That was a very fast response indeed, Dylan.

Just to reiterate what I said in my review of the superbly titled 'The Saga: Chapter One of a Million', I think perhaps that a few parts should be allowed to a story, as long as those parts have beginnings, middles and ends in themselves. 'Short chapters', if you like. Or, similarly, a series of short stories with the same characters in the same setting, but I guess that wouldn't be breaking the rules anyway.

However, posting entire novels in blocks of a thousand words is not in the spirit of the website. You should be able to read a short story in a single sitting, and you cannot do that with some of the chapter stories currently on the site (unless you have a superhuman attention span and LOTS of free time).

Perhaps it would just be easier to implement a rule stating that anything which cannot be read on its own (i.e. without having to read preceding stories to understand what's going on) are not allowed.

Anyway, those are just my thoughts, and I'm sure there are plenty of other people with opinions to share.

I would like to say, I love all words written, but chapters are kind of hard to keep track of, and it seems the way they are being scattered throughout StoryWar makes it very confusing. I wish I could vote for the whole story with one vote. I would like to go back to the original idea a nice short story that is easy to read.

 

Story War is for short stories, not chapters of a novel. I agree that a short story should be a story one read from the beginning to the end in one posting, not a chapter, then another to find out the rest of the story, then another, and another... doesn't make sense and spoils the fun of short stories.

Taken from StoryWar:

Comments by lziadeh submitted on 10-05-2007 15:51 Very good words. My Epic burger tale took me one hour to write, and it probably looks it. I think these chapter things are the down fall of StoryWar as we know it, and was attended to be. I think the owner of this site should erase all chapter stories.



Comments by lziadeh submitted on 10-05-2007 16:42 I wanted to add that I gave this story a ten. I for one vote to get rid of all the chapter stories because a lot of great short stories are being lost in between the rubbish. Dylan if you are listening, there are a lot of people asking for your help here. Those chapter stories are like being tortured they are so bad.



Comments by lziadeh submitted on 10-05-2007 16:45 I posted my bad chapter story to protest. AzarDLR great true nonfiction here.



Comments by DuraKaN submitted on 10-05-2007 16:47 Bravo! I have nothing against a few chapters so long as each one has a definable beginning, middle and end and doesn't just trail off randomly, nor do I mind a series of short stories sharing a common cast and setting, but entire novels posted in thousand-word segments are stretching it a little.

It makes me so happy people actually paid attention to my short tale. I agree words and creative writing are beautiful things, but a website for short stories should be just that. I have no idea about how to start up a website or the difficulties that might come with it, but if anyone could help create a sister site to this one. Maybe the longer tales could find home there and be welcome.
It’s a great site for an even greater pursuit. The short story.
I’ll try n post a few more tales up.

Kindest regards, Azar De La Rocha.

Oh and another thing, I want to write a short story, with 9 other people. I have an idea and think it would be a great addition to this already splendid site. My e-mail is azar_82@hotmail.com if anyone is interested.

okay... I'll look into splitting StoryWar into categories...

i) SHORT STORIES
ii) CHAPTERS/SERIES

with a view to adding more categories and sub-categories in the future..

How does that sound?

Sounds like a good idea, that wont be too difficult to do? I'll do my best to top the short horror story section. And on a side note my story hans funkmeister, i think its reached 1200 views, not bad that. thanks everyone.

AzarDLR

I think it is a great idea to split StoryWar into categories. I don't know how are you going to do it so that it doesn't get so confused for the category of capters/series, because if the chapters split the same way they do right now, it becomes very difficult to hunt for the next chapter to read, I guess it is because each chapter posted there receives different rates as if each one was a separated story.

Good idea anyway! you're opening an opportunity to many writers to showcase their talent!  

Just had a thought.. What if people are submitting chapters to get round the word limit (1000 words)?

The answer then would be to have two categories:

i) under 1000 words
ii) greater than 1000 words

hmmmm, what does everyone think?

