ReneeAPickup
from Joshua Tree, CA is reading The Sound of LonlinessMarch 4, 2012 - 7:24pm
Utah--I'm an asshole. I have to drop out, I didn't think about the fact that I signed up for this and Lidia's class at the same time--and we're starting the remodel on our house, something has to give and this is the only one of the three things that isn't costing money.
Richard
from St. Louis is reading Red Moon by Benjamin PercyMarch 4, 2012 - 11:01pm
@sparrow - have fun in lidia's class, she's amazing. if you haven't read her memoir yet, The Chronology of Water, pick it up. fantastic. say "hi" for me. i reviewed her book at TNB:
Richard
from St. Louis is reading Red Moon by Benjamin PercyMarch 4, 2012 - 11:50pm
Some thoughts for the tournament:
1. If you can, read all of the stories. If you can't read both stories in a bracket, don't vote.
2. Don't base your vote on friendships. So, don't vote just for people you like, or avoid voting for people that you don't like. Just vote for the best story.
3. Don't vote based on politics or strategy (e.g., to try a face a "weaker" opponent, or to try and make somebody else face a "stronger" opponent. Vote for the best story.
4. Seeds don't mean anything. As Sugar says, "Write like a motherfucker." As they say in the NFL "Any given Sunday." Which also means, bring your "A" game, and ANYBODY here can be beaten.
5. Don't question any winners, don't berate any losers. Be nice. Egos and feelings can get hurt. That doesn't mean we can't talk smack, but just be aware of the dialogues that are going on.
6. The "best story" is whatever YOU liked the most. Period.
I say these things only because I've been in enough competitions to see a lot of bullshit. I know that we won't have any of these problems here, but wanted to state the obvious, anyway.
Renfield
from Hell is reading 20th Century GhostsMarch 5, 2012 - 12:40am
Okay - another thing, after a poll has ended - can they be edited? Because I just went back to one of my old ones and I couldn't edit it to removed the stories. So that could be a technical issue.
Where was the problem with your attempt? Theoretically if you started the thread and attached the files you should be able to edit the files you attached. (I think I had to do this in a class when an attachment didn't load right.) Maybe someone else that has started a poll for a Beyond Thunderdome challenge can check this too. If there's still a problem maybe a pm/email to the LitR crew to clear that up post-haste.
Jose F. Diaz
from East Coast is reading short novels by various authors that change so much it isn't worth posting here.March 5, 2012 - 1:04am
On a side note, I want to be bracketed with the baddest and meanest fucking writers on this site. If I win, I want to have taken down giants in my triumph.
The way I am going into this is you all want to stop me from fulfilling my dream of making a living as a writer and I will not abide such an afront.
aliensoul77
from a cold distant star is reading the writing on the wall.March 5, 2012 - 1:27am
I still don't completely understand how it all works. So I'm just going to keep checking and see when I battle and what prompt and get and submit it anonymously to Utah I guess?
averydoll
from Kentucky is reading Lisey's Story by Stephen KingMarch 5, 2012 - 9:04am
Well, as far as voting based on friendship...all polls will be blind, only the two participants should know who wrote them. This is why it is important not to go blabbing your prompt around!
You could worry that people will guess your writing style, but honestly, with this many stories, I believe that is less likely than you may think in the first round.
Bekanator
from Kamloops, British Columbia is reading Transubstantiate by Richard ThomasMarch 5, 2012 - 9:35am
You could worry that people will guess your writing style, but honestly, with this many stories, I believe that is less likely than you may think in the first round.
Or, I could make a cheatsheet of common themes and styles that everyone uses so this competition seems less glory-hole-ish.
averydoll
from Kentucky is reading Lisey's Story by Stephen KingMarch 5, 2012 - 9:37am
Well, yeah, you could. But that seems like a lot of work, and I'm very very lazy. I think my plan, is to read the stories, and vote for the one I like best. Based on nothing in particular.
Bekanator
from Kamloops, British Columbia is reading Transubstantiate by Richard ThomasMarch 5, 2012 - 9:42am
I keep thinking that reading all the stories will be a daunting task, but at only 2500 words a piece, that ain't so bad. 2500 words is the limit, right?
Utah
from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtryMarch 5, 2012 - 11:10am
@manda: yes, you can still compete. This place is like Fight Club. Free to all.
That said, you might not be able to vote if we restrict the polls to members only. I'm not sure if that means workshop members only or signed up members only. I'll have to talk to our site wizard once my work front breaks open a little bit. I'll try to have an answer by tomorrow.
manda lynn
from Ohio is reading FaustMarch 5, 2012 - 11:23am
@ Utah - thanks. sorry to be obnoxiously topic-straightforward. just came to write shorts from prompts is all. not being difficult on purpose, just incidentally.....
