DFTBA Short Story Contest

• Question: Are we allowed to write a sort of modern-day parody based off of an existing plot? If we twist it and make it our own with original characters, setting, etc? For example, if I wanted to abuse West Side Story into a kind of comedic mockery with two battling charity organizations (like East vs. West side)? If I used my own characters, made them do completely different things than in the actual West Side Story plot, and created an original story would that be ok? (While mocking the rivalry) - Anonymous
• Answer:

  I don’t think that I’d call that sort of thing fan fiction, so I’d say that would be fine. I’m not sure how the judges would interpret that in so far as the originality score is concerned, but it wouldn’t be worthy of a disqualification.

• Question: What is the word limit? - Anonymous
• Answer:

  Minimum 1000 words, maximum 3500 words.
  
  Please read the blog for more information.

Dear all

Just a short message to say that there is going to be a slight change in policy. I’m now not going to ask you to have the same name at every point in the submission proceedings, simply because there have been a number of people who do not have access to their own funds who have expressed concern that their name will not appear on their ticket, but rather it will be their parent’s/guardian’s name etc. The most important thing though, is the order number. That has to be constant, otherwise we can’t confirm whether or not you have indeed paid for entry to the contest or not. I’ll make the change on the website now, and hope I’ve allayed your concerns.

Thanks all, and DFTBA

• Question: In my entry I plan to make reference to famous authors and their works. While the bulk of the story is entirely unrelated to this I would however like to write a scene in which the character is in a library and therefore makes references to writers like T.S Elliot, Dickinson, Steinbeck, and even link some events in his life to 'A Christmas Carol'. I wondered if this would be acceptable as I know there is a strict rule on copyright for this competition. Would this be OK? - Anonymous
• Answer:

  References, quotes and allusions etc are fine, however lifting large chunks etc will be frowned upon for originality purposes.

Greetings all. Just a short note to say that the purpose of the previous post is for people to reblog to get others attention towards taking part in the contest. This is going on Author Dog and Tumblr Fiction, but please, reblog if you think your followers would like to take part!

What is this?

This is the DFTBA (Don’t Forget To Be Awesome) short story contest. It’s being run out of the Nerdfighter community, a group that started with Hank and John Green of the Vlogbrothers and now is made up of over 200,000 people worldwide.

What’s it about?

The stories all have to be on the subject of “An Act of Charity”

What’s it for?

It’s for charity. We’re donating money to the “Foundation to Decrease Worldsuck” a fund that is set up every year around the time of the “Project for Awesome”. In this project, Nerdfighters come together to make YouTube videos about charities and charitable projects . These videos all have the same thumbnail, and swamp YouTube’s most commented/liked listings. The community then votes on the best videos, and the top five charities in those videos get equal portions of the total money donated to the “Foundation to Decrease Worldsuck”.

How does it work?

You buy a ticket from Eventbrite.com for $6.12 (using paypal), send it and your story (of between 1000-3500 words) to

DFTBA(dot)Short(dot)Story(dot)contest(AT)inbox(dot)com

Where?

Dftbashortstorycontest.tumblr.com is the contest’s base of operations.

When?

The deadline is 2^nd October 2012 

I have more questions!

Go to Dftbashortstorycontest.tumblr.com for more information!

• Question: It says we need to use the same name throughout that we used to purchase our ticket, but what about using a pen name in place of our real name? Not that I am afraid of giving strangers my real name, but I am a girl and will eventually get married and also would like to be published now and after I get married and would like to use the same name on the books that I write... - Anonymous
• Answer:

  I am fine with using a pen name, as long as its the same pen name throughout. The more important thing with the tickets is the order number.

• Question: I read through the rules and things and I'm seeing stuff that alludes to that there might be some sort of a prize (including the world contest, lol) and I'm curious as to what we are competing... for. XD I might just be blind mind you, but if there is some sort of prize, what will it be? - Anonymous
• Answer:

  Well there are four potential prizes. First, there is the prize of being published in the anthology. A group of the top stories will be published in the anthology (exactly how many, will be determined once we know how many entries we have). Then, there are the top three prizes. Third and second will be getting specific feedback from all of the judges (In the order of several hundred words each) and first will be getting feedback, along with being published as a separate micro e-book, and will receive a review from Bullet Reviews.

More video intriguingness from Mr Chris Dolman!

• Question: I am missing the word count here, Its been a busy day so far for me and maybe I am just missing it but I cannot find it on your site, what is the word count? - dftbanews
• Answer:

  Minimum 1000, maximum 3500.

It’s here! It’s finally upon us. The prompt has been announced and it is…

Well you didn’t think I’d make it that easy did you?

You may notice a distinct lack of new website, and that is because I have taken the advice of Mr Chris Dolman and several others on here, and have decided to keep the project Tumblr centric, since it’s where most of you are already, and it just makes it easier to run things from here. I hope you all arn’t too disapointed about that one, but you will be seeing the much voted for Llama on the front cover of the E-book when it is launched!

BUT rest assured, you won’t be needing a tumblr of your own to take part. Just go here and click on “Prompt”, “FAQ”, “Submissions” and “Rules” to find out more.

Thank you all for being a part of this! I’m really looking forward to seeing who makes it into the final anthology. I will be taking part myself also, but like all of the rest of you, the judges will look at my story blind and will pass their judgements and hand out the scores accordingly! Thank you all for your enthusiasm for this project, lets get out there, write, raise money and fight worldsuck!

God bless, Best wishes and of course…DFTBA!

• Question: Are we allowed to split our stories into chapters, or should the story just be one 'chunk', not in chapters, maybe just page breaks? Thanks! :) - Anonymous
• Answer:

  Well to be clear, you have an upper word limit for a single story of 3500 words (and a minimum limit of 1000 words, but that isn’t so important here). You can have chapters within that 3500 if you like (although I’d suggest page breaks myself), but don’t submit multiple 3500 word stories, each one being a chapter of something larger. Each story will be judged independently.

• Question: Is there a way I can participate without a tumblr in the practice run? Could I email my story to someone? I finished and then I couldn't find an email to send it to. If I am mistaken I am very sorry. - Anonymous
• Answer:

  Really, you just need a website which other people can see, or upload it to a google-documents account and make a publicly available link or some such thing like that. Tomorrow, I’ll be making a post with links to all the stories I am aware of. So if you have written a story, and you want me and others to read it and give you their thoughts, send me the link!
  
  That goes for everyone else too! E-mail the link to the specific post with your stories in to dftba(dot)short(dot)story(dot)contest[at]inbox(dot)com
  if you haven’t already reblogged, or just want to be sure I’ve seen it.

This is just a very short post, just to say that over the last couple of days a number of people have been saying to me that they have wanted extra time on the practice run. So I’m giving an extension of one week and three days. Your stories, if you are taking part in the practice run, will be due in by Midnight GMT on Tuesday 17th April. In case you haven’t noticed though, we’re getting rather close to the big launch day! Exciting times! Looking forward to everyone taking part in that one! Have a blessed Easter, best wishes and DFTBA.

• Question: I just found out about this thing, and saw that I could totally write something for this battlefield prompt, but then I realized the due date was tomorrow and was like FML. Do you have to participate in the practice run to do the real thing run? - Anonymous
• Answer:

  Don’t worry. You don’t have to participate in the practice to be involved in the full contest. It’s just to warm people up.