  Contests & Activities
This week: Building a Contest Page Edited by: Annette  
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There was a day, last week or a decade ago, that you typed "writing" into your search engine. You wanted to show off some of your poems, short stories, or maybe even get feedback for a whole novel. You found Writing.com.
On this site, you found all that you searched for: Portfolio space, helpful reviewers, encouraging groups, style and grammar lessons from peers. Nothing prepared you for the amazing bounty of: Contests & Activities! |
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Building a Contest Page
I am sure you have all heard the quote "Write the book you want to read." Okay, fair enough. You can also get others to write the stories you want to read. Right here on Writing.Com. Since everybody wants to know what's in it for them when they write that story for you, it's all about your pitch when you request those stories. It helps to offer gift points, merit badges, or ribbons - but not to everybody! Yes, make it a competition, a contest where you can lord over those stories and decide which one entertained you best so that you may reward it.
A good contest page covers some basic information. Your contest has to have a title that hints at the stories or poems you want for your entertainment. In your introline, you can hint at prizes or give a better explanation than the title could offer. On the contest page you may display a banner. Usually, a pretty picture says more than a thousand words and you'll catch more entice more writers to enter.
Write a paragraph that explains what you are looking for in the contest. Try to be as specific as possible, but keep it also as short as possible. Below this paragraph is a good place to have some rules. Those will lay out word count requirements, how many entries per round you accept from each writer. Decide if you will only allow newly written pieces or also older items. It doesn't really matter if you open the contest to entries as soon as it goes live on the site or later, but you must have a contest deadline date that you have to display on the page. Simply stating "this month" as a time is not enough. Give a set ending date.
Offset and in color, let visitors to your contest page know what they can win if their story found favor with you. From my experience, it's seems good to offer three main prizes and also allow smaller prizes for honorable mentions. At this point, you must mention if you will require a minimum number of entries to award all the prizes.
Finally, it helps to have a bank for your contest. It's by no means mandatory, but some people come by and they want to help you out with gift points.
If you are using the forum item type for your contest page, ALWAYS post the first message letting visitors to the page know the contest is now open.
Once the contest round is over, you must read and review and decide who will win. You are king or queen, but remember, your subjects the writers now want to know how they did. And they have their own ego, so review honestly, but also be encouraging and thank them for taking the time to write for you.
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Check out the requests these hosts make! 
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#1816328 by Not Available. |
Pretend your family is having a family reunion for Halloween and all of the kids ages 8 to 18 are staying at your house and expecting a scary bedtime story. You must take a ghost or scary story your family has told over and over again and rewrite it. It has to be scary enough the 18 year old's almost believe it but not so scary the 8 year old's will stay awake all night out of fear of the monster or ghost in the story.
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#1877246 by Not Available. |
Too many stories set in the future (or about futuristic societies) follow the pattern of things being awful and the heroes trying to return things to the way they used to be. For this prompt, write me a story set in the future (or about a futuristic society) where things are awesome and the heroes are trying to keep it that way/protect it from a villain who wants to return to the way things used to be.
A SUPERNATURAL Affair
Pen an erotic story that contains a supernatural element to it. While I'm defining "supernatural" broadly (including science fiction or fantasy aspects), be wary about creating too complex a world. I tend to get lost easily.
I love to read and write historical fiction, and I was just thinking to myself, why don't I sponsor a contest for just that? That way I would get to read the best of the best here at WDC! So here we are, and hopefully you'll stop by and submit an item to join us.
Jeff  isn't happy with a short story. He wants you to write a whole book in one month! The more words, the better.
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#1895733 by Not Available. |
Know of an item that is really spooky. Earn a chance to win gift-points for posting it here in forum. Post anything GAMES, CONTESTS, ACTIVITIES, POEMS, SHORT STORIES, and ANYTHING Halloween related for a chance to win gift points daily.
The Raffle is open NOW ~ The auction will open once enough packages have been donated. ~ It will end 6.59pm WDC time on 9th December 2012.
