In a flash challenge you are given a topic or trigger word, and a certain amount of time to write. In our challenge we are also allowing a certain period of time to participate, in order to be fair to our friends in other countries.
[Edited to add info on how it works]
After reading the rules and deciding to take the challenge, you go to the Flash Challenge #1 topic and read the top part of the post. The topic trigger word is hidden at the bottom of the post where you'll have to scroll down to find it. If you decide to do it, post that you are starting, then go look at the topic word. That sets the clock, and you have one hour to write and then email me the response. I will post your response anonymously as a Guest[number].
After the open period is over I will create a poll and ask everyone to vote on whose flash they liked best. You are also welcome to comment on or critique flashes as replies to the anonynmous posts. When the voting is over I'll wait a week or so and delete all the posts.
Anyone is welcome to suggest a topic.
[This message has been edited by mikemunsil (edited April 01, 2005).]
posted
Crumbs! A flash challenge! I won't look at it until after I've had dinner, fed the cats, and chatted up the wife before sending her off to battle evil on the PS2.
By the way, any joy on the automated challenge system?
posted
Hey Mike, I sent you an e-mail about this. I just titled it Liberty Hall...something or other. Not sure if it will make it past spam filters. If you don't get it, let me and I'll re-send it or something. Posts: 1473 | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
No joy yet on the automated system. We're using an interim honor system for this one.
Anyone who desires to start early, may. Just please respect the "write for 1 hour after reading the topic" rule. Reading the topic triggers your start time. Also, please take note of the way that I am asking you to post, as a 'guest'.
Please do not blame ME for the the topic (aka trigger word). HSO picked it. (that's my story and I'm sticking with it)
By the way, there's an interesting connection between Writer's Block and free-writing (flash challenges are a form of free-writing) in the latest newsletter from:
W R I T I N G W O R L D
A World of Writing Information - For Writers Around the World
posted
Ooh, I want to do this but I can't go look yet. I'm super busy for the next three days. Will it still be up Sunday evening? That's the first chance I'll have to do it, so I don't want to cheat and look too early, but I also don't want to miss it.
Posts: 818 | Registered: Aug 2004
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posted
Yep, I set the open period until about midnight, Sunday night. Since you have an hour to write and post, you could even start at 11pm your time and still make it.
In this case, though, I suggest you put your creative hat on, as HSO's topic is an 'interesting' one.
That's what you get for making me a villain! Now your name will be cursed by all those who partake of the challenge! Some might even be *gasp* offended.
posted
Bump. We have 4 already and the official period hasn't even started. So much for rules! LOL Just do it whenever you feel like it, I guess.
Posts: 2710 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Oops. I didn't read the rules at all... then I posted while logged in. And then I deleted that post and posted again in the wrong place (not logged in)...
But then again, I don't often look at instruction manuals these days. I used to, though -- I wonder when that changed...
posted
I'm impressed. Not only did everyone so far (5) not just give up when they saw the trigger word, they all actually built the concept into their flashes! And one actually even used the trigger word in a way that made perfect sense for the story, which I never thought would happen.
Some pretty gruesome stories, though.
I hope some more of you flash; there's no telling what we'll see next.
posted
I actually just tried this experiment for the first time and it was a lot of fun! I didn't think I would be able to do it but I did. I went with the first idea that popped into my head (which turned out really dark and twisted) because I knew I didn't have time to overanalyze it. I think I might be guilty of over-thinking a lot of my ideas to the point of completely discarding them before even trying them. This showed me that almost any idea can turn into an interesting story.
Posts: 225 | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
Well, challenging wasn't quite the word I would have used to describe that trigger. Not an easy introduction into these things for a newbie. And I'm one of those people who had trouble with the directions (I accessed the trigger page before I was ready to write...but honest, I didn't scroll down far enough to get to the trigger). For a first flash challenge, I thought it was pretty fun.
Posts: 491 | Registered: Oct 2004
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It's in the nature of flash challenges to be, well, challenges. Yes, the trigger word is a bit strange, but I did include a definition. How about if next time one of you guys choose a trigger word, phrase, saying or picture?
posted
On Monday morning I will open up a poll. The poll will be open for voting Monday only. Everyone is invited to go there and vote for the flash they like best. Please keep in mind that flashes should be as complete a story as possible, with a beginning, middle and end.
Also, would the flashers please comment on the flashes in a critiquing sense? Not a full-blown critique of course, just something that will help the author take his/her piece and turn it into a finished product.
Additionally, please make any suggestions you can on the process of flashing as we did it this time. Was it easy, hard? Is there a better way? We will ultimately be using web-based software to run the flash, but until then we must continue it this way. So, any suggestions are welcome and will be passed along to the person designing it.
Penultimately, I will be deleting the flashes from the site on Wednesday, so if you flashers choose to reveal who you are after the voting closes, please do it Tuesday.
And finally, would someone please volunteer to choose a trigger word or topic for next week so that I can participate? I will show you what you have to do to post it, and then I will take it from there. The challenge can be a trigger word, a phrase, a poem, or an image, and I will consider music as well.
Ciao
mikemunsil
[This message has been edited by mikemunsil (edited April 03, 2005).]
posted
Hey Mike, is there any way for the suggestions to be put into a hat so to speak, with no one including you knowing which one is chosen until you pull it out right before starting the challenge? That way everyone can participate no matter whose idea it is. Just a thought.
