Those of you who talk to me regularly have probably heard me mention this a few times. In fact, it’s been in the works for several months now, and finally, I think the time is right for PTC’s first (to my knowledge) Creative Writing Tournament.
Let me be very clear. This is NOT an e-wrestling tournament, and has no relation to e-wrestling other than the fact that the participants will also be involved in e-wrestling. You will not enter a character into this event. You won’t “handle” anyone. If you enter this tournament, you are entering as yourself, an author. You can write about whatever you choose, so long as it fits the guidelines that I will lay out as I describe the tournament structure. You can write a series of short stories or take a chance on a longer work. The tournament is designed to both challenge you as a writer and give you creative freedom that eW often does not allow.
Bear with me. If this gets confusing, you’ll just have to trust that it’s really not.
How will the tournament work?
Despite having NO CONNECTION WITH WRESTLING (I can’t stress that enough), the tournament structure will embrace elements of both the Lethal Lottery and Survivor Series.
For roughly the next two weeks (the exact deadline will be decided later), I’ll be collecting entrants. After that, I’ll hold a chat where teams will be drawn. The amount of teams will depend on the amount of entrants, but as an example, we’ll assume that the tournament will consist of four teams of four, meaning sixteen entrants. This will be a LETHAL LOTTERY draw, meaning your teammates will be chosen completely at random.
I’m an awesome writer. If I get stuck with three illiterate morons, does that mean I automatically lose?
No. That’s where the Survivor Series element comes into play. The tournament is designed so that if you have strong teammates, it is a definite advantage, but you’ll still live and die by the quality of your own writing.
In order to explain, let me go through the actual structure using the example of a four team, sixteen man tournament.
Round 1...
Ok, so the teams have been drawn and the matches are set. Lets use an example with teams A and B.
Team A
Author 1
Author 2
Author 3
Author 4
Team B
Author 5
Author 6
Author 7
Author 8
Ok, so there are four members per team. At the outset of the match, four genres will be drawn. For example’s sake, lets say the genres are horror, drama, action, and comedy. At this point, each team will have a couple of days to decide amongst themselves which author is going to write in each particular genre. Team A and Team B will NOT be allowed to discuss their decisions with each other, thus, making the individual matches a surprise.
Lets say it looks something like this...
Team A Team B
Author 1 vs. Author 5 (horror)
Author 2 vs. Author 6 (drama)
Author 3 vs. Author 7 (action)
Author 4 vs. Author 8 (comedy)
Individual matches will take place in genres. The author from Team A who chooses to write in the genre of horror will face, one-on-one, the author from Team B who chooses to write in the genre of horror.
Now, here’s where the Survivor Series element of the match kicks in. Each author is competing for his OWN survival, not his team’s. For example’s sake, lets say Authors 1, 2, and 3 win their matches. In that case, Authors 4, 5, 6, and 7 are eliminated from the competition. The others move on to round 2.
I know what you’re thinking - “how does having a good team give me any advantage?” That comes into play in round 2.
Round 2...
In round 2 of the tournament, new team matches will be made, prompting, of course, new individual matches. For example’s sake, lets say Team A, with three surviving authors, goes up against Team C in round 2. And lets say that Team C had two surviving authors from round 1. Now we suddenly have a three against two situation.
How does that work?
The amount of genres drawn to be competed in will be the equal of the team with the FEWEST members. Therefore, in our example, Team C has two members, meaning just two genres will be drawn to compete in. This sets up - you guessed it - two on one matches. Lets say it looks like this...
Team A vs. Team C
Author 1 vs Author 9 (drama)
Author 2,3 vs Author 10 (comedy)
In this scenario, in order to survive, Author 10 needs to beat BOTH Authors 2 and 3. He needs only to write one piece, while each of them will write one piece. If EITHER of those pieces beat him, he will be eliminated. However, if his piece is better than Author 2's piece, but loses to Author 3's piece, then both he and Author 2 take a loss and be eliminated from the tournament. Author 3 will move on to the next round. The only way for Author 10 to survive this situation is to defeat BOTH of his opponents, and it’s a situation that he would never have found himself in had more of his teammates survived round one, thus illustrating the advantage of drawing a good team.
At this point, it’s entirely possible that one or more entire team will be eliminated, and if that is the case, teams will be redrawn, or if I’m in a particularly cruel mood, I might have each team vote a member off weakest link style and use these members to form the needed teams. If I deem that there are too few participants left to justify making teams, the tournament will become a regular, single match tournament. However, if all four teams still have members, the original structure will continue.
So, in other words...
Round 3 and on...
...is completely at my discretion.
ADD: Since the team concept is so popular, in all likelihood, teams will stay in-tact even as other teams begin to be eliminated, with the final round seeing the winning team face off against each other. Odd numbers of teams toward the end will result in three-way matches. It could get a little confusing, but I'm willing to risk that for the reward of team pride and unity.
How heavy a workload will this put on me?
I’m trying to make this tournament friendly to those with heavy workloads. It’ll be structured much like GTT6, with one bracket squaring off before the other. Deadlines themselves will likely be about ten days, though in most cases, like in GTT6, you’ll be able to start writing long before that. I realize this has the potential to make the tournament quite long, but I’m ok with that, and prefer it to rushing my writers to get their material in.
