# Literary Maneuvers March 2019 voting



## bdcharles (Feb 22, 2019)

be counted!




* John D. MacDonald, _Darker Than Amber _


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## -xXx- (Feb 22, 2019)

pick 1?
pls.n.thx,

_*k. 1*_


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## Fatclub (Feb 26, 2019)

Am I allowed to say what I voted for? And encourage others to vote the same way?


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## bdcharles (Feb 26, 2019)

Fatclub said:


> Am I allowed to say what I voted for? And encourage others to vote the same way?



I'd rather not - though I'm happy for you to say here why you voted for what you did. You can always resubmit the one you like next month. Alternatively you could write a piece on the prompt you like and submit it to https://www.flashesofbrilliance.org/submissions/ or somesuch. I've done that loads of times.


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## Fatclub (Feb 27, 2019)

Ok, I've voted for a prompt that I think will invite real stories rather than a line to be plonked in to any story. Also, something about it makes me think there's a good chance of humour - something that's often lacking in the submissions.


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## velo (Feb 27, 2019)

I find humour to be the absolute hardest thing to write, and I know I'm not alone in that.  Unless you're a naturally funny writer I find most attempts at funny in prose end up engendering eye-rolls more than laughs.  If you can write funny, you have my respect.  I can be very funny in banter and conversation but in a story....


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## epimetheus (Feb 27, 2019)

Fatclub said:


> Ok, I've voted for a prompt that I think will invite real stories rather than a line to be plonked in to any story. Also, something about it makes me think there's a good chance of humour - something that's often lacking in the submissions.



I still remember your Moon Landing submission. Had me wondering what the story had to do with the prompt right til he fell on his arse. Funny stuff.


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## Megan Pearson (Feb 27, 2019)

That's the thing about being funny. You've either got it--or you don't. 

I love telling jokes, but people don't laugh because of the punch line. They laugh b/c I usually botch up the punch line. :icon_frown:

So no, even if the prompt ends up sounding suspiciously funny to you all, I still will not be submitting a funny story. No matter how hard I try, it simply won't be funny.


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## Megan Pearson (Feb 27, 2019)

Let me get this straight. We have a history of x-many submissions per contest, and how many people have voted?

History:


Feb 2019
8
​Jan 2019
8​Dec 2018
4​Nov 20186​Oct 20187
​Sept 20184
​ 

8+8+4+6+7+4 = 37 / 6 = avg. of roughly 6 entries per event 

So, based on this six month look-back period, we can reasonably expect about 6 entries. Yet we have 19 votes. Yeah if we get 19 entries, but somehow I don't think that's likely. Kind-a reminds me of supply & demand; the readers (I'm assuming?) will overwhelmingly sway the topic that those who will be submitting will write on. Which is often how published commercial writing goes. But in the happy land of the internet, I kind-of came into this thinking you could only vote if you were at least planning on submitting something for the contest. 

I really have no point in this. It was purely a case of 'I must muse' & to point out the discrepancy between voters and contest submitters.


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## Phil Istine (Feb 27, 2019)

Megan Pearson said:


> Let me get this straight. We have a history of x-many submissions per contest, and how many people have voted?
> 
> History:
> 
> ...



Maybe another way of viewing it is that most people vote for a prompt that doesn't win, so struggle to find a story to fit an unfavoured prompt


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## bdcharles (Feb 27, 2019)

Phil Istine said:


> Maybe another way of viewing it is that most people vote for a prompt that doesn't win, so struggle to find a story to fit an unfavoured prompt



Yes, I'd say that the number of votes for the winning prompt roughly matches up to the number of entries.


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## velo (Feb 27, 2019)

This month there are 20 voters so far.  As Phil suggests, sometimes I've had an idea but the prompt doesn't win so then I try and think of something for that and it may not work.  I've definitely voted and not submitted.  I've also submitted and not voted.


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## Megan Pearson (Feb 28, 2019)

Phil Istine said:


> Maybe another way of viewing it is that most people vote for a prompt that doesn't win, so struggle to find a story to fit an unfavoured prompt



Possibly, possibly! I'd have to go back and see the six-month average for voting to get a better comparison against submissions. But maybe later...too much on my plate today!


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## Terry D (Feb 28, 2019)

I'm not a fan of hidden votes. Some months it's easy to see where the vote is heading and I've been known to start on my story before the vote is official. I've also had entries where I've combined the two leaders before voting closes and have had good luck with the results.


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## Megan Pearson (Mar 11, 2019)

Terry D said:


> I'm not a fan of hidden votes. Some months it's easy to see where the vote is heading and I've been known to start on my story before the vote is official. I've also had entries where I've combined the two leaders before voting closes and have had good luck with the results.



Yes, here too. And because I knew my schedule would be picking up, I wrote two shorts before the voting for Feb. closed. It was a great amount of fun and now I have an extra short I hadn't planned on writing... although having the extra is a little beside the point here, the point is that I was able to do the work beforehand to fit it around my schedule. 

It was also nice brushing it off after not looking at it for three weeks before I turned it in. The time away from it added a fresh perspective.


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