Science Fiction Microstory Contest discussion
FEBRUARY - 2020 - MICROSTORY CONTEST (COMMENTS ONLY)
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As for the origins of the contest, I had just published Terra Forma and was looking to promote my book and name, while also learning how to be a better writer. I wrote a few flash fiction stories for Heather's contest on one of the LinkedIn groups, but the voting system seemed corrupt and completely undisclosed. There was no constructive feedback to the stories and you were only left wondering about how your story was truly perceived.
So on the Sci-Fi group, I posted "Anyone up for a challenge?" I included the original version of the rules, which are almost identical to what they are today. With the participation of Paula, Kalifer, Richard, Andy, Carrol, Bill and a bunch others, the contest was born. I could not have done it without them, nor maintained it without you all.
I am completely gratified :)
Fame is fleeting, vastly overrated, and the least desirable of goals over art, imho, Jot. We have already all benefited just from participating. That is one more story every month each of us might have just by being motivated to bang out 750 words. I hope to collect some of the stories I have done here, the ones about sentient buildings, and put them up as a read on Wattpad where my other stuff lives, so a win for me. :)I do tweet about this group on the Thursday evening #storydam chat on Twitter. I do think the lack of women currently submitting here is preventing others from trying their hand on the contest. Also, I do agree with Paula that because the stories generally run to a certain type, there is not as broad an appeal. Genre lines are very blurred in these modern times :)
As for me, I will enjoy the ride while it lasts. :)
I have missed several of the past female contributors. Marianne's entry was certainly one of my favorites this month.This month's mind-reading theme did illicit more "inner-space" entries than usual. It would be nice to see more of those, I think.
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* Git likes to run from a command-line tool, like git-bash, which resembles a unix shell window. If you're not used to unix, then that would be the first lesson.
* Git works on text files, comparison files line-by-line. Word processors tend to shroud their content in control and font codes. We would just need to have a base text-edit tool to interface. To git, I believe .doc or .docx type files would like binary images.
* If you didn't understand what I was talking about in the first two parts, then it might be a little harder :)
Hi all,It’s been a while since I’ve popped over.
I had my story for this month's prompt almost finished but just couldn't make the deadline!
I’m reading through the comments in this thread. I can tell you since I created the fiction.wwocz.net website to host the fiction writers contest that used to be in LinkedIn we’ve had a lot of new writers, it’s google friendly and we can automatically post the threads on social media which is very shareable.
However, to Paula’s comment, she’s absolutely right, the webmaster is in charge of editing/updating/deleting etc. Stories were getting lost among the hundreds of comments so now Alice and I go in and change the font color to blue to make it stand out for example. After several years it can become a lot to do, people get mad if something’s not updated in 30 minutes etc. Where housing it on Goodreads leaves it open to me if I want to delete a story or comment rather than having to request it. So definitely pros and cons to both.
As far as a “Listen” section…where would the files be hosted? I’d be in if I could post my own unique url. I pay a lot of money for hosting and the metrics that go along with it. Every story I write end up on my fiction podcast and would not want a second version of a story out there. If I could simply add my own personalized url I’d be totally interested (also another way to help point folks to the site/contest).
As one who IS in software development, GIT is not too hard, but everyone has a learning curve so it could cause endless frustration for some.
Just my two cents after being away for so long and coming back to find a lot of discussion going on!
Also for what it's worth... I have not received an email notification to a group comment, message, request etc in years. My settings are correct, the Goodreads email address is on the safe list, it's not in spam. I just don't get the email notifications for anything from Goodreads for some reason.Which is definitely NOT helpful.
i can't help but wonder if that has something to do with some of the writers falling by the wayside?
Jot wrote: "As for git, it might confuse a few people, but I'm sure we can get everyone up to speed if the need arises. Couple things:* Git likes to run from a command-line tool, like git-bash, which resembl..."
You lost me after "Couple things."
