Writers' Workshop General Chat Thread

[Life]

It is more about stories not being judged on the same content over and over again. If someone just posts one very short chapter, there is nothing really new, comparatively, to judge. If someone posts 15/20k words and they are still of a high quality, I am more than happy to give them an award again, but it seems silly to give them an award if they only updated the story, like people said, a day or two before the awards began. You'd have to think about Best Story: does something deserve to win the top award two seasons in a row if they only posted one new chapter that didn't really move the plot along?

I admittedly am torn with answering here, because while on one side I agree that a story shouldn't win with only one new chapter, I also don't think it should matter in the big scheme of things, as like I said above I feel the award should go to the story that best deserves it, whether the author's dedication to publishing new content is factored in or not.

Points don't really mean as much as they used to anymore, they are more there as guidelines, so losing points won't actually change anything. I am weary of adding more categories, just as I don't want to dilute things and I think having 'best new story' would open the door to 'why don't we best long running story', 'why don't we split the categories up by length', etc, and I am not rebooting the awards. We do have a Best Newcomer award to recognise new authors

Ah, alright. I wasn't sure how much points still effected things but from what I remember it used to be a considerable factor for most categories. I also understand your concern with others wanting new categories, though I would argue there is some merit in a Best New Story category, though I figure I'm the only one who does. ^^

Either way, I'm not against the new editions, and I think the awards will be interesting with them implemented next season.

 

[AceTrainer14]

Er, but unless you can tell a chapter is especially longer or cut down (which is the only obvious edit), then that still requires someone to take the time to read/skim/analyze/something. I guess the mods can take the week before awards to compile a complete list of eligible fics?

The editing part is the most up in the air part at the moment, but we would be keeping an eye on the past award winners pre-awards.

I admittedly am torn with answering here, because while on one side I agree that a story shouldn't win with only one new chapter, I also don't think it should matter in the big scheme of things, as like I said above I feel the award should go to the story that best deserves it, whether the author's dedication to publishing new content is factored in or not.

It is an unfortunate mix between trying to give everyone a chance and ensuring the best stories win, but I think for at least one season, I am happy to test and see if it effects anything at all. As BP said, it would work out at only 3500 a month, which is one fairly chapter a month, and I think most of the award winning stories here do stick to a schedule like that.

 

[Arkadelphiak]

Just my two cents, but I can see the merit in a "Best New Story" category. Imagine a timid newcomer hoping to win just one award . . . yet all they see —year after year from lurking— are the heavyweights "effortlessly" (from the perspective of an outsider) landing award after award. They don't have a chance of winning "Best Protagonist" or "Best Journey," so what's the point? Why bother with this forum if they don't see themselves with a future in it? Awards aren't everything, yes, but aren't we sitting here debating our own Awards? It isn't fair to dismiss something that caters to newcomers when one has gotten tons of awards. Sure, "Best Newcomer" is nice, but this is a writing community, people!

 

[diamondpearl876]

Just my two cents, but I can see the merit in a "Best New Story" category. Imagine a timid newcomer hoping to win just one award . . . yet all they see —year after year from lurking— are the heavyweights "effortlessly" (from the perspective of an outsider) landing award after award. They don't have a chance of winning "Best Protagonist" or "Best Journey," so what's the point? Why bother with this forum if they don't see themselves with a future in it? Awards aren't everything, yes, but aren't we sitting here debating our own Awards? It isn't fair to dismiss something that caters to newcomers when one has gotten tons of awards. Sure, "Best Newcomer" is nice, but this is a writing community, people!

Best New Story requires you to consider if literally any new story is eligible or only those submitted by newcomers. Technically I could post a story right now and be eligible for that award unless we want to make things more complicated in the new system. Also, BinkVallen is a perfect example of a newcomer being able to beat the seasoned winners. I am sure there have been others in the past.

 

[AceTrainer14]

Just my two cents, but I can see the merit in a "Best New Story" category. Imagine a timid newcomer hoping to win just one award . . . yet all they see —year after year from lurking— are the heavyweights "effortlessly" (from the perspective of an outsider) landing award after award. They don't have a chance of winning "Best Protagonist" or "Best Journey," so what's the point? Why bother with this forum if they don't see themselves with a future in it? Awards aren't everything, yes, but aren't we sitting here debating our own Awards? It isn't fair to dismiss something that caters to newcomers when one has gotten tons of awards. Sure, "Best Newcomer" is nice, but this is a writing community, people!

The whole point of changing this is to try and get more people to take part, and I feel like just giving people their own award doesn't actually address the problem and more makes excuses for it. If there is a strong outcry for it, we will consider it, but personally I think we have enough awards and I'd rather we try and make it an even playing field instead of small solutions.

 

[AetherX]

Without giving away too much of our magical wizard powers moderator abilities, it would actually be pretty straightforward for us to check and see how much stuff has been updated. A little bit more work for us, but hey, that's what we're here for. We'd only have to check past award winners that get nominated anyway, not everyone. That's only a few fics, and not many people actually do sizable edits.

I'm torn on Best New Story. On one hand, it could be a kind of bunny slope for the awards with only those eligible for Best Newcomer being eligible for the award. On the other hand, it could come across as "here's your babby award because you can't compete with the big kids."

Also, like dp said, Bink showed up all of us Journey hotshots over the summer. I am not and have never been a hotshot, but you know what I mean.

 

[Misfit Angel]

The issue with taking home told gold in the form of Best Story with a new story is that generally, you're not going to have the plot developed properly in time for the first awards cycle it's put in, and it seems like that's what most of the judges go on. It has to really f'ing shine everywhere else.

