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Let's try something different this year.

At any point before the end of November, you may nominate ONE story you've published between now and then as your entry. Any length, any theme, and you can spend as much or as little time on it as you like. The only restriction is that it can't have been entered in any previous contest.

There will be no bets, no SHAMING. There WILL be prizes. (To be announced at a later date.) I'll bump this now and then as a reminder, but I don't really care about motivation threads and the like. It's your own job to motivate yourself.

I also don't care if the story was started in 2018 and I'm going to ignore anyone whining about that. If someone used the extra time to write a story so epic and amazing it can't possibly be duplicated by someone else working a solid eleven months, then screw it, they deserve the win. Whichever story you wish to enter, link it in this thread whenever you're ready. No edits will be allowed past November 30th. The voting period will last a full month and all judging will be done by the community. There will be a fresh thread closer to the date with the details on that.

Will the prizes be pats on the back?

Probably not.

But at least it isn't a Pedo Mod Kiel contest where the prizes would be gropes in the dark.

I just realized you probably won't even be able to be around in November. Perhaps your tiny men can still pull off a win in your absence however.

I like the format of this competition :) Can probably submit something.

11 months?

I'm sure I can get a good story done before then. Will probably submit a sci-fi - those can really stand out when done right.

So I've never done this kind of thing before and i was wondering, how do you enter your story into this?

Refer to: "At any point before the end of November, you may nominate ONE story you've published between now and then as your entry."

To nominate, I imagine it is just you replying in this thread with a link to your storygame (I'd imagine you can type something like 'I nominate this story, Best of 2019, as my entry' just so that it is clear).

Mainly you want the judges to know that you have entered and what story you have entered with. Don't miss the deadline too.

I'll probably enter the fantasy epic I'm currently working on in this, assuming nothing comes up and I can stay on schedule to publish this summer lol.

What about the case where you published and then immediately took down a story so it didn't technically get entered and judged? I was working on my story Ascendance and had about 20% of one of 8 story lines finished, published it, then immediately took it down due to the shame of presenting a story that was around 5% finished. Could I finish the whole thing and publish it for this?

If not, considering I only worked on one character's story, I could just do another character's story and publish all of them separately instead, choosing one to enter. Would either of these options be okay?

May enter a story if my writing this year goes even a little bit as I planned it to. Also am commenting to keep an eye on this thread, because just simply hitting the "watch thread" button is far too much work.

Hey, will this contest be an opportunity to get out of SHAME?

I hadn't put any thought into that but I suppose I'll have to rule that since this contest can't put you into the SHAME pit it can't take you out of it either, sorry.

You shouldn't sit around wallowing in SHAME a whole year anyway. Just write something quick for the next official contest that comes up.

This will at least be in the back of my head the next time I decide to write something.

Mm.

Will there be multiple placings, like first, second, or third?

Is there requirements or is it "anything goes?"

I wanted to make sure there was no changes.

Now Im kinda hoping she changes everything but only announces it hours before the deadline, causing thousands to fail.

That would be beautiful.

12/31 10:59
*unannounced edit in OP* In order to qualify, the protagonist at some point must wrestle a platypus!

Done. Jokes on you that was fun!

Actually when you think about it if your first you the last person to be last (think about it)

ENGLISH, MOTHERFUCKER! DO YOU SPEAK IT?

There is not much to think about when you fix the broken English.

Does he look like a bitch?

what? *blam*

If you read your user name backwards and out loud it sounds like a slow person saying "stupid bus." ;)

I'm a little concerned about the fact that we're already at the halfway point of the year, and no one has published anything good yet.

I've already conceded to Price of Freedom

Wasn’t that one originally published in 2014 though, and for a different contest? If that’s allowed I might go back and try to finish my story that was published for a few minutes for the Epic Contest. I never even finished one character’s arc, but I got a lot of positive feedback on a couple of the characters, especially the elf princess one (the funeral scene).

The new PoF has over 50% is brand new content and pretty much all of it was reworked.

But realistically it shouldn't be counted since it was finished last year and ready to be published on CoG at the beginning of this one. If you guys are going to give me literally no other worthwhile options though I might just have to overlook that....

I thought Bill's story was supposed to be promising. Everyone was going on about it.

Mizal is getting up there in years and has a failing memory on a seperate, non-linear timeline, and that makes it hard for her to keep track of the dates of us scrubs.

Sure, it's good, but I mean, I was hoping for at least one mind blowing epic from a regular site member. When a published author three times the age of most of the site regulars publishes a story you expect it to be pretty good anyhow, something of the wow factor is lost there.

I was hoping for at least one mind blowing epic from a regular site member.

Well you can see where this plan went wrong.

Don't worry, Mizal. I got this.
Ineptitude 2: Electric Boogaloo is HAPPENING.

Well if you wanted that you should have went back to the era of warrior cats. There were soooo many quality stories back then. If only I had been there to see them in their prime.

"When a published author three times the age of most of the site regulars..."

Hey now!

[Awkward pause as he stops to do the math in his head.]

Can we agree instead to "slightly more than twice the age"? My frail ego, you know...

If you're over fifty, thrice might actually be more accurate.
Embrace that, because it decreases your chances of being called a homo faggot queer and being told all about your mom's lovely evening ahead by 15%.

Under 50... for a few more years, anyway.

