And so we come to the Fairy Tale Campfire Contest. You will tell your own original fairy tale in that awkwardly straight-forward style we hear so often from the Grimm Brothers (and of course, Hans Christian Andersen).
But, like the protagonists of old, you cannot ignore these rules and regulations.
-No swearing. Gore, however, is acceptable, in fact, it was quite common in fairy tales. (Cinderella's step sisters cut off parts of their feet!) Just... don't go into detail, please.
-All tales must be under 3000 words. (This is stretching it. The Golden Bird is the longest I have read, coming in around 2550.)
-Entries must be posted either on this forum, linked to this forum, or PMed to me.
-Please keep tales to a rating lower than 16+. We do not need a repeat of Rapunzel, whose prince visited her so much that she gave birth in the desert.
-All tales must be submitted by Midnight GMT on June 12th. (For reference, in Seattle that's 4:00 pm on June 11th. Please let me know if I did the conversion incorrectly.)
Now then, with that over with, let's go over the scoring rubric. All entries will be scored out of 100.
-Originality is the largest slice of cake, making up 40% of the score. Not everything is about princesses overcoming odds. Remember Hansel and Gretel? Also, (and this is an edit, brought to my attention by two others) you will lose points for using characters already in other fairy tales. Unless they are animals.
-Next is Style, with 25%. Here, your fairy tale will be compared to the classics by Andersen and Grimm. I want to feel as though I am reading one of those 'oldies but goodies', and maybe you can even try to fool your friends into thinking it is a classic folk tale. A hint? Try third-person objective.
-Then we have Plot. This category is practically an easy-shot, and makes up 15% of the total score. We want to see a clear beginning and exposition, middle, and end. Nothing too unexpected, and if there are plot twists, let's see them explained in the conclusion. We can't have loose strings. This isn't Pinocchio (by Carlo Collodi, not the Grimms or Mr. Andersen).
-Flow/Readability also makes up 15%, and is the grammar intensive part of the rubric. This category is broken up as well: five points go towards correct syntax and verb tense. Another five go to correct punctuation, and the last five are the read-aloud points. I should be able to read straight through to a group of kids, and we'll all be swell listening to it.
-And the last category is Moral/Theme. This is an all or nothing category, but thankfully it only accounts for 5% of the total points. Remember our friend, Pinocchio? His story told us not to lie. Goldilocks taught us not to steal, and the story of the Fisherman and His Wife teaches us not to be greedy. These stories were meant to teach people a lesson in morality, and I want to see the same in yours.
And before I send you on your way, let's see what prizes are in store for all you lovely competitors.
-First prize is 1500 points.
-Second prize is 750 points.
-Third prize gets 500 points.
-And the two runner-ups will each receive 250 points.
And there you have it. If there are any questions, do not hesitate to ask them. If you would like to join me in the judging process (I'll only take two others, so be quick!) please PM me.
So snap to it! Let's see those knights in shining armor, those brave and daring princes and princesses. Let's cry with the widows and cackle with the witches. Be Grimm, or be Andersen, and most importantly, let the fun begin!
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