[CONTEST OVER] JNC Original Light Novel Contest
-
Now that I'm done and the contest is basically at its end, I'm more willing to share the general premise of the two stories I submitted.
By Honor Bound - Consent. That is what separates volunteers versus victims in the great system of inter-dimensional summoning. In all too many instances, those so summoned are given no choice about whether to assist their new world with whatever crisis de jure threatens it. Even worse, many such summonees are barely more than adolescents, wholly lacking in the training, experience, and indeed maturity needed to handle their newfound responsibilities without suffering significant mental anguish. No proper polity can tolerate such treatment of its citizens and retain its right to govern, and the Sol Imperium is no exception.
Captain Konrad Schwarz of the Imperial Gendarmerie is a seasoned veteran, with over half a decade of experience under his belt. He is also a Pathfinder, a specialized officer of the law trained to be deployed whenever the Imperium intercepts a summoning that would otherwise kidnap one of its unwary citizens. Instead of unprepared civilians being thrust into danger, a Pathfinder brings to bear the fullness of the Imperium's magical and technological prowess to complete their primary objectives. First, determine if the summoning authority is engaged in voluntary recruitment or forced impressment. Second, determine if there were any past victims and what fate befell them. Third, determine if the threat the summoning world faces could leak back through to the Imperium itself. And once these three tasks are complete, Konrad must make a choice, whether the new world he finds himself in is worthy of the Imperium's aid, or deserving of the ultimate sanction for the wrongs committed against those that came before.
Lost & Found - Mackenzie is no particular stranger to loss. First, she lost her life to a literal knife in the back, but she found herself given a second chance with a new life in a new world. Next, she lost her ostensible family, when her parents sold her into indentured servitude, but found her first true friend amongst the other forced servants. Then, that sole companionship was lost when the monster of a noble that owned them both took her friend's life, but Mackenzie at least found vengeance when she burned the man into ashes.
Having lost so much, Mackenzie did not expect to find anything else she would want or care for. Instead, she was the one that was found. By those that treated her as friend, as family, even as love. And just as Mackenzie finally started finding a chance to use her past knowledge in biology and chemistry to better things for her family and friends, and perhaps even her new world, a new threat that reeks of that same otherworldly knowledge emerges. Mackenzie is no stranger to loss, but she has already lost too much. This time, she refuses to lose anyone else.
-
Alright, I went ahead and made a thread on the Other Discussion forum for discussing writing. If we end up needing to find another venue to organize, we can do that at a later time. Hope to see everyone there!
https://forums.j-novel.club/topic/7788/jnc-writing-support-group
-
@zwabbit, just forget the competition and take my money :)
-
I went ahead and submitted my novel, it came out to 88,659 words in the end. Please look forward to Awakening of the Amaranth Shade: They Built a Theme Park Atop the Ruins of My Fallen Kingdom?! I’ll Protect the Promise as I Seek the Truth Behind the Collapse! if it passes the second round of judging!
Also, I didn't see it shared here, but JNC posted on their twitter a means of verifying your submission if you feel paranoid:
At the moment there is no confirmation email upon submission, but if you wish to check you can email us directly at contact@j-novel.club with the email address used for the submission!
-
Thanks so much for this! They were very quick to send out the confirmation (thanks J-Novel!).
It was so stupid how geeked out I was when I got the confirmation! 🤪 -
Oh how I wish I found these forums when I started writing for the competition in late December. However, now that I've submitted my light novel on the final day of the competition with only a few hours to spare, it's heartening to know that it was not just me that struggled.
95k words, sleepless nights and cheeky "Sick days" from work to complete this on time. Congratulations to everyone who was able to stick to their guns and enter a complete work into the competition, you have my utmost respect.
@admin Can we get a final count of how many entries were submitted? Will 2 months be enough time to judge all of these works?
-
@Hylebos Oh. My. God.
That is an amazing title! 😄 -
Well, I did finish it in time; wrote 70k words in a month. Hope it at least passes the first round so I get some feedback, but I'm largely happy with it. It was supposed to be a fantasy novel with a bit of romance, and perhaps turned into a romance novel with a bit of action.
