenced by other people's comments.

Hi there,
I'm sorry that you have a negative view on how the judging has been performed for this contest. As this is SM's first trek into having judges, we are certainly open for suggestions. Do you have any ideas as to how this judging process could be more "fair," in your opinion?

Thanks!

Oh--and I am passing your comment on to the SM team, so we will absolutely take it into consideration. Personally, I read, judge, and vote on a chapter before I even read other people's comments. Just FYI.

Thanks!

Cat --

You may submit as many versions as you'd like, so long as they are all followups of the current winner. Good luck.

PowerfulPen --

Ow. Good luck?

Katrina --

Sure, I'll be a judge.

-- Nash

nash,
Don't get me wrong. You have very good writing skills.I congratulate you on your win. I just don't know how some judges can rate something a 1 or a 2. Moreover, some judges comments were clearly digs about other author's works. If a judge has something to say, then say it. Skip the passive aggressive crap. Trust me the judge I am referring to is educated enough to read between the lines.

Dwayne~
If you have any specific issues with any SM users, please contact me directly (katrina@storymash.com). We at SM want to make sure that everyone is able to enjoy their time in this community, and we are more than happy to listen to any suggestions or concerns.

I encourage you to still submit a chapter to the contest, no matter what kind of pre-conceived notion you may have.

Thanks!

DwayneHoover - Sometimes knowing for yourself and having others know how good the work you produce is just has to suffice. Sometimes in anything like this a judge or the judges will simply not be struck right by what you write, and will chose to grade you down while jaws all around drop open. Accept that and don't let it interfere with the most important thing about this contest - it is a major challenge to one's writing abilities, and a great source of learning. About many, many different things.

I am assuming that some of you questioned my scores. I read each and every story. Per the judging guidelines, I basically ignored all of the technical stuff....grammer, spelling, etc...

I judged the chapters based on:

1-Did I feel the storyline fit well with the previous chapter

2-Did I feel the author truley connected with the over all theme and he/she convey that

3-Did I feel vested in the characterizations portrayed

4-Did the stroy move me...did I experience emotion

Many of the stories were very good. I found one to be exceptional compared to the others and voted accordingly.

My vote is not the only one that counts, either. Mashers have the final say. That is why I encouraged everyone on this site to get involved.

And, yes, if you read some old blogs, I suggested a similar rating system to the one PowerfulPen posted here. (Having catagories to rate with an overall rating based on them).

I thought that it would be more constructive to the writers to have specific criteria to read.

As for this contest, unless specifically asked to change the way I vote, I will stick with how well I like the works.

That is what you do when you go to a bookstore or library...you look for things to read that capture your attention, that enthrall your mind, that interest YOU.

Look guys, don't be discouraged. I did not expect to win when I posted my chapter! I am relatively new to this site (since May) and am not really "known". I am not published or a professional writer. I just gave it my best shot.

That's all any of us can do! Have fun with it! Invite family and friends to the site to read it! Vote for all of your fellow masher's stories..in otherwords, if you want to be rated, then rate others.

I loved the many directions that the stories took me! I voted to my own likes, however, and you should do the same!

Oh, right on! **right over my head** ;)

DH...You are right about one thing. When reading stories outside of the contest, my ratings are swayed heavily on grammer and such, because I am a stickler for that stuff. It affects how I read and therefore, i comment on it.
for the purpose of this contest (even in round one), I did not commentonce on technicallities and voted purely based on entertainment factor. If you don't belive me, go back and read my comments.

PS-
I will be posting 9 more chapters at the end of the contest, NONE of which go in the same direction as these. Feel free to rate them according to your conscious.

I just get tired of seeing people paly with eachother's minds by using fake identities. Be who you are, you know?

Can you separate the edit button from the publish button more..they are kind of close to each other and sometimes it gets messed up. Two opposite corners would be good.

Cheers.

I'll definitely pass the suggestion on.
Thanks!

round 3 entries are posted as the third tier on the story tree. If you click on Nash's story in the above graph and scroll to the bottom of it, you will find the "continue chapter" button. Good luck to you! Have fun!

Congrats to Nash.

Congrats NASH!

I sometimes feel like I don't fit into these "contests" because I don't quite understand how the critiquing process works. I also don't feel "part" of this community.
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Some suggestions for SM:

1. Create a standardized system, where voters know what they are actually voting on.

Look at the large gaps between persephonie and the other two judges. She gives a 1 to three chapters that received 3's or higher from the other two judges. She gives a 2 to a chapter that both other judges rated higher than 4.5.

She said before that she voted on the "entertainment" factor and "how well" she likes the work. Instead of writing a good chapter, some writers might be more inclined to write toward what persephonie wants, or what she has liked in the past, instead of writing a chapter that is not catered to any specific judge.

2. Deny access to reading other peoples' comments on a chapter until AFTER a poster has given his or her rating to that particular chapter. I know some members have complained of retaliation, or feel like this is a first page popularity contest.

3. Allow rating only if the poster gives a specific comment about the chapter and about the rating. This means that there could be no retaliation ratings.

4. Disallow anonymous ratings. Members should be prepared to stand by and discuss their ratings.

5. Have a system where rating is actively encouraged. Before you can upload a new story, you need to have read and rated at least 4 other randomly assigned stories. Before continuing a story, you have to rate the previous chapter. I think this would encourage more people to rate instead of just post story after story, and would get more people talking about specific stories.

6. Make a forum where posters can introduce themselves, their stories or chapters, and garner reader interest either through posting a synopsis in a "post your synopsis" thread/section or by talking about their ideas for future chapters/stories. People could request stories, work together in teams, etc.

7. Have diversity in the contests. Mix it up a bit. Throw in words or phrases that have to be included in the story. Ask for specific genres or locations.
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I will definitely be entering this contest, regardless. I don't agree with some of the things SM does, I definitely agree with the spirit behind it. Oh yeah, congrats to Nash. :)

You have some really great ideas! Thank you so much for taking the time to give your feedback. I will definitely share these suggestions with the rest of the SM team.

Thanks again, and happy writing!

Kabrams --

Thanks for the last minute mention. I agree with several of your suggestions and do my part to provide clarity. I wrote a "chapter" detailing why I vote the way I do; however, it is a subjective thing and there's always something to appealing to a judge/writing with a judge in mind. The hard part is finding something multiple judges enjoy. Quality trumps all and if you write something compelling and you do it well, greatness is rewarded.

Honestly, I think round 3 has managed stronger entries than round 2 and I'm glad to have grabbed the ring when I did. I can't guarantee I'll vote every round, but if you post something this round, I'm making the effort to put notes on at least one story by each author this time.

I will always post my votes in the comments and I suggest/recommend/urge you do the same. The more people do it, the more it will become standard nature.

There will always be retaliatory votes. I strive to do honest critiques and they sometimes hurt. Feedback is part of the writing process. I'm not apt to apologize.

I'm against voting on random stories. I tried Helium, but so often I'd get stories I had no interest (or qualification) to critique. With some thin-skins, I've learned not to comment. As much as I'd like to think a community can be as clean cut as The Truman Show, blemishes will always surface.

Good luck and keep writing!

-- Nash

Quote from Contest Page:
"$100 Round Three Entry deadline is July 18th, 2008
Round Three Finalists
The Round Three deadline was July 17th, ..."

So, which is it? the 18th or the 17th? I got my chapter in on the 18th.

I answered your question on the "Judging Guidelines" post.