Welcome to Gaia! ::


Introduction


Welcome to the first contest hosted by Ryiel. Before you read on, I want you to do me a favor. Bring everything you've got to the table. This contest will not be easy. It might be the hardest contest you have ever and will ever enter on gaia. It might be one of the longest too. The reason? Because it isn't going to be a "post your story and I pick the best" contest.

Not.

Even.

Close.

So I suggest you bring your A game. Because this is not a competition. This is a brawl. A race, persay. This is a test. A teaching exercise. This is what we need in the WF.

We need to learn. To grow as writers. To be molded into better writers, by ourselves, by our peers, by our equals, inferiors, superiors, by whatever methods are attainable. Forcibly, if necessary.

So, without further ado, welcome, dear contestants, to the contest of contests. Welcome to the Student to Teacher contest. The Mentee to Mentor Contest. The Student to Master Contest.

Welcome to learning.
Welcome to knowledge.

In short:

Welcome to the TeSt U Contest (ask me why if you can't get it)

So, without further ado,
It's time to Test You.
The Premise


Well, now you want to know what this is all about, right? I mean, I did just venerate this contest as superior to all other contests in the history of WF contests (of course, you must realize that I am highly arrogant and concieted and thus think that anything I do must be superior to anyone elses)

So, what is it about?

This contest is going to last for four rounds. Four rounds of brutality and slaughter, you might say.

How it works?

Round One


The first round is like everything you've ever seen before. You will write a story for me. It will be a good story, a lovely story, or else I will disqualify you. And I mean that very seriously. I am going to read and critique and COPY every story you write. You will not be allowed to edit any of your stories after you post them. If I feel you have not edited before you posted, DISQUALIFIED. After I have recieved my total number of entrants, I will end the first round. Be forwarned though, the first round is the least cutthroat.

It is all too likely that, at the end of round one, I will cut many from the contest. How many remains to be seen. If I think all of the works have been worked on sufficiently before being posted, I will cut few. If I think there are many stories that were posted haphazardly and foolishly, I will cut many. The end of round one is the beginning of the real contest.

Round Two


Round two is where the fun begins.

YOU will critique each others works. Now do you understand what I meant by student/teacher? I will use a random generator of sorts (probably names out of a hat) to choose who will critique whose work. You will then critique said person's work.

The critique can be in any form, any way, any how. I don't care. But it will be done IN THIS THREAD! Any critique given or recieved outside of this thread is grounds for immediate disqualification. I mean this very seriously.

Then, the critiqued will grade the critiquer. They will tell them (IN THIS THREAD) what they think about the critique. They will tell them what they think about their own story. They will operate like a two way street of sorts. The critique can continue for more than one post. If the critiquer thinks they have something else to add to the critiqued, they may add it. When all are finished, the critiqued person will PM a grade to me.

I will also be grading critiques. I will be sending PMs to people about their critiques. What I thought was good. What I thought was bad. Etc.

Round Three


Guess where this picks up? You are not expected to edit after round two. Another person will critique your work. This round will continue as round two did until all critiques are finished.

At the end of round three, all stories should have been given two peer critiques, one critique by me, and one critique by any judges willing.

Round Four


Edit. You will edit your stories to my and other people's critiques.



That is the end of the contest. Perhaps I will throw in a third round of critiques, perhaps not. At the end, I will choose the winner on several criteria.

Criterion A: How well their original story was written.
Criterion B: How well you critique others. (this will be an average score)
Criterion C: How wel you recieve and grade critiques.
Criterion D: How much you improve and how well you edit.

The winner will be decided after all rounds are complete.

Not too hard is it?
The Rules


Now that you understand the layout of the contest, you will follow these rules without any deviation or so help you God...

1.) GAIA TOS APPLIES. Srs bznz.
2.) You will fulfill all rounds by the deadlines I set forth, or you shall be forcefully disqualified. An extension may be given IF you give me significant notice. If you ask me the day of the deadline, you will get a serious ear bashing and perhaps forcibly removed from the contest. And, I think the way the rules of this forum work, if you fail to do so without a valid excuse and a good enough advance notice, I might even be able to gt you punished by gaia mods. I'll ask to. Trust me.
3.) You will write a STORY between 4000 and 8000 10000 words. No more. No less. No excuses. No exceptions.
4.) You will post everything in this thread AFTER PMing me with the application below. You will be quoted by me, so don't bother editing after I quote you. Screw the application up the first time, and I'm liable not to give you a second chance. (Of course, if you screw up in a small way, it's no big deal. But if you just fly through without even attempting to follow these rules...)
5.) You will use the proper form for the critique grading. Should you fail to do this, you will be required to regrade the critique, or possibly removed from the contest.
6.) You will PM your grades to me. Your grades are unimportant to the contestant winning. They are vitally important to you winning. Srs bznz.
7.) You will edit your entry during the final round. I mean this, too. How much you improve and how well you receive the critiques and how much and what parts of the critiques you use will effect your final grade. There will also be a bonus prize for improvement, so do well. But remember, turning in crap beforehand and editing it a lot to make it really good later won't work. I'll cut you from the contest before we make it to round two. Remember?
8.) You will be expected to do as I, any other judges, or mods/admins say, under penalty of the SLAP OF REMOVAL FROM THE CONTEST! It's a horribly painful slap.
9.) I reserve the right to add more, and trust me, I probably will.

