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Calling All Adults: Where ARE your Contests??


  • Asfand
    Jul 10 3:51 PM
    Reply




    Not that I have anything against the youngsters on SW [I'm 16 myself] but not many adults have contests out there? Why?

    I would really like some sensible, mature contest holder out there.

    The problem with the little tweeniess is:

    - they don't follow their own rules
    - they make insensible comments
    - they have weird ideas
    - they don't set a limit for entries
    - they make ANYTING contests that draw 150+ entries and never judge

    So, please. Will some God-loving or not so God-loving adults PLEASE make some contests!!*phew*

  • Valkyrie
    July 10

    Reply
    Yes.

    • Asfand
      July 10

      Reply
      Not you. You already do make quite a lot. On the other hand, make more!!

  • KodyBoye
    July 10

    Reply
    I could make a contest, but I'm in no mood to read the entries. LOL.

    I'm only seventeen, but I'm not stupid.
  • Busy, busy, busy....I've got a lot on my plate right now and I can never think up a very good contest anyways
  • the tweenies are the only ones that enter. That or you get the same 4 stories over and over again, if I didn't give you a trophy the first time you entered it what makes you think I'll like it now? Crazy kids...

  • Oddities
    July 11

    Reply

    I don't have the time

    between work, sleep, internet trolling and actually writing.

    Actually, i dont see the point in "just enter a random prewrite" contests. Rarely enter them, never host them, and new-write-only contests require
    a. an awesome idea
    b. a few thousand points sitting on it.

  • ablelaz
    July 11

    Reply
    Hi Gang---Well this certainly touches a sore spot with me, so forgive me if I rant a little. I have responded to several contest, can’t remember the exact number, but I have never even heard who won any of them.

    Lately I have sponsored a contest in partnership with another member. To tell you the truth I can’t even find any mention of said contest, so it’s a puzzle to me how I’m going to judge any of them, if in fact someone entered.

    I think there needs to be a common place for contests, with some recognizable method of following them until the conclusion. I don’t quite see the point of entering a contest that just seems to fade into the sunset.

    The last peeve I have is that contests seem to be calling for comments. When I enter a contest I’m vying for as high a ranking as I can get based on my work. When I want comments, I place my stories in reading lists, not contests.

    Talk to you soon---ablelaz.

    • KodyBoye
      July 11

      Reply
      You can follow the contests by clicking on your story, then scrolling down and clicking on the contest. But yes, I do agree with you--there should be a tab to the right (or left) that says, 'Contests you're in.'
      • There is a link to the contests you are in. It is the sixth link down under the contest tab above.
  • You already entered my latest one

  • Kevan
    July 12

    Reply
    On the bright side, there is now almost 150 contests open at a time.
    When I first joined it was about fifty. They were ALL children-made contests. Just be glad they haven't taken over the forums yet

  • Kevan
    July 12

    Reply
    Haha, though it seems like we get the forums while they get the chatterbox.

    • Valkyrie
      July 13

      Reply
      I'll take that deal.

      u no can haz chatz. iz mai chatz n mai seebee, k. Go forrum, rinkly ppl. omglulz!

      • Lawrie
        July 13

        Reply
        You've been socialising with too many elves and fairies and other fantasy thingies by the "sound" of it.

        • Valkyrie
          July 13

          Reply


          Good sirrah, I am quite sure I have no idea of that which you speak. For certes, such fanciful creatures are quite imaginary, and verily I have no truck with the likes of them.



          Or are you trying to say that fantasy is still for kids?


          • Lawrie
            July 13

            Reply
            I wouldn't dare

            And yes... I AM afraid of that sword

      • Kevan
        July 30

        Reply
        LOL.

        "omglulz!"

        • Valkyrie
          July 30

          Reply
          uh, yeah, I hung out a bit much on another site where chatspeak was used seriously by some and in mocking by others.

  • wolfcub
    July 17

    Reply
    I've only made two contests (I think, could be 3) on storywrite, but loads more on AP. I did a rounds contest once, and loads of people were criticising me, "you're only fifteen - i'm 16 now - how can you judge the best?"
    If you don't like it, don't enter! I leave decent comments, on all entries, and choose my favourite entry (or sometimes the one I appreciate most, even if I don't particularly like it) to win. I'm also good at proof-reading and picking up on grammar/spelling errors. No, I don't know everything there is to know about poetry or stories, but even when I'm a big grown-up, that won't have changed!

    But the amount of contests there are by KIDkids, annoys me! I don't see how these children can believe that people will want to enter a contest that says "Yay. Happy squirrel day! Write me a conest abut pupies or anyfink fwuffy!"
    I don't care about the age of the person running a contest I enter - I care about the quality of it. A 45-year-old publishing the above contest would annoy me as much as a five-year-old creating it. If the subject matter is sensible, and the judge fair and punctual, that's all that matters to me.

    • Asfand
      July 17

      Reply
      I was fourteen back in like 2007 when I did these Rounds Contests - two different, one for Poetry and one for Stories...it was awesome...I did like TEN rounds each...was great! I didn't get any criticis (albeit I did have co-judes with me!)

      • wolfcub
        July 17

        Reply
        mine was 5 rounds but so many people didnt bother coming back for the second round, because i challenged them to do something they wouldnt normally - "if your last entry was romance, do something dark/thriller" and i had loads of people say "i only write X. I'm not doing it"
        Well, why bother entering, then? this is a challenge to find "the greatest poet" or whatever i said. there's no point entering if you're not up for the challenge!

  • Barbara
    July 28

    Reply
    Unless it's a contest for:
    prewrites
    vampires
    Twilight
    werewolves
    magic

    then people don't want to enter... offer 500 points for gold, and NOT include those things, and all one gets is 5 entries.

    • Kevan
      July 30

      Reply
      I've never held a contest on any of those things (excluding Pre-writes I guess) and I usually get between five and fifteen entries.

      The most new writes I've ever gotten in one contest was 139 (I think) because each story was supposed to be nine words long. The only contests most people will enter are those that don't require effort.

      • Barbara
        July 30

        Reply
        that's my problem... I expect people to write

        • Kevan
          July 30

          Reply
          That's the problem we all face.

          Sadly, the most well-written pieces on this site aren't entered in any contests. Really, it saddens me

  • Marta
    July 28

    Reply
    I don't think that I have read a contest which requires someone to write about ordinary people having to deal with an extra-ordinary event that has happened to them/him/her and how they survived it...wishful thinking on my part, I guess.

    • Valkyrie
      July 28

      Reply
      Isn't that most vampire stories, like Twilight? "omg I went to school in BF Washington and there's a hot vampire there who thinks I smell so tasty and then there was danger and fighting and more danger and at the end I lived happily ever after, no really, I'm immortal now the end but only for u"


  • Tricia3
    July 30

    Reply
    I'm about ready to jump in with more contests, but I never have too many entries. I usually ask for new stories and they have to be more than 100 words.

    I'll keep trying though, until I find out what really works.

    Trish
  • I think it's because teens have more time to create them.

    And not all of us "tweenies" are immature... I like to think that I do a pretty good job with my contests. I always make sure that people follow the rules (or they get a DQ), my comments are actually constructive, my ideas are generally sane, and I always judge within a week. And I'm only fifteen.


    But there are lots of contests I enter that end up being canceled because the judge doesn't do anything, and it pisses me off.

  • Miss Ruby
    November 17

    Reply
    I'm fairly new to storywrite and I was under the (clearly) misguided impression that the best way to get some descent critique and some publicity was through contests. But I will admit I am getting a little frustrated with entering contests that don't seem to end or that usually end up with me competing with a dozen teenage angst filled vampire stories.
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