I decided to avoid the "infinite shy couple" phase entirely by making the power couple fall for each other so hard that they skipped all the way past romance and went straight into treating each other like they've been married for decades. Basically instead of being so shy they can't confess, they're so comfortable around each other that they don't realize they're in love, and have to work backwards. Whenever an option to become closer shows up, they take it without hesitation or embarrassment ("Move in together? That'd be convenient, let's do it!"), and there's the sense that once they do realize their feelings, they'll be absolutely certain that the other feels the same way. The (male) protagonist's PoV describes only the love interest as beautiful, while the obligatory sexy bombshell with the unrealistically massive tits gets only a dry physical description in his narration. Meanwhile everyone around them is convinced that they're in a serious relationship the whole time.
The other idea was that rather than waiting until the final act for them to get together, I'd do it early on and let them have their adventure as a proper couple. Don't know how well that'll read at this point though, especially since it remains to be seen if I'll actually write the rest of the series. It's just that there's countless stories that focus on the main couple getting together, and very few that actually show them being together. It's usually "and then they got married, the end".
-
@LeavesCat said in [SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN!] JNC Original Light Novel Contest:
It's just that there's countless stories that focus on the main couple getting together, and very few that actually show them being together. It's usually "and then they got married, the end".
My "main couple" are effectively married and at it like rabbits within 4 days of meeting each other. But it's kind of sad, really, because he doesn't love her. She knows that, but she's a princess and he's committed high treason so the alternative was death. All I can say in my defence is "it's complicated" and that he will eventually fall for her over the next 3 volumes.
-
@Angelus said in [SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN!] JNC Original Light Novel Contest:
My "main couple" are effectively married and at it like rabbits within 4 days of meeting each other. But it's kind of sad, really, because he doesn't love her. She knows that, but she's a princess and he's committed high treason so the alternative was death. All I can say in my defence is "it's complicated" and that he will eventually fall for her over the next 3 volumes.
Wow! What a trip lol.
-
I guess the title of the thread should be changed to "Submissions now Closed!" hahah.
-
@LeeroyCGNA just a little under 500, which is right at the top range of my prediction for number of entries.
And we are gonna do our best to get through them (have about 10 people helping with the first round judging)
-
FYI, you might want to check your email for a confirmation of entry (separate from one that you may have requested). I received mine at 5:40PM EST on 2/1/24.
Highlights: they don’t want you to post your work anywhere else until you are eliminated (unless it was already previously posted somewhere else).
Your work will be evaluated by 2 readers.
464 entries
They estimate that:
60-100 will pass first round.
10-20 will pass the second round.
good luck everyone! -
The email also mentions that JNC will very likely hold another contest next year, and encouraged us to go ahead and start writing for it if we want.
-
@jazzyjeoff, and how good it felt to get that mail! For next year, they really should autosend a mail when you submit your novel.
@Alfaerin, I was glad to see that because it means I don't have to think of something else to fill the gaping hole in my life that stopping writing would create :) Although it does beg the question of whether a volume 2 of something that didn't make the cut this year would be judged negatively because it wasn't strictly a standalone story. The obvious reason for wanting to know is that right now I'd prefer to carry on with a volume 2 from where my contest submission left off.
Still, if I've got a year then I'd have plenty enough time to write volume 2 and also complete my what now seems to have turned into a comedy horror isekai story, which has the provisional title "Help! A Crafty Goddess Reincarnated Me 200 Million Years After My Date with Truck-kun and Now The Whole World's Gone to S***".
-
Me: reviewing draft of L&F after the fact
Also me: notices an entire paragraph missing resulting in a very hard cut
Me: Oh goddamn it. I guess this is what I get for basically rushing in such a rough first draft. -
@zwabbit You got it in—that’s the big thing.
-
@zwabbit Don't let it get to you--they're not expecting us to send in perfect manuscripts ready to print. It's already been said in this topic that any winners will almost certainly undergo editing and revision, and they're open to authors adding new material.
-
@Angelus I argue that even if your work does not make the cut, you could still improve it and be selected next time. So following up the story and later comeback to review the first volume is probably a good idea.
-
@Alfaerin said in [SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN!] JNC Original Light Novel Contest:
@zwabbit Don't let it get to you--they're not expecting us to send in perfect manuscripts ready to print. It's already been said in this topic that any winners will almost certainly undergo editing and revision, and they're open to authors adding new material.
As far as I know the only person to have a book published without editing is Tolkien (excluding self-publishers of course), so I'd be shocked if any winners didn't have any edits or revisions.
