Rather than asking for complete 2,000-3,000 word stories, how about 1,000 word scenes to serve specific purposes, such as a creation myth, a character backstory, a branching dialogue exchange, a plot outline, a game summary, etc.? Stuff people might actually be able to use in a game design project, unlike short stories which many people already have to write as school assignments.

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Original post by sunandshadow Rather than asking for complete 2,000-3,000 word stories, how about 1,000 word scenes to serve specific purposes, such as a creation myth, a character backstory, a branching dialogue exchange, a plot outline, a game summary, etc.?

My original idea was gonna be to just have people write a snippet of a story that ends on a somewhat resolved cliff-hanger. That way when the winners' stories were read, people would seek out that writer and ask them to produce more, which would encourage the writer to continue working on their story. I wasn't specific on that, I apologize. We could try what you've proposed though.

But if everything else is alright, sunandshadow, see if the rest of the staff approves of that criteria. Then we can begin selected a theme and setting a deadline. :)

I think this is an excellent idea, and hop that it will take place(after the new year.) I do however agree with sunandshadow that it might be better to break it down into a short scene. It might be fun and interesting to have the critera consist of an opening and closing paragraph and submission consist of 1000-2000 words scenes that take place between the two paragraphs.

Bump to remind people that this is a great idea. I'll be in whenever it gets off the ground.

As for the criteria, I'd agree that it not be in the category of short story, as those are notoriously hard to write. I'm not opposed to the length, though, as 2000 words can come quickly when writing anything but an essay =P.

Can't wait to see this get underway.

As ever,
**Cosmic**

Well, I guess we won't have it be a short story then for the contest submissions. :) It'll just be a scene, plot outline, character dialog, or something along the lines of what sunandshadow mentioned.

Then with that settled, I'm basically just waiting for more of a confirmation from the staff on whether or not they're gonna support this or not. Otherwise I may just be wasting my breath by continuing onward; I could give more details about the contest, but if the contest doesn't get the green light, then it's kind of pointless. I'll keep everything written down, though. :)

Anyhow... admins, reply soon! :P I hope they actually read this... lol

Two thousand words strikes me as very light.

Me too. In any case I'm interested in joining if this ever gets under way, it should help me get motivated and off my ass (or on, as seems to be the case).

I guess we'll just have to use the first writing contest (if any) as a sort of test to see what needs changing, such as increasing/decreasing the number of words in the submission. A lot depends on the criteria of the contest, though. We'll just have to see what happens. :)

That's exiting, I would definitley be up for it! I agree with sunandshadow, it would better with different purposes such as the game summary and so on since people can use them in their own projects, or at least get some ideas.

I'm yet another person who likes this.
But I can't promise to follow the rules.
I'm a free spirit baby.