Now that your stories are written and posted, time to get to work reviewing! Since I messed up the tagging before, and because this first week is slow, I'll allow a bit of leeway for those that are late submitting. However, after this week, things pick back up--a lot of reviewing and writing in a short space of time!
See the list of links in the OP for a quick reference to the works available. Remember to review at least 2, and to use the minimum guidelines (include the comments on plot, character, and setting).
You are allowed to edit typos and punctuation, so that reviewers don't continue to comment on them. However please leave any wording changes, sentence rearrangements, or rewrites until the next round.
This is a reminder that reviews should be written on or before Thursday, so everyone has Fri-Sun to revise.
Since it's Tuesday, I'd strongly suggest anyone who hasn't posted yet try to get it done today, or else your feedback will suffer. Since this is the first round, I'll be a little more relaxed with deadlines etc. However, anyone who doesn't post a revision by the end of the day Sunday will be disqualified!
Okay guys it's time to revise! Here's your prompt for the next round:
Introduce a second conflict between your main two characters.
For this round, I want you to ramp up the conflict between your main characters! They've already got a lot going on... so let's give them even more to worry about!
I'd like you to introduce a tangentially related second conflict that is resolved by the end of the scene. This could be a big thing or a little thing. It will have to be related enough to the plot that it makes sense for you to include it, but otherwise it should be a fairly secondary concern.
This conflict could be something NEW - eg. character 1 bumps character 2's drink all over their lap, or part of their conversation takes place in line for the last tickets to a show. Or it could be something OLD - eg. two lovers each think the other is responsible for an envelope of money many years ago that actually just fell down a crack, or a character on jury duty for an old teacher who used to single them out unfairly for detention.
For some of your stories I've seen, it may be easier to use something from the characters' past that they never properly talked about or resolved before now. For others, it might be easier to use this as a deeper insight into one or both of the characters.
When I say "resolved," both the characters don't have to be happy about the resolution, but simply make sure this mini thread isn't left hanging.
Remember you need to keep under 3,000 words still!
You may revise the rest of the story as you see fit for length and quality. Don't feel stuck with your original scene, setting, or even characters. Revisions are sometimes minor, and sometimes they're major surgery--up to you which kind you think your story needs at this point!
Okay, I'm officially dropping our three non-subbers from the contest.
Today is the day to get your revisions in if you haven't already! I've updated the front page a little bit (whoops, was slack on that last week). Tagging since I haven't yet: @EternalRain@Mea@niteowl@PrincessInk @Wolfical
You can start upvoting right away. Since there are only 5 contestants, it's probably going to be tempting to upvote them all, since I'm sure they're all going to be great. You CAN upvote more than one submission, but I'd like to request please don't upvote ALL the submissions :S If everyone does that... well, I could probably figure out some other judging method to make it work, if I'm honest, but that's more complicated!
FYI, we WILL go until there's a last man standing. The top 3 will get the prizes but we'll still go through the rounds to get our grand champion. You can upvote after you've been knocked out so you'll be our judges! (In the last round, I'll ask that you only vote for one of the two finalists, but we'll worry about that when we get there).
So there's a decent chance I'll have to drop out, since due to work and sickness I don't think I'll be getting reviews in before the weekend. I'll try to get my reviews done tomorrow but if I can't, it's been a good experience for sure.
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci
Yeah I have Saturday off so I should have time then. And Sunday so maybe I'll have time to give my piece a proper edit (though that's Review Day so can we submit after that's over)?
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci
Oh! Sorry, I forgot I need to do that ahead of time.
ROUND THREE
Time to trim!
Reduce your wordcount by 15-20%!
So for a 2k word story, you'd cut 300-400 words. Look for extra words, redundant phrases, unnecessary paragraphs... and if that's not enough, you may need to consider streamlining your story/plot more.
It sounds simple but it's a pretty crucial skill. Good luck!
If you have NOT looked at all the entries and cast your upvotes, make sure to do so by the end of today! If there is a tie, I'll get another Resources mod to cast a tie-breaker vote. Otherwise, the contestant with the least votes (currently Wolfical) will be knocked out this round.
Everyone's done a fantastic job and I looooove all your revisions! It's really made me happy to see HOW MUCH the same stories have improved with a little editing. Great work so far!
Ugh, I'm only managing to cut about 150 words without completely removing a plot point I have reasons for wanting to keep. (But maybe I should replace it with something shorter? I don't know what.) And honestly I feel like my writing was sparse to begin with - I keep reading passages that I feel like are so short as to be choppy.
I guess I'll figure something out in the next two days. /endrant
We're all stories in the end.
I think of you as a fairy with a green dress and a flower crown and stuff. -EternalRain
I think you, @Deanie and I are like the Three Book Nerd Musketeers of YWS. -bluewaterlily
Think you could do 2 by the end of saturday?
/endrant
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