Every willing author drop an "I'm in." post here before October 1st.

All entry stories must be complete on October 31st. No more than 7,000 words; no less than 500. When your story is complete, an only when you've typed the words "The End", you post your first thirteen (I will post a topic for this, reserve any questions for this topic). All challengers will then critique the stories. After they've all been critiqued, tentatively November 7th, then we will vote on the winner.

Who is up for it?

What's the judging/scoring system we're going to use?

When you've read them all, post your vote. I suppose I'll have to Post a "Voting" Topic on the seventh.

Um, but I reserve the right to chicken out later, and be mocked mercilessly.

One more day.

Favorite (3 points):

Runner up (1 point):

Runner up (1 point):

Oo - or you could have a point for each story you read, and award those to favorite stories as the reader pleases.

If we're doing the whole stories, I suggest that we break into groups and/or have a longer timeline. I know it's entirely possible/likely that not all of us will have stories in by the deadline, but if there are more than say 8 stories on the deadline date...it would probably be a more reasonable time commitment to expect people to read/crit 4 stories in a week, rather than all 8.

Voting:
List your three favorite in order.
1) Story Name - Author
2) Story Name - Author
3) Story Name - Author
I think that'll do. If I don't make the top three, I don't want to know that I'm number thirteen. (We want to encourage writing, not discourage it.) We'll tally the votes and the winners we be the result of a democratic process.

Read them, KayTi. If you feel the need to point out anything, you can, but, read them enough so you can vote--that's what the deadline is all about. After the voting is done, we can do full critiques (once the thirteen is posted, it's game to be critiqued).

Okay, keep the questions in this post.

Let the challenge begin.

Like LH Challenges, they need only be first drafts. Feel free to hone them according to feedback. On the other hand, if you have taken it all the way to polish in the alloted time, that's great, too!

I live to make things complicated... But then again, my husband designs card games, so I'm used to lots of varied rules.

The only question that has not arrived is the "Is it okay to vote for yourself?" question. The answer is yes. If you have read everyone else's stories and still feel that yours ranks in the top three, vote for yourself. There's no prize--beyond that of your peers thinking you wrote a decent short story (and having to issue the next trigger) --and thus no reason to cheat. If you prefer not typing your vote for yourself, you can do as follows:

1)
2) His Story
3) Her Story

Or whatever order you feel that you honestly placed in. We'll assume the "blank" represents the place you feel that you deserve.

quote:

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Sorry, 'nother one - read and vote on first 13s only? Or will we distribute the entire stories to the entire group? The logistics were bothering me.

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Uh...no. Once 13 lines are posted, that story is ready for the others to read it. You may critique the first thirteen, or you can wait until you've read them all to critique each individual one (in other words: no time limit on full critiques), but, you must vote by the November 7th.
I had no idea that there would be this big a turnout when I originally suggested the critiques be done by the 7th too, so, the full critques don't have a due-date (though I hope everyone involved will get them out A.S.A.P.), just the voting does.

quote:

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I should shut up and start writing, eh?

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You mean you haven't?

Are you presenting a first draft, or a polished? There's no rule about letting it cool and sending in a polished piece.

Winners are determined by total points. Stories receive 3 points each time they're selected as someone's first choice, 2 points each time they're selected as a second choice, and one point each time they're selected as a third choice.

This is more about getting people writing than judging.

I know you've declared we each get three equally weighted ballots, but another voting strategy (from product development) is to give the winner 9 votes, second place 3 votes and third place 1 vote.

Are you telling me that only three people have stood behind their convictions?

Where are the other 11?

Which actually means I'm going to restart it and see if I can write a reasonable 4k word story out of the ashes. Like a leaf on the wind....

I hope everyone that entered the challenge has enjoyed themselves, and the deadline rush. I also hope the monthly challenge becomes a staple.

tigertinite and Mauvemuse, I'm glad to see that you've finished. I'm not at the computer that has my story , so I will have to send it out to you two tomorrow.