Hey, Carrie! That's weird because I recently began receiving them after not getting the for a while
Hey all - as someone else who has been away a long time but occasionally follows up after seeing an alert, I have some additional observations about possible reasons for the group being smaller now.1) For me, dropping away was to a considerable extent wanting to move on to write some longer pieces and to develop some of the stories further. And write more in different genres too. But I'll be forever grateful to Jot and the great group of writers I interacted with over those 4 years or so for their insights and examples – and sometimes sharp candour.
2) Work. Despite my advancing years I seem to have more work in my day job than ever, with a lot of travel. I'm sure that's the same for others too, and we all go through phases of having to juggle priorities ...
3) We went through a spell of having 30+ stories in a contest, and I feel the stories were more varied then, in concept, style, language, characterisation and plot structure. I agree with Marianne the ones I've seen when checking back can be a bit samey. Seems more often space opera with the familiar tropes, though a few writers do come up with more original takes on topics. (Or maybe that’s just on the occasions when I’ve checked in, so apologies if unfair.)
I also tend to think the somewhat formulaic and over-long critiques (why repeat what’s in the story in a kind of Coles-Notesy tone?) might be off-putting for people thinking of contributing their first effort
4) At the point where I dropped out, the discussions became dominated by two individuals who seemed determined to be disruptive - one through a tendency to be unnecessarily contrarian (at length), and the other who seemed determined to denigrate the existing group of writers and reshape the contest in his own image. I felt life was too short to get involved in that stuff. I'm glad it's more settled now, but that period surely knocked some of the cohesion out of the group and undermined many people's enthusiasm. It did mine.
So it's probably time to get new folk in more than attract back old lags like me (though I’m not ruling that out).
It’s not so easy to find the contest on Goodreads perhaps, but there are quite a few SF groups on the site, so maybe letting people on those sites know about the contest might attract some new blood? Or a one-off prize?
In the meantime, all the best to everyone and wishing you every success in your writing.
(BTW Carrie, I do get alerts about postings, they drop down from that bell icon at the top. But no emails.)
Andy wrote: "Hey all - as someone else who has been away a long time but occasionally follows up after seeing an alert, I have some additional observations about possible reasons for the group being smaller now..."Re: critiques - Everyone has their own style for breaking down a story and stating what parts or aspects worked for them and which didn't. The goal of course is to be constructive, as briefly as possible. More participants should post reviews, in my opinion, in order to provide a broad range of viewpoints on each story.
Following on Andy's comment, I have been less involved in the past year or so for a variety of reasons, including the demands of work and a couple of deaths in the family (my 96-year-old mother and my 11-year-old cat) but what's quashed my creative spirit has been the prompts, which are more restrictive than they used to be. For example, the latest one about first contact with alien mind readers. I couldn't see what I could add to the story once it was already decided this was a first contact story and the aliens could read minds. I preferred the old thematic prompts, often a single-word like "resurrection" or "revenge" with requirements that were minor details, like a mirror or a book. Between the great theme and the tiny detail, there were whole universes to conjure with. I realize that's probably just my own preference though.
J.F. I agree. Themes with a detail invite a much wider range of stories. Carrie used to write a lot of fantasy that was totally different. I miss that.
Actually that observation hit the nail on the head. Y'all know I always struggled with writing SciFi but really enjoyed the challenge. Even if it did end up being more fantasy hahaha!My biggest problem is I forget and then try to rush something a day before the deadline!
C. lol we really do don't we.
My 2020 New Year's Resolution should be to participate in at least 33% of the SciFi prompts!
I would think I could pull off 4 damn stories...
J.F. I agree with the more general prompt and required element. This isn't a crossword puzzle but storytelling. Storytelling is what we should be perfecting, not trying to fit a round peg in a square hole. The later is easy to do if you make the round peg small enough, but is uninteresting.
When people are attempting to pinpoint causes of a problem, in hopes a solution may be found, it's not clear how terming this "complaining" and comparing those posting ideas to "a lame bunch of whiny internet trolls" can be helpful. That sort of personalization of comments has not helped this group in the past--may be an abyss best backed away from.By the way, I think J.F. is right--it's wise to avoid setting up a theme+parameters that overly narrow authors' story choices.
Tom wrote: "More participants should post reviews, in my opinion, in order to provide a broad range of viewpoints on each story."Yes, and your observations are fair, Tom.
But for someone new writing a story is daunting enough, and writing a detailed critique may be too daunting. I've seen people express this view in other groups.
Perhaps it could be made clearer that any feedback, no matter how brief, is welcome.
C. wrote: " You guys and gals sound like a lame bunch of whiny internet trolls...."QED.
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Carrie,Great news! I always liked your stuff and look forward to reading more.
-C
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I like that we are discussing things.On critiques, I think I could come up with dissecting the one story I liked the best each month I participate. I am more for pointing out what works, than what does not work, in a story.
As for what does not work, in general, my critiques of the stories, if I did them, overall, would tend to fall into the same categories each month (including myself here): Too much telling, not enough showing; Too much cramming of details as a result of this (these are not novels!), with little left for developing the theme and elements given the word count; Rinse and repeat 8 to 10 times.
I also think Theme should be very general, with one or two Elements for fun, to mix up and to challenge, like we really used to do, as a theme, in itself, is not necessarily a challenge. I also think we often confuse theme and subject, but I can roll with that. By nature, a non-English major like myself tends to think of them as the same thing, but they are not. Here is what I am talking about: https://literarydevices.net/theme/ I had no problem with this month's theme and element. I found it focused me. The month before was a lot harder to get everything in and make it work. I have no problem with SF/Fantasy as intermingling in stories as genre is very fluid.
Jot: Can't resist the Casablanca prompt: "Vultures! Vultures, everywhere!" ;)
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Example: Resurrection (aka Mad Scientist) ;)
I also don't think we have done the timely topic of pandemic. Having been a microbiologist, I could get real science with that one :)
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Or maybe stock market crash? Gotta love the drama.I am posting my critiques for February now that the voting is complete and we have hoisted Tom on our collective shoulders and marched him around Sci-Fi square in triumph. There's a new feature based on Jack's excellent idea: I am now only posting critiques with a score of 24 or better, representing an average "Nice!" score of 4 across 6 categories.
Enjoy!
-C (as in contrite.) Somebody's comments complaining about a past hostile takeover of the group discussion pissed me off, since it in fact resulted in the addition of our wonderful critique thread. Nobody here is a troll or a vulture and I humbly apologize for reaching for the keyboard while being extremely annoyed by a
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Thanks, Jot.Apparently though, my participation was mostly at a time when "This group used to be a huge bore, populated by a large, cliquish mutual admiration society."
I wonder if is that an accurate description, or helpful to the discussion in any way?
That’s exactly the kind of disparaging comment (made earlier in this month's thread) about other writers and their contributions that I was referring to, and one of the reasons why the number of active participants has dropped by 75%.
Maybe for some a smaller pool is preferable, but I was suggesting a few things that might attract new recruits or even win back some older ones. Being respectful of the other writers would of course be one of the prerequisites - not calling them bores, cliquish or whiney trolls.
I invite you to post a story this month, Andy. I think your last story submission was in mid-2016. It would be great to see what chops you might bring to this awesome short story contest.I have great respect and appreciation for all positive contributors and writers who actually participate in the Sci-Fi Microstory contest!
-C
Flattered you did the research, C - but it was last year.And I may do - I had left the group completely and that was why I rejoined and checked in this past month ...
Oh, I think it was *you* who founded the site/contest, Jot. I was one of the first participants, first or second month, yes. And yes, obviously, no matter where the contest/group migrates, you should be listed each month as the group's/contest's creator; I seriously doubt anyone would question that!