# Writing > Short Story Competition >  Is There a 2016 short story competition?

## Captain Pike

Last I could figure out, it looks like there was a tie last year.

Have I just failed to read what everyone else knows? My life is kind of like this, these days, Alzheimer's?

it's like the time I showed up at a friends house for the poker game. No one was home, but there was a reassuring message scrawled on the door itself:

"Where's the game?  Earl"

I never figured out where the game was and I have no idea who Earl might have been. It was nice to know though, at least somebody else was wondering the same thing.

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## Nikhar

I have no clue either. No resolution for last year's tie either. Acually, I havent seen Scher online for some time. I hope she's ok.

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## Captain Pike

Yeah, thanks for writing back. I thought this all must've been a dream, especially since, I met a man on this forum, and it's the only way I have to contact him.

I imagine that logos probably has a life outside of this forum. 

Maybe if we just assume that everything will work as it always did…

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## Bluehound

It would be a shame for the comp to stop. 18 people cared enough to vote in the last final. 
I should think , split the prize three ways pat everyone on the back and kick start the 2016 competition by asking for submissions for June, would be the way forward ?

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## desiresjab

Were there too few submissions last time? Perhaps a certain threshhold of pledges from people willing to submit would encourage the administration. Maybe there were too many.

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## YesNo

It looks like a lack of interest. The same thing has happened to the poetry contests. 

One can always post stories and poems on blogs and generate readership and community through blog "challenges". I do something like this with my WordPress blog. Every week I write a limerick for a limerick challenge that another blogger has started. I'm also thinking of participating in a flash fiction challenge and a photo challenge. They motivate me to write something with a deadline, usually one week. It keeps me focused.

One of the things that Lit Net offers that these blogs don't is an opportunity to post comments about different topics as we are doing now. All of those topics could later transform into ideas for poems and stories so I think the time is well spent.

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## desiresjab

> It looks like a lack of interest. The same thing has happened to the poetry contests. 
> 
> One can always post stories and poems on blogs and generate readership and community through blog "challenges". I do something like this with my WordPress blog. Every week I write a limerick for a limerick challenge that another blogger has started. I'm also thinking of participating in a flash fiction challenge and a photo challenge. They motivate me to write something with a deadline, usually one week. It keeps me focused.
> 
> One of the things that Lit Net offers that these blogs don't is an opportunity to post comments about different topics as we are doing now. All of those topics could later transform into ideas for poems and stories so I think the time is well spent.


What do you mean lack of interest? Were there too few submissions? I believe we can fix that, if it is the case. The poetry contests are not contests anyway, because there is nothing to win. Three hundred bucks is a pretty sum, however.

Actual poetry contests with a reasonable prize like $50 for poem of the month, would do well, I imagine. I think you would see people bringing their best stuff out of the closet instead of things they are working on. After a year and a $600 dollar expenditure, Litnet could make a reasonable decision on whether they could produce a first rate anthology of member poems. Perhaps none of us should get our hopes up, for it is bound to bring some powerhouses out of the woodwork, who suddenly become members. The more the merrier. It can only raise quality.

What do you think? I am some promoter, ain't I?

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## desiresjab

> It would be a shame for the comp to stop. 18 people cared enough to vote in the last final. 
> I should think , split the prize three ways pat everyone on the back and kick start the 2016 competition by asking for submissions for June, would be the way forward ?


It takes a long time to get through a story, that is why only 18 people voted. Poems are different. Everybody can get through one, even if it bores them. You would have members signing up just so they _could_ vote.

Short stories were a wonderful idea, but they are too long for modern sensibilities to stick with. I believe poems could succeed, for the reasons stated above. It is not a bad idea to attract poets who think they might be good enough to win a legitimate contest for a few bucks and glean a positive reference from it. Some of these members can really write poetry. I have seen it. I believe there are more members who are published poets but do not participate in the contests because there is nothing in it for them. They are used to getting something. Give them the notoriety of a legitimate contest and a few bucks. A contest every month. A real one. A legitimate one. Build it they will come.

