To be fair, I stole it from
PUT HAND OUT, BROFIST LIGHTNING, LIGHTNING AM OVER, BARBARIAN AM WINNER.
:p
Yep, I've finally got everything I want to say where I want to say it, and down to less than 400 words. But now comes the part where I have to decide how to say it. I think my first line saved me in round 1, looking at the comments. Does anyone have a spare scroll of Summon Mojo?
But it's past midnight so I guess I'll have to sleep on it, if I can sleep at all...
I have one roughed out at about 300 words and change. Debating on whether I like it enough to fill in the last hundred words or want to go another direction.
-Xander
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16
,
Star Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8
aka FaxCelestis
|
I've got two organizations fully written. Now I'm trying to figure out which one I want to enter. One of them feels cliche, but it has enough going for it that I don't think it's cliche dependent. The other is a little out there, and I'm concerned I'm not getting the whole idea across in 400 words.
The worst part, I think, is that we have this group of other people to bounce ideas off of (which for me is one of the most enjoyable parts of gaming) ... and of course we can't do that.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
|
I just wanted to stop in and say congratulations to everyone, I see a lot of names I recognize and a few repeat visitors. Whenever I try criticism I come off like a jerk, so I'm not going to poke at individual items. I do see a lot of good stuff and look forward to round two.
My one piece of advice for the following rounds is that you should really try and get your stuff done early because editing and proofing tend to take a lot more time then you think.
How I found out stories? OK -
When I logged onto the site, I noticed this odd link near the top of the page, that said' "submit your entry here!" - my reaction? I got pissed off, thinking the page was broken. Dammit, I've already submitted my 1st round entry, but it didn't take, and now the deadline is way past... DUH. Never even occured to me that was for the 2nd round - until I scrolled down to read the entries, and Lo! there was my name. Needless to say, my reaction changed dramatically at that point.
I believe I've finished my 2nd entry; first I thought, "God, I can't come up with 400 words in such a short time... 4 hours later, it was, God, I can't reduce this to 400 words... Well, hopefully, I managed.
To my very worthy 31 competitors, I hope you all were/will be successful in putting together a gonzo entry for us all to gleefully rip apart - Good luck to you all in creating an advancement-worthy organization! (Well, at least, to 15 of you...) :)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I finished my first draft this morning, and given it was a 500+ beast, I've been feeling like Cinderella's step-sister all through the editing, debating which of my toes to cut off just to squeeze my foot into this dang slipper...
When I told my spouse story: She said something like 'Woohoo! I'm married to Geek Idol and he's going to Hollywood.' Then she posted pretty much that on facebook. I probably need to make her my publicist and campaign manager.
My process story: I've got three possible entries roughed out in first draft. I'll give each an initial polish tonight, and see what captivates me. Then another revision tomorrow morning, and a final review through my internal checklist.
Right now all I can see are the weaknesses... but that's how it has to be at early draft stage. Press on, press on.
Good luck everyone.
@James Raine: AM BARBARIAN get's my vote for 'Review Superstar 2012'
I must be the only person that under wrote and is now attempting to decide what sentences to tact on to make it sound better. Funny thing is that I keep altering a bunch of sentences, then rephrasing something, then I recheck my wordcount and it's still 318.
Luckily, I'm getting tired and it always have better ideas while tired.
-Xander
How I found out story
I had just finished watching a couple of old How I Met Your Mother episodes with my wife. She goes upstairs to get ready for bed, and I open up paizo.com in one browser tab and and gmail in another and wait for the computer clock to pass 23:00 (announcement time here in Denmark).
Because I know that the paizo site can be a bit hard to load due to all the interest around the announcement, this year I'm mostly refreshing my gmail and not paizo.com
23:00 - No new e-mail. Nothing yet on Paizo.
23:04 - Still no e-mail. Not even bothering to check paizo. Slowly bracing my mind for another defeat, comforted by a feeling that my submission this year has been the strongest yet of the thee times I have entered. I switch to the paizo tab and click on the Superstar icon to have a look at the list.
23:06 - E-MAIL!!! My gmail tab shows 1 new mail. My heart stops as i franticly switch to gmail, to find......"LinkedIn Network Updates, Jan 17 - Jan 24". Noooooo!
23:07 - Convinced I'm not in the Top 32, I swtich to the paizo tab and let my eyes run down the list of entries....right down to "Jacob Trier - Sunrise Shawl". I make a guttural hollar that prompts my wife to as from upstairs "Was that a good sound or a bad sound, honey?". My reply, realizing that I have three days to turn in a submission, that we have guests over for dinner Wednsday night and that I'm going on a field trip with work for most of Friday: "To be honest, right I'm not quite sure.....but...I'm IN!" Wife: "Congratulations, baby...are you coming to bed?" Me, struggling to focus on the text in front of me and click the link to see the judges comments:"In a minute or two, honey..."
