AW WESTERN CONTEST - Discussion Thread

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KellyAssauer

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PC&E regulars gave us a bunch of votes for the poetry contest and some very high praise... So yes, my post may be a tad tongue in cheek, but they were simply great readers and people and I do not doubt that some will vote here as well!
 

Scribe4264

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Well, for my two bits...

The purpose of the whole thing was to promote the genre... I presume writers need readers, so I say lasso the moon and bring them all aboard...

Ditto here!!!!
 

teacher

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I voted in the poetry thread after getting PMed. I took part in the western thread after getting PMed. So I would say that the amount of participants and voters are thanks to the PMs. It made it more personal and made me feel my story/vote was worth something.

I also felt I should give something back to AW after all the useful crits they've given me over the past two years. So PMs for me worked most.

Thanks to Harry for encouraging me to write my first ever western. I wonder how many writers in this competition have never written a western.
 

KellyAssauer

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I voted in the poetry thread after getting PMed. I took part in the western thread after getting PMed. So I would say that the amount of participants and voters are thanks to the PMs. It made it more personal and made me feel my story/vote was worth something.

A personal note of thanks from me. It's not easy to sit and send out PM's to people that I may have never spoken to - in hopes that I might attract their attention to a contest. Even a worthwhile contest filled with AW writers and imagination and great writing... It really does come down to this Community, and what we make it, and it responses like yours really helps to remind me why we're here.

If it wasn't for AW, I would not write the way I do now, and that's a debt I owe a few hundred people here.

Thank you again.
 

archerjoe

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Thanks to Harry for encouraging me to write my first ever western. I wonder how many writers in this competition have never written a western.

Like some others, it was my first western. I think the challenge of the contest appeals to people who might not venture into a new genre. It also might make people shy away. In my case, I had an idea and decided to saddle up and go for it.
 

Dermit

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Yep, first western.

And honestly, if I place in the top three I'm going to be annoyed. Not even in the same ballpark as some of this stuff.

Strange how that doesn't really bother me :p
 

BAY

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My first western and my first short story. I learned a lot from it and have new respect for both genre and length.
 

ladyleeona

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I don't think this was my first western (I'm not sure on that count), but it was my first real short story.

Regardless of the outcome, I feel honored to be included in the thread, even if by comparison my effort looks less than...stellar.

But I had fun writing it. I had even more fun reading all the other entries, so it's a win all the way around.
 

orion_mk3

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I've dinked around with the form on occasion, but it was my first completed western.
 

Chris P

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If it wasn't for AW, I would not write the way I do now, and that's a debt I owe a few hundred people here.

Thank you again.

Quoted because Kelly said it better than I ever could.

This was the first story I wrote specifically as a western. I'd written others that took place in the west, but fitting a western theme was not the point of that story.
 

WordCount

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It was the first western I've ever written, but not my first short story. I have about 5 other stories in this area of length, and shorter.
 

Kweei

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I voted in the poetry thread after getting PMed. I took part in the western thread after getting PMed. So I would say that the amount of participants and voters are thanks to the PMs. It made it more personal and made me feel my story/vote was worth something.

I also felt I should give something back to AW after all the useful crits they've given me over the past two years. So PMs for me worked most.

Thanks to Harry for encouraging me to write my first ever western. I wonder how many writers in this competition have never written a western.

This. I didn't even know about the poetry contest until I got a PM. I voted as soon as I could. I'll be voting in the western contest soon-ish, though I'm a participant. My first attempt at a western. I think I may try more.
 

mccardey

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I've narrowed it down to seven. Do I get a prize?

PS: I don't read much Western (I don't think it's big down here) but I know good writing, so that's what I'll base my final score on.
 
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Scribe4264

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My first western and first attempt to write a story in under 1,500 words.

And I got the PM to vote in the Poetry contest but by the time I got it - I was away for a few days - there was only a few scant hours left and not enough time to try to read and vote and do justice to the efforts of the writers involved.
 

FrankiiGii

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I have to say when I first started reading this thread I thought people were just being modest. But I'm only to story 16 and I'm completely blown away. I have a favorite at the moment but my list has 6 stories on it, I think. This round Ink just picking stories that I confect with and that I find technically good. But yeah, comparatively, not feeling so hot on mine. I'm amazed at the flow of some of these, they're outstanding!

I probably wouldn't have participated in this contest ifi hadn't been invited to the group. I've never written Western before so I just don't think it would have occurred to me to look into it. I definitely enjoyed it though. Gave me a rate for more, which is saying something because I'm assumed to say I was a bit of a snob about it. I think I had convinced myself that Westerns were always very dry.

Well my two year old has a nasty case of the flu, so I'm reading as I get a few minutes here and there. Great stuff!
 

Al Stevens

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When I was a boy, I read all the Zane Grey books that my grandfather had. I don't remember anything about them, though, so today I went to gutenberg.org and downloaded several to read on my iPad. It will be interesting to see whether these old works in any way influenced the ones submitted here.
 

teacher

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My votes are in. It came down to likeability. Another day, I could change my mind. Quality stories all round. Now I don't care if I come last, not with the quality I've seen here.
 

Chris P

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I'm halfway through and I have 6 I am going to go back and read again, and two (perhaps three) that I think are frontrunners.

In all honesty, I thought my story was really good until I held it up against the competition. Now I'm not so sure it's as great as I thought it was. But it's like being dumber than Einstein--no great surprise and no reason to be embarrassed either.
 

KatieJ

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It was my first western and my first short story, I think it will be just cool to see my name in amongst the submitters.

Kelly, I'll PM you, but I can help send out PMs to the masses, if you still need help.
 

bearilou

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*sigh* so...minor update from me. Thanks for KatieJ for the reminder that I might want to check in.

I didn't enter the contest like I wanted but I feel I have a good reason.

I couldn't wrangle a 1k story out of my idea. I wrote and tried and wrote and tried and 9k later I'd given up trying to enter the contest.

In good news, I'm coming along nicely on a small story (short story? we'll see when I get to the end and start trimming) that fell out of an idea that I was going to develop. So, I didn't give up!

I couldn't stop once I got started. :/

I'll make sure to read and vote, though! Someone should win those nifty prizes!

Can I still hang out with new cool western friends? :e2cry:
 
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