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Hello Everyone! I have created this raffle for three reasons. First, to have fun! Second, to raise GPs for some wonderful groups. Third, to raise GPs to help my reviewing group.
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Welcome to the raffle that puts your creativity to the test.
Each month, you are assigned one person to be a secret pal to. During this time you cannot reveal your identity. You will do nice things for your pal, like give reviews (anonymous!!), GPs, awardicons, c-notes, or anything else you can think of. If that person has been willing to share their mailing address with their pal, you may send them something that way as well. In return, your pal will do nice things for you as well!
Check out "Writing Contests @ Writing.Com" and "Activities @ Writing.Com" for more! |
Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
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For my next newsletter in November, I'd like to know which group on WdC is your favorite and in which group are you the most active?
In response to my question What kind of review do you like to receive the most? A pat on the back? A line-by-line review? Some critical and encouraging mix of anything? in my last newsletter "Reviewing is Writing" , I got quite a few replies.
dwarf2012 wrote: I like critical and encouraging mix. I wouldn't mind a line by line critique. I do like if I give a review and the author responds back to me, and we can have a dialog about the piece. The hardest reviews to write for me are for the very young writers who need an entire re-write of their piece to make any sense. I struggle with being helpful but not too critical.
 Yes, I agree that pieces that need so much fixing are hard to critique without breaking the writer's spirit and cause them to stop writing all together. That's why I'm happy not to be a teacher.
Steve adding writing to ntbk.  wrote: Good words Giselle. Your thought provoking style always culminates in good reading and sage advice.
Will be reviewing suggested readings and letting them know they were found in your newsletter.
Write on, share on, and above all thank you for being here in the halls of the WdC.
Copenator out!
Leader of Copenator's Crew and SGDG "Invalid Item"
 Thank you for the kind words to my newsletter.
Quick-Quill  wrote: I love a good review that tell me what the reader liked, how it made them feel and if there is anything that is a glaring mistake. Sometimes suggestions help in the rewrite. I like those to even if I don't use them, it shows the reader cares.
 I agree that any suggestion is better than none. It gets strange when you're being called out for a mistake that is in fact not a mistake. Definitely a piece of advice not to take.
warriormom wrote: Hi, Giselle. How come you left out "Invalid Item" in your list of review sites? Don't you love us anymore?  
 I did? Not really. Check out my November newsletter.
platinumbwords wrote: Thanks for your comments about using reviews as a means to improve one's own writing, as well as help the writer being reviewed. Your idea of using a dictionary while reviewing to help in the aid of developing personal vocabulary is a good idea that I think I just might have to utilize more often. :)
 It may seem tedious, but in the end you get more benefit from it - as well as delivering a review that had really good content and good solid help for the writer.
Elle - on hiatus wrote: What I hope for in a review is some opinion on the things that I can't see myself. I'm pretty good with spelling, grammar and punctuation, so while I appreciate a reviewer pointing out any mistakes in those areas, that's not what I really need. Feedback on characterisation, plot, whether I've chosen the best words or repeated myself too often....those are the things I really hope for in a review. On the other hand, even just 'I liked this one!' is better than a yawning silence from the masses.  In return, for those who aren't as good with spelling, grammar and punctuation, I can provide that assistance in the reviews that I give.
 You rule grammar. I will take you up on that. 
BIG BAD WOLF is Merry  wrote: I like a mixed review-
Starts with "I really like this part.... Your characters are just so...."
Then it goes, "Now, there are some areas that need work on...."
What I don't like seeing is "I don't know how to rate this" or "I think you're a good writer, but [---]" or something else that's just plainly negative, or a rant about something else that isn't related to the story. "Invalid Item"
 You are so right. Reviews that are simply negative or even an unrelated rant make me angry too. You are illustrating the better way to deliver constructive critique, and I agree with that format too. |
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Product Type: Kindle Store
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Amazon's Price: $ 0.99
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Contests & Activities: October 17, 2012 Issue [#5308]
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