Would You Enter a Feghoot Contest For Money? Are You Dying to Judge a Feghoot Contest? (Updated!) · 5:32am May 28th, 2019
Would You Enter a Feghoot Contest For Money? Are You Dying to Judge a Feghoot Contest?
What is a feghoot, you may ask. Well, according to Wikipedia, "a feghoot (also known as a story pun or poetic story joke) is a humorous short story or vignette ending in a pun (typically a play on a well-known phrase), where the story contains sufficient context to recognize the punning humor. It can be considered a type of shaggy dog story." Basically, a story that ends with a pun that makes you groan. My most popular story, along with its sequel, are both feghoots:
Skywriter is also known for a feghoot story of his:
Anyway, if I and perhaps others threw some modest prizes at you (I'm broke at the moment, to be expounded upon below), would you be interested in entering a feghoot contest? Would you be interested in entering if the only prize was the satisfaction of winning? Are you dying to judge such a contest? Last year I floated the idea of judging to some various prominent writers in the fandom and they seemed interested, but if for some reason you really really want to judge this and you have decent writing credentials, you can probably be part of the judging panel too. Also, if I get enough judges, I myself will sit out of judging, because I know a lot of people will actually think higher of the contest then :P (update: I have plenty of judges, so I’m just organizing, not judging.) So without further ado, here would be some proposed rules. These are not set in stone, just proposed.
Contest: Write the best feghoot
Time frame: Start Friday, June 21st 14th, End Sunday, July 21st 14th, Announce winners August 2nd or 3rd at BronyCon (There isn't really anything stopping you from starting to write now though.)
Story length (Feghoots can be quite short): min. 100 words, max. 5100 words, up to three entries, with cumulative word count not to be above 10k
Judging criteria: 4 categories:
Simplified rubric announced soon!
%40 Pun Quality%30 Build Up Quality%20 Overall Comedy Quality (Besides the end)%10 Overall Writing Quality
Or something like that. If that's too hard, we can just give each category equal weight.
Judges: probably a total of 5. Hahaha yeah no, we’re gonna have like 30 judges. I expect a lot of entries, and don’t want each judge to have to read 50,000 words of feghoots. I have some in mind, but again, volunteer if you really want to.
Platform: Fimfiction, on the Writeoff Site, or using Xepher's Iron Author setup. The later two would preserve anonymity but it would be easier to just have it on Fimfiction. Feghoots shorter than 1000 words could be posted in a compilation or as blog posts.
Prizes: Ideally, I'd like to have at least:
EDIT: Prizes Updated! Thank you anonymous donor!
$50$100 first prize$20$40 second prize$10$25third prize.- $5 Honorable Mention
- $5 Honorable Mention
- $5 Honorable Mention
It may be more or less than that depending on my finances and whether anyone else wants to throw money into the pot.
Any other rules or conditions you can think of that need to be discussed?
My finances: In order to put prize money up for this (And part of why I'm aiming for late June/July), I first need to:
Finish paying my May rent
(Done!)- Either finish the commissions I owe people or refund them their money (happening next week!)
- Pay June rent (happening next week!)
- Save money for BronyCon
That all seems doable enough, especially because starting in June I'll be able to donate plasma twice a week (long story why I wasn't able to before.)
So yeah, y'all wanna do a feghoot contest?
I haven't written anything yet, so I'm both unlikely to enter and most likely unqualified to attempt judging, but I am very interested in the existence of this contest and really hope it comes to pass. I love terrible puns!
5065811
That’s the spirit!
5065816
1. Holy cow you're online and replied to my awkward comment.
2. It is entirely possible that the existence of Gee, Tempest, Why Are You So Tall? was the thing that taught me about feghoots in the first place. It is a story that makes me irrationally happy.
3. I work as a cashier. It might amuse you to learn the following: There is a customer who has apparently made it his business to, whenever he is in [the store I work], seek me out and tell me some dumb joke or pun, generally of the variety that may be referred to as "dad jokes". He is one of my favorites.
4. Reaction to this contest: Waaaaaant
5065818
1. I’m checking to see if people actually care and respond, so yeah.
2. I often doubt myself as a writer, so hearing stuff like this really makes my day.
3. That sounds wholesome!
4. Same!
Point of order: is it just puns, or do tongue twisters count too? I'm probably a little better with those.
5065822
Tongue twisters are fun, but this would specifically be a contest to write feghoots, (usually short) stories that lead up to an atrocious pun.
5065824
My argument here is that, despite the Wikipedia definition, a short story that leads up to an atrocious tongue twister should also count as a feghoot, because the type of humor behind the joke is basically the same.
Shitty puns? Comedic plotlines? Short word min and max?
