[CONTEST OVER] JNC Original Light Novel Contest
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@atashisamasora Definitely not extending deadline unless the website explodes in the final day.
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Just wondering, but is there a confirmation via mail if the work is submitted?
If yes, I did not receive one.(and I swear, writing a synopsis was the worst part for me)
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@Ade There's no confirmation via e-mail, just the confirmation after you submit the work. Plenty of people have asked about this, so if and when another contest is held I imagine JNC will add one.
On another note, is anyone else writing short stories to accompany their light novels? I have two planned and started writing one, but boy did it turn out much heavier than I originally intended.
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@Alfaerin I have a short story planned, but don't intend to start writing it until there's at least some sign that my submission even stands a chance. 😅
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@admin said in [SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN!] JNC Original Light Novel Contest:
@atashisamasora Definitely not extending deadline unless the website explodes in the final day.
I had planned on submitting last Thursday but ended up spending the past four days rereading it over and over and over. But after reading your “unless the website explodes” thing had me sufficiently panicked that I sent the damn thing off just now!
Cheers!
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@Alfaerin, I already have 3 other volumes planned for my novel, but I've also been thinking about a 5th volume that could be a short story collection with a common thread running through them.
@jazzyjeoff, for you own sanity, if you haven't already stopped rereading your story, stop right now otherwise you may regret it if you find something you wished you'd done differently :)
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It’s funny, I quit this a little while when I decided that there was absolutely no way I could hit the original 50K word minimum—but then they dropped it to 35K and I went back to work. My final word-count broke 47K!
But stopping and restarting was for the best, it helped me sharpen my focus and my story has a much better ending as a result. -
Finished and submitted today. I'm very happy with the end result, even if I know there are things I could have done better. It's a nice, cohesive story with a beginning, middle, and end, but still leaves room for expansion with future volumes if I am so lucky as to get that far.
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@QuixoticHorizon Ultimately I think that's what I will end up with. Checking my manuscript for errors right now and I've got a little over twenty four hours left. Good Luck to everyone!
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Twas the eve of the deadline
And all through the forum
People were chatting with a sense of decorum
One voice could be heard over the lot:
“Good luck everyone,
Can’t wait to read what you’ve got!!”😉 👏🎉 -
@Lily-Garden and everyone really. Fingers crossed for you all. Even if we don’t progress (though I’m sure many of you will), you still have a completed work.
That is something a lot of people can’t say.
While my experience is all in short stories and not novels, there are lots of reasons stories don’t go forward that have nothing to do with the quality of the work. In some cases it may just not fit what they are looking for
Celebrate your writing and submissions. That’s the best first step you can make.
Really looking forward to seeing what does and doesn’t make the mark.
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@Damon-Cavalchini said in [SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN!] JNC Original Light Novel Contest:
@Lily-Garden and everyone really. Fingers crossed for you all. Even if we don’t progress (though I’m sure many of you will), you still have a completed work.
That is something a lot of people can’t say.
While my experience is all in short stories and not novels, there are lots of reasons stories don’t go forward that have nothing to do with the quality of the work. In some cases it may just not fit what they are looking for
Celebrate your writing and submissions. That’s the best first step you can make.
Really looking forward to seeing what does and doesn’t make the mark.
Well said. It's been over a decade and a half since I last wrote seriously (thanks depression), and this really pushed me. Even if I don't get past the first round I am happy because I reached the three most important personal milestones:
- I went for it
- I finished it
- I'm happy with it
Regardless of whether I progress or not, I may keep on writing again. That for me is reward enough (though I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervously anticipating the end of March!)
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@QuixoticHorizon said in [SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN!] JNC Original Light Novel Contest:
Well said. It's been over a decade and a half since I last wrote seriously (thanks depression), and this really pushed me. Even if I don't get past the first round I am happy because I reached the three most important personal milestones:
I went for it
I finished it
I'm happy with itRegardless of whether I progress or not, I may keep on writing again. That for me is reward enough (though I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervously anticipating the end of March!)
Boy, do I hear you. I also stopped writing for years due to depression, and working on this light novel really helped me both physically and mentally. That's why I'm going to continue writing no matter what happens. I really poured my all into this story, and it's by far the best thing I've ever written.
