Fortnightly Writing Competition: The Devil (RESULTS)

[Mandle]

Okay, awesome, but I want to tell about the writing of my story before I accept the win, though:

I was on holiday in Australia during this round, and was not planning to enter, as I have written several stories involving the Devil for the FWC before and had no new ideas. However, there was a 48-hour 1000-word-limit flash fiction contest elsewhere at the time whose theme was "Ten Years Since the End of the World". I had the idea to make it about a spaceship that had crossed the edge of the universe ten years earlier, instead of taking the theme literally.

I was flying to Brisbane the day the contest started, and had planned to write it on arrival at our hotel, but our flight was redirected due to a lightning storm and it was waaaay too late by the time we finally arrived. The next day was spent with the wife, of course, going around Brisbane, and that night I only had a time window of a few hours to get the story written and submitted before the contest deadline was up. I sat out on the hotel balcony, overlooking the Brisbane River as ferries cruised by and massive fruit bats swooped me, and typed out the story on a Bluetooth keyboard with my phone as my "monitor". This is now my favorite writing-situation experience of my life.

After submitting the story to the contest, I changed the name of the spaceship from the "S.S. Seed" to the "S.S. Devil" and submitted it to the FWC as well, mainly as just to get an entry in to fill out the contest roster a bit more. Hence, my mysteriously early entry (as Sini commented) and also the brevity of it, when it could obviously have been at least twice as long, with a lot more details filled in. I actually had no idea how long it was when I was writing it, and was thinking I had gone far over the 1000-word limit, but was very pleased to see it came out at 988 words.

I fully expected the story to be just an "also-ran", given the extremely tenuous link to the Devil theme. I just wanted the FWC to have one more entry, and was also a bit chuffed with the story and wanted more people to read it than just one judge for a flash fiction contest. I thought all this would just end up an interesting after-the-fact tale after I had not won.

Now, I'm not so sure... I don't really think this is "cheating" per se, as it is done in other AGS contests like MAGS, where someone makes a gamejam entry using AGS, and also submits it to MAGS, sometimes with a few minor alterations to fit the MAGS theme. The story was written during the runtime of this round of the FWC, if not specifically for it.

I didn't want to mention any of this ahead of time, because I wanted people to vote and give feedback on the story alone, without any of this backstory influencing them.

Anyway, if any of this is deemed a bit unfair or dodgy, or even just rubs anyone slightly the wrong way, I will hand the next round to Sini with no hard feelings whatsoever.

[Baron]

He's a witch!  Get him! 

[lorenzo]

This is outrageous! Can we ban this Mango guy from the FWC? Or even better, from the AGS forums?!? It's the only way that justice can be served!!!

I don't think anyone will have any issue with what you did. It's perfectly fine to post the same entry both here and to lesser writing contests as well
I've always seen these competitions as friendly ways to have fun and get better, where it doesn't much matter who wins as long as we have someone to host the next one.

This is now my favorite writing-situation experience of my life.

I'm glad to have made your life better by providing it (ignore the fact that I had nothing to do with it and that you were writing for another contest; just send me your eternal gratitude).

Anyway, enough excuses from you, and start thinking of the next theme!!!

[Mandle]

Alright, good to know, guys, and hahaha at the jibes... There'll be the devil to pay, I assure you! I still want to wait on Sini's word on this matter, though.

[Sinitrena]

Stop procrastinanting and set a new topic already! 

Congrats, Mandle.

[Mandle]

Stop procrastinanting and set a new topic already! 

Haha! Yes, MA'AM!!!