It’s difficult to read lengthy stories online. Many sites have a word limit. Writersbeat.com have a limit of 3000 but then a site like Youwriton.com has a much higher limit 2000-5000 for short stories and 6000-10000 for novel extracts. If I see anything over 1000 or so then I don’t read it on the screen, I print it out to read. But maybe I’m old fashioned.

Possibly a good idea to have sub-sections and divide into shorts and chapters. That might stop the in-fighting! I think that the stories would get more readers though.

Just my opinion.

It's always a risk to send submissions by chapter, because there's the chance the writer might not finish.  But if he can contain each chapter perhaps, or if he gains enough trust, I don't see it being a problem

Having a 1k word limit implies that stories are intended to be kept  at or under 1k words. What is so difficult to grasp there? Why anyone would choose to post a novel in thousand word chunks at a site like this is well beyond my understanding. Especially when there are countless venues available specifically for longer stories. I say delete the lot of them and give the writers who are following the guidelines the exposure they deserve.

I really like the idea of storywar and would like to see it succeed. It won't, though, if people stop participating because as soon as they post their story it gets buried under thirty new chapters of someone's lame novel. And getting buried by those chapters means fewer views, fewer votes and, ultimately, a loss of interest on the part of the writer. That is something a fledgling site such as this cannot afford.

MESSAGE FOR THE NOVEL WRITERS.

This is a message on a comments page for a tale here but i think it applies to anyone whose tales titles end with Chapter X of X

Pull your head outta your arse. I appreciate in depth complex works of fiction in any genre, but you blowing your own trumpet is a little too much to take. I think even George Lucas would be slightly embarrassed. One thing your epic does tell me. No matter how back in time and space you go, no matter what galaxy. You’ll still get banal monotone conversations being spewed out in some feeble attempt to communicate.
Storywar, it seems you have got the wrong idea about it. Its NOT a platform for you to sell your graphic novel. It’s a community of short story writers submitting work.  Seeing its not as good as they thought and then improving the craft. No one goes onto the website hoping for the next instalment of your novel.
And what have you done for the website? Are you promoting it? Or just using it as a link so people can read your work  and make it seem like your already established?.
And on that bombshell, I depart. Please don’t reply to this. I have a tendency to reply  back. Instead I think you should read over what I wrote.

And I’ll leave you with a mental image, envisage if you will a bunch of young kids planning a box derby race. Everyone had a simple fun derby box made, then some pompous kid with a jet engine comes and forces everyone to behold its magnificent glory. The fun dies.

DLR has spoken.
And they are not “haters” its people with a soul and passion for SHORT STORY writing.

AzarDLR, I think I am falling in love with you!

Categories is the way forward. I suppose if you had the categories set as 'under 1000 words' and 'over 1000 words' then people can post the entire story in the second category or just chapters if they so wish. But then, what happens if someone wants to submit chapters under 1000 words in length?

Maybe there should be a short story category with a 1000 word limit and a chapters/series/novels/novellas category (with a better name) with no minimum or maximum word limit at all.

I think that StoryWar short stories could increase the words limit to about 2000, and create a separated category for the novels, without limit, so that it is easy to read and vote all at once, it doesn't make sense to vote for only a chapter and have them all separated and in between other chapters of other stories, it would be too messy to try to read them.

I just got an email from the mailing list, coming from one of the authors of one of the so "famous" chapters' stories, and I think this person is going too far by emailing everybody saying what he said. Nobody is discussing about how good or bad these big stories are, but the fact that they don't belong in StoryWar SHORT STORIES! So all I can think is that he is trying his best to get to be known all over, like a little child, needing a lot of attention, or is into a big trip , or finally, is trying to ruin it for others - probably because he gets a lot of pleasure doing it.    

--Last edited by Miriam Cunha on 2007-05-11 17:21:18 --

Just a quick note about the email I mentioned, I consider his email as spam...

Is he going to start sending the chapters through the mailing list now? To obligate people to read them?    

--Last edited by Miriam Cunha on 2007-05-11 17:22:53 --

I was seriously thinking of pulling out all my stories last night when I seen the novels invade the top one hundred. The chapter stories don't make any sense. You have chapter one sitting at 230 and chapter 25 sitting at number 8. I think if the first chapter is so low it sort of shows how good the story is.