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## desiresjab

I am just floating ideas to get any response. So far the admin has not said anything I know of. There would be poems good enough for their anthology they have to turn down for first place. They should mention those. 

I don't know what format they might come up with. Maybe $50, your poem placed in a member poets Hall of Fame they create, and you retain the right to publish the poem elsewhere. What am I, a legal mind? I don't like the smell of decay.

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## desiresjab

Maybe they do not want people to bring stuff out of the cupboard. Was it a rule of the short story contest that you had to write the piece specifically for the competition?

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## desiresjab

If someone could squeeze a post in edgewise here. I am up. Anyone else?

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## YesNo

> What do you mean lack of interest? Were there too few submissions? I believe we can fix that, if it is the case. The poetry contests are not contests anyway, because there is nothing to win. Three hundred bucks is a pretty sum, however.
> 
> Actual poetry contests with a reasonable prize like $50 for poem of the month, would do well, I imagine. I think you would see people bringing their best stuff out of the closet instead of things they are working on. After a year and a $600 dollar expenditure, Litnet could make a reasonable decision on whether they could produce a first rate anthology of member poems. Perhaps none of us should get our hopes up, for it is bound to bring some powerhouses out of the woodwork, who suddenly become members. The more the merrier. It can only raise quality.
> 
> What do you think? I am some promoter, ain't I?


I agree that would be one way to popularize Litnet. I suppose that was the original intent of the short story competition which was far more active a few years ago. The idea of publishing a journal based on the winners as well as other contributions makes sense and sales might cover the cost of the prizes. The owners don't have to start from scratch. There still are people posting to these forums and that activity hopefully generates some ad revenue for the owners.

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## Danik 2016

> It takes a long time to get through a story, that is why only 18 people voted. Poems are different. Everybody can get through one, even if it bores them. You would have members signing up just so they _could_ vote.
> 
> Short stories were a wondeful idea, but they are too long for modern sensibilities to stick with. I believe poems could succeed, for the reasons stated above. It is not a bad idea to attract poets who think they might be good enough to win a legitimate contest for a few bucks and glean a positive reference from it. Some of these members can really write poetry. I have seen it. I believe there are more members who are published poets but do not participate in the contests because there is nothing in it for them. They are used to getting something. Give them the notoriety of a legitimate contest and a few bucks. A contest every month. A real one. A legitimate one. Build it they will come.


I find it much more difficult to evaluate a poem than a short story. I think a good poem employs by definition a dense language, while a short story can be dense or not.
But I agree. Not many people like to read short storys, And usually not so many members of a site are active.

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## desiresjab

The idea of a flash fiction contest does not appeal to me as much as a poetry contest. But they all appeal to me, including the short story contest.

So anyway, was it one of the rules of honor that you compose the piece specifically for the contest?

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## YesNo

One of the requirements was that the story should not have been published previously on Litnet so the author could not be identified. Those who did not win were removed from the thread where the entries were posted. Only the winning story remained posted in the thread. In that sense it was published by Litnet. 

I assume, but do not know, that the rights to publish it elsewhere reverted to the winning author after the contest was over, but the first publication rights would have been owned by Litnet.

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## desiresjab

> One of the requirements was that the story should not have been published previously on Litnet so the author could not be identified. Those who did not win were removed from the thread where the entries were posted. Only the winning story remained posted in the thread. In that sense it was published by Litnet. 
> 
> I assume, but do not know, that the rights to publish it elsewhere reverted to the winning author after the contest was over, but the first publication rights would have been owned by Litnet.


The smell of decay is in the air, lad. I have seen forums die before. Finally, only a few stars twinkle now and then, and then it is dark.

Likely the owners have got her up for sale. Some new masters should be coming in, we will see what is in the wind then. Get your whips and chains out. The rumor is erotic humor. Okay, I'll bite.

I took this girl home the other night. She says, "I don't do fetishes."

"Good," I said, "I don't either. Here's an enema kit. Doll yourself up with it and I will see you in ten."

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## YesNo

Things come and go. That is one of the reasons I doubted using Litnet as the basis for a magazine or book. 

