One-Shot Contest: Myths and Legends

[Negrek]

One-Shot Contest: Myths and Legends​

The Pokémon world is full of incredible creatures, from common Pokémon capable of calling up thunderstorms to immensely powerful beings able to stop time, level continents, and perhaps even revive the dead. The humans living alongside Pokémon have been telling stories about them since before recorded history, describing how they brought the world into being, how they've nurtured some civilizations and destroyed others, and the role humans play in a world dominated by such powerful creatures. For Thousand Roads' first one-shot contest, we're looking for entries that explore these myths and legends of the Pokémon world!

Story Guidelines

Your story should center on a myth or legend in some way: you might submit a retelling of a particular myth, a story about a trainer discovering the truth behind a local legend, an episode from the Mystery Dungeon universe where a legend holds the clues to a mysterious disaster, or anything you can think of that puts the spotlight on some kind of in-universe legend. The legend you choose can be canonical (e.g. referenced in a Pokédex entry, mentioned in the anime, etc.) or one you make up yourself. It may involve a legendary Pokémon, but it doesn't have to! What we're interested in is the myth or legend itself; a one-shot that happens to involve a legendary Pokémon but doesn't touch on the stories people tell about it won't score very high for theme. If you're not sure whether the story idea you have in mind fits what we're looking for, feel free to ask!

Entries should be no more than 10,000 words long. Different writing programs will give different word counts, so if you're worried about your entry going over the limit, check it using this online calculator, which is the one the judges will use to determine eligibility. There is no minimum word requirement.

The story you submit should be a new one written for this contest, not one you'd written previously that happens to fit the contest theme. Please refrain from publishing your work online until the final results of the contest have been posted.

All entries are due by Midnight UTC on March 31, 2020. Not sure when that is in your timezone? You can keep track of the deadline with this handy online countdown. To enter, send your story to Negrek via PM or DM, or e-mail it to fyeahpokefic@gmail.com. One entry per person, please.

Judging and Prizes

Everyone who enters will receive in-depth feedback from our four judges: Chibi Pika, Dragonfree, OldSchoolJohto, and Umbra. They'll also have the opportunity to participate in a promo post highlighting contest participants.

In addition, each judge will choose a first, second, and third place winner that they feel represent the best stories of the bunch. The judges' scores will be combined to determine an overall first, second, and third place winner.

Spoiler: Detailed Scoring Information

Each judge will submit their choices for first, second, and third place, and Negrek will tally their scores to give a final total. Points are awarded as follows:

- 1st place: 80 points
- 2nd place: 40 points
- 3rd place: 20 points
- Not placed: 0 points

A story that isn't in one of the judge's top three can still place if the other judges rank it highly. On the other hand, if one judge picks a story for first and the others rank it third or lower, it may not end up placing at all.

The top three stories will receive an individual promo and author interview to be posted on the Thousand Roads forums and on our Tumblr, as well as a free art commission from Chibi Pika, up to $25 value for third place, $40 for second, and $55 for first. Check out Chibi's commission info and their gallery to see more examples of their work!

Stories will be judged on overall writing quality as well as on their use of the theme. You are welcome to have your story looked over by one or more beta readers before submission, and we encourage you to spell-check and do your best job of proofreading, as technical errors are likely to impact your final ranking.

That's it! Have fun writing, and I look forward to your entries. If you have any questions, feel free to post in this thread or ask Negrek via PM/DM.

 

[WildBoots]

🌟🎉 Good luck, all! I can’t wait to read these.

 

[Starlight Aurate]

This is awesome! Thanks for organizing this, and thanks to all the judges for offering their time! I can't wait to write something up :D

 

[zion of arcadia]

If the myth is one you made up, does it necessarily have to be about a legendary pokemon?

 

[Negrek]

If the myth is one you made up, does it necessarily have to be about a legendary pokemon?

Absolutely not! And if you were to pick a canon myth, it wouldn't have to be one involving a legendary pokémon, either.

 

[The Walrein]

I know there's no real way of enforcing this, but are we allowed to use stories that we've previously outlined prior to the start of the contest?

