jbluestein
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Here is the poll subject for the entries to the writing contest. I will post the three entries (with sound components, where provided) in subsequent messages on this topic.

There are not really that many rules to follow regarding this:

1) Authors must rate their own work a 10, and should offer fair ratings to the other entries.

2) All voters should read all entries before voting. The criteria by which you rate the stories is up to you, but I would suggest that originality and quality of writing figure prominently in there somewhere.

3) I'll be presenting the entries without mentioning the authors. I have not taken great pains to conceal the authors -- you may be able to figure someone out from their voice (if provided), or fingerprints on the doc files, or whatever other way. The point is to try to judge the stories independent of who wrote them, so I would ask that you save your sleuthing until you've read and voted on the stories.

Also, I have done nothing to change the formatting of any of the files...only filenames have been changed.

4) Some people have provided audio portions, which you may listen to or not as you prefer. I think it's a very cool idea, though.

5) Please post about any issues you have with any of the files -- if people can't read anything please let me know!

(There are only three of them, after all...)

OK, I think that's enough. Enjoy! I hope everyone enjoys the results!

(I certainly have.)

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[Last edited by jbluestein at 08-07-2006 07:42 PM]

jbluestein
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File: Contestant_One.doc (22 KB)
Downloaded 70 times.
License: Public Domain

Our first entrant is the glamorous Contestant One, well known for that thing and that other thing that may or may not be true.

Contestant One provides a two-part entry. The first, the written document, provided in Word format. The second, an audio portion, is in Audacity format.



____________________________
"Rings and knots of joy and grief, all interlaced and locking." --William Buck

jbluestein
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File: Contestant_One.aup (3.5 KB)
Downloaded 60 times.
License: Public Domain

Here is Contestant One's audio portion.



____________________________
"Rings and knots of joy and grief, all interlaced and locking." --William Buck

jbluestein
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1670
Registered: 12-23-2005
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File: Contestant_Two.doc (38 KB)
Downloaded 69 times.
License: Public Domain

Hailing from a faraway land, little is known about the mysterious Contestant Two. What is known is spoken of only in whispers. I dare not say more.

Contestant Two has also provided a Word document for the written portion.

[EDIT: I attached the wrong version of the file -- please re-download if you already have.]




____________________________
"Rings and knots of joy and grief, all interlaced and locking." --William Buck

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[Last edited by jbluestein at 08-07-2006 07:39 PM]

jbluestein
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File: Contestant_Three.rtf (15.5 KB)
Downloaded 78 times.
License: Public Domain

And last, but not least, the plucky Contestant Three. Full of...well, pluck, as it were, Contestant Three was recently spotted in an Italian coffee shop with several unidentified characters. Nobody knows why.

Contestant Three's entry is in Rich Text Format. There is an .ogg formatted audio portion as well.

____________________________
"Rings and knots of joy and grief, all interlaced and locking." --William Buck

jbluestein
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1670
Registered: 12-23-2005
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File: Contestant_Three.ogg (4.4 MB)
Downloaded 55 times.
License: Public Domain

Contestant Three's Audio portion

____________________________
"Rings and knots of joy and grief, all interlaced and locking." --William Buck

golfrman
Level: Master Delver

Rank Points: 165
Registered: 07-10-2006
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well, as the first to comment i have to say that i thought all of the stories were great, although they didn't all follow the 1500 word limit, i thought they were worth reading anyways

____________________________
Jesus is Lord and Messiah!

tokyokid
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Being the 5th to vote, I must say:
I liked them all and gave higher points to audio files. #2 was the one I liked the best !

golfrman
Level: Master Delver

Rank Points: 165
Registered: 07-10-2006
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i like # 2 the best also, although it was very long, worth every minute of time i spen reading it though

____________________________
Jesus is Lord and Messiah!

Hikari
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Rank Points: 438
Registered: 01-28-2006
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Going into this, I was going to give points to the one that had the best discussion of Beethro's Final Dungeon. But... Only one of them even *deals* with said dungeon. #1 doesn't even seem to mention it, it's more of an 'In my day...' rant from Beethro... and #3 is just... wow.

So I gave #3 my highest vote out of the three. All three scored highly, but... I wasn't expecting something quite so... melancholy, out of Beethro. All wonderful pieces, but #3 just kinda got me so I ended up sitting there staring at the screen for a moment wondering what just happened.