I recently subscribed to a new publication called Aleola Journal: http://aleolajournal.weebly.com/ What I liked about it was the claim that the editors want "enjoyable poetry." I haven't seen a copy yet.

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## Captain Pike

okay, okay… Then why is this thread now gone to a second page?

I'll tell you why, because lots of folks, maybe back in the periphery or background of this thing have wanted to have a go at it! [Again maybe]

I was going to make some kind of crack like, "just because Ben Gunn's moved the treasure, doesn't mean we should come about, and head on back, empty-handed", kind of thing.

Good thing I not say nuttin…

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## YesNo

I'd love to have this competition come back alive. I used to contribute a story or so to it myself every year. And I always voted. I didn't win any thing, but I got some practice by writing those stories. That is all I was looking for.

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## Danik 2016

The question is: who exactly organizes the competition?
That only 18 people voted doesn´t astonish me. There are lots of inscriptions every day, but only a very small part of forum members, about 20-30 is regularly active.

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## YesNo

It was organized by the moderators, in particular Scherezade, if I spelled that name correctly. I don't really know who owns the site, but I assume they had something to do with it.

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## Nikhar

I'd just like to add that this contest was one of the first things to motivate me to write and continued to do so. Initially the prize money was an impetus but then I did it mostly for the detailed feedback I'd get afterwards. I have been trying to contribute at least one story a year for 4-6 years now. Very sad to see it end like this without any announcements even.

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## Danik 2016

Maybe we could organize a contest between ourselves, without money prize.

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## desiresjab

> Maybe we could organize a contest between ourselves, without money prize.


What, turn it into something like those silly poetry contests? 

The moderators here do not respond. They may have died. I have to look for another forum where there is more action instead of 99% talk about creating.

I still say if they have any contest it should be poetry, which everyone can get through. Reading a story that bores you can be too much of a chore. From unpublished amateurs you will get a lot of boring work that readers will not even finish. A poem is easy to get through.They could have a prize for poems under ten lines and one for poems over 10 lines and under 50, something like that. I am sure there would be a lot of contributions and many more votes.

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## Danik 2016

I suggested a short story contest whitout prizes because presently this seems the only possibility of having a contest at all.
And I don´t agree with you that good poetry is easier to "go through" as a poem. I for my part find it easier to evaluate a short story, maybe because I am more used to fiction.

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## desiresjab

> I suggested a short story contest whitout prizes because presently this seems the only possibility of having a contest at all.
> And I don´t agree with you that good poetry is easier to "go through" as a poem. I for my part find it easier to evaluate a short story, maybe because I am more used to fiction.


Why would the administrators ever pay again if prizeless story contests became popular?

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## Danik 2016

Of course I would prefer, as everyone would, a contest with prizes. By the way, who got the prize last year as the 3 final short stories got the same number of votes?

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## YesNo

A good example of a forum where the owners publish writing is Eratosphere: http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/ I am a member, but I haven't been back there posting in many years although I occasionally offer submissions to their contests. It is up to the owners of this site how they will develop it.

The other thing for writers to consider is that they should have an author's platform. This is often their blog. I don't think Litnet is a good place to host that blog because I don't think it is easy to make that blog independent of Litnet. One would need to go to Google or Wordpress or some other hosting service. Then one needs to attract traffic to the blog. One way of doing that is by entering challenges with other bloggers. They are similar to the poetry contests here except they promote all of the blogs participating in the challenge. Those challenges also give you something to blog about.

What I find most useful about Litnet is the chat feature.

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## Nikhar

> Of course I would prefer, as everyone would, a contest with prizes. By the way, who got the prize last year as the 3 final short stories got the same number of votes?


My story 'Happy Endings' was one of the 3 stories tied with the others. I can say for myself that at least I did not get the prize money. There hasnt been even any kind of announcement if all 3 were declared winners. That is particularly disheartening to me. I have been participating in this contest for years now and the one time I (kind of) win, there isn't even an acknowledgement about it, let alone getting the prize money.

