[RESULTS ARE IN!] Epics & Legends Writing Battle

[Kriegskanzler]

Results are in!

After the war of the words, here are the results of the first ever Epics & Legends Writing Battle!

In 3rd Place, with an average score of 81.83%, is none other than Fire525 with his entry Birth!! *audience claps*

In 2nd Place, with an average score of 86.67%, is none other than Forceflow with his entry A Minute Detour!! *audience claps*

And now, for the champion... *drum roll*

With an average score of 89.17%, the winner and champion of the first ever Epics and Legends Writing Battle is none other than... ... ...

...

...

...

... the winner is none other than -AvA- with his Untitled entry!! *audience goes berserk*

For the full detailed results of this contest, please do feel free to give me a PM so I can give you a copy.

Congratulations to all the winners of the first ever Epics and Legends Writing Battle, and to -AvA-, in championing this contest.

To all the contestants of this contest, as well as to the judges and the contributors, I give my most heartfelt of thanks for making this event a success.

Until the next battle, PD Writers Unite!

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UPDATE:

Judging is on the way for the six official entries of this battle. Also, the winner will receive a forum award as confirmed by Francis, exact quote here:

Originally Posted by Francis

Btw, I've talked to the administrators and they agreed to have an award for the winner, just like the awards that SotW winners and best Guide Writers get. I'll work on the design so it can be implemented and given by this week.

Result will be posted on the 17th of June 2010, 05:00PM GMT +8.

=====================================

Well, uhm, hello there. You see, FF and Lit has been a growing population for the past weeks and I have to admit, I am really happy at the way the sub-forum is shaping.

The works here are nothing short of being stunning, and so I guess it's time to put them to the test! I give you the Epics and Legends Writing Battle! *Audience Cheers* The main objective of this thread is simple, find the best story a writer here at PD can come up with.

The secondary objectives are as follows:

• Create an activity wherein PD members can showcase their abilities at story-writing, and for these abilities to be recognized.
• Foster more attention into the FF and Lit sub-forum, thus creating a much more exciting FF & Lit Corner!

Here are the mechanics:
1. A theme is posted.
2. Writers submit their stories with that theme. The story submitted should be 1000 words or less. Any story exceeding this limit is automatically disqualified.
3. Two weeks are given for writers to submit their stories. After the two weeks resolves, the competition is closed, and a day would be alloted for the judges to rate the works, or until they finish judging.
4. Three people will judge the works, giving each work a corresponding rating. The three ratings from the three judges will then be averaged, the resulting score will be the story's final rating.
5. The story with the highest average wins.
6. Judges cannot be a participant of the competition. Judges can be replaced every week, depending on their availability and schedule. Judges, however, cannot be replaced in the middle of the week of competition, as such, they can only be replaced if there is no pending competition.
7. The judges' decision is final and non-repealable once executed.
8. Submitted stories should comply to the PD Forum Rules, lest the entry is automatically disqualified.

Criteria for judging:
1. Theme cohesiveness - 30%
(How the story utilizes the theme, and how he unites and forms it with the other parts of the story)
2. Substance and depth - 30%
(How the story affects the reader, the story's dramatics, use of words, how the words were formed, etc.)
3. Spelling, grammar and syntax - 20%
(Need I say more to this?)
4. Appropriateness - 10%
(Is the story competition worthy?)
5. Subjective impression - 10%
(How the story appeals to you personally)

So, PD writers, are you ready? Well, let the Writing Battle commence! PD Writers Unite!

This round's theme is:

Furion, the Prophet

The judges: Francis, brok3n.chord, tanan
Moderator: FuhrerKanzler02

Deadline for submission of entries: This competition is now closed, now on the judging phase.

Official list of entries:

1. Untitled by -AvA-
2. The Storm is Coming by safetybreak
3. A Minute Detour by Forceflow
4. Birth by Fire525
5. Dream Coil by KingArthas25
6. Death to a Thousand Promises by asam3

For the judges:

In case you don't know yet: As for submitting your ratings, please do not post them in this thread. Submit them to me via PM.

[tanan]

Woohoo finally it has started!

Hello mein fuhrer was their any thread discussion for this events in the social group? I can't seem to find it?

Oh and must the writers only limit themselves to 500 words? Could their be a 500+-threshold?

And another thing. So the judge only has a day to rate all works? Since the deadline on June 3 which is next Thursday and I still have work on Friday, I may not be able to judge every work since I'd be analyzing the story by tropes so can you move the deadline of judge's submission to Saturday or Sunday?