Utah
from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtryMarch 5, 2012 - 11:29am
@manda: First, great WAR pic. I love it. You embrace the true spirit of this contest, which is jackin fools.
Second: Nothing to apologize about. Your points are helping to iron out some crucial sticking points in this process. And you bringing them up now helps ensure we get them ironed out before the contest starts. All in all, it's absolutely great. And as I said earlier, hopefully I can get these newest, minor kinks out of the way by some time tomorrow.
@Everybody: I want to thank all of you for your input in this process. This is the first LitReactor tournament (I think) and the first tournament I've ever done. All of you pitching in with your concerns and ideas has been crucial to making this thing work the way it's supposed to, and to be honest it is so far being set up and executed much smoother than I'd even hoped.
Utah
from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtryMarch 5, 2012 - 11:40am
How is it I was just thinkin bout good ol' Bone-Thugs yesterday? Weird.
Brackets are good. I've got the seeds ready, just need to put them in a pretty, NCAA type chart and publish it so everybody can see it. I'll try to have that up this evening some time.
Chester Pane
from Portland, Oregon is reading The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot DiazMarch 5, 2012 - 12:04pm
@Manda Lynn and Utah: If Manda needs to be in the Workshop to participate, let me know and I will set her up during the War. I owe her one anyway and I want to ensure her talented ass doesn't go
AWOL.
Nikki Guerlain
from Portlandia is reading Necronomicon Book ThreeMarch 5, 2012 - 7:48pm
@chester- can you set me up in workshop too? i won't be able to participate in the workshop itself until late spring or summer due to all the projects i'm working on now. but i'd like to be able to vote.i should be able to place whatever stories i write for this competition fairly quick so if there's any concern about first rights, making it private is probably the way to go.
manda lynn
from Ohio is reading FaustMarch 5, 2012 - 12:27pm
yeah, are there loopholes that can be used during the competition? i mean, i'm not after access to critquing/critiques workshop stories, but it would be cool to be able to see the war stuff, and vote etc.
but most of you are workshop members?
is the main objective of this thing to get site members all over to vote or mainly for the workshop members to see each others' work anonymously and vote?
Good lord chester
Yet - let utah have the headache. Ha - Oh - and Avery I reviewed your finale 'The Children'
You guys are generous. Thank you. Think I'll just go back to trying to find a house to buy. Less stress.
Utah--I'm an asshole. I have to drop out, I didn't think about the fact that I signed up for this and Lidia's class at the same time--and we're starting the remodel on our house, something has to give and this is the only one of the three things that isn't costing money.
Well, I TRIED at least! I just failed. If we need the poll threads to go away then I think an admin has to do it.
Son of a...okay, Renee. I understand. This is why we have a standby list.
Pandamask, you're up on the board. Congratulations!
Yay!
@ Renee:
Dammit all my sure wins are dropping out. This is horse shit! lol
@chester love the pic of the panda riding a unicorn.
@sparrow - have fun in lidia's class, she's amazing. if you haven't read her memoir yet, The Chronology of Water, pick it up. fantastic. say "hi" for me. i reviewed her book at TNB:
http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/rthomas/2011/04/yuknavitch/
@Nikki: Thanks, I concocted that as a welcome gift for you and Amanda.
@Renee: Yes, have fun with Lidia, she's funny as hell. Say Chester and Richard said 'Hi.' She has groupies.
Some thoughts for the tournament:
1. If you can, read all of the stories. If you can't read both stories in a bracket, don't vote.
2. Don't base your vote on friendships. So, don't vote just for people you like, or avoid voting for people that you don't like. Just vote for the best story.
3. Don't vote based on politics or strategy (e.g., to try a face a "weaker" opponent, or to try and make somebody else face a "stronger" opponent. Vote for the best story.
4. Seeds don't mean anything. As Sugar says, "Write like a motherfucker." As they say in the NFL "Any given Sunday." Which also means, bring your "A" game, and ANYBODY here can be beaten.
5. Don't question any winners, don't berate any losers. Be nice. Egos and feelings can get hurt. That doesn't mean we can't talk smack, but just be aware of the dialogues that are going on.
6. The "best story" is whatever YOU liked the most. Period.
I say these things only because I've been in enough competitions to see a lot of bullshit. I know that we won't have any of these problems here, but wanted to state the obvious, anyway.
Good luck all!
For the record, my vote can be bought. Just saying...
Somebody knows how to spot an oppurtunity.
Thanks Richard. Good rules to adhere by.
This should be smooth sailing.
On a side note, I want to be bracketed with the baddest and meanest fucking writers on this site. If I win, I want to have taken down giants in my triumph.
