Is it time yet? Let's make it happen.

I came here to make this exact thread, and lo and behold :)

Like I said, I don't really have the time for this at the moment, but I'm not the person to be doing it anyway. I don't post here enough; it felt insincere last time, I just came up with an idea that I really liked and had a desire to help reinvigorate things. Non-fiction is much more my area of expertise. :p

But prospective judges be warned: it will take up huge amounts of your time, at least if it's as popular as it was last year. That is if you can get the front page support, which I agree would have to be humble and concise.

We made a mistake in the way we approached publicity last time because we wanted so much for it to be a success, and I take full responsibility for the fallout that followed; it was short-sighted and foolish of me to argue that we hadn't been given adequate or promised support, having gotten permission on short notice and exploited Gambler's position to drive forwards. It was necessary to an extent, because we couldn't get responses quickly enough, but an oversight on our part not to back up and apologise for inventing and promoting new stages of the competition.

So basically learn from those mistakes, plan ahead, organise the stages and consult with the staff on what you can and can't do. Follow all of that and be very very nice and convincing and you'll be just fine. I wish you the best of luck and look forward to seeing the fruits of your labour. For what it's worth you have my blessing. :P

It was agreed upon that one game announcement update can be made last year and I'm going to be making a waifu game post in a few days so I don't see why this should be an issue for Jacob. The only issue that may arise is that Jacob has updates coming very shortly that he may not want pushed off for a contest or game(mine included). If it helps any I can lend my support for one announcement, though the effect of such support may be minimal. I would also suggest that if you do want a mini second update(the announce winners perhaps) you should try and convince one of the scan teams to add it into one of their updates, Jacob wont be against the idea if material is uploaded along with your desired message, just dont abuse it as I could see new rules being made if it happens too often.

Ah memories...

I would be willing to attempt to write something again for this.

is there going to be a theme like last year and limits on the word count/no. of entries/etc

Thank you for the words and advices, Dos. Much appreciated.




Knowing that you'll at least be supporting us is a lot for us, I'd say.


@Xenon: So, you, Tsuyoshiro and I are going to be the panel of judges this time? Confirmed?

I ALWAYS HOVER BELOW 1000 POSTS. IT'S MY PRINCIPLEEE.

That aside, thanks for all the responses.

An incentive is desperately needed. It drives a good portion of the usual participants to enter in, because there's something else besides a boost in pride that could be won. Now, whether we will be able to dig up one is another matter entirely. There's the possibility of being able to obtain another special Fakku title, but for some reason I felt it was a one time thing. If anyone has any connections with any scanlation groups that are okay with translating an untranslated manga picked by the winner, that would be good to (last year's Valentine's contest).

On the issue of how it'll be executed, I feel that previous Seasonal Contest did a pretty good job at it. A public poll accompanied with an uneven number of judges, and a stage format depending on how many users enter. The judging method used in the Valentine's contest wasn't well received simply because some people were too lazy to write out a review. In addition, there should be two categories. One for short stories and one for poetry. Kind of irritating if you write out a great short story but was defeated by one vote over a poem, isn't it? Though, this should only be applied if there's a hefty amount of entries in both categories.

I don't see why judges can't participate. If one of their works DO make it to the final rounds, I think that we can switch him or her out for a temporary judge chosen by the public or the remaining judges. Who says they can't have some fun?

On the issues of rules and restrictions, I find that a word limit is necessary. Though I enjoyed your story high_time, that was a little over the top, lol. But a 1000 word limit was a bit too low in my opinion, so I offer up the idea of 2500 word limit. Not too long, not too short. If Jacob okays the idea of a forum title as a prize, then the story or poem will have to somehow relate to Fakku and the season. If the prize is different, I'm assuming anything is fair game, as long as it relates to the main theme of the contest, which in this case is the holiday season.

Of course, these are all just opinions of one measly forum user. But be aware, what dos said was right. Plan ahead, organize, and consult with the staff to avoid last minute and irritating updates.

I would absolutely be behind this. All we need is someone willing to organize it.

Assuming that's alright with everyone else. Unless someone else is interested. I actually really like the diversity of our panel. With Tsu and his poetic knowledge, your genuine feel for plot and premises, and my take on details and editorial analysis, I think it's quite the team. Assuming people are fine with us three, we should really meet up on your pirate pad and talk out the details we want to see. I'd say, tomorrow night. Tomorrow because I sort of have to write a 15 page final by tomorrow morning. Let me know. It's important to get the details, such as the prize, out soon so one of us can develop a contest post with all the information, thus giving everyone a long while to write.

In regards to judges participating, I can only speak for myself, but I'm highly against it simply for the principle of the matter. I don't want to write regardless, but it is crucial to stay consistent in our judging and fairness must be applied. Rise says he doesn't want to write, albeit against my pleas, and I'm not sure how Tsu feels about it. Unless someone else wants to be a judge, it shouldn't be an issue.

Oh, and good to see Toxic and lastmouse show their participation as well as high_time. high, I wanted and intended to submit a recommendation for November, but I honestly didn't see much of any activity.

I sure hope Xenon and Tsuyoshiro will be judges. It would be a no contest if either of them decided to participate in the contest itself.

Thats what I thought when Jericho participated last time, but he didn't win. Sadly.

That's why I was so saddened. I wanted to judge alongside him because he sees a certain side of writing that amazes me. It's a damn shame he's been MIA.

I don't remember any of this, and I'm fine with that, rofl.

Pirate pad actually sucks, we'll use Etherpad Lite, A.K.A willyoutypewithme, believe me, it's better in more ways than one.

One of us can also write the contest post there and we can edit, fix problems, make it more better, discuss and write the rules, etc. I'll give you link via PM. I'll inform Tsuyo about this, too.

On another note, I am highly against having the judges themselves participate, and besides, I'd say that judging has it's own side of fun, too!

EDIT: Rejoice! I had a chat with Jacob; our prize is confirmed. :)

Just a bit of advice: I also believe allowing judges to participate would be problematic. If a judge wants to participate then they should not be allowed to judge, it would be ridiculous to have all pieces judged by the same people and one piece judged by a different set of standards due to having a replacement. Stick to the same people who don't care about being in the contest.

Well, I'm in. I've got exams from now to the 16th and am traveling quite a bit for the holidays, but I'll try to find some spare moments from which to stitch together a patchwork resemblance of a piece of competent writing...

Which is what exactly?

FAKKU Writer Title. LOL. That is all he'll offer every year, it seems. I guess the Seasonal Writing Contest is about getting that title now, lol.

(I wonder if that's alright.)

Also, we can have it up on the front page after a few days, due to the updates and all that. But for now, even if the thread is up, people will have to come on this section and find it. Plus, we'll have to advertise it.

Alright. Great job, Rise. Let's aim to get that post up before Monday, but the sooner the better.

I don't want any titles tbh, so aside from participating and else which I don't have enough time to, I'll support you guys in whichever way I can~

Hopefully this will increase the overall activity of this section, including the Story Recommendation thread too~

And Xenon participated, too. And he didn't won either. Tsuyo was just too damn good.

I wonder how I'd fare if I did participated, though.

Asshole, why did you leave meus?