One last thing. ^_^ Can I make a suggestion? Let he who enters this competition add a [Epic] or whatever tag on their title so that we may know which story is an entry?

[Wrooks]

How about giving the contestants a month to come up with a story
and the judges a week to go through everything

[willalwaybenoob]

Aw...I wanted to be a judge.

[Forceflow]

I disagree with a 500 word limit
You can barely write a detailed scene with 500 words.

[Francis]

So, how will we be judging? Like every time there is a submission, we'll read and analyze and then post our ratings immediately after?

[-AvA-]

I'm fine with the rules.
This is a short story contest, I presume.

---------- Post added at 11:06 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:06 AM ----------

I'm fine with the rules.
This is a short story contest, I presume.

[Kriegskanzler]

Originally Posted by tanan

Hello mein fuhrer was their any thread discussion for this events in the social group? I can't seem to find it?

No, there was no discussion about this. It simply came out of my mind, so here it is.

Oh and must the writers only limit themselves to 500 words? Could their be a 500+-threshold?

The goal is to have the writer come up with a short story, not a novel. But if you think 500 words is too restrictive, then I'll broaden it.

And another thing. So the judge only has a day to rate all works? Since the deadline on June 3 which is next Thursday and I still have work on Friday, I may not be able to judge every work since I'd be analyzing the story by tropes so can you move the deadline of judge's submission to Saturday or Sunday?

Understood. Moved the deadline.

One last thing. ^_^ Can I make a suggestion? Let he who enters this competition add a [Epic] or whatever tag on their title so that we may know which story is an entry?

Got it. Suggestion implemented.

Originally Posted by Squelch

How about giving the contestants a month to come up with a story
and the judges a week to go through everything

That seems too long... Alright, how about two weeks? Deadline for submission of entries is June 12, 2010, Saturday, 11:00 PM GMT +8. As for the judges, the day long thing is a mere standard. If they take more than a day to finish, then it's fine.

Originally Posted by willalwaybenoob

Aw...I wanted to be a judge.

Sorry. I chose judges by random. Basically, I inputed the names of all the Forum Staff and all the members of the Guild in Excel, then using the #RAN function, I drew out three random names from the list.

Originally Posted by Forceflow

I disagree with a 500 word limit
You can barely write a detailed scene with 500 words.

500 words really that short? Well, ok. 1000 word limit then.

Originally Posted by Francis

So, how will we be judging? Like every time there is a submission, we'll read and analyze and then post our ratings immediately after?

Whatever you wish. You want to check it out immediately after each post, then its cool. Or if you want to do them once all entries are in then its fine too. Whatever you think is the most comfortable.

Originally Posted by -AvA-

I'm fine with the rules.
This is a short story contest, I presume.

That's the plan.

[Francis]

Okay, bring it on. I'm ready, locked, and loaded.

[Fire525]

Do we post here? And will a new thread be opened for every contest or what?

[Kriegskanzler]

Stories will be posted here. New competitions will be on a new thread.

[The Berserker]

Nice. I've been waiting for this kind of competition in my life. Our school discourages holding this kind of event for some retarded reason.

[Fire525]

^ Probably because it encourages creativity, which most schools want to crush.

[willalwaybenoob]

Arggh...I'm all outa of ideas. I guess I ain't gonna get first place.

[JohannDesu]

i want to join but i dont have the guts.

[-AvA-]

A quickly thought story from me.
Title: Shan'do
Number of words: 979

“Furion?” asked a familiar male voice. The pitch black surroundings made it difficult for the elder night elf to identify the person calling his name. He did not bother to ask who it was, as he felt tired and in no mood to start a conversation. In a more worried tone, the voice asked again, “Furion? Furion, can you hear me?”

Furion opened his eyes. A worried looking friend of his, Ezalor stood in front of him; the soft orange light from the fire enhancing the lines on the old man’s face. They were inside Furion’s hut, covered by the enormous shade of the World Tree located in the Sentinel camp. Ezalor returned to his armchair, and placed the smoking pipe in his hand back into his mouth. Furion straightened himself in his armchair, feeling a little embarrassed for drowsing off in the presence of a guest.

“My sincerest apologies, Ezalor. My eyes can’t seem to stay open these days, I am just so exhausted”, said Furion while pouring himself a mug of tea.

