Burgundy:
I'm actually a little bit confused as to how we should be voting. I realize I'm nitpicking, and there may not be an answer to my question, but... Are we supposed to score on the quality of writing, or on how much we like it (ie. how much it pushes our individual buttons), or creativity and originality, or how believable it is (internal consistency, I guess), or a combination of all these?
So far I've been voting on creativity and believability and quality of writing, which means some stories got high scores that didn't push my buttons and were not my preferred type of plot at all, because the writing was really good. But maybe that's not how everyone else is voting?
How do we vote? Does everyone just vote according to our pet criteria? So one reader will vote on writing, and another votes on 'this is my favourite plotline'?
Yes, I do understand that making rules for how to vote would be opening a can o' worms. Still, I wonder.
Having lots of fun voting, by the way.
Yep, we deliberately don't state voting criteria as we have no way of enforcing it. Personally, I give a high score if I enjoy reading the story, but if it's sloppy writing or it has a heap of mistakes I deduct points ('Oh what a meanie!' I hear them cry :D), and I'll also award extra points for the quality of the writing (even if I don't like the story itself that much). If something stands out as being particularly well crafted/imaginative with a decent plot and believable characters and engages my interest, I may even give it a 10!
Because there are no guidelines on voting, it serves to illustrate that this is a Challenge intended as a bit of fun, and to create an opportunity for people to share their work. It's not an exam where you either pass or fail. Everyone's tastes are incredibly varied, and what one person might regard as utter bollox, another might hold in great esteem.
All I would ask of participating authors is please don't just award yourself a big fat 10 for your own story and then disappear ... please take the time to read and vote on the other entries too, and if something is especially to your liking, leave a comment.