Specific deadlines will not be enforced, but keep it within reason. In all likelihood, I’ll give you a day to have your material in by. If it’s late, you will not be penalized immediately. If it gets out of hand (about a day late or so), I’ll contact you and give you a hard deadline to meet, otherwise be eliminated from the tournament. Repeat offenders can be eliminated without warning. I realize that this is a system open for abuse, but I’m willing to try it out for one round. If things get out of hand, expect hard deadlines in round 2.
What happens if an entire team is eliminated in round 1, leaving an odd number of teams for round 2?
In such a case, which is possible, the team that does the eliminating will get the bonus of getting a bye in round 2. If it happens after round 2, other options will be considered.
What about judging?
While I often refer to this as a lazy man’s tournament, this is the one place where I require entrants to go above and beyond the normal call of duty in eW competitions. If you enter this tournament, you are automatically SIGNING UP FOR JUDGING DUTIES!!! And yes, that means you’ll be judging while you’re competing, so long as the match is in an opposite bracket. We’re all adults here, and I don’t think anyone’s going to judge a match in an opposite bracket in hopes that it’ll affect their own chances later on down the line. I’m doing this because in my experience, it’s hell to get people to put even minor participation into things. This way, I’m not constantly scrounging for judges. But don’t worry, I’ll try to keep each of your workloads light. With myself judging several matches per round, and a few guest outside judges, I don’t imagine that I’ll need anyone to judge more than one match per round. I don’t think that’s a lot to ask.
Unlike most PTC tournaments, this is one where I’ll encourage judges to go in-depth with their feedback. Remember, this is not an eW tournament, it’s a creative writing tournament. I hope that we can all use it to our advantage, and in my experience, it’s as helpful to GIVE feedback as it is to GET feedback.
By signing up for this tournament, you’re accepting the fact that you’re going to be judged by your peers. Your work may not appeal to all of them. If there’s a specific judge (including myself) that you would rather not have judge your match, send me a message privately and I’ll try to work on it. However, I don’t want to see any “John and Jim are best friends, so I didn’t stand a chance!” You know what? Most of us are friends, but I believe that the vast majority of us are above that. If you have a LEGITIMATE complaint about judging results, you can bring it to my attention and I’ll look into it. But please understand that if I think your work is an 8 and your opponent’s work is a 6, I’m going to let the decision stand. Writing is a subjective thing, and sometimes what appeals to one person doesn’t appeal to someone else. Only in extreme cases will I set up a second judging committee. Honestly, I can’t imagine that happening.
Judges will not be required to read your past work. Therefore, if you’re writing a series, you’re taking a chance that new judges will not be familiar at all with your work - even less than in eW tournaments because you won’t be handling a character. You can tackle the tournament any way you choose, but keep your audience in mind.
I don’t know you. How do I know you’ll treat me as fairly as your friends?
You’ll just have to trust me. I’m not Ross, who has somewhat distanced himself from individual relationships in the community, and in doing so has effectively become an absolutely impartial figure. I have a lot of friends in this hobby of ours and a lot of them will be in this tournament. Several of us have started a small writing workshop recently, and a lot of those guys will be competing in this tournament as well. However, anyone who has experience with me will probably tell you that I separate my personal relationship with people from my view of their work. It goes all the way back to when PWA was around and I was known as the most critical of graders - it had nothing to do with what I thought of them. Same goes for when I critique work in PRIME. I have no problem being critical of my friends because I believe that I’m doing a disservice to them if I’m not honest about their work. I believe that I am very impartial when it comes to people’s writing, and while I definitely have my own tastes, as we all do, I can assure you that no one that I know will get special treatment over those that I don’t.
Do I sign up in this thread or in private?
I ask that you send me a PM to sign up. While I’ve already disclosed the identities of some of the entrants, I’d prefer to have a little bit of mystery around the chat where teams are drawn, much like DRI. However, I have no problem with people disclosing to each other if they’re in or not - I’d just rather keep the official sign up sheet away from the boards and in my PM box.
Also, please leave your name. I know some of you only by your handles. Leave a name, and perhaps who you handle, or just something the community will know you by that I can use on the night of the drawing.
Do I need to send a sample piece of writing?
Nope. There’s no talent requirement to get into this tournament.
So what do you think the over all talent level will be though?
Very, very high. I believe that by freeing some writers from eW, totally character-based stylings, we might see a few surprises out of guys we didn’t expect it from. And also, I have confirmed a few of PTC’s best pure writers already.
Don’t be intimidated by that. Look at it as a challenge to beat the best on an entirely new playing field. Or at the very least, look at it as an opportunity to learn from your peers.
When’s the deadline to enter?
I won’t set a stern deadline, but I’ll say less than two weeks. Please don’t procrastinate entering this, however, as I reserve the right to close entries at any time if I feel the need. I’ll try to update people on how many participants are involved. As of right now, there are four (though I would still like a PM from those four to confirm).
Anything Else?
Three things.
One: I reserve the right to make changes at my discretion if I feel it’s for the good of the tournament. I’ve outlined a very hard, inflexible structure, but I’ll change things up if I feel it’s needed.
Two: I realize this explanation of the tournament is long and detailed. But I assure you, the tournament is quite simple. Leave any questions you might have in this thread. Also, if you can think of a name for this thing, make the suggestion. I don’t mind if people know you’re in the tournament, I’d just prefer to keep official entry statements in my PM box.
Three: Have fun. Take advantage of this for the opportunity, if not just for the competition. Although, if you’re just in it for the competition, and happen to get a win over Ryan, never let him hear the end of it. >=)
AIM: LGLSnow