Of course, the one *question* I'm left with on that story is, how did Beethro manage to get *injured* instead of *killed* while in the dungeon

____________________________
Caravel Official Holds Progress:

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[Last edited by Hikari at 08-07-2006 09:06 PM]

Citrus
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1233
Registered: 01-08-2006
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Well, I'll give my two cents now.

Entry Number One: I have a feeling that this one was written by Larry. It was short and sweet, but I really thought this should have been more about the job and less about the retirement. I gave it a six because it still was very in character and fun to read.

Entry Number Two: Wow! This story was really way too long comapred to the other two. But I wonder who it was written by! Maybe the words "By Ezlo" are a clue? No comment on actual story.

Entry Number Three: This has to be Elfstone! I could have told even without the copyright on the bottom! I liked it a lot, although I would've liked more info on the actual job itself.

____________________________
Call me Citrus.

jbluestein
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Ezlo wrote:
Well, I'll give my two cents now.

Entry Number One: I have a feeling that this one was written by Larry. It was short and sweet, but I really thought this should have been more about the job and less about the retirement. I gave it a six because it still was very in character and fun to read.

Entry Number Two: Wow! This story was really way too long comapred to the other two. But I wonder who it was written by! Maybe the words "By Ezlo" are a clue? No comment on actual story.

Entry Number Three: This has to be Elfstone! I could have told even without the copyright on the bottom! I liked it a lot, although I would've liked more info on the actual job itself.

Alright, yes, you're very clever. I forgot to check the actual text to make sure there were no names given. I doubt the anonymity matters that much, but nevertheless, I do apologize for the snafu.

Josh

____________________________
"Rings and knots of joy and grief, all interlaced and locking." --William Buck

gamer_extreme_101
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1939
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I find it sad that somehow, the first hold I ever did ended up being the title for a writing contest, and that the hold I'm currently working on has Beethro in retirement. Well, I guess only four people know about my half-retirement hold, but it still seems criminally ironic. Criminally.

____________________________
--That guy with a million different aliases since he doesn't like this name anymore.

Elfstone
Level: Smitemaster

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Registered: 03-01-2006
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Hikari wrote:
Going into this, I was going to give points to the one that had the best discussion of Beethro's Final Dungeon. But... Only one of them even *deals* with said dungeon.

I have some old-fashioned views about contestants and comments, but then I'm just . . . . well, old-fashioned I suppose.
I will allow myself this comment however, in reponse to Hikari and anyone else thinking we've strayed off topic, the remit was to write about either the last job or retirement.

Hoping that josh won't mind me quoting (it's the middle of the night where he is, so I can't ask him) :

"Write a short story about Beethro's last job, his subsequent retirement (whatever form that takes), or some combination of the two.

Ground rules:

1) The story should not exceed 1500 words in length. Less is fine, but much more will make the job harder for those judging the contest.

2) Within the context of the story, anything goes. There is no obligation to be true to canon in any way, shape or form. There is an obligation to conform to the Rules of Conduct for the Caravelnet Forum -- language or subject matter that would be considered inappropriate on this forum are inappropriate for the stories as well."

In our 3 very different ways, we have conformed to those rules ( with the obvious exception of the 1500 max word length ).

Elfstone.

____________________________
Winner of: Novice Architect Excellence 2006.
FAPCA - Technical Design Excellence in Layout and Aesthetics

---

[Last edited by Elfstone at 08-08-2006 01:49 PM : Spelling - again!!!!!?]

jbluestein
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Elfstone wrote:
In our 3 very different ways, we have conformed to those rules ( with the obvious exception of the 1500 max word length ).

I think that all three entries are well within the bounds I intended to set for the contest. The length doesn't really matter, particularly since we had so few entries. I really enjoyed reading all three of them.

I'm not going to comment on which one I liked best, but I will say that whoever takes first has certainly earned it.

Josh

____________________________
"Rings and knots of joy and grief, all interlaced and locking." --William Buck

jbluestein
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Another note: There was a problem with Contestant One's audio portion. I should have a replacement soon...

Josh

____________________________
"Rings and knots of joy and grief, all interlaced and locking." --William Buck

larrymurk
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1917
Registered: 12-09-2004
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File: Contestant1.ogg (1.6 MB)
Downloaded 63 times.
License: Public Domain

Here's my .ogg if anyone wants to hear it. Please don't take it seriously. My brother and I were trying to have fun with it.

