[CONTEST OVER] JNC Original Light Novel Contest
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@Hylebos Wow, this was really helpful! Thank you. I think I'll send the .docx instead from the start, only with the title and nothing else, to save them from all the trouble.
And good luck to everyone ദ്ദി( • ᴗ - ) ✧
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If we are submitting in word, should we be able to include internal bookmarks, so the reviewer can easily skip to different sections of a file? It would seem the that this would be ideal since everything will be submitted as one large file and skipping from place to place would seem painful.
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@jazzyjeoff Yes, I think so. I'm using them for chapter titles.
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@jazzyjeoff I am also planning to do that format. But I am hesitant on the order as well.
May I ask what's your final format? Is it the same or you changed your order?
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@Mugen said in [CONTEST OVER] JNC Original Light Novel Contest:
@jazzyjeoff I am also planning to do that format. But I am hesitant on the order as well.
May I ask what's your final format? Is it the same or you changed your order?
I more or less have decided to present the text first.
“More or less” because I spend 110 words at the beginning to describe the file contents first, with everything bookmarked. I felt less restrained about revealing spoilers this way—and since everything is bookmarked, the judge can easily jump to the character profiles if they really want to read them first. But I think that the best advertisement for how wonderful my story is —is my story! So it goes first and thanks to @Hylebos for pushing me a little in that direction, I am happy with how it turned out. -
@jazzyjeoff basically, the order of your submission would be:
- 60,000 words chapter
- Character Profiles
- Plot Outline
am I right?
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@Mugen said in [CONTEST OVER] JNC Original Light Novel Contest:
@jazzyjeoff basically, the order of your submission would be:
- 60,000 words chapter
- Character Profiles
- Plot Outline
am I right?
You can and should have multiple chapters, and the story can be anywhere between 35.000 and 100.000 words. And the profiles and plot outline are only required if your story is not completed. At least, assuming I understood the rules correctly.
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The instructions were pretty broad, and it seems like we were given a long leash to present our work in the most coherent way possible, so this is what I have done (let me know if you see errors, please) Parts III through VI take up about 15% of the supplemental information—and they could have been included in the either the character descriptions or story outline, but I chose to break them out on their own—they work better as a reference that way—but I have no guarantee that it is acceptable—so imitate at your own risk!
File Contents:
Complete text for first 34 chapters (less than 59,000 words)
I. Story textSupplemental materials (less than 10,00 words)
II. Character Profiles
III. System of Magic
IV. Class System
V. Historical Context
VI. Status of the main characters following the end Chapter 34, The Picnic (last chapter in which text is included in this file)
VII. Story Outline
Note: The Story Outline consists of:
An overview of the core arcs for the protagonists and the Priest’s backstory, focusing on their emotional development.
A detailed breakdown of five major plot threads, each presented in a linear format but woven together in the main text. -
So this has been bugging me for a while, but while the admins said it was up to us whether or not we include content from the 60k words in the outline, I'm wondering if it's the right move. A part of me feels it's unnecessary, but another part feels it's necessary since starting the outline right where the 60k words ends, in my case about the end of my 1st volume, feels like I'm skipping over said content. Curious to know other's takes on this.
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@AuthorMN You can see with mine that I sort of split the difference—just before the outline I have a short blurb about the status of the characters after the first 60K words and then my plot outline starts from there.
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@AuthorMN said in [CONTEST OVER] JNC Original Light Novel Contest:
So this has been bugging me for a while, but while the admins said it was up to us whether or not we include content from the 60k words in the outline, I'm wondering if it's the right move. A part of me feels it's unnecessary, but another part feels it's necessary since starting the outline right where the 60k words ends, in my case about the end of my 1st volume, feels like I'm skipping over said content. Curious to know other's takes on this.
Don't overthink it too much. Do you have the words to spare and think that your outline will be elevated with a brief recap to refocus the judges in the direction of your choosing? If so, go for it. As long as it's brief and written in a way that engages the reader I can't imagine it hurting you.
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@jazzyjeoff damn this is hard. my plot outline + character profiles are now 9k+. adding power system + a little bit of world building info would surely surpass the 10k-words limit lol.
but yeah, thanks for the info.
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@Mugen said in [CONTEST OVER] JNC Original Light Novel Contest:
@jazzyjeoff damn this is hard. my plot outline + character profiles are now 9k+. adding power system + a little bit of world building info would surely surpass the 10k-words limit lol.
but yeah, thanks for the info.
For mine, I suppose that I could delete all of the extras, except for the system of magic—it is not that super-complex, but it is still unique enough that if you are a judge skipping around the story, or on your fifth magical system of the day, it would be good to have a reference bookmarked. And yes, I will use every single word of my 10K allotted!
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Whelp, The House of Black and White, my rewrite of By Honor Bound, is submitted. Word count jumped up to 57K, with another 10K to 20K left for volume one. We'll see how it goes.
Now to see if I can rewrite Lost & Found in a month...
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For those who have submitted works to the contest, did you guys receive a confirmation email?
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@shiratori-keira No, and they didn't send confirmation emails last year either. You can however email JNC to confirm that they got your submission.
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@zwabbit said in [CONTEST OVER] JNC Original Light Novel Contest:
@shiratori-keira No, and they didn't send confirmation emails last year either. You can however email JNC to confirm that they got your submission.
Okay, thanks a lot for the info, I feel much more reassured now. No need to confirm it, I think.
I was just very worried that something went wrong or if I typed my email incorrectly. I'm sure I typed it properly, because I was very careful, and in the meantime, I remembered that I could go to the submit page again and see what the browser auto-fill function suggested to see if there was a typo (and there wasn't). -
So I ultimately decided to not include what was covered in the 1st 60,000 words in the outline. I felt it just took up too many words, words that could be better allocated elsewhere, which is what led to the decision. Thus, it will start with Season 2, even if I decide to include small parts of Season 2 as I managed to have Season 1 end just before 60,000 words, a little over 58,000 to be more exact.
That brings me to a new question, which if has already been answered, please let me know. Anyway, here's the question:
If we decided to dramatically expand the series, as in have it now span say at least 15 seasons instead of just 8, and may no longer have a clear idea on how the series will end, what should we do? If we do have the ending for the series planned, should we put that in regardless of if we can't fit the stuff in between? -
@AuthorMN The answer is going to be, put in whatever you think will win over the judges.
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I decided to restrict my outline to the first arc (three volumes) as it is a natural ending point and I'll be happy if I get there. The main questions in the arc ae resolved, the Big Bad is defeated, the Hero lives, etc.
I do have future arcs planned but, personally, my approach is to break it up into manageable and publishable chunks - especially as we only have 10,000 words total and I want to give them certainty that this has an end point.
