Jul
30th
2017
Extravaganzery's end · 12:06pm Jul 30th, 2017
Heyo, all. If you've not already heard, the inaugural contest for Jake's Horseword Extravaganza has announced its winners! Check out the preceding link for details on them, and the honourable runners-up. A gratifying amount of talent pitched their horsewords into the arena, and most of them managed the cackhandery of we judges.
Kudos to everyone who took part. It was good fun, judging, and the insights it gives you into the Fimfiction community are marvellous, for a given definition of 'inducing marvel'. No less than two separate stories included Boulder in their main ship.
It certainly was fun! I didn't read as many of the entries as I liked, since I had to work on my own stuff. Any favorites? I really liked Hap's entry.
4617701
I adored the unconditional heck out of Carrot and Stick, due to being a sucker for anything in the vein of Flashman/Ciaphas Cain. It slipped down out of the winners and honourable mentions, alas, due to the arcane mathematics of judging. I'll have to read the others in its series.
4617717
If judging is 'arcane mathematics' does that make you a wizard?
On the one hand, this looks like a fascinating writing challenge that, were I in a better frame of mind this season, I would've loved to have tackled. So many possibilties for off-the-wall ideas being given serious development!
Also, there's just something about a big contest that's, in its own way, a bit more exciting than writing as usual. I got that from the Imposing Sovereigns contest when so many people started leaping into the fray. Part of me feels sad I missed out on this one.
On the other hand, and given my track record, I probably wouldn't have done particularly well anyway, especially against that kind of competition. And especially given that romance isn't a genre I've done much if any work in. Ah well...
I wonder if there'll be more in the future?
As for those insights... am I better off not knowing?
4617726
Sort of. There's a wizardy spectrum here that needs to be accounted for, though. In the judging company I kept for the contest, think of the other judges as high and lofty robed and bearded arch-mages drawing pentagrams and channelling the high mysteries with utmost skill and gravitas, while I was the bewildered apprentice with hastily-glued-on sequins covering their dressing gown and pointy hat, left waving a pointy stick around and hoping for the best.
4617727
Oh, definitely. There's always a bit of a thrill when you see your own piece going into the mix along with stories from site heavyweights with thousand-odd follower counts and suchlike. It's the same sort of thrill that'd probably be felt by a butterfly in the path of an oncoming Mike Tyson, admittedly, but still.
They ship rocks.
They're amazing.
4617728
Basically Rincewind.
4617740
Without even a homicidal traveller's trunk to aid me.
4617727
I find writing to a cue and a deadline to be incredibly intense, especially if it's a big contest. On one hand, it stretches me and makes me a better writer. On the other, it leaves me completely burned out for weeks afterwards and interrupts whatever I was writing.
4617755
I get that. Post-contest convalescence has cost me a fair few writing days in the past.
Also, props for sweetie.log! The formatting was very well done, and a good way to tell it.
4617745
That's just wrong.
I had an idea that I'm still going to produce, I just couldn't get it to type. So glad that writing is not my primary source of income or I'd starve. :)
4618349
I entirely sympathise. Some times I've had so slow a writing output that if it was my main source of income, I'd end up having to give money instead.