I will bestow 5 rank points upon Elfstone for her fine effort of making a recorded version.

Citrus
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1233
Registered: 01-08-2006
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I had one, it was completed and such, but then I rewrote some of the story and didn't have time to record it again. Does anyone want me to record one for this story? That way we have a matching set.

BTW, congradulations on catching up to me Elfstone, I have a feeling you'll be passing me soon.

____________________________
Call me Citrus.

Elfstone
Level: Smitemaster

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larrymurk wrote:
I will bestow 5 rank points upon Elfstone for her fine effort of making a recorded version.

Goodness me, thank you Larry, that's very generous of you. I'm touched.

Actually, in the light of that, I must acknowledge again publicly the technical help I've had from several people in this site and in particular, for the recording of this, from Hikari. I'm very grateful to you all.

Elf.

____________________________
Winner of: Novice Architect Excellence 2006.
FAPCA - Technical Design Excellence in Layout and Aesthetics

Hikari
Level: Smiter

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Aaaaaahhhh, I didn't realize stories about Beethro's retirement were OK... Guess I never really looked that closely at the rules since I didn't have the time to do a writing thing recently.

Also... Congrats on reaching Master Delver status, Elfstone

____________________________
Caravel Official Holds Progress:

Beef Row
Level: Smiter
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Excellent job from everyone who entered. I had some ideas myself, I think they were good ones, but couldn't think how to write them. My favorite was one where Beethro gets taken into a secret chamber by the head of the Smitemaster's Guild, with the promise he will learn the guild's greatest secret, the origin of the mimic potion.

Remember how 'retirement' works in Soylent Green? If you do you know exactly where this one is leading.

I may still write it someday, I think it could be funny (but sort of... dark).

____________________________
"Now I will repeatedly apply the happy-face rule"

Citrus
Level: Smitemaster

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I not sure I would read that, but that seems to make sense.

____________________________
Call me Citrus.

Elfstone
Level: Smitemaster

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Hikari wrote:
Also... Congrats on reaching Master Delver status, Elfstone

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

jumps up and down in her study ! ! ! !

when did that happen ? ? ? ? ?!!!!!! ?!!! ?! ! ! ?

Oh my!!

Master Delver? that has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?




Elf(preening)stone


____________________________
Winner of: Novice Architect Excellence 2006.
FAPCA - Technical Design Excellence in Layout and Aesthetics

UrAvgAzn
Level: Smiter

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File: TGTGSawTGSa Contest Entries.zip (1.6 MB)
Downloaded 61 times.
License: Public Domain

Congratulations Elfstone! Before you pass Ezlo, you have to pass me!

I guess I'll be the one to do it this time. Attached are all the files in a compressed folder.

Keep posting,

EDIT: The TGTGSawTGSa part of the folder stands for The Contest Name.

____________________________
"The leaf, still green, must someday fall.
Such grief, such joy, to live at all."
- T.A. Barron, The Lost Years of Merlin

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[Last edited by UrAvgAzn at 08-09-2006 01:03 AM]

Citrus
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1233
Registered: 01-08-2006
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Wow! Now I'm ahead by .15 not .08! I have a HUGE lead now!

____________________________
Call me Citrus.

Jason
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1076
Registered: 05-05-2006
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And The Winner is Ezlo!
Followed closely by Elfstone!
And... Yeah!

That means 50 rank points for Ezlo
30 points for Elfstone
And 20 points for LarryMurk!

Great Job everybody!

____________________________
Play my holds?

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[Last edited by Jason at 08-13-2006 08:53 AM]

larrymurk
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Thx for putting together the contest. It was fun.

Citrus
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1233
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Yay! Now the mods need to mod me up a total of 100! They still haven't done my prize for the Story of You yet.

Congrats Elfstone, it was very, VERY close.


____________________________
Call me Citrus.

tokyokid
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Ezlo wrote:
Yay! Now the mods need to mod me up a total of 100!

100 points! Does math... 384+100=484! Almost a Smitemaster!!!! Congrats, Ezlo!!

Bunches
Level: Master Delver

Rank Points: 192
Registered: 03-17-2006
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tokyokid wrote:

Ezlo wrote:
Yay! Now the mods need to mod me up a total of 100!

100 points! Does math... 384+100=484! Almost a Smitemaster!!!! Congrats, Ezlo!!

My brother... almost a smitemaster... I feel so... so... proud!