[CONTEST OVER] JNC Original Light Novel Contest
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@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".
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@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.
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@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.
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I guess the title of the thread should be changed to "Submissions now Closed!" hahah.
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@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)
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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.
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@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***".
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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.
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@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.
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@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.
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@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.
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@QuixoticHorizon IIRC, Laura Ingalls Wilder's final book, The First Four Years, was published without any editing. Her daughter found the manuscript after her death, so it was published as-is and reads much differently compared to the rest of the Little House on the Prairie series.
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@Alfaerin Ahh, come to think of it I think the same is true of Michael Crichton last work, Pirate Latitudes.
I amend my previous statement to mean in terms of authors alive at the time of publication =P
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There's quite a few posts to sift through, but was there ever a mention of judging criteria?
Is it like what I've seen in Bakuman where a novel only needs to be interesting in order to be serialized? Or are there certain qualities that @admin are looking for?
I'd imagine viability of sale and popularity would be a huge factor, but that would only be measurable in the second stage of judging when the LN's are posted to the website right?
I guess I'm just asking for clarification on what judges are looking for.
PS. Apologies if this has been covered before in this monstrous thread.
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@LeeroyCGNA we are not going to discuss our internal judging criteria.
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@admin Okay that's fair enough. It was mostly an informal question/speculation.
Thanks.
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@LeeroyCGNA The most we know about this subject is what the guest judges say they look for in an outstanding light novel:
