>>73580
I remember there being more time on the last contests. Murlocs summer contest got announced in january i think, and one of the winter ones was announced.
We also did have two different cathegories in one or a couple of those, one for more experienced writers, and one for first time writers, although this might not be as much of a good idea anymore, as only 1 out of 9 stories were first time writers. Last times there were a lot more.
Maybe we can do something similar, where we divide the stories into two brackets, one for knacky short stories with 4-9k words, and another for longer, slower stories with 10-15k words, with a gap in between to make writers really think about what kind of story thy are writing, and if their almost 10k word story necessitates the extra details and time to mature, or if they can trim the fat and make it short and witty.
Or maybe it's simpler to expand the limit to something like 12k. I would love to say that the length of a story doesn't impact the quality, but that's not necessarily true for the average story, and definitely not for the average reader.
I also don't want to expand the limit too much, as they are still supposed to be short stories, not full sagas. People are a bit lazy, and if your story is too long they won't read it. It is supposed to be a couple of scenes and encounters with their dialog and narration that thread a good story.
>>73581
Maybe just doing the same but extending it to end on january how it ended up being this time is just what we need.
About the word count, maybe we should do something radical next time, and put a maximum word count to 6k words. That'd definitely be something.
Also a shame that you didn't participate, but hope to see you some other time.
>>73582
There won't be an extension next time, so do it at you own peril.