An Act of Revenge Story Challenge 2017

Just like Fi, it has been a few years since I've written anything here - but this last challenge finally pushed me to put pen to paper again (virtually, of course). Februs and Flopsy: I know how frustrating it must be to read our whines and wishes to alter what you've worked so hard to set up for us. But I also know how much these challenges helped us as writers, and provided a fun diversion for everyone. I will miss them, despite the inevitable forum talk it generated post-reveal. Thanks for the many diverse themes and style requirements (Anyone remember the poetry one? The 500-word one?) that greatly stimulated creativity and brought many new stories and authors to our attention.

and brought many new stories and authors to our attention.

That might have been the best part of the challenges. I could be selfish and say that my growth as a writer was the best part, but stumbling over new authors? Ones whose author pages I hadn't stumbled over? That was a priceless gift.

I like the challenges, I'll miss them. I thank the library admin for running them. Your work is appreciated.

Perhaps they'll return after a bit, if only to give me a venue for the results of my gloup studies.

I seem to have opened a can of worms. I participated in a challenge for the 1st time last year and I was not aware that the discussion of scoring had been discussed ad nauseam previously. I happen to like the challenges as it encourages me to participate; it is an excuse for me to contribute a story.

I thought I was just making a suggestion for future challenges. My thoughts came primarily from wanting a measure of quality of my own stories in the eyes of other members.

I sincerely hope that we can keep the challenges for the future.

Also, please forgive that I seem to be behind in the discussion; I have been away for the past week.

Tess

Oh crud...I came late to the party in so many ways. I submitted one entry to one challenge and I believe that was perhaps 3 challenges ago. I had so much fun doing so and you know what? I DID win that challenge! Not in the fact that I had the most votes...heck, I don't know how many votes I even had and I could care less. I"won" because it got me off my lazy butt and got me to write a story that several people enjoyed.

I missed a few pages in this comment thread, most of them in fact, and I pulled it up today on the last page and thought, "What? Wait...this was the final challenge? Why?"

I had no idea that these were a catalyst for such bitching and only ever got enjoyment from them, in minor part via my participation and in major part from reading the entries, though admittedly sometimes only in validating some because my hectic life did not allow me the time to peruse more and vote on them.

I kind of feel in reading this a bit like having lost a friend or a loved one in a tragic accident thinking, " My God, if I could have seen this coming I would have spent so much more time with them." I viewed these all with the best of intentions thinking that I would cobble something together and submit an entry and for one reason or another failed to follow through and am now kicking myself for opportunities lost.

For whatever it's worth, I thought these challenges, and all that Februs and Flopsy do for us and the site for that matter, were excellent.

Jenny

I could not agree more.

Tess

Agreed. I hope once F&F have had a break from the challenges and all the "constructive criticism" about the scoring methodology, they might consider bringing them back in some other format.

If I might suggest something for future consideration, perhaps a challenge where the scores are private, and shared only with the author. No winners, no public display of scores, but any author who wants can see how many people scored their piece, and what the total (or average, or distribution -- whatever Februs finds easy to do logistically) scores were.

Authors get some potentially useful quantitative feedback on their story (in addition to the large numbers of thoughtful comments that the challenges seem to draw) and no one gets bent out of shape about how things were scored. Talking about scores in the forums can be strictly forbidden.

Or even, as I suggested before, totally without scores. Just anonymous stories on a challenge theme, put up for review and comment for a few weeks before the reveal, as now, but with no scores.

The challenges are so much fun to read and participate in, it's a shame to throw the baby out with the bath water.

That said, I totally understand why F&F have decided as they have, and completely respect their right to do what makes sense for them.

Thanks as always, for all you do, Flopsy and Februs!

I agree totally with jenny and teresa.

I was also unaware that the scoring horse had been beaten, whipped, flogged, thrashed, etc on multiple occasions previously. So I can understand why they'd get tired of rehashing things repeatedly, even though most of the comments were well-intentioned suggestions. If I'd known their explanation was in an older forum post I probably would have avoided speaking up.

Having said that, is it really necessary to have scoring and anonymous entries to make the challenge concept viable? Why not just make it a special issue (sort of like the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue)?

Set the parameters and a deadline to submit and then just post all the stories you get in response in a batch like the prior challenges were. No scoring and authors are named with their stories. Much less work for the site administrator and no pissing and moaning about the unfairness of the scoring system because there isn't one. Frankly the 15-20 comments I received were more meaningful than a subjective score from the challenges, so readers could be encouraged to comment on rather than score what they read.

Am I totally insane or is this something that other authors would go along with once the current dust has settled and our hosts might be persuaded if we promise to be on our best behavior?

I would also be sorry to see the challenges disappear. They have been an inspiration to many of us, challenging us to write on different topics and in other genres than we usually do. They have also helped us discover other exciting authors than those we read out of habit. I also think the challenges have been important in making this site a community and not just a collection of stories – they give us something to focus on.

As for the format, I like it just the way it is. The anonymity is important in making us discover new authors and read them with an open mind, and the competition element is an inspiration for those of us who never grow up.