Boy, I may not judge, but count me in on trying for this contest thing.
Either way, I can already tell every entry is gonna be a feghoot!
5065827
Sweet!
I mean, I love me some feghoots, so I'm in either way, it's just my muse will probably be a little more cooperative that way.
5065826
I see where you’re coming from. If you can sell it, I guess I don’t see why not.
Tempting, I happen to know a good one.
oh god why
My only concern is that entering the contest means telegraphing the feghoot, when half the fun is springing it on an unsuspecting reader.
That said, I already have a story idea ready, so I'm all for this.
I would have to say that Rainbow Six: Rainbow Six I a great example of this, though I don't think TNaB would enter the contest himself.
I know someone who should enter this. You should make it happen so I can pester her into participating!
Interested. Not sure yet if as judge or contestant. I've been working on one for a while, but it's adapted from someone else's shorter joke so I don't feel comfortable entering that one. I'll need to ponder on my idea file.
I’m guilty of doing this in too many of my short stories, so prepare for my worst (best? worst? best?) puns!
5065886
I’ll add something about the story not needing to be listed as being part of the contest until the authors note at the end, so that the general public will still wander in unaware.
5065942
Awesome!
5065915
If it’s significantly different, as long as you mention where you got it from somewhere, I don’t think it’s an issue.
5065910
Awesome!
5065852
Sweet!
5065889
Believe it or not, TNaB and DustyPwny and I collaborated on a story once upon a time. It kind of sucked, mostly because of me.
*shrug* I'll judge.
5065968
derpicdn.net/img/view/2017/11/11/1583347.png
BEHOLD, WE HATH COME TO JUDGE THY PARONOMASIA!
IF YE BE WORTHY, PERCHANCE WE SHALL ENTERTAIN YOUR OFFERING.
5065986
Well I just learned a new word!
Looks like I'll be submitting. My feghoot backlog provided one that half wrote itself. Just need to pad it with ambiance and edit for timing.
This is the best possible idea.
5066240
Glad you think so!
5066084
Nice.
Exciting news! An anonymous donor who wishes to remain anonymous has anonymously donated $100 to the prize pool! Adding that to my original $80 of prizes, the new prizes will be:
Since I have enough judges that I don’t need to judge myself, and the judges don’t know who this donor is, only I do, they are welcome to still participate in the contest, and indeed I hope they do.
Interested in contributing to the pot yourself, either money or an illustration or audio reading or something? Just PM me! If you wish to remain anonymous to everyone but me, you are still eligible to compete and win. However, if you wish for your contribution to be made public, you will be publicly thanked, and while still encouraged to enter the contest, will not be eligible to win any prizes. Of course, I suppose you could create an alt account and use that to enter, as long as NO ONE knows it’s you. So for example, were I to enter the contest (I won’t be), me using “Excellent Trebuchet” or “Wonderful Springboard” as alt names would not fly.
Well now.
5066490
This is an aggressively neutral proclamation and I don’t know what to make of it.
I've never written a feghoot. I've only enjoyed a feghoot once in my life (in the Writeoff); I cannot stand them in general.
Must... resist... temptation...
5066510
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5066494
Indeed.
Also, "aggressively neutral" sounds like an Ogres and Oubliettes alignment.
Puns are the only form of humor I'm terrible at writing, so I'm gonna have to pass. I'll certainly enjoy the fruits of others, though.
5066589
Sounds like a good excuse to post this song:
I'm definitely down with doing this kind of contest.
5066807
WAY back in the 1950s & 1960s ICR who had a bunch of short stories "Through Space and Time With Ferdinand Feghoot"
If you ever watched the old "Bullwinkle and Rocky Show", they occasionally had "Peabody's Improbable History", which is probably exactly what you're looking for.
Can I enter Doom Of The Snow Weasels? I swore I would never do it again after that
5067016
Sorry, new stories only. Hope you can find it in your heart to write another one!
While I've never been good at making puns myself, I do have one to recommend that everyone read: The Beast of London
It is especially atrocious.
5065986
FTFY
How do we submit our stories? Do we just send you a link through a private message?
5068225
The contest will be opening up in a few weeks. There will be a group to submit standalone stories or stories that are part of a compilation to. Since feghoots can be quite short, some people might elect to publish them as blog posts. Those will need to be PMed to me.
Don't worry, you'll know when the contest goes live.
I'm interested and have a couple of stories in mind to write.
5068492
Awesome! Watch for the contest kickoff announcement in a week or two!
5068494
I need to ask one question, do I need to be at Bronycon to qualify when the time comes?
5068498
Of course not. Winners will be announced live, there, but simultaneously online.
5068499
I just finished one story, should I wait on publishing it?