It means 14 people voted. I didn't because it would have been a conflict of interest.

I'd probably have liked more. But what's it matter? People are very preoccupied with quantifying things: How many votes, how many reads, where did I place, etc? But you don't become a better writer through crunching numbers. No sum makes you good. (Also I notice no sum is ever really enough to satisfy the numbers anxiety--no matter how much you get, you always want more.) Probably better to wonder more about things like, do I think what I wrote is good? Is it better than the last thing I wrote? Would I want to write something like it again? All that other shit is about other people. Can't do much about that. What you write is in your hands, so maybe it's smarter to be preoccupied about it instead.

That's my attitude, anyway. Everyone else will sweat whatever they will. I'm glad people wrote stuff. And, hey, now it's out of my hands. If there's a smarter way to do things that will generate more interest, maybe somebody will come up with it. I'm sure folks are open to suggestions.

 

CONGRATS UNCLE B!!!

CONGRATS UNCLE B!!!

Have fun with your turn at developing CAW22.

My humble suggestions:

1) Go back to multiple votes.

2) Go back to anonymous submissions.

3) Limit story word count to short story size. (about 5 to 10 K) so long stories don't discourage readers and hog up reading time.(no offense intended.)

4) Consider anonymous critiques submitted through SOP and posted on story threat. (only critiques)

5) Set up a CAW22 commentary threat as a sort-of round table discussion on the stories. That would help by keeping the official CAW22 thread just for official business such as information about rules, updates, deadlines and clarifications. I hate having to go through countless unrelated comments, fights, jokes and chats before I can find the information I'm looking for. All that fun stuff should be posted on the "CAW22 round-tale thread."

Good luck to you and the future of the CAW.

HD

 

I like that idea. One vote was simply not enough.

I like that too, now. I missed out on at least one vote because someone wanted a new person to win vs. them voting for the story they liked best. That's fine, it wouldn't have made a difference in the overall voting, but now I can understand why some feel they are at a disadvantage with non-anonymous submissions.

I disagree with this. I think you shouldn't limit things. Hey, if someone writes a long story and I can't get into it, I'm just gonna' stop reading it. Then again, if they write a short story and I can't get into it, I'm going to stop reading too.

I am not critiquing stories in the future, period. Someone wants my opinion, they will need to come ask me for it privately. I am done with that drama. I went through and made comments on every story and I expected the same from, at the least, every other writer plus some of our non-writers who are always welcomed to chime in. I got less than a half dozen comments. Many notables were missing, not just from my story, mind you. So, I think critiques/comments are a dying breed. People are either just too busy with "real life" or don't want to make waves or whatever.

Probably your best idea! I think the official thread should be the stickied one, and the other thread could be linked to in the official thread, in case it drops down, but I suspect it won't get too far off the top of the page. But that's a great idea!

 

In the past, multiple votes were allowed when there were a lot of entries. It may have been nice this time as a tie-breaker for second and third, but at least in CAW #21, it probably wouldn't have changed the winner. Making us choose just one story to vote for is difficult, but it forces us to really think before we vote. Personally, I'd like to see multiple votes available if we get ten entries or more, but the number of votes to allow should be the CAW SOP's prerogative.

Anonymity is the great equalizer. It forces voters to choose the story they like best, and allows them to vote for it without being swayed by feelings about the writer. A non-anonymous CAW can be more fun, due to the banter on individual story threads, but personal feelings can get in the way of judging the merits of the entries.

Entry length could be the individual CAW SOP's rule as part of his/her challenge. While novella-length entries take some time to read and judge, a standardized length limitation seems pretty restrictive.

In-depth comments can be helpful to writers, and are certainly better than the "cool story bro" crap we sometimes get. Critiquing carefully is fine, but questioning the "facts" of a fictional story doesn't quite make sense to me. To each his own.

YES! In some CAWs the writing and reading threads can get pretty bogged down with (undeniably fun) stuff that doesn't pertain solely to the writing. A separate thread for fun and games could help.

Amen to your last sentence.

 

I feel the same way about one person blinding standing up for their best friend. Blindly.

To each his own.

 

There were several comments on several stories by several posters that made no sense to me. A few (as always) sounded like the person hadn't read the entry. You and I have both gotten them ourselves in the past -- comments that make us question if the person understood what we wrote.

It's all part of the struggle to write stuff that's clear to everyone.

 

Honestly, I'm happy for once people were arguing about the stories rather than, you know, anything else in the world...

 

I want to aplogise to all the writers for not getting out my ususal critiques/ compliments. My family life has been hectic and add to that, my carpal tunnel in both hands has made writing/ typing too painful. I wanted to be able to write on everyone's story before I wrote on anyone's. Hopefully in the next few weeks I will slowly get all the thoughts I have in my head, onto the screen & everyones stories!

NEW

 

Sorry I haven't been on much, work has been stressful this week. I'm home for a few hours sleep then back to it in the morning!

Thank you again everyone who enjoyed my story! Not sure I deserved the win, and certainly hope it wasn't because I am a newcomer. I have an idea for the C.A.W. 22 theme, and will be asking a few of you for some advice. Harddrive, I agree with almost all of your points and would welcome any others you veterans would like to suggest. (not sure limiting length is something I would do.) I have been looking over some previous CAW's and would definitely like to avoid the drama from some of them. (one in particular comes to mind.) I would like to keep it easy going, good natured, and most of all FUN!

That's about it for now. Gonna go grab my 4 hours sleep and head to work. Thanks again all! B

 

There’s a good reason I suggested keeping short stories submitted for CAW challenges within the normal range of what is considered a short story. Yes there is a normal range… look it up.


The fact is that short stories and novels are in different categories and it is unfair and difficult to compare them. For example, developing a plot and characters is a lot more difficult to do in a 25 page short story then in a 250 page novel. In that respect novels have an advantage over short stories. Another way of saying that is that developing a good short story is a more difficult challenge and it is unfair to compare how well a short story accomplishes those tasks compared to a novel.


It’s like matching up a sprinter with a long distance runner. Put them both on a short track and the 100 yard runner will leave the marathon runner in the dust. But in a cross-country race the opposite would occur. These two runners are in different categories and should never compete.


As for submitting critiques anonymously, it’s really the only way to go. That way the critic can be truthful without having to feel that he or she is going to make enemies, and the writer can be sure that they are getting honest advice and not just lip service.


But that’s just my opinion.



HD

 

Too true.

I think you deserved to win. I'm one of those that voted for you. Sorry to give you a different impression on my previous comment. I was simply saying that it was very close.

I would look at what works best certainly but also you gotta do what you think will be fun or best for your contest. you can always wait to see how many submissions you get before deciding on voting methods (i.e. if there are very few submissions multiple votes seem redundant or if there are over 16 public polls aren't an option).

Drama in previous CAWs occasionally comes from the way the CAW was run (totally not mentioning any names), and occasionally it didn't have anything to do with the Contest at all it was just one (or more) forumite getting in a pissing contest with another (or more than one other) forumite. Occasionally it was a combination of the two. Once it was even pissing contest, problematic contest running, general discontentment at the site, forum breakdowns, mass exodus from the site, forumites blaming the moderators for the errors of the world, and everyone shitting in everyone else's cornflakes. So I wouldn't worry about the previous forum topics/restrictions/themes being problematic the problems almost always come from other arenas.

Congrats again and good luck sir.