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Hi! I am GeminiGem🐾, and I am the guest editor of this issue of the Contests & Activities newsletter. Per a suggestion from StephBee, I am going to take a look at several of the non-contest, non-fundraiser type activities on WdC. |
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ANOTHER PIECE OF THE PUZZLE
Your muse is hiding or has possibly has gone on an extended vacation. Despite this, you have the need to create something, to spend time on Writing.Com, to interact with the community. You check out the contests, but no...with the muse off to parts unknown currently, that isn't happening.
Hold on, all is not lost.
Click on that green plus sign in the left hand column. Yep, the one right next to Create New Item. There are all kinds of things there that you can do to scratch that creative itch without having to do any full-blown writing. Most of them are available to ALL members no matter what their membership level is currently. Let's break it down.
CAMPFIRE CREATIVE I'll be honest, I've never tried this, but it looks like it has a ton of potential to be fun. It is sort of like having a group of people sitting around a campfire and somebody starts telling a story. They pause and the next person takes off and tells the next piece of the story, and so on.
If you start a Campfire Creative, you will need to put some work in to start a story that people will be excited to join in on, then you will need to recruit participants. You need to send out invitations to up to 25 people (this is all set up in the management of the Campfire).
Where do you find these people? Well, you can invite friends, of course. You can invite people you have seen around the site that you think might be good participants. You could even put out an open invite on newsfeed and see if you get any interested parties that way. Make posts about your Campfire, what the story is about, and see who can lure into your story telling.
Example: "Tracking Horcruxes"
In & Out This will require you to come up with a theme, concept, or central question and then make an effort to let people know about it so they can participate. People make an entry, and once there are a predetermined number of entries, the newest entry knocks the oldest one off the list.
Example: "Linericks"
Madlib This is easily my favorite. I enjoy doing other people's Madlibs, and I had so much fun when I created one of my own.
You write a story, leaving out words. Then you give your participants clues as to what type of word to insert, like an action verb or a proper noun, etc.(so the story will make some amount of sense), but they get to choose which word works for them. They don't get to see the story until they are done, though, so there are often some very funny results of these word choices. To entice people to do your Madlib, let them know that you will post your favorite responses in newsfeed. People generally love to see their own creativity highlighted.
Example: "It's A Mad, Mad Tea Party"
Word Search Another term you might be familiar with would be a crossword puzzle. You pick the theme of the Search and come up with the words for the search. The system does the rest, so you don't have to try to format the actual Word Search.
An interesting tidbit from Writing.Com 101: The game board is generated randomly each time a visitor views it. Words that the game cannot fit into a given board will be ignored for that particular game. For this reason, it would not be wise to create 25 words with 20 characters each; the game would discard most of them. Instead, a combination of long and short words will make for a very enjoyable game!
Example: "Happy New Year!"
Quiz You can use a Quiz to collect serious information or just for fun. People will respond to both, although a fun one will probably collect more interest. If you make it about WdC or writing in general, I would bet that would hook people, but make it about whatever you are curious about and see what happens. The biggest thing is you have to let people know about it, and newsfeed it probably the best way to do that.
Example: "Invalid Item"
Want to see more examples, or just participate in some already created activities? Go to the left hand column, click on Browse By Type. Pick a type of activity you would like to investigate and give it a go.
Remember, the more you tell people or remind people of your activity, the more participation you will have. One post on newsfeed probably won't get you loads of responses. Be creative on how you "advertise" your activity so people will pay attention. Consider it part of the creative process,
You can also provide additional incentives like gp's or merit badges if you would like to do this, but that is up to you and the health of your gp account. If you do this, I would put a time limit on the offer so you aren't expected to continue to hand out awards indefinitely.
Next time you see someone mention they have created a Word Search or Madlib, take a few moments and check it out. Then head on over and create one of your own. Make your muse wish it hadn't been sulking in a closet by having another kind of WdC fun. |
| | Contest Clues (E)
List of WdC Writing Contests, Challenges, Activities. Clues To What's Open, What's Closed!
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Comment from the last Contest & Activities newsletter I edited: "Status Check: Open, Closed, Abandoned?"
From Graywriter
Good tips!
Another one: Please pop a note onto the contest page to advise entrants if judging will be delayed. We don't need to know the reason, but it's nice to know you'll get to it when you can.
A good example of how to do this is shown here by Beacon Light: https://www.writing.com/main/forums/message_id/3519239. The contest is still open, and past contests will be judged in time.
Yes, that is a good suggestion. Communicate with the people who have entered your contest when real life intervenes.
ON NEWSFEED, I POSED THE QUESTION: When you are looking for a contest on WdC to enter, what is your biggest pet peeve/challenge you run into? Here is a selection of answers you gave.
From TheBusmanPoet
The prompts. Many writers like them but I don't bother if I see a prompt. Nothing against the contest. You run it the way you see fit. I'll just keep doing what I do.
Prompts can pose a challenge, especially if a particular prompt doesn't speak to your muse. Avoiding contests with prompts is fine, but you might want to consider that you are missing out on a really beneficial writing challenge, too.
From N.A Miller
I agree with you {huser:bus45man80 if I see a prompt I tend to shy away from contests too... I rather write my own stuff and not be limited to a prompt...
That is certainly your prerogative to play it that way and it is completely understandable. I personally try to at least roll a prompt around in my head and see if it knocks anything loose instead of dismissing them out of hand.
From tj-turkey-jobble-jobble-hard-J
I understand what others are posting, but limiting word count, providing prompts, and setting genres/context are what provide a challenge. If there's no challenge, why do it? Challenge creates better writers, opens new horizons, and provides opportunities to grow.
Also, let's look at the judge's perspective. No word limits? They could spend days, even weeks reading entries. As for specified prompts, genre, story, or poetry? Let me ask, have you ever read something you have no interest in? How would you determine who wins with any fairness?
Excellent points. Contests are there to provide you with inspiration and challenge. However, every single person who runs and/or judges these contests is a volunteer. Most folks have other stuff going on in their lives, but squeeze judging a WdC contest into the mix.
From Turkey DrumStik
tj-turkey-jobble-jobble-hard-J , there comes a point where the word count/prompts/number of rules can be too restrictive. It's why I was willing to take over running "Long, Long, Long" [18+] back in the day. For a fair number of people on the site, a short short story is not suitable for their writing style, and loosening some of the restrictions can be more motivating than having a lot of variables to juggle.
I think it is great that you are able and willing to provide that option with your contest! There is something to be said for letting your muse have its say. On the other hand, learning word economy is not a bad skill either, so both options are good to have.
From Patrick
Perhaps the amount of work..its a lot of editing.
Editing is part of writing, I'm afraid. It is how we improve our writing and polish it to a shine. No one, and I mean no one, cranks out something perfectly brilliant on a first try.
From Elphee
I can say, that my biggest pet peeve is... spelling! I just tweak out when things are misspelled. One of my biggest challenges is... getting one of my many brain vomits under control and finished into a novelette or something along those lines.
I highly recommend installing Grammarly on your computer. It will help you with spelling, punctuation, and grammar. https://app.grammarly.com/
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Contests & Activities: December 28, 2022 Issue [#11733]
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