Posts: 818 | Registered: Aug 2004
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posted
Even though it was my "kittens in a sack" comment that inspired your trigger word, mike, I'd be happy to volunteer to choose the next trigger. Count me in.
Posts: 1520 | Registered: Jun 2004
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quote:Additionally, please make any suggestions you can on the process of flashing as we did it this time. Was it easy, hard? Is there a better way?
Aside that a few of us failed to follow the instructions properly, myself included, it wasn't hard. The word was perhaps challenging, and I noticed that you adjusted the definition of UTRICIDE part way through the contest -- perhaps to make the meaning clearer -- yet I don't think that should have been done. Nevertheless, it happened... no worries.
A couple of points to discuss about the submission process:
I don't feel the stories should be posted up until after the contest. Even though it's an honor system with looking at the keyword, there isn't anything stopping anyone from reading the prior submissions before writing their own. I feel the contest should be done with blind subs -- no one seeing the entries until after the contest ends. Then, all stories are posted at once, each in its own topic... along with the poll.
Second... don't take down the stories so quickly once they are posted. We need a little time to crit them or read them and vote. I've only read three so far.... So, I feel the poll should last at least half of a week. Maybe even a week.
Third. Is the poll setup to prevent unfair "padding" of the results? I'm not suggesting that anyone would cheat by voting for their own story several times -- okay I am suggesting that. It depends on the poll setup (i.e., can only members vote?) and if not then participants should be excluded from the vote for the fairest vote. Also, the flash admin for that week must also be excluded from the vote, because he will know who wrote what story.
Which means, fourthly, that we need outside voters to judge the stories. Yet, this requires participation on a level that maybe few will be interested in doing. Who knows?
quote:I don't feel the stories should be posted up until after the contest. Even though it's an honor system with looking at the keyword, there isn't anything stopping anyone from reading the prior submissions before writing their own. I feel the contest should be done with blind subs -- no one seeing the entries until after the contest ends. Then, all stories are posted at once, each in its own topic... along with the poll.
I don't have any problem with that. Anybody else care to weigh in?
quote:Second... don't take down the stories so quickly once they are posted. We need a little time to crit them or read them and vote. I've only read three so far.... So, I feel the poll should last at least half of a week. Maybe even a week.
The reason to rake down the stories so quickly was to preserve as much as possible the ability of the authors to sell them later. At the moment, because we do not have 'flashing software', I had a choice to make: either force everyone to register at Liberty Hall in order to set that forum as private, or minimize the duration that the stories were on the web. Many people I know use flash to generate salable stories. Some editors will tell you that they do a web search to see if a story is published on the web somewhere before deciding to accept it. I didn't want to restrict access to this first flash challenge, and I didn't want to hurt anyone's chances of publishing their story. This was the best compromise I could make at this time. So, unless so,eone can suggest a better compromise, that won't change until the software is ready or everyone agrees to register at the site in order to participate.
quote:Third. Is the poll setup to prevent unfair "padding" of the results? I'm not suggesting that anyone would cheat by voting for their own story several times -- okay I am suggesting that. It depends on the poll setup (i.e., can only members vote?) and if not then participants should be excluded from the vote for the fairest vote. Also, the flash admin for that week must also be excluded from the vote, because he will know who wrote what story.
The forum software makes it impossible to see the poll results until you vote, and impossible to vote more than once. So, I think this is fair. Again, until the flashing software is implemented, we will have to compromise.
Good comments! What do you think of what I have said above? Anyone else?
[This message has been edited by mikemunsil (edited April 04, 2005).]
And anyway, I didn't even vote for my own story. There was one that was a clear standout from all of the others and original -- to me anyway. I suspect others will likely agree.
posted
If anyone is having trouble voting, please just vote here by posting a reply to this topic.
Or, go to the site and register. I'll temporarily change the registration option to make registration instantaneous. After you register, if you'd rather not stay registered, please let me know and I'll delete your registration fortwith.
[This message has been edited by mikemunsil (edited April 04, 2005).]
quote:The forum software makes it impossible to see the poll results until you vote, and impossible to vote more than once. So, I think this is fair. Again, until the flashing software is implemented, we will have to compromise.
This isn't quite true. I tried to vote without logging in (to see if it would work) and it only showed me the results. I had to log in to vote.
quote:So, unless so,eone can suggest a better compromise, that won't change until the software is ready or everyone agrees to register at the site in order to participate.
Personally, I didn't have a problem with registering. I think a private forum is a good idea. The only thing is that anyone who wants to read the stories to vote would also need to register.
posted
I thought I wasn't supposed to see the results until I voted, but when I went into the topic all I saw was the percentage of votes already cast, and couldn't figure out how to vote except by replying to the post. And I swear I hadn't already voted. What did I do wrong?
Posts: 818 | Registered: Aug 2004
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posted
You did nothing wrong. I had thought that you would all be able to vote unregistered, but I was wrong. So please make sure that your vote is noted somewhere, here as a reply, there as a reply, or in Ohio, and I will collate and present the results tomorrow.
Or you could temporarily register and vote, then ask me to delete you as a registered user.
posted
autumnmuse: did you remember to login? I noticed that you posted your vote as "Guest". If you look in the upper right corner, it will tell you if you are logged in or not.
posted
You know, despite all the 'comments' I received about the topic I chose, no one ever pointed out that I posted it on April Fool's day.
Posts: 2710 | Registered: Jul 2004
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