Comments on: Write Fight!

Question: Write Fight!

The Power Nap — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:33:52 -0800

I'm looking to create a competitive writing site, does such a thing exist?

We're not talking a fanfic site either. Something more along the lines of Song Fight only for short stories. I've been asking around the water cooler and people seem to believe that writing is a solitary activity and not something people would want to do in a forum type enviroment.

Take it as a given that good tools would be provided to members to colaberate/critique/publish/workshop, that leagalese would be provided to protect the authors, and that there would be enough flavors of competition to keep people challenged. Think it could fly?

By: rivenwanderer

rivenwanderer — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:50:11 -0800

everything2.net has a voting system, and writings voted too negatively are taken off of the site. It has a bunch of short-form things, from poetry to encyclopedia type articles to short stories. In addition to the regular undirected postings that happen normally, it runs "quests" periodically, where a bunch of people write things related to a prompt. It's different from what you're proposing, but maybe looking at the site and its dynamics would give you some insight into what you're trying to do.

By: Shepherd

Shepherd — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:59:25 -0800

Say hello to textfight. It's a circle-of-friends thing that 's currently growing; I expect it'll be on pretty much hiatus though November (NaNoWriMo) and back with a vengeance in December.

By: chaosscontrol

chaosscontrol — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:32:52 -0800

Would Ficlets fit the bill? It's a series of contributed "snippets" that form a short story.

By: cda

cda — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:37:50 -0800

thisisby.us?

more essays, but you vote the best to the top.

By: jacquilynne

jacquilynne — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:34:33 -0800

I've run writing competitions for non-serious writing about an online game that I play. There've been tons of other writing competitions surrounding that game as well, with mechanics that range from 'everyone write a story and we'll judge them' to 'head-to-head double elimination poetry tournament'. There's a lot of interest in those events, so I could imagine a larger competitive writing project flying. A lot of what gets people into the game competition though, is the prizes, so that may prove to be a factor -- what do the writers get out of it?

By: abcde

abcde — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 21:31:46 -0800

E2 is more competitive than rivenwanderer makes it sound, in that it has a leveling system and everything. It's got a distinct RPG undertone. The site is definitely past its peak, though (Wikipedia stole a lot of its niche, among other things).

By: The Power Nap

The Power Nap — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:11:05 -0800

Well, it looks as if interest is there. I think jacquilynne is right on the prize aspect. The closest was thisisby.us but it's missing quite a few things I would like. Thanks, look for something in projects sometime in the future by me.