Originally posted by DeusEx
Part of the issue is judging time, Dawg. Judges have to read through all the entries, in most cases, two or three times. In addition, the challenges are meant to be exactly that: writing exercises. Competitions like the annual Halloween Contest tend to be longer, but for the small dots on the landscape the rule of thumb is 500 words. We're still open to contest-level suggestions, of course, but I do enjoy having lots of skill-building material in between.

DE

Good point DeusEx.
And one I hadn't thought of.

I have another question though.
In the lower right corner of all posts I see a blurb that says, "copyright."
Does that mean ATS owns what's written?
If so, I'm not sure I want to write something that will end up owned by someone else.

Originally posted by curiousity

to you mrwupy, great idea. If we don't get a similar challenge I think I'll write a story on it anyway, would you have any objections?

I have no objections, it was just a random thought that crossed my mind. Have fun my friend and I hope you get carried away with it

wupy

[edit on 16-8-2006 by mrwupy]

How about a Long Short Story Contest?

I personally hate these tiny 25 word or one paragraph "short short" story contests as of late, and I'd rather see a contest with a bit more substance to it in terms of size.

Originally posted by Desert Dawg

I have another question though.
In the lower right corner of all posts I see a blurb that says, "copyright."
Does that mean ATS owns what's written?
If so, I'm not sure I want to write something that will end up owned by someone else.

I've asked this question a few times myself just to be clear on it. Here is the answer.

When you post a story on ATS they have the right to use that story as they see fit for all time. You are still the author though and you have the right to also use the story as you see fit. They can use the story but you still have to be credited as the author.

I even got a message from Skeptic Overlord who told me if I were suddenly having success and needed my stories dropped from the site that it would not be a problem.

The writing forum is a place to learn and grow as writers. ATS is not here to claim anything as their own. Use your stories as you want to use your stories, just keep in mind if ATS wants to put together a collection of short stories in the future and use one of yours, they have the right.

Hope this answers your questions.

wupy

P.S. I think the official policy on this should be outlined in a thread by a mod of this forum and stickied, just to answer the question once and for all.

Originally posted by mrwupy

Use your stories as you want to use your stories, just keep in mind if ATS wants to put together a collection of short stories in the future and use one of yours, they have the right.

Oooohhh I'd be so excited about someone wanting to use one of my story's i'd gladly give it up, if that were ever to happen!!
Imagine that, an ATS book of short story's available now from all good book stores. Yippee, look, look everyone there's my name.

Originally posted by mrwupy

Originally posted by Desert Dawg

I have another question though.
In the lower right corner of all posts I see a blurb that says, "copyright."
Does that mean ATS owns what's written?
If so, I'm not sure I want to write something that will end up owned by someone else.

I've asked this question a few times myself just to be clear on it. Here is the answer.

When you post a story on ATS they have the right to use that story as they see fit for all time. You are still the author though and you have the right to also use the story as you see fit. They can use the story but you still have to be credited as the author.

I even got a message from Skeptic Overlord who told me if I were suddenly having success and needed my stories dropped from the site that it would not be a problem.

The writing forum is a place to learn and grow as writers. ATS is not here to claim anything as their own. Use your stories as you want to use your stories, just keep in mind if ATS wants to put together a collection of short stories in the future and use one of yours, they have the right.

Hope this answers your questions.

wupy

P.S. I think the official policy on this should be outlined in a thread by a mod of this forum and stickied, just to answer the question once and for all.

Thank you Mr. Wupy.

Question answered and it sounds reasonable.

Now if I can only cut the 11,000 word story down to a half page or so....

The rule of thumb is with word limits, that's the maximum, but feel free to pass it by...but ballpark it. You start loosing points in a hurry once it passes that point, just because the word limit is a rough indication of how much time the judges have to spare.

DE

How about an alternative history story line. There's a few writers like Kim Newman and Robert Harris who have used this idea to write some cracking stories. It doesn't have to be factual history either. Anno Dracula by Kim newman is based on the idea that Dracula managed to defeat Van Helsing etc and went on to establish a vampire empire in Victorian Britain.

