DONE Writing Competition

[GamerInGeorgia]

I have an idea for a Writing Competition:

• The host presents a "given" and a theme (optional).
  
• This "given" could be a prompt, sentence to include in the piece, a character, a setting, etc.
  
• The contestants are given 2-3 weeks to write a minimum of 2 pages (with a maximum of 5 pages to prevent super-long entries) using the "given" and the theme.
  
• Entries must be submitted in PDF format in standard font settings (so that everyone will see it the same way, and so that there won't be issues of "it looks like it's too short/long on my computer, but not on someone else's").
  

Of course, all content must follow MFGG forums guidelines and must be appropriate for all audiences. So, does this sound like a good idea? Should this become an actual competition?

[VinnyVideo]

This could be fun! I think it would be easiest just to post your writing directly as a forum post.

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[Q-Nova]

I like the idea of having a writing competition, especially since a lot of games have writing in some form. I remember suggesting this to VinnyVideo years ago, although nothing was really done about it. I also remember seeing an Halloween event on 2014 that had a competition like that, even though, it didn't have any limits and the stories were written on the posts rather than a PDF.

I agree with VinnyVideo on that it would be easier to post the writing directly on the posts rather than a PDF, though. From what I've looked up (although it's not quite much), doing a PDF seems a bit complicated. The only problem with having the writing on the posts, however, is that it'd be hard to have a limit to keep entries from being too long (there could be a limit to character count, but I imagine that it'd be very tedious to count every individual character one by one). I think encouraging people to not make them too long may work, though.

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[VinnyVideo]

@Q-Nova If you copy and paste text into Microsoft Word, it'll automatically count the number of words, characters, and pages. So any of those metrics would be OK (although if we chose pages, we'd need to use a standardized font).

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[GamerInGeorgia]

If in the end the entries' length are going to be determined by words, does a minimum of 100 words and a maximum of 750 words sound good? And if we'd use pages, I think we should use Arial, 12-point font size, as the standard (everything single-spaced).

[VinnyVideo]

If we had a maximum length, 750 words is pretty short, especially if you're giving people 2-3 weeks to write. That's about two pages of double-spaced text, which you can do relatively quickly if you avoid writer's block.

I'd recommend using a range that allows for relatively short works but doesn't restrict those who want to write a longer story.

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[Technoflops]

I think it should depend on the person hosting the contest and the theme they're giving.

[Pedigree]

I agree with technoflops

 

[GamerInGeorgia]

Yeah, I also agree with Technoflops. Some "givens" or themes might need more writing than others. Also, if entries would have to be submitted directly in a forum post, I was wondering if there was a character limit, since that might be a problem having entries submitted that way.
@VinnyVideo - I didn't really think too hard about the words-per-page ratio. If we were to have a standard, maybe 2,000 words?

[VinnyVideo]

@GamerInGeorgia MyBB currently supports post lengths of up to 65,535 characters. If we make our submissions as posts (and I think that's the easiest way to do it), it's unlikely that anyone would exceed that limit.

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