Furion took a few careful sips while Ezalor stared out at the open, blue sky from a nearby window, pipe in his mouth and lost in his thoughts. None of them said anything and allowed the silence to stretch, both indulged in their own thoughts. Ezalor removed the smoking pipe from his mouth, a sign that he was about to speak.

“My dear friend, as I have said before, you cannot go on like this. You have been defending Nordrassil day and night for the past few months, and you are clearly too fatigued to continue any longer”, advised Ezalor.

But Furion would not hear the warnings coming out of his friend’s mouth, merely sweeping aside Ezalor’s concern with a wave of his hand. “You worry too much, Ezalor,” Furion said in a friendly but rasped voice, “I have lived for fifteen hundred years, fought in two Scourge wars and countless other conflicts. I am more than capable in fending off a group of mindless ghouls and necromancers.”

“I have no doubt in your ability, my friend. But your refusal to sleep and to let the younger heroes have their chance to perform their duty is what bothers me”, replied Ezalor.

“And I do that with good reason. They are too arrogant, too full of themselves. Honour and power have clouded their minds from the dangers all of us face everyday. Overconfidence is a dangerous enemy, Ezalor, as it fills us with a feeling of invulnerability and one mistake can mean the difference between victory and defeat.”

Ezalor sighed deeply, because some of his friend’s words rang true. Most of the younger heroes were slightly too confident in their abilities, but the master wizard remembered a time long ago when he himself was like that. He was even fairly certain that Cenarius had felt the same way about Furion when he was a druid apprentice.

In fact, Furion knew that Cenarius felt that way about him, because he indeed was once a young, arrogant druid apprentice. Furion reminisced that one time when he was training under Cenarius, one that ended with a lesson Furion will remember for life.

“Why Master?” asked a young Furion angrily. “I am ready to become a full-fledged druid. Why are you holding me back?”

“You are not ready, Apprentice Stormrage. And you will respect my decision for I am your master druid”, replied Cenarius calmly.

“With all due respect, master but I am ready, I have mastered everything there is to know about being a druid”, retorted Furion.

And so Master Cenarius sent Furion on a quest, to prove his words but it was oblivious to Furion that it was a trick. The apprentice was ordered to travel into the woods of Darkshore and retrieve a silver ring from a pedestal in the middle of the forest. Furion was skeptical about such a simple mission but did as his master told him. But the ring was no ordinary ring, as the holder of the ring will not be able to leave the woods, no matter where or how far their walked. Days he spent wondering around the woods, neither trees nor grass helped or guided the druid apprentice out of his nightmare. Until one time when Furion lay on the forest floor, crying and his body curled into a ball that Cenarius decided to show up.

“What took you so long, Apprentice Stormrage? Lost your way in the woods, I presume?” Cenarius asked, but not in a boastful way. The master druid removed the ring from Furion’s travelling cloak, without Furion knowing it and brought him back to Darnassus.

It was years after Furion became a full-fledged druid that he found out from one of the senior druids that Cenarius had tricked him on that quest. But he was not angry at his master, for he did not sense or checked the ring for any mischievous properties and blamed himself for that mistake.

His consciousness came back to the present day. Apparently he had fallen asleep again, as his eyes were closed. Opening them, he saw Ezalor, who had continued to stare at the sky while twirling wisp of smoke came out of his smoking pipe. Ezalor noticed Furion looking at him, and asked, “Had a nice nap?”

Furion returned a friendly smile. “It seems so,” he said, pausing a moment before continuing, “I think I might turn in early tonight. Would you mind watching over the defences for me?”

Ezalor’s wryly mouth curled into a smile. “Of course, my friend. And do not worry; I will keep both my eyes fixed on those young heroes, as both of us were like that once”.

A mild laughter escaped both of them and they began to talk about other things, mostly about their wives, both good and bad tales while enjoying each others company.

[tanan]

Nice story Ava and congratulations as the first person to submit a story.
I will prepare my review on your work in due time and I am going to review your story basing on how you used tropes.

But before I do that, you might try to review your story again, there are some grammatical errors that needs to be fixed.

Ex:

Ezalor sighed deeply, because some of his friend’s words of rang true. Most of younger heroes were slightly too confident in their abilities,

Anyways good luck!

[-AvA-]

Ah, damn. I must have skipped those errors

[blithe.]

What'll the winner get?

[Kriegskanzler]

^ Francis said that the winner will get some kind of forum award, although he still has to talk this thing out with the other staff members and as such, is not entirely assured. Hopefully he pulls it off.

@-AvA-: Yey! The first entry! Good luck on your story!