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## desiresjab

> My story 'Happy Endings' was one of the 3 stories tied with the others. I can say for myself that at least I did not get the prize money. There hasnt been even any kind of announcement if all 3 were declared winners. That is particularly disheartening to me. I have been participating in this contest for years now and the one time I (kind of) win, there isn't even an acknowledgement about it, let alone getting the prize money.


You and the other two "winners" may have to go to sudden death play, as in a 500 word flash fiction runoff.

The silence of the admin has us all baffled at the moment. They may want to roll that $300 over into the next contest, making the prize $600 for the upcoming grand event, capping it right there to discourage skullduggery.

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## Pendragon

Too few entries and too few voters. I guess Sher and company got tired of wasting their time. Most of the poetry contests have also had little attention. I've given up on them as well. Ah, this used to be a better place to share ideas...  :Frown:

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## Danik 2016

I am still new here and I like this site very much, but I miss more activity. Every day there are new members but where are those who keep these pages going? :Bawling:

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## YesNo

> My story 'Happy Endings' was one of the 3 stories tied with the others. I can say for myself that at least I did not get the prize money. There hasnt been even any kind of announcement if all 3 were declared winners. That is particularly disheartening to me. I have been participating in this contest for years now and the one time I (kind of) win, there isn't even an acknowledgement about it, let alone getting the prize money.


Do you have a blog on Wordpress or Google, Nikhar?

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## Nikhar

> Do you have a blog on Wordpress or Google, Nikhar?



I do. I try to put up all my stories there.
https://mudnpetrichor.wordpress.com/

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## Nikhar

> You and the other two "winners" may have to go to sudden death play, as in a 500 word flash fiction runoff.
> 
> The silence of the admin has us all baffled at the moment. They may want to roll that $300 over into the next contest, making the prize $600 for the upcoming grand event, capping it right there to discourage skullduggery.



It really wasnt about the money. Any kind of acknowledgement would have done. Even a simple, 'Sorry we can't pay you this time.' would've been much better than this silence.

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## Danik 2016

Yes, I think that strange too. You deserve some explanation or at least some acknowledgement.

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## Welcheren

Any news from anywhere/anyone in the meantime? 

Sorry for necromancing this thread if everyone was done with it. 

As Nik mentioned earlier, the prospect of detailed feedback is one of the factors that motivated me to join this forum as well. I am still a green member, but I am trying to work by the general etiquette of reading and commenting to at least four other members' works before posting any fruit of your own pen (although at present I have written anything I felt comfortable with subjecting members to).

By the way, Nik: congratulations on Happy Endings. I was not aware it had done so well.

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## desiresjab

This site is a spaceship adrift, her crew mysteriously absent. She did not answer our hails. When we boarded her, we found only a number of surly forumites locked in a storage room they thought was a story room.

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## Captain Pike

> I'd just like to add that this contest was one of the first things to motivate me to write and continued to do so. Initially the prize money was an impetus but then I did it mostly for the detailed feedback I'd get afterwards. I have been trying to contribute at least one story a year for 4-6 years now. Very sad to see it end like this without any announcements even.


ALL RIGHT! No offense to anybody I don't know but it's nice to hear from someone who's been around.

The problem is that I don't believe this site is moderator anymore. I'm afraid that what will happen is one day it just won't be here because the rent didn't get paid. It's sad, but like somebody above wrote, "things come and go".

But yeah, Nik– the $300 was an incentive for me too! I kind of hate to admit it, but that kept me writing. And then once I submitted something [assuming I ever did] I would be waiting and watching the votes… a couple of times it was a good reason to get out of bed! Now I just sleep all the time and it's all Logos' fault, so nah nah nah!

Actually, any of us could've been groomed for a moderator – I wasn't willing to do the necessary service work required to keep this thing going. Now my blogs and my pictures of my family and my emails – they'll all be gone. There is one guy I've got to know well and the only contact I have with him is through this forum. Oh well. Things come and go.

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## Danik 2016

If you believe that,Captain Pike you would do well to get a external contact from your LitNet buddy.

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