Re: What happened?

Marilyn Johnson wrote:

If I point out to someone one time that they need to make sure quotation marks are both before and after their dialogue, I don't feel it necessary to highlight it every time in the remainder of the chapter.  If I point out they are constantly changing tenses, then any writer who is serious about their work will go through the entire chapter and make necessary changes.  I don't see the need to keep pointing it out.  Therefore, your 5,000-word chapter with 25 paragraphs may only be highlighted by me in the first 10 paragraphs if you repeat your mistakes throughout

... but why would you expect the writer to make all the effort?  Shouldn’t you as the reviewer be willing to spend three hours fixing poor craft and lazy self-editing?  How dare you!!

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Re: What happened?

Good discussion. I do think a contest is in order. It's good for members of the site who like participating and also does tend to bring in newer members.

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28 Reply by B Douglas Slack (edited by B Douglas Slack 2019-11-11 05:16:44)

Re: What happened?

Good idea, Sol. How about making a contest that requires points to enter and not money? I have a feeling that a lot of aspiring authors would like to enter a contest, but simply don't have the money. A payout of points would be the prize. If you tie a percentage of the amount of entry points to the prize, then the more that enter would raise the payout amount.

Bill

Quote Post 28

Re: What happened?

B Douglas Slack wrote:

How about making a contest that requires points to enter and not money? I have a feeling that a lot of aspiring authors would like to enter a contest, but simply don't have the money. A payout of points would be the prize. If you tie a percentage of the amount of entry points to the prize, then the more that enter would raise the payout amount. Bill

https://media.giphy.com/media/wMvESGxZ0Cqd2/giphy.gif

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Re: What happened?

Temple Wang wrote:

... image removed ...

And, what's your problem with this, pray tell?

Bill

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Re: What happened?

B Douglas Slack wrote:
Temple Wang wrote:

... image removed ...

And, what's your problem with this, pray tell?

Bill

Perhaps I misunderstood.  I thought you were joking ...

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Re: What happened?

Temple Wang wrote:
B Douglas Slack wrote:
Temple Wang wrote:

... image removed ...

And, what's your problem with this, pray tell?

Bill

Perhaps I misunderstood.  I thought you were joking ...

I don't know if it's a joke or not, but at present you don't pay money or points to enter a contest. Any money paid is to subscribe to the site, which of course would get you into any and all contests at no charge of any kind other than preparing a submission if so desired. And any newcomers which presumably contests are meant to entice would not have accumulated points to enter a points contest other than of course the free points they get for subscribing and thus it is again free for being a member of the site. Another line of thought would be that what possible good would a prize of points be to the many on site who have already accumulated more points than they will ever use. Could be a problem, so I'm just throwing things out to ponder should it be of interest. Take care. Vern

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33 Reply by Dirk B. (edited by Dirk B. 2019-11-12 00:58:07)

Re: What happened?

How about the winner(s) get their main work spotlighted on the home page for a week? Could have a Contest Winners section up temporarily. Not too long since that would annoy Temple and Vern. Leave the cash in the bank to pay for ongoing enhancements.

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Re: What happened?

vern wrote:

Another line of thought would be that what possible good would a prize of points be to the many on site who have already accumulated more points than they will ever use. Could be a problem, so I'm just throwing things out to ponder should it be of interest. Take care. Vern

Agree.  Back all those years ago I would not have been interested in points when I joined because at the time I wouldn't have known how important they are to survival on here.  And still wouldn't be interested in points because my current ones will long outlive me.  Which, by the way, I think we should leave a Last Will and Testament here designating who should get our points when we croak.

"I hereby bequeath two thousand points to..."

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Re: What happened?

Dirk B. wrote:

How about the winner(s) get their main work spotlighted on the home page for a week? Could have a Contest Winners section up temporarily. Not too long since that would annoy Temple and Vern. Leave the cash in the bank to pay for ongoing enhancements.

You must have me confused with someone in your imagination because you could leave the winner up forever as far as I'm concerned -- actually there is a section for the winners already. As I've pointed out many times over the years for those who may read or care about such things, you can get to any number of postings by simply clicking on a little button. Oh yeah, it does take about a nanosecond to do that so some may not have that much time. But if you do, now you know. Take care. Vern

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36 Reply by Temple Wang (edited by Temple Wang 2019-11-12 05:37:31)

Re: What happened?

vern wrote:
Temple Wang wrote:
B Douglas Slack wrote:

And, what's your problem with this, pray tell?

Bill

Perhaps I misunderstood.  I thought you were joking ...

I don't know if it's a joke or not, but at present you don't pay money or points to enter a contest. Any money paid is to subscribe to the site, which of course would get you into any and all contests at no charge of any kind other than preparing a submission if so desired. And any newcomers which presumably contests are meant to entice would not have accumulated points to enter a points contest other than of course the free points they get for subscribing and thus it is again free for being a member of the site. Another line of thought would be that what possible good would a prize of points be to the many on site who have already accumulated more points than they will ever use. Could be a problem, so I'm just throwing things out to ponder should it be of interest. Take care. Vern

Thanks for the save.  My caustic brain couldn’t figure out a way to reply without being sardonic.  My filter’s clogged.

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Re: What happened?

Dirk B. wrote:

How about the winner(s) get their main work spotlighted on the home page for a week? Could have a Contest Winners section up temporarily. Not too long since that would annoy Temple and Vern. Leave the cash in the bank to pay for ongoing enhancements.

You must have me confused with someone in your imagination because you could leave the winner up forever as far as I'm concerned -- actually there is a section for the winners already.

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Re: What happened?

Well, it's been a long time since I've posted or interacted here, and this was the first post I saw which was very fitting smile
I joined in 2008 mainly for the strongest start contest. I entered each year and although I never won the top prize, I was a runner up one year, and also won the YA category once. The contest was really motivating and even when I didn't win there was a lot of great feedback. To this day I will say my first three chapters of a new book are always my strongest and easiest to produce because of all of the practice I did each year.
I have various reasons (excuses) for why I haven't been active, but I definitely think contests are a big draw for new writers to enter.

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Re: What happened?

Hey Bobby,
You can purge your own connection list: Go to Connections. Hit Edit Connections. A list with all your connections will populate. An Action button alongside the connection will allow for disconnection
Hope that helps. ;-)

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