It doesn't matter what you say, the fact that you correctly identified a random Mork & Mindy reference means you old.

Yes, but you're the one who wrote that Mork & Mindy reference...

Nanu, nanu.

To be honest Mizal I don't have that much of a desire to finish my Epic Contest story for the Best of 2019 Contest anyway. I'm more interested in finishing another one that I started just before then (but that starting point was still in 2018 and it's never been published, so it's valid according to the contest rules). If it gets a high rating I'll just let my Epic Contest entry continue to languish in purgatory. But I probably won't publish the one I plan to enter for this particular contest untill at least October.

Huh. Against all odds, you're still alive.

Yep! Alive and well ^_^

I might as well nominate this story, as I strongly doubt I'll be writing another 100k story between now and November.

http://chooseyourstory.com/story/secret-of-the-grass-planet

Good sir!

We already know you're a great author. You don't need to go rubbing the fact that you don't procrastinate like the rest of us into our collective noses.

Procrastinate!?! You must write while you have the inspiration!

Actually, this wasn't written explicitly for a contest; it's just the story I wrote in 2019 (so far) that I want to enter. And if doing so convinces at least 1 person to read it...

I don't want to discourage other entrants, but let's be honest here, you're probably going to win.

Although Will has mentioned working on something, so maybe you'll have competition.

It'd be really sad if this came down to just picking between two people though. Maybe everyone interested is just waiting till late last minute as usual....but then the purpose being this was to remove the last minute scramble by giving *an entire year* to publish.

"Winning" an uncompetitive contest just wouldn't be fulfilling...

I have had my story title claimed for months now. Don't you worry your pretty little head about this.

I don't see myself having time to finish another story this year, so I'll throw in Edithe Zilonis:

http://chooseyourstory.com/story/edithe-zilonis

That pic is great, lol.

Those are exactly what my arms look like, too.

Forgot I never posted in this thread lmao

I'll be nominating my fantasy story once I publish it. Probably won't win but at least there'll be more than 3 options to pick from (Bill's, MHD's, and Will's).

I will nominate a story here. I have already finished some as backups, but I want to finish my next story for this one! 

After this month I will not have much time, so I will evaluate what my chances are of finishing and throw a story in before the deadline. I wish I could be out of the pit of shames, but I’ll worry about that later... unless someone decides to kick me off the site before then. Either way you all can submit more choices for the judges without fear: I am not a professional writer like all the other participants!

I'll throw my hat in the ring for this contest.

Private Game for Natalie

Fuck lol

Still not sure if I am technically allowed to read this story or not... Either way it is very good!

P.S. Natalie if you are real, I am so sorry for prying into your relationship with Gower! Let me know if you really exist please!

But what about Kelly Unicorn Strider? O.O

I must admit I have not read the other story Gower wrote, I have a long list of "must reads." This list also includes both of Bill_Ingersoll's works. I have limited time. I will read about Kelly and let you know if I believe her to be real XD

I'm entering this contest.

Awesome

 

I hope you brought your slingshot...

Betting 90 points on Wildblue winning.

Here's my entry: When The Music's Over.

Oh no, Ozoni may lose his 90 points now...

I do not think my epic will be done on time (given there are only 15 days left); therefore, I will just put this here:

The Chronomantic Adventures of Professor Gower: Office Hours

I have started today after 3 days of plot and planning to write something for this contest. It is just for fun and practice, What I will end up in fifteen days. My goal is 12,000 words I have 2,100 from today..  I will deliver something at the end even if I am happy there is no shame.

I would like to put forward this storygame, my humble first contribution to the site: http://chooseyourstory.com/story/a-pixie-danced

Since we just had a holiday (and because I won't be able to do a write up on this yet anyway) I'm extending the deadline until 11:59 on December 1st all the people I'm sure are doing last minute polishing on their mighty epics and could really use the weekend.

It's likely also that the actual judging period will be extended so that all of you aren't too busy rushing out your Year's End stories to vote on these ones.

Ingersoll better be shaking in his hiking boots right about now

In the presence of this masterpiece, I am ashamed that I ever once thought as myself as a "writer." Time to go take up bonsai or some other hobby.

I presume there will be Boobs!!!

Perhaps. No bees though, unfortunately

As Wildblue has said she won't be able to enter, I've collected the 90 points from Ozoni.

The penalty is aptly described.

Landslide Here it goes.  The best horror story I have ever made in 10 days. here

So this is officially closed for submissions. I was dragging my feet a bit seeing if someone would respond to my DMs about entering theirs, but they seem to have wandered off at the worst possible time.

I'll make a new thread for judging soon. Judging will be by player vote and go on for a month, or possibly a bit more...everyone's in the middle of new contest fever right now and will be in the middle of frantically trying to avoid the SHAME pit by the time the original planned voting date concludes.

Plus, obviously most of us are kind of apathetic and slow.

I'm definitely feeling that way right now but stay tuned for later.

Time is relative

The judging period has to fall precisely between the end of the current contest and the start of the next one or we'll lose the three people who like to read and discuss things.

Literally was already posting about this earlier today on the board neither of you are important enough to access.

Next contest? Is one already planned? They already seem to be overlapping...

Bucky spams them occasionally.

I see... once I am out of the pit of shame I need to consider avoiding contests then.