01:46 - I finally make it to bed. Falling asleep is...tricky.
Progress report
No a single word on paper yet. Decent ideas, though. Have dedicated tonight for the first draft and Friday afternoon/evening for polish/revision.
My most hated enemy now is the passive voice.
I've rewritten this one sentence three times and Word keeps telling me that two words are passive, not the entire sentence, just two words... oh. I just fixed it. Yay! I might get to sleep tonight.
-X
(announcement time here in Denmark)Denmark! Awesome, so I'm not the only European in the top 32. :)
Finland, I presume?
Is the UK part of Europe these days, or did Cameron just get us kicked out because of the banks?
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
,
Champion Voter Season 6, Champion Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Champion Voter Season 9
|
My first instinct was to read the judges feedback on my item. Then I rewrote my submission using their comments. I perused the other entrants for the next hour. The rest of the evening I spent staring at the empty template I had posted into my writing program. When I finally went to bed, I tossed and turned for hours not sleeping.
So far I have 5 organizations written down. Only filled in up to the resources section. The rest of my progress is random scribble notes I have made at work.
Contributor
,
Dedicated Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
|
Finland, I presume?
Ja, akkurat! (...or something like that.) Yep, Finland. :)
Is the UK part of Europe these days, or did Cameron just get us kicked out because of the banks?
You're from the UK? Alright, three Europeans it is, then. :)
How I found out
I had just posted -- role-playing as the angry non-winner -- in a thread where people were "waiting" for the announcements. Went back to the main page and saw the list and quickly started scanning through it.
Saw "Jacob" and got really excited ... then saw "Trier" and went "crap." (Sorry Jacob T.) Oh well, I figured I'd start checking out all the items, since that was certainly more interesting than work. Starting at the top of the left column, I began opening each item in a new tab.
30 seconds later, I got to the bottom of the column and went "Holy *expletive*!"
I also got the free ISWG email first and then the congratulations, which I think came into my inbox about 10 minutes later.
Round 2
I have an idea I think I like and one I think I like a lot less; going to walk the dog, then do a couple first drafts. Then read through the ISWG more for some more inspiration (though what's killing me are all the one-sentence mentions of things I'd love to flesh out: yes, Hermean Council agents, I'm looking at you). I'd like to have three groups drafted out before work tonight, get some feedback and finish my top choice up tomorrow.
I must be the only person that under wrote and is now attempting to decide what sentences to tact on to make it sound better. Funny thing is that I keep altering a bunch of sentences, then rephrasing something, then I recheck my wordcount and it's still 318.
Xander, make your leader a gnome and give her a nice six- to eight-word name. That'll fill out your word count.
I figured the website would be inundated and my connection isn't fast at the best of times, so I just checked my email and got this:
Dear Andrew,We have bad news and good news for you.
Heh. And then within a few minutes I got confirmation that someone had dropped out and I was in. It was a good evening...
I already own the ISWG on pdf, but sending a copy of it to the contestants was a very nice touch. I've had to use it to check dates and a few historical facts so far, as well as the organisation write-ups of course.
Finland, I presume?Ja, akkurat! (...or something like that.) Yep, Finland. :)
Is the UK part of Europe these days, or did Cameron just get us kicked out because of the banks?You're from the UK? Alright, three Europeans it is, then. :)
Make that four. Another Brit here. One who is still a long way from finishing their round 2 entry!
*Cracks the seal on a bottle of Lagavulin (aged 16 years)*
Right...let's get this show on the road.
*shoots wistful glance at Andrew's post above.*
*Cracks the seal on a bottle of Lagavulin (aged 16 years)*
Right...let's get this show on the road.
*shoots wistful glance at Andrew's post above.*
Sigh, yeah. A beer might help right about now. I'm just taking my time, trying to avoid things that are overly typical. I'd better pick up the pace!
EDIT
Well, Yuengling will do. I'd prefer a nice Franziskaner~
I don't know if I'll get to submit a monster, obviously, but if I do, I think it's going to have preview and submit buttons on it.
Then there will be some type of fear effect due to worries about hitting submit when you mean to hit preview that leaves you shaken at the very least.
(IIRC, didn't someone last year accidentally hit submit -- I seem to remember Ross or someone at Paizo was kind enough to unlock it.)
|
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
,
Champion Voter Season 6, Champion Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Champion Voter Season 9
|
*Cracks the seal on a bottle of Lagavulin (aged 16 years)*
Right...let's get this show on the road.