Please don't make me cut you from the contest after round one. Trust me, it'll be a pain in my a** to find someone else to critique in your place, and I'll just get royally pissed off. So please don't.
The Application

Why do you have to do this, you ask? Because I want to make sure you are committed to this contest, so I'm going to waste some of your time with an application. Copy and paste this to a PM directed at Prince Yorae (I mean this, I cannot obtain PMs, you will PM my mule everything you need, he will be on the front page, so don't worry about trying to find him)

The Application
Your name:
The title of your submission:
The length of your submission: (if you've finished)
The first paragraph of your submission: (to prove you've started)
The page your submission will be on: (if you've finished and will post immediately)
The genre of your submission:
The prompt:
Why I should let you in my contest/Comments: (this is your chance to make sure I know you are committed)


You will PM this for many reasons. I'm bad with backlog, so you're going to tell me where it is so I don't have to look. Also, I want an easy list of contestants. So yes. If you have not finished your entry before applying, then you will need to PM me a second time, stating where it is, reminding me the title, telling me the length, and overall making sure I don't pass it by. You may post the moment I have this PM, you're posts will look like this:

Quote:
Title:
Genre:
Prompt:
Length:
Content:


Bold all of that.

That is the extend of the application process.
The Grading Criteria


So, now that you understand the ideas behind this contest. And you understand how to enter the contest. You probably want to know what to do next.

You will critique, obviously. The better the critique, the better the grade. I will grade you (and you will grade each other and PM those grade to my mule, lest you be severely deducted points, bad bad bad)

The first grade I give will be on your original work.

Quote:
Originality: 10 points.
Grammar/Spelling: 10 points.
Craft/Style: 30 points.
Ability to follow all rules beforehand: 30 points. (Quite the gift, wouldn't you say?)


Total possible score after round one: 80

Then you will critique. The criteria are this:

Quote:
Constructiveness: 10 points.
Helpfulness: 10 points.
Explanation: 10 points.
Observation: 10 points. (how much you notice things that need work)
Detail: 10 points.


Do as instructed and all will be fine. It should go something like this:
1) Everyone will critique another work. (in thread)
2) Everyone will respond to their critiques. (in thread)
3) Everyone will PM me their grades.
4) I will critique every critique (in thread)
5) I will PM a grade to everyone (my grade)

There will be other judges who will help me do all this, so be forewarned. You will also grade critiques with this form, and PM them to me. I will average the judges grades of critiques, and then I will look at yours. As you see, the total score for a critique is fifty. Divide by two. 25. Every point you deviate from the judges critique grade will subtract from the 25. So, if the judges average them a 5 for helpfulness, and you give them a 5, nothing happens. If you give them a 1, you lose four points from the 25. Got it?

Total possible score after round two: 155
Total possible score after round three: 230


After three rounds, you will be edit. Criteria for the edit:

Quote:
Improvement: 10 points
Ideas taken from critique: 10 points.
Ideas taken from me: 10 points.
Judgement: 40 points.


Note, I may give you bad ideas. I may give you good ideas. Other people may give you bad ideas. Other people may give you good ideas. If you take every idea and use it, your judgement score will fall. It is OVER HALF of the total score of this section.

Total possible score at end of contest: 300

The winner will be decided by highest score. That's it. As I'm sure you are able to see, the critique part is the most points. So I think you can see what this contest is getting at. You will all be told by both me and others how well you critiqued, so you should try to improve the second time. It'll help your score... and of course, I am giving a bonus prize to the person who improves the most. Do note, at the end of round two, anyone whose critique felt intentionally bad will not only have a horribly low score, but I will disqualify them from this bonus prize, so don't bother trying to score low in hopes of winning the bonus prize.

It probably doesn't make sense, so please ask me if you are confused. I can't help if I don't know there's a problem.
The Prizes


I'm sure by now you are either gone because this contest is too difficult for your pathetic self, or you've stuck around because it intrigues you or you are captivated by the idea of a contest like this, thinking that, certainly, the prizes will be HUGE!.