The way I am going into this is you all want to stop me from fulfilling my dream of making a living as a writer and I will not abide such an afront.
@Avery and Renfield: So I went to one of my old polls as well and there is no edit feature on any of mine either.
Has anyone inquired with Kirk?
@Richard: Great guidelines. Yes, let's have fun and keep it civil. And most of all vote for the stories we feel are the strongest.
But I have nothing against people trying to sway my vote with sexy pictures. Sway away.
I still don't completely understand how it all works. So I'm just going to keep checking and see when I battle and what prompt and get and submit it anonymously to Utah I guess?
For Chester:
@Alien: Yeah, I think we will learn as we go, especially on this first one.
@Rian: Now that is what I'm talkin' about. Well, that and Nikki's fret work.
Okay,Chester. I believe, if I saw the pic correctly, Nikki plays bass.
How about this sexy pic:
Ginger Reyes of Smashing Pumpkins
Nice. I'm a Ginger fan.
YEah... I'm a Pumpkins fan. From way back in the day. Siamese Dream is my number three favorite album ever.
I'll be accepting cash or paypal.
And I have insomnia.
Well, as far as voting based on friendship...all polls will be blind, only the two participants should know who wrote them. This is why it is important not to go blabbing your prompt around!
You could worry that people will guess your writing style, but honestly, with this many stories, I believe that is less likely than you may think in the first round.
Or, I could make a cheatsheet of common themes and styles that everyone uses so this competition seems less glory-hole-ish.
Well, yeah, you could. But that seems like a lot of work, and I'm very very lazy. I think my plan, is to read the stories, and vote for the one I like best. Based on nothing in particular.
I keep thinking that reading all the stories will be a daunting task, but at only 2500 words a piece, that ain't so bad. 2500 words is the limit, right?
Yep!
yeah i was talking about first rights not plagiarism.
also i'm not a paying workshop member, i just came to fight. is that okay? can i still compete if i'm not in the workshop?
Went back to old pic... Puttin' the game face on...
I think Utah is posting them to be anonymous, so membership doesn't matter.
You should pay for the workshop though, we have to cover our drug running operation.
@manda: yes, you can still compete. This place is like Fight Club. Free to all.
That said, you might not be able to vote if we restrict the polls to members only. I'm not sure if that means workshop members only or signed up members only. I'll have to talk to our site wizard once my work front breaks open a little bit. I'll try to have an answer by tomorrow.
oh okay. game face. let me look for one of those....
@ Utah - thanks. sorry to be obnoxiously topic-straightforward. just came to write shorts from prompts is all. not being difficult on purpose, just incidentally.....
NIce... I throw up the game face, girl brings a gun... Well played Manda...
:)
@manda: First, great WAR pic. I love it. You embrace the true spirit of this contest, which is jackin fools.
Second: Nothing to apologize about. Your points are helping to iron out some crucial sticking points in this process. And you bringing them up now helps ensure we get them ironed out before the contest starts. All in all, it's absolutely great. And as I said earlier, hopefully I can get these newest, minor kinks out of the way by some time tomorrow.
@Everybody: I want to thank all of you for your input in this process. This is the first LitReactor tournament (I think) and the first tournament I've ever done. All of you pitching in with your concerns and ideas has been crucial to making this thing work the way it's supposed to, and to be honest it is so far being set up and executed much smoother than I'd even hoped.
You guys all kick ass.
@Utah: How are the brackets coming along?
Gettin' ready fo War...
How is it I was just thinkin bout good ol' Bone-Thugs yesterday? Weird.
Brackets are good. I've got the seeds ready, just need to put them in a pretty, NCAA type chart and publish it so everybody can see it. I'll try to have that up this evening some time.
Cool...
@Manda Lynn and Utah: If Manda needs to be in the Workshop to participate, let me know and I will set her up during the War. I owe her one anyway and I want to ensure her talented ass doesn't go
AWOL.
@chester- can you set me up in workshop too? i won't be able to participate in the workshop itself until late spring or summer due to all the projects i'm working on now. but i'd like to be able to vote.i should be able to place whatever stories i write for this competition fairly quick so if there's any concern about first rights, making it private is probably the way to go.
cheers,
nikki
yeah, are there loopholes that can be used during the competition? i mean, i'm not after access to critquing/critiques workshop stories, but it would be cool to be able to see the war stuff, and vote etc.
but most of you are workshop members?
is the main objective of this thing to get site members all over to vote or mainly for the workshop members to see each others' work anonymously and vote?
http://youtu.be/IWmKH0rXG7A
today's war anthem.
oh, crap, forgot we were doing this blind. i guess that makes most of my post moot and worthless. my apologies. head still spinning from AWP.