What if the allies lost WWII

The Crusaders were defeated by the Moors, who went on to establish a world empire.

The tripods did not succumb to earthly bacteria in War of the Worlds.

That kind of thing.

I have an idea--not for "content" I guess you could say, but for how a future challenge could be handled.

Right now, everything's posted straight up, out in the open, and judged by selected members. Fair enough, but...

Why not have a "secret ballot" method of voting, where a piece is submitted via U2U or email to a mod (or whomever) and then posted by the receiving member for the contest. The selections are voted on by the general membership instead of selected judges. Some rules would need to be set up to prevent members from trying to "campaign" their piece, such as disqualifying the submission if people are going around saying "hey, vote for this one because I wrote it."

Just a thought...

Originally posted by DeusEx
The rule of thumb is with word limits, that's the maximum, but feel free to pass it by...but ballpark it. You start loosing points in a hurry once it passes that point, just because the word limit is a rough indication of how much time the judges have to spare.

DE

It's the 23rd, contest was to have ended 8/20, I believe. Any word yet on when a winner will be announced? Anyone?

Waiting for the next challenge, too. Some of the suggestions are grrreat!

Originally posted by curiousity

It's the 23rd, contest was to have ended 8/20, I believe. Any word yet on when a winner will be announced? Anyone?

Waiting for the next challenge, too. Some of the suggestions are grrreat!

Patience, curiousity...let's give DeusEx a chance to weigh things...I've seen winners announced after a much longer time than a couple of days...and it's only the 22nd here.

I have a suggestion for a contest...

How about a short story involving the last day of civilization?

We can call it the what-were-you-doing-when-the-world-ended contest.

Add whatever rules you deem appropriate.

Originally posted by curiousity

Originally posted by mrwupy
I think the story line should go like this:

Typical guy/gal, living their life and muddling thru when one day, from out of the blue the voice of God screams, "CUT!!!! All of life is a stage and none of you are playing your parts correctly. I'm making these changes effective immediately...."

and let the authors run with it from there

Just a thought on a goofy Monday night,

wupy

to you mrwupy, great idea. If we don't get a similar challenge I think I'll write a story on it anyway, would you have any objections?

FYI to mrwupy: I'm three chapters into the story based on your suggestion. I'll be posting a synopsis on my blog if you are interested. Would appreciate any suggestions you might have on it, also. Thanks again for the idea!

Originally posted by curiousity

FYI to mrwupy: I'm three chapters into the story based on your suggestion. I'll be posting a synopsis on my blog if you are interested. Would appreciate any suggestions you might have on it, also. Thanks again for the idea!

I'm glad your having a good time with the story and i'd love to read what you've done so far. How about a link to your blog when you get the synopsis posted. I'll chip in whatever I can.

WTG my friend

wupy

With all this talk about pluto I think we should write stories that are set in space or on another planet.

Originally posted by Vegemite
With all this talk about pluto I think we should write stories that are set in space or on another planet.

Nice idea...a science fiction. I've been a sci-fi fan forever...



we could write a story about the life of an alien, their social system and all kinds of non-human stuff...




[edit on 26-8-2006 by masqua]

I can see the stories now:

A father puts his child to bed, the child is sad.

"But dad, It was my favorite planet. They can't just demote it."

"I'm afraid they did." The father replied. "The Plutonian scientists decided that Earth is just too close to the sun to be considered a planet."

Originally posted by loam
I have a suggestion for a contest...

How about a short story involving the last day of civilization?

We can call it the what-were-you-doing-when-the-world-ended contest.

Add whatever rules you deem appropriate.

With xmas fast approaching how about a contest using loams idea with xmas day as the last day of civilization. Not that i'd notice as im usually asleep on the couch an hour after lunch.
Imagine that, i slept through the apocolypse, damn it i always miss the fun!!

(edit for lousy spelling)

[edit on 29/11/06 by mojo4sale]

If we don't start another writing contest soon I may have to start actually doing work at my job.

That would suck.

Please send help.

Sincerely,
Essedarius

Things ARE in the works for another contest.

I hope to have the next one started before the end of the week, so keep an eye out for an announcement in the Short Stories forum.