AW WESTERN CONTEST - Discussion Thread

Koobie said:

Why not make separate discussion thread for each story in SYW instead?

Eg., if I want to discuss a story, I make a thread with the following subject line format:

AW Western Contest Discussion: Entry [INSERT NUMBER], Title [INSERT TITLE].

And then everyone who wants to say something about the story can post in the thread. The story itself can be linked to from the OP of the thread.

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I considered this as the most sensible option -- however, I discounted it because it might dwarf the current March Prompt as it's a big old (triple page) undertaking. That said, I'm glad you've brought it up so we can see what everyone thinks.

Chris P said:

It's up to Harry, of course, but I think 40 threads would be too much to handle. My preference would be to have the first post announce the voting results, then a list of the stories with the authors identified and a link to that story in the original entry thread. General discussion/crits would take place in the results thread. If someone wants us to give an in-depth line-by-line they would of course be free to post it in a new SYW thread. It took long enough to READ 40 stories, imagine trying to do full crits on each.

I'd love to know what you all thought of my story (and if you think I pulled something off successfully) but I don't much need a line-by-line on mine.

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escritora said:

I didn't enter, only voted, so I hope my opinion won't feel like an intrusion.

It should be up to the author of the piece whether to post his or her entire story or post an excerpt in SYW. Personally, I wouldn't take too kindly to someone posting my work for crits. That's not to say that general comments on this thread or the soon to be established results thread aren't welcome. Normally that's how it's done and that's a perfectly acceptable practice.

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I hear you loud and clear about the oddness of putting someone else's work up for crit, but I don't think the suggestion was to put each story up ala SYW tradition. Just to post a different thread for (sans story) comments on each work to make things less complicated.

Saying that, I'm (as I was initially) leaning toward the single discussion thread (maybe with a separate congrats thread) -- though might could be a tad confusing.

We'll go with the single discussion and separate results/congrats results thread in SYW.

Semantics alert ahead!

Discussion vs Crit is the key -- they may seem similar, but I think the former is more an overview of what you liked and why you did/didn't put one entry higher than the other.

This should help writers see how there stuff is perceived, without going into the depth of a formal crit. Anyone who wants a deeper crit can post their work in Western SYW or seek a private crit or extend discussion with someone who's commented on their stuff.

Hope that all makes sense -- there ain't nothing like a Hoskins to confuse the things!

Puma said:

Now I'm confused -

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You done confused me too, Puma. Let's see if we can clarify and avoid Monty Python.

Puma said:

Two threads, both in SYW? Or single one thread for discussion and congrats? Or single meaning talk about all stories in one thread rather than 40?

BTW - my vote is one thread for all stories, not 40. But I'm still in favor of one thread in SYW with the results for comments and one thread here with the results for congrats.

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We are going for two threads, both in SYW. These will be ...

Two threads, both alike in dignity -- hang on a minute! I'll come in again!

There will be two threads posted in Western SYW tomorrow.

#1 -- Results and congratulation of results and general backslapping and didn't he/she do well.

#2 -- Discussion of entries. Used to comment on what you liked and why you voted/didn't vote for an entry as well as discussing the western genre.

Puma said:

As far as the comments up the line about anyone else posting someone's work in SYW - they are all already there in SYW. By entering the contest entrants gave permission for the work to be posted in SYW. Where they shouldn't be posted is here in genre which is not password protected.


Second point - on the crits and comments and posting other's work. If I say story X is a nice story but needs grammatical work on verb tenses, the writer will know there's a problem. But if instead I copy a paragraph or two of that story and show (the magic word) where there are tense problems, won't the writer see and understand a lot faster? Puma

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Agreed that the work is up and out there (in the safety of the SYW passworded forum) but I think the feeling is we should hold off of super in depth crits unless someone specifically asks for one and posts their entry in the SYW in the usual fashion.

So, in the discussion thread, the idea is to give overview and ask questions (I think examples such as you have given are ok) but not go into the whole piece unless the author requests this and posts their piece in a separate SYW thread. You should also engage with other peoples ideas about peoples entries so as to give more than one perspective on any particular piece.

For example -- give your overview of the piece -- what you liked/what you felt stopped the piece from achieving a better ranking -- but, when giving examples or quoting, boil this down to a sentence or paragraph. If the author wants to engage in further and deeper critique then they can post their piece in full as normal. Feel free to say why you think another person missed out on a work they discounted.

Like I said before -- the key is discussion. It's lighter and more brief than a crit, but it aims to inform the authors in the same way. It's a friendly signpost rather than a hammer on the head.