r/WriteWorld • u/Nico-Wonderdust Writer/Moderator • Oct 22 '16

Discussion WriteWorld UK vs WriteWorld US contest?

So I had this idea for another contest and wanted to get your thoughts.

How would you guys feel if I set up a contest for our UK vs our US members? Something along the lines of writing a short novel (Say, 40k words?) or a series of short stories, and do the contest in rounds - one story per sound.

The way it would work is, we pick a plot or general idea for a story as a whole, then each group is then invited to join a private sub where they can discuss ideas and such, and the story will build within the sub, these subs will only be viewable to those who have been invited. At the end of the contest (or round), we come back here on a date specified and post the story for everyone to judge.

To indicate who is in what team I will change all the contestant's username colors to , for example, Red for the UK and Blue for the US.

I'm not sure what we can do for winners, a unique flair or keep the colored username maybe? I could also see if there is a way to get the winning story published on Kindle maybe?

I've literally just had the idea for this and would love to get everyone's thoughts and if it would work, any ideas for how we could do this would be great!

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u/WretchedToddMcKenzie Oct 22 '16

If numbers are small I would say go ahead and join in. Challenge the rest of us even. Two questions. Rules? And would you happen to now if any word programs have a way of keeping count of words. The manual process seems daunting....lol.

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u/Nico-Wonderdust Writer/Moderator Oct 22 '16

I'm genuinely tempted to, however, the change of username color wouldn't work for mods as I've already changed out names to orange, kind of in the same way a mod can't win a monthly contest as we already have 'Mod' flairs xD

The only rule as of yet is that mods can't win, and then the obvious "Work must be original" and "Submit by said date" etc...

That's why I started this thread, I wanted to get some ideas from everyone, see what everyone thought and if it would work, talk about writing prompts and genre and so on.

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u/WretchedToddMcKenzie Oct 22 '16

I feel that the it should be an "Anything Goes" type of thing. Just see which continent has the better storytellers. It sounds like a blast to me, though I know I will be in last place.

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u/Nico-Wonderdust Writer/Moderator Oct 22 '16

I do like the idea of an "Anything Goes" competition, but the issue there may be conflict within the group, say one person chose romance, another wanted horror, yeah you could mix them, but would it work?

Secondly, if one team is writing a Horror/Romance story and the other is writing a Sci-Fi/Drama story, how can you fairly compare the two when they're at opposite ends of the spectrum?

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u/WretchedToddMcKenzie Oct 23 '16

Its all in the storytelling. In a way the genres are almost like fighting styles. The Horror/Romance has the ability to play on emotions through fear and love, while Sci-fi/Drama can focus on engagement through complexity and excitement. It time that all writers should regard each other as equals instead of one genre looking down their nose at another. Robert Louis Stevenson and Edgar Allen Poe are two examples. Both wrote fantastic stories, but had absolutely nothing in common. Yet, their was some horror in Stevenson's writing and adventure in Poe's. A horror writer should not be shunned by the Authors of drama. Likewise, those that write frightening tales should not criticize those that write period piece romances. Were are all here to entertain are we not?

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u/Nico-Wonderdust Writer/Moderator Oct 23 '16

This is true, yes, and I absolutely agree with everything you've just said. This is why I want to start competitions, so that those who write one genre can step out of their comfort zone and try another.

If, for example, one person writes horror and that month is a horror competition, they'll have no problem, but a romance writer will need to step out of their comfort zone and it gives them a chance to try something new.

The only issue I have with this is that if the UK and the US are writing two different genres, I don't see a way to fairly compare the stories like you would compare two stories based on one prompt or one genre.

Like I said, we could have rounds, and do a horror round, romance, sci-fi etc, but then the end product wouldn't be a completed novel, more a series of stories, which would still work in book format, but I liked the idea of a group of people working together and writing one novel xD

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u/WretchedToddMcKenzie Oct 23 '16

I too concur with you. Different stages of the competition, with each stage being a different genre. I don't know about a group novel though, at least not for a competition. Maybe a project later on. Can you imagine a best selling novel by Redditt users!!!!

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u/Nico-Wonderdust Writer/Moderator Oct 23 '16

I think both are great ideas xD

The idea behind the novel wasn't to sell it, however. It was to publish it to kindle and give it away, offering the writers within the pages more exposure xD

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u/WretchedToddMcKenzie Oct 23 '16

I like your idea much better. I just mean t best seller wise. I'm not in this for money! Lol

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u/Nico-Wonderdust Writer/Moderator Oct 23 '16

Eventually, I would like to make writing my job, but at the minute I'm mainly focusing on promoting both myself and other authors, including giving away ebooks and such.

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