~Hakurei Shrine~ > Patchouli's Scarlet Library
Weekly Writing Challenge Thread 2 - The Morning After (Deadline December 31st)
FinnKaenbyou:
Alright, I've rounded up the last few results. Each week was judged separately by one of our four Mystery Judges, and the criteria are simple. If the Librarian wins, the best non-Librarian gets the Wordsmith title. If the Librarian loses, everyone who was considered better than the Librarian gets the title.
And given that there was no conferring between the judges, they seem to have picked out a few names surprisingly often. o.o
Week 1: Our first judge, after some deliberation, gave this round to Iced. Stein's story was interesting, but the judge felt it didn't touch enough on the potential plot and instead opted out for making Reimu a simple gag. Iced presented more of a grey area in Marisa's parental conflicts, and that made it a bit easier to swallow.
Week 2: This was more difficult for judging based on the fact that haikus and stories are difficult to compare (Bard's in particular made him draw a blank). Capt. h's story made Koishi almost too sociopathic but was solid otherwise. Logos made something very interesting out of the haiku format, although the judge noted that '"Ex-am-ple of Ki-ri-sa-me" is eight syllables.' :V
Ultimately though, he gave the point to Rou for a generally well-constructed story.
Week 3: Important note - I am required by Purvis to yell at all the people who didn't include a reference to seasons within their haikus.
With that done, onto judging!
LaserTurtle's piece seemed a bit rushed, according to judge #3. With more time and effort it could be something pretty interesting. capt. h was solid although the judge found the 'ze' impediment to be a little annoying.
Sakana's piece, although well-done, suffered from a clunky ending. The Marin/platypus scene doesn't gel with the rest of the story. And despite the judge's self-admitted hatred of poetry, he found Stein's haiku set to be very impressive. It followed the season rule mentioned above, and also included one of the best portrayals of a danmaku fight he'd ever seen. For that reason, he awarded this round to Stein.
Week 4: why didn't we get this level of participation on the other weeks
Ruro's piece was really well written, but was perhaps a little too short for its own good.
Achariyth did well, but too much of the story required knowledge of cooking terms and his previous story Mise en Place. Judge #4 gave him an honourable mention although he fell just short of victory.
Capt.h's story was another funny short, but again it could do with being a little longer than it was.
The judge's praises went to two competitors this week - Stein (lovely characterisation and concept, slightly marred by questionable relevance to the topic and some typos) and Logos (thorough and curious exploration of the topic - to quote the judge, 'I can't quite put into words how much I enjoyed this without rambling and ranting and going on a tangent without end'.)
As you may or may not have noticed, the same two names have been showing up every week in the winners. :V
Congratulations to Edward von Stein and LogosOfJ! Enjoy your Wordsmith titles.
On to the new challenge!
Challenge Topic: Hey, I Just Met You...
And this is crazy
But here's my spellcard
So duel me, maybe
Seriously, though, this is going to be a challenge about relationships - in particular, relationships between characters who aren't usually seen together.
Maybe Yuugi pops in for a drink at Mystia's lamprey stand, or Kanako tries to win the faith of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Bonus points will be given for innovative ideas and going beyond obvious crack-shipping.
Deadline is 12:00 BST, 23rd July. Hop to it!
Dead Princess Sakana:
Well done everyone, and Congrats to the winners.
And yeah, I had to rush the ending to my entry, and it was a last-minute idea, so I'm not surprised it turned out clunky. Was fun to write again though~
Alfred F. Jones:
I never thought that I would once be told that my story was too short. Back to long, sprawling epics, I guess! BV
Joveus Molai:
Congratulations to the winners! Yours was a hard-earned victory.
--- Quote from: Takamachi Ruroha on July 09, 2012, 11:35:28 PM ---I never thought that I would once be told that my story was too short. Back to long, sprawling epics, I guess! BV
--- End quote ---
What madness have the judges wrought... :ohdear:
Achariyth:
Guess I got caught returning to the well one time too many...
Congrats to the winners and well done.