Save the contest!!!!

Writing to a deadline is hard enough, without the pressure to get stuff in before it!

How's it coming, O tutelary deities of the LSF? Do we have enough yet to fulfil the quota?

We've just conducted an Exit Poll of authors as they left the LSF building and discovered that there's been a late swing in favour of challenge entries so at this point we are predicting that we'll meet and exceed quota. Based on previous experience and assuming we get a bunch of late submissions I'm hoping we might even reach 40 or thereabouts.

Whew! That's a relief. Now I don't have to stress myself out by trying to get another one done in time. If it's ready, it's ready. Writing fast is definitely not my thing.

Get it done!

I guess we don't need a Or Else! After that.

If there's about 40, that's not bad at all. The pressure to READ nearly a hundred stories is a problem for those of use who feel it's unfair to give 5 points to a middling story we've read and none to a fine story we didn't get round to reading.

Some will have done a lot of research. I'm having to be cautious about what I say in case it might identify my stories, but some plots would require quite a lot of research, especially those connected to historical events. Say someone wrote a story around the theft of the crown jewels in London in Charles II's reign by someone actually called Captain Blood. At least they'd have to look it up on Wikipedia and maybe check who Charles II's wife was and so on. Some stories would require very little research - for example, female poacher gets spanked by gamekeeper in 1900. But it would be a pity if he threatened her with the magistrate and pointed out that gentleman was standing for Parliament and she said, "I won't vote for him!", as women in the U.K. didn't have the vote then. That sort of thing takes about one minute to check online.

Go further back and of course archaic language is an issue, but my attitude is, do it if you can and if you don't, never mind - though some colloquialisms would seem out of place (imagine a 16th century teenager saying "Whatever!") and the same is true of Americanisms/Britishisms/Australianisms/Indianisms in the wrong place.

The future, of course, cannot be researched. But many people find imagining the future daunting and there are problems in a short story about creating a future credibly different from the present without confusing readers or spending a long time explaining it. The really good writer will sketch the different environment in a few telling strokes. And a few telling strokes is what it's all about!

Since we have members from very many countries, I really hope we have a few stories based in the past of places other than North America and the U.K..

Nope Got the message loud and clear!

I promise the next challenge that comes along, I will submit a story. Have lots in my head, but soccer season is just too busy! I'll take a spanking though for not getting it done this time.

I participate in story challenges on another board (not spanking related) and it generally seems that you get a late influx of entries. I think this is because it takes time to initially come up with an idea that meets the brief and then to actually write it down. As certain posters have pointed out doing stories set earlier in history does require a bit of research and that also takes time.