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"Guess-the-Author" Analysis and Critiques

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Yes as @stnylan says, when it comes to it, one soon finds four is quite enough to be getting on with. And going off recent form it can be a challenge enough getting a healthy level of critique for even this number of entries, so definitely better to limit.

On the other hand, if there is mass interest then it’s a good indicator that we could have more regular rounds. Then GTA could become somewhat sustainable again, which would be fantastic. :)
 
DensleyBlair said:
Yes as @stnylan says, when it comes to it, one soon finds four is quite enough to be getting on with. And going off recent form it can be a challenge enough getting a healthy level of critique for even this number of entries, so definitely better to limit.

On the other hand, if there is mass interest then it’s a good indicator that we could have more regular rounds. Then GTA could become somewhat sustainable again, which would be fantastic. :)
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Yes, 4 at a time. Keelnthe punters coming back for more. Encouraging to see this back in the watched part of AARland.
 
stnylan said:
Because 4 entries is actually quite a few to expect people to critique.

Limits can be a good thing :)
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That's more of a philosophical standpoint than one relevant to GTAs historical record, and I don't understand why that limit was added in the first place.
  • It is hard enough finding four people not only willing to write but also actually doing so by the deadline, which is why we usually have only three entries
  • Before that limit was introduced we seldom had more than four entries anyhow
  • Few people participating in this game critique all the entries in-depth, most focus on critiqueing just one or two of the entries that interested them the most and give a few cursory remarks to the rest, regardless of whether there are few or many entries in a given round
As you can probably guess from this, I'm a big fan of "go with however many have been submitted to the organizer by the deadline" rather than setting any limit on participants. In case we end up with a round with 5 or 6 participants? GREAT. That would outnumber the number of people who reviewed and delivered constructive criticism in many rounds.

...I'd still expect most rounds to end up with 3 or 4 entries, mind you, unless it managed to massively increase in interest. Which is unlikely to happen unless we all advertised GTA in our signatures when a round was going on. :)

--

Which reminds me that I haven't yet written a response to the critique I received for the last round - I think I decided to skip it since I was the only one doing any sort of in-depth critique of my admittedly strange entry. I might want to look at that again. :D
 
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Peter Ebbesen said:
Which reminds me that I haven't yet written a response to the critique I received for the last round - I think I decided to skip it since I was the only one doing any sort of in-depth critique of my admittedly strange entry. I might want to look at that again. :D
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I think we all just carefully toed around the political satire, if that was your one?
 
I'm also a fan of going with however many have been submitted even if it means 5 or 6 entries. I can't help thinking the limit of 4 might be putting off some people getting down and writing an entry along the lines of 'I don't want to spend all this effort if 4 other people get in before me, so I won't bother starting . . .' but perhaps that's just me ;).
 
Wyvern said:
I'm also a fan of going with however many have been submitted even if it means 5 or 6 entries. I can't help thinking the limit of 4 might be putting off some people getting down and writing an entry along the lines of 'I don't want to spend all this effort if 4 other people get in before me, so I won't bother starting . . .' but perhaps that's just me ;).
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I may be misremembering, but hasn't it been the case in the past that four people indicate an initial interest and then write their pieces, rather than people writing speculatively? (Could be an idea, if not.)

That said, as has been brought up the question is probably academic. Having not had a full complement of four for some time, frankly it would be a miracle if we had to turn people away!
 
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I've been taking some well deserved time off this year, but I'm pleased to see interest still there for this project. I'm probably not ready yet to immerse myself again at the moment, but I'd be happy to see someone else run a round and may even join in the critiques. For all I know, I may write one after all. Who knows?

As to the number of entries, we've tried it a number of ways. 4 was really just the number hit upon as that was the usual number of actual participants. I do think it can be more difficult to get critiques for a larger number but if a solid word limit was placed on the pieces, it could certainly be done. I'd say make a deadline and stick to it, taking whomever actually finished on time (which rarely happens.)
 
coz1 said:
I'm probably not ready yet to immerse myself again at the moment, but I'd be happy to see someone else run a round and may even join in the critiques.
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Seeing as I raised the idea, I’d be perfectly happy to run the round. Glad to see you coz!
 
So, @DensleyBlair is running this round? Do we just PM him to express interest?
 
If people are happy with me hosting and we’re good to go, what we need first of all is a prompt. Any objections to me taking host’s prerogative and coming up with one myself?
 
None from me...
 
DensleyBlair said:
If people are happy with me hosting and we’re good to go, what we need first of all is a prompt. Any objections to me taking host’s prerogative and coming up with one myself?
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No objections, but to challenge you:

"Cows in Warfare"
"Death and the Dentist"
"Four-wheeled Elephants: Fact or Fiction?"

Now get these images out of your mind and come up with a prompt. :D
 
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Prompts are tricky things.
 
I'm certainly interested in participating, either as a Mystery Author or by writing critiques, but with a new job I'm not sure how much I can actually contribute. Still, I'll see what I can do when the time comes around :)
 
Seeing as last time out everything was a bit dark and paranoid, I think it's worth going lighter this round. As we move into the harvest season and towards the winter (and it also being my birthday tomorrow) I propose that people write around the theme of…

A Festival​

Are you giving thanks for victory in battle, or just another good harvest? Are you celebrating an obscure deity with a far-off cult, or lamenting how a major religious gathering has lost all of its significance? Will you indulge in magic, devilry and gory sacrifice, or are fine dining and poetry recitals more your thing?

Entries can be serious, humorous or any mixture thereof, and all possible times and settings are of course firmly on the table. I'd suggest that pieces, when they come, be no longer than about 2,000–3,000 words – though they may be shorter, if you're up to the challenge of a tight excerpt. All parties interested in writing, please drop me a PM. Once we have our authAARs I'll give a week or two for writing, then we get on with the real work of critiquing and guessing.

Any questions, feel free to ask either here or via PM. In the mean time, get to your writing desks! :D
 
DensleyBlair said:
Seeing as last time out everything was a bit dark and paranoid, I think it's worth going lighter this round. As we move into the harvest season and towards the winter (and it also being my birthday tomorrow) I propose that people write around the theme of…

A Festival​
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Oh sure, nothing dark went down at any festival...
 
Three slots down already, so better be quick if you’d like a stab at this one!
 
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