On another note, is anyone else interested in forming some kind of writing group, so we can encourage each other, proofread and give feedback?
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@Alfaerin said in [SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN!] JNC Original Light Novel Contest:
On another note, is anyone else interested in forming some kind of writing group, so we can encourage each other, proofread and give feedback?
I love this idea!!
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@Lily-Garden said in [SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN!] JNC Original Light Novel Contest:
@Alfaerin said in [SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN!] JNC Original Light Novel Contest:
On another note, is anyone else interested in forming some kind of writing group, so we can encourage each other, proofread and give feedback?
I love this idea!!
Me too. I stopped writing for much more boring reasons than others (life, work, family, mortgage, a desire to sleep and so on).
But also a lack of a network who were interested in what I write.
Just being able to say I finished and submitted is a big won and I’d love to chat/work that writes the kinds of things I like to read.
Most of the writing groups where I live are more ‘literary’ or have a very western approach to works (fantasy must be big and fat).
A group will keep me honest in way that my stuffed lizard does not.
If nothing else, that may be the legacy of the competition for me.
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@Damon-Cavalchini said in [SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN!] JNC Original Light Novel Contest:
(fantasy must be big and fat).
Interesting point. From what I've been looking at recently, although publishers generally seem to regard 60k words as the minimum for a novel, if it's fantasy then the minimum leaps to 100k "because of all the world-building that's needed". And that's the size of book where the production costs apparently start to go way up, which makes publishers more wary of taking it on.
On the other hand, JNC as a specific LN publisher, seems happy with fantasy works in the 50-60k range (or even 35k+, going by the competition rules), which is great.
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@Angelus I agree. Which is why a writing community that doesn’t just dismiss stuff as an overbloated novella would be great.
Plus light novels have their own rhythms and flows.
It is a pity isn’t the end of March yet (though that would mean I’ve basically missed several deadlines at work, so may it is good that it isn’t).
One of the weirdest things for me doing the competition this time was not have any readers I could call on.
Fingers crossed they run it again and we have a support group from the wonderful people in this thread already built.
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In the end I was very happy with what I wrote, even if there might still be some grammar mistakes or weird words used here and there. My story barely fits the word limit with 99984 words, but a limit like this actually made it more fun for me.
I thought I would at least submitt two works, but in the end I had so much fun working on this one alone that I completely scratched that plan.
Also I would be interested in what kind of novels you guys send in.
Since I did not want to write a story happening in a place with a culture I only knew from hearsay, I stuck to fantasy, even though the "fantasy" part is already gone -
Well, I submitted two stories. One That was basically finished when I learned about the contest, but the one reader took weeks to read it, and the other was a longer story I have been working on for over two years, which just finished a few days before the deadline.
I'm happy with how both turned out, and even if neither wins, I know what to do with both next.What I find really heartening to read is that many here managed to work their way a bit out of a depression just because of this contest. I would say that even if no one wins, THAT was really worth it.
I wish all contestants the best of luck!
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For me, there were two issues I had to overcome to participate in the contest.
First and foremost was the fact that I had yet to produce anything of sufficient length. My favourite kind of story to write (though not necessarily to read), is the kind that explores just a single idea or premise. When there's an idea that really strikes my fancy, and I have enough free time, I can "easily" crank out a novella in a week. (That doesn't happen often, though. Too exhausting.) But a novella does not a (light) novel make.
In the end, my solution to the first issue was tied up with the second issue I had to overcome: revision.
Revising my stories is something I've always dreaded, because I know that I'll end up being confronted with all my flaws as a storyteller. And if it hadn't been for the submission deadline looming, I would've never gotten around to actually giving it a go. But once I actually got started following the reminder of the deadline during last announcement stream, I ended up working on it obsessively over that weekend.
And so, both my issues were solved by revising my longest novella, and extending it to safely meet the minimum length requirement in the process.
And I'm honestly thrilled that I managed to do it. But I'm not sure it's something I'm in a hurry to repeat. I suspect life as an author is not something I'm cut out for. 😅