They wont.

They'll be UBER HUGE!

Here's how it works, at this moment in time, I have organized my inventory into certain price ranges (based on tektek's estimate of current average prices of the items, which does, at times, depend on generation). 100K+, 75-100K, 50-75K, 25-50K, 25K-. So, I'll do it this way, I'll explain them here:

100K+: (AKA: Class A)
Picolitrosso's Urn
Gimpi
Hermes Moon
Dark Halo
Alruna Rose
Death Whisper

75-100K: (AKA Class B)
Winter Rose
Demonic Anklets
The Lusty Scoundrel

50-75K: (AKA Class C)
Biancamella
Changeling Baby Boy
Elegant Black Satin Coat
Shadow Spirit

25-50K: (AKA Class D)
Oculus Mythica
Western Zodiac
Elemental Wings
Vampire Hunter Hat
Spring Nymph
Superior Form
Kong Sang Scarf
Gift of the Goddess
Phoenix Circlet
Assassin's Guise
Chain of Command
Oh My Gumball
Mythic Hair
Red Riding Hood

25K- (AKA Class E)
Too many to list.


Now, the way it works is simple, I'm giving away my inventory. And! I'll give away bonuses and stuff if I love you (beg and I'll kill you, or make you my slave.)


1st place: First choice of: 2 Class A, 1 Class B, 2 Class C, and 5 Class D items. That's 10 items! (You will also recieve 2 Class E items of my choosing, which I will be similar in design/colors/etc to the ones you ask for)
2nd place: Second Choice of: 2 Class A, 1 Class B, 1 Class C, and 5 Class D items. That's nine items! (You will also recieve 3 Class E items of my choosing, which will be based on what you ask for)
3rd place: Third Choice of: 2 Class A, 1 Class B, 1 Class C, and 4 Class D items. That's eight items! (You will also recieve 4 Class E items of my choosing, which will be based on what you ask for)

Most improved story: 100K
Most improved critique:100K and all items left


I reserve the right to give away anything I want to other people, notable contestants, friends, etc. I will only give away Class E items, so those Class E items may slowly wither away to much less. Still, I think with everything else I'm giving away, that is a small concession.

I reserve the right not to give away prizes should I not get enough entrants or should no entrant meet the necessary criteria (in other words, if I feel like nobody improved enough to merit a "most improved prize" I'm not giving it away.)

My net worth is: 2,797,465 Gold and that isn't including the items and gold in my mule accounts, so I am worth almost 3 mil.

And thus, this contest is worth anywhere from 2.5-3 mil.


Final Note: to protect against those unscrupulous hackers out there (I won't get scammed, I'm not stupid) I am hiding my items unused items and gold away in a hidden account that shall never be disclosed except to my alter ego. Now if only I could trust that damn scoundrel.
The Announcements


1) Judges are currently:
Ryiel (Tezzy)
Senari1 (Tia)
The Demonlord Vice (Crow)

2) The contest NOW ends on November 15th.

3) The contest prizes have increased DRAMATICALLY (about 150 times the original amount, I think)

4) Please include your prompt in your application and submission.

5) An amendment to number 2. It used to say I'd extend to 20, I changed it to I'd extend to 15. I also said at the beginning I wouldn't extend more than twice. I've extended three times, I've cut down the number by five. If I do not get 15 entrants by November 15th, I will shut down the contest. I may give away gold amounts to people who entered, but I will not give away my inventory. Sorry kids.
The Good, the Bad, the Entrants

The Good


[.days] for the ginormous donation. Prizes doubled, all thanks to days. Round of applause everyone (that was not a question, APPLAUD! AND THEN BOW AND WORSHIP FOR A MOMENT! Then you may come back and bow and worship me again)
Donate to end up on this list, don't think it gets you bonus points though.



The Bad


None at the moment.
Piss me off to end up on this list.



The Busy


ecopper12
Kitti Meere
Apply to end up on this list.



The Entrants


Ken-san1990 || Submitted Work: Delphine || Location: Page 2
Antumbral Light || Submitted Work: Scenes from a Lesser War || Location: Page 15
Lex Luthor || Submitted Work: Happy Dreams || Location: Page 18
Alanora Calaran || Submitted Work: Kin || Location: Page 19
[Apple.Tequila] || Submitted Work: My Heart, My World || Location: Page 20
Queen Rawr || Submitted Work: Forbidden Love || Location: Page 20
Edwardoh || Submitted Work: Dissolving the Seahorse || Location: Page 20
Weirdlittleslytherin || Submitted Work: The First Doll || Location: Page 31
RunningLynx || Submitted Work: Another Future || Location: Page 38
Lovest Harding || Submitted Work: Perfect Does Not Cry || Location: Page 55
Kitti Meere || Submitted Work: Kyssthma || Location: Page 56
Death Defyer || Submitted Work: Room 313 || Location: Page 57
Enter your story to end up on this list. Once you do, I require you to follow through with the rest of the contest or inform me that you can't or inform me that you need extra time. Don't fail. Or else.
The Prompts


