r/WritingPrompts • u/RyanKinder Founder / Co-Lead Mod • Apr 08 '14
Moderator Post [MODPOST] Finalist voting - Two different tie breakers!
Link to full list of novelettes for your reading pleasure: http://redd.it/1z9lva
We've got ourselves a bit of a runoff here and we're going to need people who were in the contest before to cast two votes. The way we were going to do it was just by votes and if there was a tie for a single position, myself and /u/SurvivorType were going to decide. However, the way the voting all shook out, I believe it is best that all the entrants get a say on where things fall. First let me break down the top place voting:
Both /u/heyfignuts and /u/Brad_Collins raked in five votes a piece. They are tied for first place. One of them must come in first, the other must come in second place. Then we get to the issue of who would be in third place...
Both /u/Avrienne and /u/unintendo are tied in the next position (third place) with four votes each. So we will need the previous novelette voters to choose who they'd pick between these two for third place.
Here's where you come in and how voting will go...
Your vote should look like this:
First place: heyfignuts or Brad_Collins
Second place: whoever you didn't choose for first between heyfignuts and Brad_Collins
Third place: Avrienne or Unintendo
THE FINALISTS STORIES
First and Second place tie breaker:
Third place tie breaker:
HOW VOTING WILL WORK
Only people who entered the novelette contest will be allowed to vote. If you see anyone you voted for, just reiterate your vote for them.
You will have until April 13th at 11:59PST to cast your vote in this thread.
You can't vote for yourself.
If you do not vote, any votes for you are completely VOID.
Should there be a need for a tie breaker this time (I hope not), I will judge based on a few factors.
The bottom line is by April 14th, we ought to have a clear first, second and third place winners. We should also have a new contest to announce. We are going to have a better way of voting / reading / judging for this next contest. We're still a relatively new community (a year and a half old by kickoff standards) so there are still a few kinks to hammer out. This was by far our largest contest and we thank you for your patience.
I also want to take this moment to once again congratulate all of you for completing a novelette. I encourage you to edit it, refine it and consider self publishing it. You are allowed to make an [OT] post here to promote its debut on any publishing platform and we will gladly pin the topic so people know it is available. We like to promote successful writers from our community where possible. You are all awesome.
Regards,
Ryan
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u/rfhickey Apr 13 '14
First - Wolves of the Underground
Third - Oracle at the Obelisk
edit - numbering
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u/TheSlyPig04 Apr 12 '14
My vote for bracket 1 - The Wolves of the Underground by u/heyfignuts
My vote for bracket 2 - Oh my goodness this was difficult, as I really loved both of these. u/Avrienne, you wrote an incredible story but my #3 vote has to go to u/Unintendo.
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u/Basilgate Apr 12 '14
My vote for first place goes to: The Wolves of the Underground
For third place I vote for: The Oracle at the Obelisk
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u/kalyissa Apr 11 '14
1st Wolves of the Underground 2. Immortal game 3rd The Delicate Wasteland of the Brain
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u/mrironglass Apr 11 '14
For first, The Wolves of the Underground. For third, The Oracle at the Obelisk.
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u/radioactivereality Apr 09 '14
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Wolves of the Underground
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Immortal Game
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The Oracle at the Obelisk
Congrats!
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u/xzbobzx Apr 09 '14
First place: Wolves of the Underground
Second place: Immortal Game
Third place: The Oracle at the Obelisk
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u/redrobin15 Apr 09 '14
First place: The Wolves of the Underground by u/heyfignuts, and for third place: The Oracle at the Obelisk, by u/Avrienne.
Congratulations to the winners! I'm definitely in for the next contest, whatever it is.
And a big thank you to this community. I'd gotten out of writing prose for a long time, and lost confidence in my abilities. This contest not only changed all of that, it got me started reading more fiction that I never had before, and inspiring me to write more of this style. Thanks r/writingprompts and especially u/RyanKinder for running everything and being a huge influence!
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u/RyanKinder Apr 14 '14
Thanks for the compliment. It was a fun contest to run. The next one ought to be equally as fun. :)
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u/heyfignuts Apr 09 '14 edited Apr 09 '14
Exciting! Obviously I can't vote in bracket #1; in bracket #2 I maintain my vote for the Oracle at the Obelisk by u/Avrienne, which I think is the best story in the contest.
Edit: Also, thanks, u/RyanKinder, for all your work. Running something of this size must be a massive pain in the arse, and your doing it for free with good grace is singularly impressive.
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u/RyanKinder Apr 10 '14
Thanks for the compliment. Not only am I doing it for free, I am also doling out monetary rewards (as are SurvivorType and The_Eternal_Void for this contest.) For future contests we might have sponsors of a sort, a few have contacted me, interested in future contests.
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u/DigitalEvil Apr 09 '14
Did the not voting thing apply for the initial round? Cuz I was stuck on my honeymoon and forgot to. Would suck to be disqualified....
