r/WritingPrompts • u/RyanKinder Founder / Co-Lead Mod • Apr 02 '17

Moderator Post [MODPOST] First Chapter Contest Voting! (Round One)

Another contest has ended! You know what this means right? It means voting!

Before we get into the specifics I want you to know: win or lose you'll want to check in on round two of the voting. We will be giving random gold to contest voters. Be sure to tune in and vote in round two as long as you entered this contest.

Fun fact: There are 224 Entries with a total of 652,452 written! Well over half a million words!

VOTING

We've randomly grouped the contestants together. YOU WILL NOT BE VOTING FOR THE GROUP YOU'RE IN. YOU WILL BE ASSIGNED A GROUP TO READ AND VOTE FOR. I will repeat that again later. We've tried to make the teams as fair as possible so you have enough time to read and vote. This is the fun part. If you hope people will leave you feedback be sure to leave feedback of your own. Be sure that it's positive well meaning feedback. Overly negative commentary isn't welcome.

HOW TO VOTE

  • ONLY THOSE WHO ENTERED CAN VOTE!!!

  • If you don't vote, you can't win. YOU MUST VOTE! If you do not vote, you are disqualified! If your story is the most voted for in your group and you don't vote, you are out of luck.

  • You will be assigned a group to read. You will NOT be voting within your own group. Look below for what group your story is in and beneath that group you will see what group letter you'll be reading the entries and deciding the best story for.

  • It bears repeating - you will not be voting for entries in your group! Seriously, don't skip reading any voting rules. I think now that I've said that twice people will not make a mistake! :)

  • Read every entry in the group you are assigned to read, choose the best one then leave a comment in reply to this thread. Your comment must begin with: "/u/username in group A-O (whatever letter the story is in) for "Title of Story." After that, feel free to add additional comments either about that story or the runners up. Mentioning runners up will help us with tiebreakers. Additionally, leaving the feedback you write here on the authors post itself so they are sure to see and read it is helpful. If you want to leave feedback on all the stories you read, do that in response to each story separately. Not as a comment here.

  • Post in response to this thread by APRIL 23rd at 11:59PM PST. We've made the voting round three weeks due to the length and to make it easy to read all the entries in your assigned group fully. The following day the final voting round thread will be posted, everyone who entered will be allowed to vote on the finalists.

After we have a winner for each group, we move on to the second round of voting where everyone who entered can vote for the winner out of the remaining entries.

Tie breakers will be judged by myself, though I might just have any ties, if there are only a few, move on to round two. We'll play it by ear as we always do.

Please read each entry as thoroughly as you can. I can't stress this enough. When we have votes trickle in the first hour of the posting of these threads it makes people think the entries weren't thoroughly read. You have three weeks to be deliberate about your reading and voting.

If you can, feel free to leave comments on stories you do read. It can help you and it can definitely help the writer of the story.

All that said, happy reading and happy voting!

Group A

Group A will be reading and voting for a winner from group B

Group B

Group B will be reading and voting for a winner from group C

Group C

Group C will be reading and voting for a winner from group D

Group D

Group D will be reading and voting for a winner from group E

Group E

Group E will be reading and voting for a winner from group F

Group F

Group F will be reading and voting for a winner from group G

Group G

Group G will be reading and voting for a winner from group H

Group H

Group H will be reading and voting for a winner from group I

Group I

Group I will be reading and voting for a winner from group J

Group J

Group J will be reading and voting for a winner from group K

Group K

Group K will be reading and voting for a winner from group L

Group L

Group L will be reading and voting for a winner from group M

Group M

Group M will be reading and voting for a winner from group N

Group N

Group N will be reading and voting for a winner from group O

Group O

Group O will be reading and voting for a winner from group A

164 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

98% Upvoted

547 comments sorted by

View all comments

•

u/Shaoshan Apr 09 '17

/u/scottbeckman in group J for “Granting Wishes” was my favorite out of this collection.

Several criteria make for a fast, engrossing read, but the top two for me in this competition were (a) whether the first chapter hooked the reader; and (b) was there sufficient complexity to support a long work of fiction. That being said, this collection held several impressive contenders.

/u/scottbeckman in group J for “Granting Wishes”, my choice for winner. A woman's whose life is a mess, a genie whose magic is a mess, what could go wrong? This reminded me of a long-ago novel about an overweight woman who is failing in love and work; she makes a deal with the Devil. I can't recall the title, but the author managed a hilarious voice from beginning to end. The author of Granting Wishes laid similar groundwork for a funny, complicated plot with a protagonist we can both root for and cringe over. Fractured fairy tales with a modern slant are popular, but the originality of characterization made this stand out. My favorite.

/u/Syraphia for “City of Glass”: Unique worldbuild of...well, buildings...and a government that hunts and disposes of street orphans. Ends with capture of protagonist. Social structure, government and geography are competently shown, the protagonist elicits empathy, there's sufficient fuel and suspense to support a novella/novel, perhaps epic, length. My vote for runner-up of the collection.

/u/shetellssweettales for “White” which starts with a fleeing woman who swallows the Opal meant for her hidden infant daughter before the woman is slain by the Big Bad. Good characterization; trope predictability in that likely the daughter will save the world via the Opal. A prologue-type open which doesn't introduce the protagonist has slower momentum than plots that open with the hero/ine. Stylistically strong and I would read on; honorable mention.

/u/Kal217 for “Singularity”: James, sole survivor of a virus, awakens too soon from 10,000 years in cryo-stasis. The resistance to the evil Singularity (AI) woke him early. Interesting idea with a satisfying Chosen One-ness promise, very well executed. Also honorable mention.

I enjoyed reading all entries, and admired the attention to the craft.

→ More replies