Competition: Variations on a theme 3 (Cinderella)

The Sparrow

angelll wrote: »

Well it's sent,phew! God i don't even know half of what i wrote,must have heaps of spelling mistakes!

At least you got it in. Deep breath now!

angelll

Have now pm'ed pickarooney twice but it's not showing up in sent messages!!!! Is that normal? Should it show up? Feck.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

I can't wait to read all the entries - the excitement is unbearable... I really need to get a life...

pickarooney

Wow, you guys were busy - 6 PMs with new entries, rewrites, retractions...!

I haven't read any myself yet so this should be a productive morning in the office
Speaking of which, it could be a couple of hours before I get everything up (that's what she said?)

I think we should definitely have a one-hour write-off some day.

Oryx

Just a heads up, the closing date for the competition is wrong in the new thread, pickarooney.

pickarooney

Oryx wrote: »

Just a heads up, the closing date for the competition is wrong in the new thread, pickarooney.

Thanks - fixed. Ideally the closing date would have been midnight, after which the thread turns into an incoherent rant about Brian Cowen, but the tools, they won't allow it.

The stories are all up and I'm going to start reading them. Please, if you notice anything wrong with your own story (formatting, not the latest version..., please PM) me ASAP. If you see anything wrong with the thread, such as story numbering, can't vote/post etc. please either post here or PM me but don't post on the voting thread unless it's to leave feedback on the stories themselves.

I'm really looking forward to reading these now!

Best of luck to everyone and thanks for taking the time to make this possible.

Mr E

Hi pickarooney, its a radio poll (you can only vote for one).
If it can't be changed, just tick all stories and move them to a new thread.

pickarooney

Oops! Hopefully it's fixed now.

Can you look and see if I did it properly?

Mr E

Perfecto...

Very high standard again this month!

pickarooney

About half-way through them now, but keep getting interrupted.

/shakes fist at customers

Oryx

Wow, what a high standard with all of them. Choosing is going to take some time!

ToasterSparks

Ugh, I hate you all, you all write too well. I don't stand a chance.

Really enjoyed reading all the entries, well done again!

pickarooney

Phew, got finished! Great selection of stories there. Having copied and pasted before I read, I tried to match each one up with its writer based on previous entries but failed miserably. There are one or two in there which show huge improvements from earlier competitions, by the way.

I'm not sure there are many suitable for bedtime stories though

P.S. those of you who have sigs linking to this thread, if you can change them to the voting thread ( http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055928167 ) it will get the window-shoppers to the right place that bit quicker.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Really high standard again this time - I could've voted for nearly all those stories... Not a chance of me winning this time anyway - will have to truly bring my A-game to the next competition...
Have we had any ideas for the next competition yet?

pickarooney

I think a one-hour write-off should be considered, even outside the regular competitions.

I've nothing else to propose just now though.

Oryx

Im sitting here thinking I entered the wrong story out of the two I had. Nuts.

Id like to post up the other for opinion, but should I wait till voting ends?

And this time I am absolutely staying out of all discussion on the next competition. Honest.

pickarooney

There are at least three of you with stories that were not entered, partially entered or pulled from competition. Maybe give it a couple of days and post them somewhere?

Antilles

I had two ideas for this competition. The first ended up being the story I wrote. The second never really got off the ground, but would have dealt with Prince Charming being confronted as a wide-area bigamist by Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel. That's kind of close to story 15, so I'm glad I didn't write it

Dublin141

Have to say I'm a bit embarrassed by my entry. I found this one really hard to do. The word limit killed me for some reason. I was hoping everyone would have as much trouble but not a chance.

Great competition this time though, I haven't a clue who I want to vote for yet! I think each month has seen an improvement overall so looking forward to the next one already.

Antilles

pickarooney wrote: »

I think a one-hour write-off should be considered, even outside the regular competitions.

I've nothing else to propose just now though.

Not wanting to put you on the spot, but what format would that take?

Daemos

Agreed with the high quality comments. Have only read through 9 stories so far and I already like more than I did after reading all 13 the last time.

I didn't submit anything this time because I couldn't think of anything good. The best I could think of was some drug-trip idea where the main character is hallucinating, but couldn't come up with much more so I decided to abandon it and just sit back this time.

angelll

Antilles wrote: »

Not wanting to put you on the spot, but what format would that take?

I think i'd do very well at this,lol. You could announce a theme at say 8.55 pm and all entries must be in by ten pm?

Antilles

Well I think it would need to be announced ahead of schedule, i.e. we decide today that at 9pm-10pm on 12th June, all entrants will have to submit a 500 word flash fiction, with the topic decided in advance by a moderator but only announced at 9pm on the date selected.

angelll

Sounds good.....a boards.ie write off

pickarooney

Antilles wrote: »

Well I think it would need to be announced ahead of schedule, i.e. we decide today that at 9pm-10pm on 12th June, all entrants will have to submit a 500 word flash fiction, with the topic decided in advance by a moderator but only announced at 9pm on the date selected.

That's exactly what I was thinking, but choosing a time that suits could be difficult. Personally there's not a single time-slot where I know I'd be free.

Oryx

I would love the write off idea but couldnt do it either, I only have a pc at work so can only do my own stuff if its quiet.

pickarooney

If we could get at least five people who were sure to be able to have a specific hour free, I could probably make sure to be there to post up the opening at that time. I think this would be better as a side-project thuogh as too many people won't be able to make it.

Keep other ideas coming for the main monthly one. I was mulling over an earlier idea of giving the first and last lines and giving free rein to write between them, but I'm not sure how well that would go down.

Another thing is the word limit - it caused a few problems this time. Anyone feel like expanding it or is it best to restrict it so as not to ask too much from the casual reader?

Wantobe

How about putting people on their honour on the one-hour write off thing?

Put the theme/story up with a spoiler, ask people to only look at it when they are going to actually write it and put them on their honour to do it in an hour.

I can't see anyone cheating deliberately ( unless you're going to put a car up as a prize or something?:P Cause if so, bets off).

pickarooney

Hand on heart, if it were me doing it and I ran 5 minutes over in finishing off the last paragraph I probably wouldn't admit it. I think the idea that other people are doing the same thing at the same time would add to it also.

The Sparrow

I think the hour long write off is a great idea. the honour system could work but I think it would be better to try and find a time that works for everyone. That way it would be much more immediate and fun to do. It would be great to pretty much immediately see what everyone else has done after finishing your story.