How To Fairly Judge 32 Stories?

It could be expanded to "Returning to School".

In North America, Labour Day is the last long weekend of the summer, just before the kids head back to school which makes it more or less the same time period. In other parts of the world it doesn't always happen when the kids return to school, which is why I listed two things for that theme.

Goodgulf

While visiting with Februs, I learned in some writing contests they use wordless pictures. Everyone would write a story from what they thought was going on. Would anyone be interested on that?

Katie B.

I guess I'm old school when it comes to length in a short story. In high school freshman English I learned that a short story is a literary work that can be read in one sitting. Now I know this begs the second question (what's a sitting?), but I think we mostly know that given most hectic lifestyles, it's about an hour. That means, I think, anything under 10,000 words. There is a downside, of course. If you write a really long short story( a la Faulkner, for example), you run the risk that people won't bother to read it. I guess we'll see. My latest clocks in at 8000 words.

I love the idea of the wordless picture idea.Don't know if I could write a whole story in less than 2,500 words though. I'd give it a try but it would be hard to build a story and conclude it with not enough words.
Chelsea.

I just spent the morning reading all these comments on the story contest,a dn find MANY interesting points. First of all, I'm thrilled to have the opportunity just to write anf have you all read it. That's my best point this morning. I have been writing picture stories for awhile, and find that the inspiration leads to some very diverse and fun stories. Its amazing how different everyone can see whats happening in the same picture.

LOL, didn't mean to post, I wasn't finished. Word length is hard for me. I have done VERY SHORT (25 words) and very long, and find that the shorter it is, the harder to write. Doesnt mean it cant be done. I do find one page easier, by that I mean not serials, but I also seem to reuse characters, so when you come to know the characters, shorter stories are easier.
personnaly, I don't care if the stories are limited to a word length. I would read all, no matter, though extremely long ones would be hard. I guess I'm rambling now, losing my train of thought. Just to conclude, all contests are good, whether by theme, picture, holiday, or word length, and I'll do my best to participate.
And Thanks to everyone who has put in so muchwrok to get this one together.

Well yes but...
For a contest entry is it really safe to assume that the reader is already familar with your characters? One of the advantages of this particular contest format (no author names) is to put all authors, new and well-known, on equal ground. This "blind" format serves to encourage both readers and writers to explore new territory.

Well, if it's a fanfiction story then the writer might assume that the reader has (or could acquire) some of the basic background if knowing it were necessary to understanding the story. Beyond that, however, IMHO even a fanfiction story should be self-contained--while the author might state that this story occurs near the end of THE TWO TOWERS, for example, the reader shouldn't have to read (or reread) that part of the book in order to make sense of the story.

Reusing characters shouldn't be a problem of and by itself, but I'd venture that a contest entry still should be self-contained in that a reader shouldn't have to have read earlier stories to make sense of that particular one. OTOH, merely because the characters have been used in other stories wouldn't mean that a story necessarily isn't self-contained--a story may relate to earlier stories but still effectively stand alone on its own merits, I'd venture.

For a regular posted spanking story (not a contest entry), obviously it would be up to the writer as to how much background RE his/her previous stories he/she decides to assume the readers has... --C.K.