 

[Negrek]

I know there's no real way of enforcing this, but are we allowed to use stories that we've previously outlined prior to the start of the contest?

You may! You can even use stories you've already started writing if you'd like. But previously published stories, no.

 

[Meridian]

hrggggg
it begins
anyway I'm big hyped for the storied and hopefully will get something done in the next week or so. already split between my ideas

 

[NebulaDreams]

Count me in. There's one question someone raised that I'll bring up here. I know it's encouraged to get the story looked at by beta readers before submission, but what about beta readers entering in the same contest? Would that still be allowed, or would that be unfair within the competition?

 

[Negrek]

Count me in. There's one question someone raised that I'll bring up here. I know it's encouraged to get the story looked at by beta readers before submission, but what about beta readers entering in the same contest? Would that still be allowed, or would that be unfair within the competition?

Well, I would say that you shouldn't ask one of the judges to beta read; that seems like it could definitely cause conflict of interest issues. But I don't see anything wrong with asking someone who's entering a story of their own, since they won't be able to do anything to influence your final score. Provided you trust them not to steal your ideas or somehow try to sabotage your story, but that would be a problem with the specific individual and not with asking another entrant to beta read for you in general.

 

[NebulaDreams]

Thanks! And another question, when we submit our entries, how long would the judging process take, and how long would it be until we're allowed to publish our stories? Would it be after the submission deadline or when the contest has ended?

 

[Negrek]

I am going to do my best to hold judging to two months or less, and please wait to publish your stories until the results are posted.

 

[Starlight Aurate]

I'm already over 3,000 words in and not close to finishing... I may try to come up with something new; I'm not sure if, after finishing my first draft, I'd be able to edit it down to less than 10,000 words ._. ;

 

[Negrek]

I'm already over 3,000 words in and not close to finishing... I may try to come up with something new; I'm not sure if, after finishing my first draft, I'd be able to edit it down to less than 10,000 words ._. ;

Oh man, good luck! I definitely know the feeling of an uncomfortably ballooning word count!

Some people have been asking about the potential for extending the contest deadline, so I figured I'd post an update here. Whether or not there's an extension will depend on how many entries it looks like we'll get and how many people an extension would help out. If it looks like we're going to get lots of entries under the current deadline, then I won't give an extension in order to keep things manageable for the judges. But if it looks like there will be room for more entries and there are people who would be able to participate only if the deadline were pushed back, then I'll move the deadline accordingly.

It's too early to tell how many entries we'll get, so at this point I'm not committed either way. I'll check in at about a week out from the current deadline (so, next weekend) and make a post then. In the meantime, feel free to let me know if an extension would be helpful to you.

 

[Namohysip]

Just posting an update here that I've completed the alpha as of last Saturday, and am now in the beta phases. Regardless of how things go down, my fic is currently in a presentable state whenever the deadline is.

 

[Starlight Aurate]

@Namohysip congrats!

Welp, my first draft is mostly-finished at 8,000 words. Once I write the last bit, I just need to edit it. So I'm hopeful I'm good to enter? It might work better as a three-shot, what with the large word count... I'll decide at some point over the next ten days what to do about it.

 

[Negrek]

Awesome! I'm glad you two are making good progress on your stories.

Is there anybody out there who thinks they're going to need an extension? I'm going to decide whether or not to give one in the next couple of days, so please speak up if you think you'll need more time to finish!

 

[kyeugh]

i haven't started yet, but given that i just got my latest chapter out, and have an unexpected two weeks of free time due to my school's closure for coronavirus, i think an extension would enable me to participate when i might not be able to since next week is going to be a bit busy for me. definitely don't base it on that, but... if you're asking. :D

 

[zion of arcadia]

An extension would be helpful on my end, since we’re asking.

 

[Namohysip]

I'd personally be a little puzzled on having an extension for a month-long contest entry, and I also personally scheduled my writing process around that timeline and put some things aside to accommodate for it...

But if an extension happens, I won't complain. I just won't really be able to take advantage of it.