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Comedy One-Shot Contest: Planning

bobandbill

Winning Smile
Staff member
Super Mod
This is a planning, and call-of-interest, thread for a sppf one-shot contest.

Last year there was the bright idea of dipping back into older themes done for one-shot contests again, and I'm for that. With no personal bias at all ( :V ), I'm proposing that we start revisiting these old themes with a Comedy themed one-shot contest.

Main questions to address:

- When and how long?

I would say starting in March would be good. 2-3 months, perhaps (so e.g. March until end of May, and then time after for judging). Historically extensions have happened... I would like thoughts on if we should try to be stricter on this, or accept late submissions with the understanding it comes with a score penalty. The sooner contests wrap up, the sooner we can start with new events.

- Scoring

Previous years have had each judge rank each entry, with each rank worth a certain number of points (e.g. 1st gives the most points, 2nd a bit less, etc). These get summed up for a final score.

Thoughts on sticking to that, or trying something else (e.g. a point score system from each judge)?

- Judges

I will put my hand up to judge entries. I am looking for expressions of interest (via PM or Discord DM) for other judges. Typically we've had 4 in total. That said, I also value having judging done in time, and historically judging for such contests comes with a review on each entry, from each judge. This is no small task! So please keep in mind time constraints you may have and other personal commitments.

- Rules

The last contest's rules were as follows:
The Rules

- As always, all Fan Fiction rules apply.

- Your story must be set in Kanto, and the Pokémon/characters featured should originate in the Kanto region.

- It must be a new story written for this contest - you cannot submit material you've previously posted that simply happens to fit the theme, or a rewrite of an earlier story that fit the theme.

- You may not post your entry publicly until the contest results have been posted; however, you may send your story privately to beta-readers for feedback before submitting it.

- Entries should not exceed 10,000 words. We do account for the varying results given by different word counters and won't disqualify you for exceeding that count slightly, but if you go significantly over we will have to ask you to edit down your entry.

If you have any questions about eligibility, please don't hesitate to ask the judges, either in this thread or by PM.

Once your entry is ready, please PM it to Dragonfree or e-mail it to antialiasis@gmail.com no later than 23:59 UTC on October 14th, 2018. If you make edits to your entry after submitting it, you may resubmit it up until the deadline. I will handle getting your entry to the other judges.
Obviously the theme rule would change accordingly, and the others have been typical bar the 10,000 word maximum limit (I believe that has been newer, and likely a boon for judges). I think it's worth keeping that in again.


Previous contest threads to compare with:

- Original Comedy Contest
- Platonic: A Family and Friendship One-shot Contest
- A Kanto One-Shot Contest
 

TheCharredDragon

Tis the Hour to Reload
Me! Me! Me! I'm interested because I love comedy and really liked it when I joined the Worlds Collide contest! ...though I currently don't have any specific ideas so I may end up not joining if I can't come up with one. But anyways...the questions...

When and how long?
I think the time limit's fine. Not sure about the extension since I only made it into Worlds Collide because of one, so I'd be all for it, except I also like the thought of more events so...I guess the middle ground I can think of is the first extension (a week I think is enough?) won't get you penalties but any more made will. Don't know if that's too loose or not.

Scoring
I have no idea how this would affect things if it's a different scoring system so can't say.

Judges
I think this is me being narcissistic but I wouldn't mind judging. But part of me feels like I'm not really qualified for that (since I haven't been here in forever and don't have much experience in both judging and writing) but just wanted to extend the offer anyway in case you're short on judges or something...

Rules
I agree with the word limit since I knew I really pushed it last time and it would be better for the judges so they can judge quicker. Just uh...why just Kanto for allowed settings for the contest? Not that I'm complaining, just wondering.
 

bobandbill

Winning Smile
Staff member
Super Mod
I agree with the word limit since I knew I really pushed it last time and it would be better for the judges so they can judge quicker. Just uh...why just Kanto for allowed settings for the contest? Not that I'm complaining, just wondering.
That was for the Kanto-themed contest done last time; that won't be in place for this one.
 

The Walrein

Well-Known Member
I'd definitely be up for this! I'm impatient so I'd prefer March to April with the possibility of extensions if it doesn't look like there's going to be enough entries. No suggestions for rule changes other than that we use https://wordcounter.net/ as the official word-counter for the contest so we don't have to worry if whichever one we're using is giving different results than the judges' wordcounter.
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
I'd be up for this! I'd prefer April or better May for it - I've got some FE fic stuff to take care of before then.
 

Namohysip

Dragon Enthusiast
Hmm, I could be down for this potentially. Comedy... I haven't done that in a while.

I suppose the only thing I can suggest is that when scoring, it might be wise to only list out the top winners, maybe, and leave the stories that didn't win in a more unknown score, for the sake of lightheartedness of the contest, maybe? That's my only suggestion overall. Otherwise, I think I'll try to participate in this~ Or, if you're in need of a judge and don't have enough, maybe I could help out.
 

bobandbill

Winning Smile
Staff member
Super Mod
A belated bump. Made up some rules, currently asked some people re: judging before we move forward with sorting out a scoring system here (even if it's to reuse previous years) and then starting the contest. If you're willing to help out with that, do PM me!

Based on the informal poll on the discord, 2 months for entries is winning out over 3. Will start this month.
 

pacman000

On a quest to be the best...
Wrote one last year, anticipating this. Thought the contest was dropped, or had already come & gone. Will have to find it again & try to upload it.
 
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