Forums » Suggestions & Development Discussion » Reintroducing the Writer's Challenge.

Hello! Kamizombie here with a ‘shoot for the moon’ sort of suggestion of mine.

As some are aware, I used to be a moderator for the site known as The Roleplayers Guild. It was during the last few months of the site’s life cycle, but one of the most thrilling and dear to my heart features I introduced during that time was the writer’s challenge. This was a challenge for any and all roleplayers and aspiring writers to take up on, where anyone could participate and have the chance to win prizes (badges on RPG, for example, which could change your name colors and whatnot).

The Writer’s Challenge itself would usually involve writing a one-shot story with certain challenges in mind. For example, the last one before the site shut down was write a story in under a thousand words that revolved around a school theme (It was September’s back to school during that time). People would compete, three judges were selected to judge, and a winner, 2nd place, 3rd place, and 3 judges favorites were selected.

Now, given this request to do this, I also understand there is a firm difference between the two sites. My Writer’s Challenge was competitive, designed to only have a few winners. RPR is a very communal and community driven place that promotes harmony among writers. To this effect, I was thinking of something different...

If the Writer’s Challenge were here, it would potentially be something that everyone could win at. Perhaps everyone who participated would get a unique pin, or people participating would unlock a new template (I’m aware this might be too much, I’m simply giving generous suggestions here).

Here, I would try to make for something where there would be no judgement other than whether or not they meet the criteria. Though, they would still be different from the Friday Writing Prompts in that they would only be monthly (or bi-monthly) and would prompt a prize of some sort.

What do you folks here on RPR think?

I like this idea, but perhaps instead of being a monthly thing, be an annual one. It could be added to Epic Week as one of the competitions itself. Epic Week has a similar competition that takes place where you write an essay and interview other writers. This takes time and skill to create and can help writer's grow.

I think this writing challenge could easily hold a place in Epic Week with my recent experience of Epic Week and all it had to offer. It could be a challenge where people are encouraged to try writing something they think they might be terrible at, have no experience in, or even something they have always want to try but were never given proper opportunity to fulfill it.

I think it could also very easily rely on winning prizes as well. Considering that Epic Week has awesome raffles, dicce roll games where you can win RPR tote bags or even 1 year subscriptions to Epicness, I don't see there being any reason this same little competition couldn't have the same kinds of prizes. None of the other Epic Week contests and competitions or raffles gave anyone anything for just participating. The only time we received a participation award was from the entire event as a whole, rather than from individual competitions.

I like the idea of the site having something that makes people really want to show off their skill as a writer. I second this idea!

Edit: I also think this would be a good thing to put out for NaNoWriMo. November is a good time to have something happen for RPR since there doesn't seem to be anything happening during that time of year as it is. We could have it be our own version of NaNoWriMo,since the real NaNoWriMo is extremely high skill and time demanding. If not once a year, then twice a year. Once during Epic Week, and then Once during November. If I'm being Generous then having it 3 times a year could be interesting enough.

I've fielded this suggestion from former RPG members before, and in general I've been very hesitant to make regular writing contests that involve judging skill levels - and in many cases, just personal preference of writing styles - a regular thing here. As you've noted, our emphasis is much more on community than it is on competition, and when I plan events I usually aim them to be as inclusive as possible.

As PrettySir points out, we DO run a writing contest every year for Epic Week - sometimes more than one - although the specifics of that contest(s) changes every year. Sometimes we do fiction, sometimes non-fiction, sometimes poetry. As a rule, it's a fairly isolated occurrence, however.

For the most part, I prefer to focus not on writing contests but on RP prompts, whether that's the Halloween Trick or Treat the forums or the Valentine's Meet Cute, to the Friday RP Prompt. The highest goal is community interaction rather than solo writing, in my mind.

That said - it's not that unusual for private members to host their own contests or events here - would it be feasible for ex-RPGers to host this?

This is true, which is why I suggested community driven ones instead. If enough writer's partake, then a template is unlocked, or people get a unique badge as long as they meet the criteria of the challenge. My intention with a new Writer's Challenge would be to match the desires of the community.

While your suggestion is a lovely idea, I would not have the ability to 'reward' these challenges with anything is the problem. The emphasis for me with the writer's challenge was to encourage a reward for people to strive for, and it was something that created genuinely unique and visually captivating stories that brought out the very best in people.

Kami, you could purchase certain things from the market here, and reward people with those items? Extra character slot, 1 month of epicness, etc. I mean, they cost you out of your own pocket...but..it is a way to reward people if you are that fond of running such contests.