I guess that might just be the folly of man, though, expecting to blow everything out of the water on a first attempt. Stuff like that generally doesn't happen, but everyone's hopeful.

 

[Beth Pavell]

The issue with taking home told gold in the form of Best Story with a new story is that generally, you're not going to have the plot developed properly in time for the first awards cycle it's put in, and it seems like that's what most of the judges go on. It has to really f'ing shine everywhere else.

I guess that might just be the folly of man, though, expecting to blow everything out of the water on a first attempt. Stuff like that generally doesn't happen, but everyone's hopeful.

There is that. Speaking as a judge, you can try and judge proportionate to length (And with one-shots that method works), but there's always that conflict when you have a short story in two or three chapters in which has made few missed steps, up against a longer one with more obvious problems, but then bigger scenes. It doesn't seem fair to call a story a winner when it hasn't yet had to deal with the big, key scenes, but then is it fair to call it the loser for the same reasons?
I always have trouble on that. I also remember that it took me a few seasons to make an impact with The Long Walk, before it became a regular competitor in Judging, so take from that what you will

But then, that's not really the issue, since the problem as I see it is that so often new works don't end up in Judging at all. I'm quite amenable to changes that mean new works don't have to rely so much of brand recognition - so to speak - in order to compete. And although I can see the point of Best New Story, I don't think it really solves the problem so much as bypasses it

 

[AceTrainer14]

It does depend on the competition. Some stories do make a strong impact in their first few chapters - some rise by sin won the first time it was entered I believe, and it sort of hits you in the face with a fairly unique premise, a ton of mythology and a lot of philosophical wondering. We have had issues, twice in recent seasons, around one shots or new stories competing for Best Story against much bigger, perhaps showier stories, but generally new stories are able to stand out in their categories.

I think there is enough evidence to say Best New Story doesn't need to be considered. I also think that since there are things people haven't brought up, like the 48 delay on voting, we are going to move ahead with implementing those. Does anyone have any final objections to the word limit (it looks like it will probably be about 20k now, maybe 17.5k, but I'd prefer a smoother number) or the compulsory nominations?

 

[0bs1d1an_kn1ght]

I'm writing a rough draft for a medieval furry story that I hope to publish, and I was wondering: what are some good medieval/fantasy stories to draw inspiration from, aside from LotR?

 

[Lugion]

A Game of Thrones and its sequels are impeccable in their accuracy to medieval life. They're very long, though.

 

[0bs1d1an_kn1ght]

A Game of Thrones and its sequels are impeccable in their accuracy to medieval life. They're very long, though.

Hmm, are there any short stories? My attention span isn't very long.

 

[Lugion]

Hmm, are there any short stories? My attention span isn't very long.

The "Tales of Dunk and Egg" taking place in the same universe are pretty good. They're about 100ish pages each, though. You can find a combined edition of the three stories in that series so far under the name A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. That's what I have.

There are also the historical novellas, The Rogue Prince and The Princess and the Queen, which are abridged in-universe accounts of the events leading up to and during the Targaryen civil war known as "the Dance of Dragons". Those can be found in the Rogues and Dangerous Women anthologies, respectively.

 

[0bs1d1an_kn1ght]

The "Tales of Dunk and Egg" taking place in the same universe are pretty good. They're about 100ish pages each, though. You can find a combined edition of the three stories in that series so far under the name A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. That's what I have.

There are also the historical novellas, The Rogue Prince and The Princess and the Queen, which are abridged in-universe accounts of the events leading up to and during the Targaryen civil war known as "the Dance of Dragons". Those can be found in the Rogues and Dangerous Women anthologies, respectively.

ok, thanks. I'll see if I can find any free samples of those stories laying around the internet.

 

[Octomo]

So how is everyone? I haven't been posting a lot on here cause i'm still new to the rules. It turn out i'm going to write a fanfic from another fandom (if it's ok to post it even if it doesn't have any relation on pokemon).

 

[Legacy]

I initially liked the Best New Story idea, but now that I think about it, it might unintentionally remove a "new" story's ability to win other awards. Not saying the judges wouldn't recognize if it deserved Best Journey, for example, but perhaps it might happen where it just sort of gets thrown into the Best New Fic category because it's new.

 

[Stratelier]

I keep thinking of so many ways to combine elements of PSMD with Explorers, I really should start writing them all down.

For one, Celebi will be a total Doctor Who reference. E.g. she doesn't call him "my dear Grovyle", she says "Hello, sweetie" (much to Grovyle's consternation).

 

[Misfit Angel]

I'm writing a rough draft for a medieval furry story that I hope to publish, and I was wondering: what are some good medieval/fantasy stories to draw inspiration from, aside from LotR?

Look no further than Redwall.

It turn out i'm going to write a fanfic from another fandom (if it's ok to post it even if it doesn't have any relation on pokemon).

That's perfectly fine, there's a few already out there (and even a few original works). We've even got an awards category for non-pokemon.

 

[0bs1d1an_kn1ght]

So this is what I got so far of that story Untitled

I've only gotten the setting down so far.

 

[AetherX]

So how is everyone? I haven't been posting a lot on here cause i'm still new to the rules. It turn out i'm going to write a fanfic from another fandom (if it's ok to post it even if it doesn't have any relation on pokemon).

If you have any questions about the rules feel free to ask. Like KP said, it's totally cool to post a Non-Pokemon fic. Love to have diversity in the Workshop!