Requirements for the contest are simple.
1) It must be a story between 4000 and 8000 words. Said that before, needs to be resaid though. SHORT STORIES ONLY!
2) While I often dislike this rule, it needs to be the ONLY time you've entered it in a contest. Never before, and never again until the final round is over. 10 points will be deducted from your final score if I discover either of these. There is a reason.
3) Don't feel obligated to follow our likes and dislikes. Write whatever perspective, characters, setting, etc. that you like. Make sure it's good though, lest you get cut. If I feel you are blatantly playing into my likes/dislikes, I'll likely cut you.

Prompts:

Alright. As for prompts. I don't want to limit you too severely, so 'll offer two for now. Other prompts may be added later. Also, niether prompt will increase or decrease your score. but you still have to choose one.

1) Emotion. I don't care which one, but it needs to be to the extreme. Essentially, it's not anger, we're talking rage. It's not contempt, it's hatred. It's not happiness, it's bliss or euphoria. It's not sadness, it's depression or grief. It's not like, it's love. Got it. If you do this, though, you need to be sure that you give me a damn good reason they feel this emotion (or emotions) and you need to make sure they are done well) Take this wherever you want. It could be two lovers, a father raising a son on his own and struggling, it could be a murderer and the victims family, whatever, as long as the emotions are strong enough to melt the page they are written on (not literally of course, or else I'll be unable to critique you myself) I'd prefer if you didn't use ones I've already read, but you may if you desire. The ones already used and completed are: You may use these, but again, I'd prefer if you didn't. It won't effect your score... much (dun dun dun)

Passion
Hatred


2) Take a cliche, any cliche (though you need to tell me which one it is and make sure I approve of it, in the PM application, thank you) and use it in your story in a new/original/really good way. Remember, the regular way or the boring/predictable way will cost you points in originality section.

If you have a really great prompt idea or something you'd like, you can ask me about it. Who knows, I might add it, or I might just let you. I might not, but you'll never know if you don't try.
My favorites


Likes:
I like style. I like for things to be your own. If I feel like your writing is stilted or is not "fresh" you won't score full marks. So... ease up a little and let loose the writing.
I like action, if it's done well.
I like strong, well planned, well organized characters that stick to their personalities and their roles in the story.
I like good plots.
I like a good setting.
I like fantasy and magic.
I like coming of age stories (if DONE REALLY WELL!)
I like decent relationships (be them romantic, parental, brotherly, sisterly, familial, or friendly love. Or hate. Or anything in between. A well thought out relationship is great.)

Dislikes:
I dislike stilted writing.
I dislike poor plots, characters, or settings.
I dislike high school settings.
I dislike confusion.
I dislike cheap characters. Token gays, token minorities, etc. I dislike them. A LOT!
I dislike emo wangst (seriously)

Again, none of these are necessary. And remember, my likes may be someone elses dislikes. And vice versa.

Fashionable Lunatic

So, I'm supposed to list stuff....I'm tempted to break out into "A Few of my Favorite Things", but I've learned that if I sing, you won't hear it.

Anyway, my name is Dean Winchester Sen. I'm an Aquarius, I enjoy sunsets, long walks on the beach, and frisky women. I'd give money to anyone that could tell me where that quote came from, but I wouldn't trust you to not use Google.

I'm not going to give a huge list of stuff I like and don't like. If Ryiel lets you in, then there's a good chance that you know what it takes to write a decent story. If you don't, refer to Ryiel's list. I'm a fan of fantasy and I dislike it when cultures are butchered (I'm looking at you, little weeaboos).

Go nuts, y'all, and good luck.
The name is Vice, but I also answer to Crow and That BAMF.
Nothing else about this one is truly important, save for this; good writting is rewarded, regardless on genre or style.
Alright, now, I think that just about wraps up the set-up.

I declare the contest open!

Shameless Genius

How intriguing. I suppose my story must be written before I submit an application, then? I will have to write something new, since all my short stories are less than 4000 words. I'm guessing it has to be a complete short story, not an excerpt from something longer?
(Incidentally, you'll think I'm awful cheeky and probably hate me, but I just love it when people misspell 'grammar' when they're stressing how important spelling and grammar is. Seriously, it gives me a warm tingling feeling deep inside.)

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