*shoots wistful glance at Andrew's post above.*
Sigh, yeah. A beer might help right about now. I'm just taking my time, trying to avoid things that are overly typical. I'd better pick up the pace!
EDIT
Well, Yuengling will do. I'd prefer a nice Franziskaner~
You said the F-word! Mmmmm... Hefe Weizen... Now I want one and I am stuck at work for another 2 hours.
Chris, the mention of Yuengling made me look, and I see you're in Lansdale. I'm just a little north of you, in Bethlehem. We'll have to get together sometime and grab a drink. ...
Whoever advances further in the competition buys.
Xander, make your leader a gnome and give her a nice six- to eight-word name. That'll fill out your word count.
That might have worked at one point in development... not anymore. Luckily, I have only 25 words left, assume that Word isn't a liar.
I don't know if I'll get to submit a monster, obviously, but if I do, I think it's going to have preview and submit buttons on it.
Then there will be some type of fear effect due to worries about hitting submit when you mean to hit preview that leaves you shaken at the very least.
I beta tested a website last year discovered that the preview button wasn't in beta yet, it was just a submit button labeled preview. It was highly confusing. Now I'm paranoid.
Either way I'm waiting a couple hours before submitting. Site is lagging for me.
-Xander
Chris, the mention of Yuengling made me look, and I see you're in Lansdale. I'm just a little north of you, in Bethlehem. We'll have to get together sometime and grab a drink. ...
Whoever advances further in the competition buys.
Oh wow. What are the chances? Hah, right on. It's a deal.
Eat my glitterdust!
I'm at the point where I'd be happy submitting it now, but if I've got another 24 hours I may as well sleep on it one more time.
However I did a Google search on my organisation's name, which appears non-specific until you read the entry and then its completely obvious, and found three real-world organisations that use the same sequence of words, just with an extra word or two added to the end. None of them are RPG related, they're assorted charities. How unique does my organisation name need to be? If I add the obvious bit to the end it would certainly be unique, but it would lose its balance and sound like a charity as well. Am I okay if its not an exact match, or should I choose something else entirely?
|
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
,
Champion Voter Season 6, Champion Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Champion Voter Season 9
|
Chris, the mention of Yuengling made me look, and I see you're in Lansdale. I'm just a little north of you, in Bethlehem. We'll have to get together sometime and grab a drink. ...
Whoever advances further in the competition buys.
Hmm, they haven't posted the locations of the 32 yet. I am from Bedford, PA. I don't live there atm, but I try to burn as much leave there as possible.
Just finished up and sent out a second organization to my beta readers. I didn't like it as much as the first one originally, but it really grew on me as I was working on it. I think I'll take a little break before trying to get a third one done.
Hmm, they haven't posted the locations of the 32 yet. I am from Bedford, PA. I don't live there atm, but I try to burn as much leave there as possible.
Well, it's a few hours away, but whenever the winner's module comes out, we'll have to get together and run through it. If one of us is the winner, they have to DM.
Jacob K., I think so. I believe previous contestants have done so, no? (Crap, now I'm suddenly worried I've broken a rule I'm not aware of.)
I did a Google search on my organisation's name, which appears non-specific until you read the entry and then its completely obvious, and found three real-world organisations that use the same sequence of words...I had a very funny problem when searching for names I considered using in the "Leader" section of my organization's stat block. But, to avoid giving any hints about the nature of my organization, I'll have to save that story until after voting ends.
If someone has the same name as my leader their parents need a visit from the police.
-Xander|
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
,
Marathon Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8
aka Jiggy
|
Jacob K., I think so. I believe previous contestants have done so, no? (Crap, now I'm suddenly worried.)
Me too (seeing as you're a fellow Jacob with the best avatar!) so I hope someone important is reading this. :P
Just finished up and sent out a second organization to my beta readers.Wait, we can do that?
Yes, you can. Clearly, it always needs to be your work rather than the work of someone else when you submit your entries from round to round. But, it's always wise to have someone proofread it for you, read aloud to you, and to serve as a sounding board. I have a very good friend of mine who's always helped me in that regard with pretty much all of my professional work as a freelancer.
|
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
,
Marathon Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8
aka Jiggy
|
Yes, you can. Clearly, it always needs to be your work rather than the work of someone else when you submit your entries from round to round. But, it's always wise to have someone proofread it for you, read aloud to you, and to serve as a sounding board. I have a very good friend of mine who's always helped me in that regard with pretty much all of my professional work as a freelancer.Just finished up and sent out a second organization to my beta readers.Wait, we can do that?
Shazam. Well then, I suddenly feel the need to call my amateur author of a brother tonight and see if he can give me some feedback!