Well shit, just checked. I got a few votes, but since I didn't have time to vote, they were all disqualified. Don't remember that rule being there to begin with, but ah well. I was pushing for Brad_Collins, so I still vote for him.
I recommend another method for voting in the future. And for making ALL the rules for voting clear in the future. When it comes to it, I prefer my wedding and honeymoon over a writing contest anyways. ;)
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u/Brad_Collins Apr 09 '14
Congratulations on getting married! Unfortunate timing but you prioritized what matters most. And thank you for the vote.
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u/pnwtico Apr 09 '14
First place: The Wolves of the Underground by u/heyfignuts, in keeping with my original vote.
Third place: The Delicate Wasteland of the Brain by u/Unintendo.
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Apr 09 '14
First place: Brad_Collins, Immortal Game
Second place: heyfignuts, The Wolves of the Underground
Third place: Unintendo, The Delicate Wasteland of the Brain
Congrats to all and congrats to whoever wins. Good luck!
4
u/whoiscraig Apr 08 '14
My vote for first prize goes to "Wolves of the Underground" by u/heyfignuts
And third place "The Delicate Wasteland of the Brain" by u/Unintendo
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u/Crenel Apr 08 '14
Hmm, I think this is even harder to choose than for the first round. These are four strong stories. Well, here's my vote:
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Immortal Game by u/Brad_Collins
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The Wolves of the Underground by u/heyfignuts
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The Oracle at the Obelisk by u/Avrienne
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u/IAmTheRedWizards Apr 08 '14
Wolves of the Underground for bracket one
Oracle for bracket two
Looking forward to the next contest!!
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u/TheCrakFox Apr 08 '14
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The Wolves of the Underground
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Immortal Game
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The Oracle at the Obelisk
Congratulations to the winners!
1
Apr 08 '14
I made a rather huge mistake coming up with a novelette that deserves to be novel length instead. Probably should have went with another idea that'd be... well, interesting. Congrats to the winners, whenever the tie-breaker gets sorted out anyway.
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u/JimSBeck Apr 08 '14
Again, my first place vote goes to Immortal Game.
My third place vote goes to Oracle at the Obelisk.
Once again, well done all.
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Apr 08 '14
My vote for first place is Wolves of the Underground by u/heyfignuts.
That makes second place, Immortal Game.
My vote for third place is Delicate Wasteland of the Brain, since I can't vote for myself...but since u/Unintendo can't, either, we'll cancel each other out. :)
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u/Unintendo Apr 08 '14
For first place, I pick The Wolves of the Underground by /u/heyfignuts.
For third, I'm happy to vote for The Oracle at the Obelisk by /u/Avrienne. This was the first story I truly loved in the competition and it was very nearly my number one pick.
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Apr 08 '14
Awww, aren't we so cute? If I have to be fighting someone to place in the contest, at least it's against something I liked myself!
You know I thought highly of your piece, and if you ever go back to it and do another draft, I'd love to take a crack at it.
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u/Unintendo Apr 08 '14
Right back at you. I still want to see the journey and the fall.
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Apr 08 '14
I actually just started reading the Mistborn trilogy (Brandon Sanderson, for whom I've heard a great deal of praise, and finally decided to check out), and I was a little shocked to find myself reading a fantasy story about a world where a hero failed, right after I'd written on the same riff all unwitting. He opens each chapter with a snippet from a journal of unknown provenance (at least at the start of the first book, eventually I found out whose it was).
While a little confusing at first, it worked really well as a framing device for the chapters. Now, it's not at all a new idea--the Dune series comes to mind first, with the endless streams of quotes from its own fictitious history books--but seeing it applied to a story so (roughly) analogous to mine, I might give it a try. I was already planning on expanding my chapters, and maybe adding at least one more (in between IV and V feels like a hole that needs filling), but now I'm also considering prefacing each section with bits of a journal written by Irrith. She is the titular character, after all, and while I think the story as written works well in third person, told from Sarim's perspective, that did mean I couldn't spend any time inside of Irrith's head.
Off the cuff:
Nothing the Sorcerer has done, none of the horrors he has unleashed upon our world, compare to first time I used the power I was granted as the Oracle.
The ever-darkening sky, the once-familiar beasts twisted by horrible magics, the rot and the pestilence, all of them pale before the realization that we were, all of us, absolutely powerless to stop it.
It is so easy to say to one's self, I would have done it differently. There is so much I would have done differently. But that's just it--I couldn't. No one could.
Fate is real, and we are bound by its dictates. For all the power I now hold, I am still powerless, in the end.
And that is the most horrible thing of all.
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u/Reintarnation Apr 08 '14
My vote for first prize goes to: Wolves of the Underground by u/heyfignuts
And for the third place: The Delicate Wasteland of the Brain by u/Unintendo
Great job, guys!
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u/Brad_Collins Apr 13 '14
First Place: The Wolves of the Underground by u/heyfignuts
Third Place: The Oracle at the Obelisk by u/Avrienne