Flash Challenge #7 is OPEN

This time we are doing things a bit differently. Please read below.

You can get there by going to http://www.munsil.net .

Good luck to all who enter!

Instructions follow:
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[size=18]How It Works: [/size]

[color=red][size=18]You cannot participate if you are not registered at Liberty Hall. Sorry, that's the only way this will work for now.[/color]

If you cannot see the Flash Challenge #7 forum, either you are not registered or you have not logged in. If you have any questions, please email a Moderator or mikemunsil.[/size]

In sum:

On Friday we open up the flash challenge. It remains open until Monday morning. This means that you can take up the challenge anytime you like from Friday until Monday.

Taking up the challenge includes:

1. sending an email message to a set email address.
2. receiving the flash challenge trigger message in return, and [u]reading it right away[/u]
3. immediately writing a flash story [u](while 'flash' stories are usually no more than 1000 words and hopefully much less, you are welcome to use this as an opportunity to write whatever you can in the designated time frame) [/u]inspired by the flash topic
4. emailing your story back to the ‘reply-to’ email address in the trigger email that you receive, [u]within the allowed duration period[/u], usually 1.5 hours. The trigger email will lay out how much time you have.

On Monday we post the stories [to a password-protected web page] without revealing who wrote them, and open up the forum to comments/critiques and voting. We also open up a ‘Guessing Frenzy - Who Submitted’ topic and a ‘Guessing Frenzy - Guess Who’ topic in which we decalre that we flashed (truthfully or not) and try to guess who wrote what. This continues through Wednesday. On Thursday we count the votes (polls) and declare winners ‘Flash #7 - Winners’. We also start up a ‘Reveal Thyself’ topic on Thursday in which participants can reveal which entry was theirs. However, there is no requirement to do so. If you are embarassed by what you wrote (and we all are at some point) you can weasel out by not revealing yourself.

This time will be a bit different!

Our entries have steadily increased from Flash #1 (9 entries) to Flash #6 (25 entries) and it has become difficult for many of us, even in three days, to read, comment and vote on all the flashes. So, we are trying out an alternative.

[color=red]We (the FlashMods) have created two groups, [u]Moonstone[/u] and [u]Tiger’s Eye[/u] into which we will place the entries. We won’t choose which flash goes into which group in any sort of systematic manner. It will be first come, first served, so to speak. We have a number of moderators who will be checking on the entries as they arrive. If one of us sees that an entry is not yet placed, we will format it (hopefully you will read our formatting guidance BEFORE you flash) and assign it to whichever of the two groups has fewer entries. In the case of a tie, it will be the moderator’s choice. We will try to keep them roughly even. AUTHORS please critique entries in the group in which you do [u]not[/u] have an entry. For example: if your entry is #3 in Tiger’s Eye, please critique entries in Moonstone. If your entry is #7 in Moonstone, please critique entries in Tiger’s Eye.

Readers who are not authors are invited to read and comment on any and all of the entries. Comments such as “I liked it.” or “Such fun!” aren’t of much use to anyone other than stroking or damaging their ego. So, if you liked something, tell us what it was! If you disliked something, tell us what it was, and attempt to explain why. Please. Even something as simple as “I just don’t like ducks. They’re up to something!” is valuable information, especially if that comment is repeated by more than one person.

We ask that you read [u]all[/u] the entries in any one group (Moonstone or Tiger’s Eye) before you vote for one of the entries in one of the three categories. We also ask that you don’t peek at the leaders in the polls before voting! ‘Congratulating the congratulated’ has always struck me as an inordinate waste of time and air. [/color]

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Friday –

1. Sometime during the day a Flash Challenge Topic Will be Opened on Liberty Hall by Moderator or someone else who has taken on the task of managing the flash challenge that week.
[list]a. The subject line will say “Flash Challenge #[next number] Is OPEN– [date]
b. For example: Flash Challenge #7 Is Open – Friday, May 13, 2005
c. The text of the post will contain:
[list]i. The Duration (how long you have to write once you start)
ii. Any Special Rules not covered elsewhere
iii. Local Moderator time in GMT
iv. For example:
[list]1. Duration = 1.5 hour
2. You must not use the word ‘the’ anywhere in your submittal
3. Local Moderator time is GMT 0 (or GMT-6, etc)

DO NOT EMAIL UNTIL YOU ARE READY TO START WRITING.

Submit your response as an attachment to an email (acceptable formats are: .txt, .doc, and .rtf) or in the body of an email. [size=18]You MUST include a title.[/size] Please!

If you choose to embed your file into the email, be sure to add extra line breaks between paragraphs. This will make it easier on us. Also, for both attachments (embeds) or text files (.txt), please find a way to show italicized text. A typical way is to use an underscore, such as: _this is italicized text_, but this isn't.

[u]The response should be sent to the reply-to email address in the trigger email that came to you. [/u]

All submissions must be emailed by [u]01:30am Local Moderator Time [/u]Monday morning.
[/list]
Saturday and Sunday –

1. You are free to take up the challenge and to submit it (see below)

1. [color=red]Moderator will post all entries anonymously on Monday to one of two groups (Moonstone or Tiger’s Eye) in topic. After posting them, Moderator will announce a vote by starting a new forum topic named “Flash Challenge #[number] - Moonstone (or Tiger’s Eye) VOTE.[/color]
2. Vote by selecting the radio button (the little round hole thingy) next to the entry of your choice. You will know that the entry is selcted because the radio button will be filled in with a black dot.
3. The Moderator will also post entry topics, one per entry in the Current Flash Challenges forum. Everyone is welcome to comment on the responses or to critique them by means of posting a reply to the Entry #.

1. Commenting, critiquing and voting continues. Please only vote once. :shock:

1. Commenting, critiquing and voting continues. Please only vote once.

1. Voting ends as of 08:00am Local Moderator Time. Moderator will tally and post the results.
2. Flashers are welcome to reveal themselves if they care to.
3. [color=red]Persons providing the next flash trigger/topic submits to Mike or another moderator by Noon GMT-6, US Central Time[/color].

Friday

1. Copy your critiques to save them. They will be deleted at a later date.
2. Moderator will lock all the flashes at about 08:00am Local Moderator Time and eventually delete them.

Flashers:

1. If there is a problem emailing in time, just note that in the email, and Moderator will honor it. In any case, no flashes will be accepted after noon Monday, Local Moderator Time. Sorry.
2. If you use email software that is set to check for email every so often, then [u]please make sure to check for your return email manually[/u], so that you won't lose out on writing time. For example, I use Thunderbird and it is set to send/receive every 10 minutes. I could conceivably lose 10 minutes of that precious hour or so of writing time.
3. Take the Flash Topic and use it as the nucleus for an idea and start writing immediately. In most cases the Duration will be 1.5 hours and that is not a lot of time. Try to write a story that has a beginning, a middle and an end. The story does NOT have to be in-genre SFF unless the Special Rules state that.

We have 13 now.
 

To all those participating: Thank you. The best part is that you're all writing stories that may someday see print. Really, some of these "forced drafts" -- as I like to think of them -- are truly outstanding. There's lots of talent around. Here's hoping that everyone is having fun, too!
 

[This message has been edited by mikemunsil (edited May 16, 2005).]