I've been wrapped up in a project that's coming to a close and going to print imminently, so now I'm looking for other ways to keep production pumping on the days I'm not feeling superhappyfun about writing.
It seems really quiet here compared to the way it used to be, and I noticed that "other" site with the derivation-name no longer even exists - so anyone know of any online contests, tournaments, or head-to-head literary battles like WAR and Thunderdome once were?
There are tons of contests out there, but I haven't seen any WAR-style tourneys. It was fun though. Got some good shorts out of it. If you can write for WAR, you can write for a regular contest, right? Just a longer turnaround.
Yeah, I figure there are all sorts of competitions out there, I was just hoping for some suggestions from people who've done the kinds we have here. Seems like a lot of them are VERY fly-by-night, so it's always good to hear from those who've been there. I may just have to google and hope for something professional and on the level.
I don't really enter contests, so I can't help unfortunately. I submitted to the no bullying challenge, and pink elephant.
Let's start another WAR!!!!!
Jose, did you ever participate in any of the Thunderdome duels? Those are always fun. I'd love to see WAR done here, too. I thought those sorts of things were semi-regular here (and I figured I was just bad with my timing).
Hopefully the powers that be have something in the works, or would consider just that.
I did participate in the very early battles. I would like to see them happen again. I've picked up some great new tools and would love to see how far I've come since my last battle two years ago.
Powers that be.....please make it happen.
I once participated in a battle here on litreactor. It didn't went very well. I acted lame. Excusez moi! I lost in the first round and I couldn't make up a descent story for the next 'losers-round'. It was a very quick exit for me. Still I want to thank the 6 people who voted for my story back then! Thank you!! I had much fun in writing it. And sometimes I think I should pick up that story again and refurbish it, it had a lot of potential in my opinion, it was only poorly written because of my lack of proper english writing skills.
A new LitreactorWAR would be fun, I geuss. I'm in!
We hear you guys. I don't have any news on this yet, but we are talking, and I'll let you know as things happen. Pinky promise.
I'm interested in a war!
There was a "losers' bracket" in your WAR, Spec? The only time I've been in one was on the other derivation-name site (which oddly no longer exists in any manner) and there wasn't one there. That sounds like it'd be a brilliant way to help those who are offed early feel less like they wasted their time/money. If there's a revival of such a thing here, PTB, please think of putting such a consolation bracket into the structure of the thing.
War, we need a war!!!!
I actually came here to start a fight. Any takers? Thunderdome style.
I could use an excuse for self-immolation, sure, I'm in. That is, if you'd like to beat up on me a second time. :D
If we want to do another bracket-style competition, I can get behind that. However, I never participated in one, and they were going long before I showed up to LitReactor, so here's what I need.
1) A catchy new name. As a professional courtesy to our previous forum manager, I don't want to steal the name she created.
2) Explain the rules, timelines, and such. The more detail you give me, the easier it can be for me to get something going.
3) Explain what you will need from me and the rest of the site. We phased out these competitions because of the amount of work needed to pull it off with relatively little payout for the site. I'm happy to put some time into making it work, but remember that I (and most of the staff) don't work from super servers or anything; we're regular people with regular jobs and regular crappy laptops like the rest of you.
Yes bracket-style! I would like that.
@Photon: I looked it up and I participated in WAR2. I lost the first round against the winner of the tournament. After the first round I got another chance which I did not took due to circumstances in the losers-race. So yes, there was a seperate competion for all those who lost in the first round.
I very liked the fact also non-workshopmembers like me could get involved. Thank you Litreactor.
bye
Spec, that's pretty cool about the consolation bracket. If there's a possibility to do an official WAR, Nathan, I'd say definitely implement that with the rest of the process. It's great to keep people engaged after they've been voted off the island.
If you were really looking for someone to write out how things could work efficiently, enjoyably, I wouldn't mind thinking about this and putting some ideas down for you. I just didn't want to presume to tell you how to run things.
Actually in War 2 it was more than a consolation bracket. It was actually a double elimination tournament. So in theory you could lose in the first round and still win the whole tournament. Chris Carter, who won, did lose when there were about 4 people left in the winners bracket so he in turn had to win a couple loser bracket matches to fight his way into the title match. It was great fun but the whole tournament lasted I think eight months. And there were 64 contestestants. So the first two rounds you had to read 64 stories. It became taxing as a participant by the end, so I imagine those running it had a tough time. One of those dissapeared halfway through the tournament and then it was being run by just one person. The marketable thing about it for LR was that you had to be a workshop member for the months you participated so that we could keep the stories in a locked thread to keep them from becoming (published) so I'm sure workshop memberships spiked during time of WAR2. But yeah it's a big deal. You'd really need a team of 2 or three people(maybe more) to pull it off well. If LR does decide to do another one I can assist with information on how the others were run. I don't know if I'd volunteer to help because I'd probaby prefer to participate. But we'll see.
Actually the consolation bracket was all kinds of awkward and a lot more work for the master and mistress of War. So I doubt it would come recommended from anyone who's run this kind of elimination bracket. The fact it was dropped for War 3 just highlights this point. It certainly lengths War and possibly increases the regular war fatigue people get anyway. Also I think there were a fair few people who upon being eliminated from top bracket just disappeared and didn't participate in lower bracket, for whatever reason *cough sore losers cough*
For the record, the consolation bracket was flash fiction, with a shorter writing and reading time (I think...it's been a while and I'm too lazy to track down old threads). Anyway, point being I've been in all three Wars and both mini battles and in my humble opinion, the loser bracket isn't a great idea. Fun, for sure, but generally it runs much smoother without it.
But whatever :)
Who won these wars, and are they still around?
Rebecca Jones Howe, won War(not sure who against I wasn't around for that one.). Chris Lewis Carter won War 2 in finals against Leah Rhyne. Joshua Moyes(Utah) won War 3 in finals against VoodooEm. I know they're all still around.on social media.
In the first War Bec won against JYH.
JYH came in as a substitute in round 5 after R Moon had to drop out. Round 5 was the semi finals that year because we started with 32 rather than 64. Fun fact: Utah got to the semi final in this War but was beaten by Bec with her Better Places story.
Wow, for some reason, I had always assumed the last one (which Utah won) was more than the third version. I'm probably confusing and combining the other themed contests I've seen LR do.
Anyone have any idea how many people are actually active on the site these days? Seems like I'm only seeing maybe 12-18 names (if that) in the discussion threads. With that other site completely dissolved, is there just a lull in literary community interest these days?
Wait, I thought I won War 3? That's what I've been telling myself anyway..