I predict the next step we will see is someone deleting there stories and then reposting them at the top. Is there any safe guard against this tactic in this game of war.

I love short fiction, and my short stories have been included in many anthologies. Short stories have a life of their own, and should not be ruined with chapter stories that are looking for a home.

I think the chapter stories should be all erased, and lets get back to what StoryWar was set up to be. A place for short stories.      

Could someone post the email mentioned above? It seems I do not receive any mailings from the board or storywar. I'm just curious as to why they would send an email and not post a response here.

I've been thinking about this CHAPTER debate.. and thinking that maybe StoryWar is big enough to look after itself..

If a 'Short story' does not follow the guidelines and is instead a dreaded CHAPTER then.. as seems to be the case, people will give them low marks even if the writing is good, simply because they are not following the rules.

The exception seems to be the BURGER GLUTTONY chapters which have been posted as a joke to make others aware of the CHAPTER problem. Once people stop giving The BURGERS high votes for making a point I believe storywar will settle down, and the top stories will be short stories again.

For CHAPTER writers, I have several possible solutions in mind, but I need to think the options through carefully. The last thing I want to do is take away from the simplicity of StoryWar.. its meant to be more Google than Yahoo.

(i.e, simple, easy to use, straight into the main function)

Anyway, keep the opinions coming in... Taking them all in!
DJ

Quote :

walkker wrote : Could someone post the email mentioned above? It seems I do not receive any mailings from the board or storywar. I'm just curious as to why they would send an email and not post a response here.

Here it is: Id like to thank StoryWAR readers for the fan mail and exposure generated in this venue Keep in mind that the story was adapted into a graphic novel series, which is also available If you like the story, youll love it with images A short film is forthcoming (currently in post-production), and many of you have joined the worldwide ranks of Villikonians at myspace.com/villikonchronicles

It seems the style of serialization has offended a few, and has sent haters into tailspins. But not to worry for those of us who craft these episodic delights. The melodramatic serial in which each episode can end in some sort of suspenseful situation or revelation is an art form and now, I present the positive commentary regarding the THE VILLIKON CHRONICLES

All in all it was a good beginning to what seems to be one hell of a story!
 I'm going to pass it around my office and get others hooked. This wasnt your standard Sci-Fi piece. Star Wars is too cartoonish. The Villikon Chronicles is the future!

can't wait to finish the series!

Hi there! I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed The Villikon Chronicles. This series is addicting!

I can't tell you how much this story is reflecting the state of our world to me right now. The corruption and greed of government, the will of individuals.  The sickness and disease is a mirror for the greed we (humans) are stabbed with. (This could also be a parody of aids/cancer.... imperial greed, or even Vietnam. I have not been able to stop reading. The life patterns of the characters e.g. Enkryptus and his love for Adonia; he loves, he mourns, he's loyal. These are positive enforcements to keep believing in what you know feels right, and you can manifest your dreams - maybe Enkryptus is an awkward example depending on where the story ends up...
Villikon has not been questioning himself - this is why he is succeeding. He is listening to his instincts without prejudice although others would say different.... Mystere (as Porphyrian) had to fight her induced instincts, to allow her real instincts to guide her... A large battle of will all the way for her. I think the difference between the two characters (Kort and
Mystere) 'their wills' meet ends on extremes, which make them very close to the same.  Well, I will read the rest and then submit a structured comment.
Thanks for the enjoyment!


Political statements are much more palatable if distance is placed between the opinion and our lives. The entire series of The Villikon Chronicles places moral and political questions amidst an action adventure in a far off universe with a subtlety that lets you almost miss them.

The Villikon Chronicles is a story of one mans quest to conquer evil, liberate the innocent, free wrongfully afflicted, exact justice on tyrannical leaders, shape destinies, and rise above setbacks to find love, peace, and harmony on a world full of wretched evil, corruption, and damnation.
Villikon is exiled on planet Itasca with five convicts: Lemual Z Silas, Luther Soloman, Epimetheus Von, Torio Izasa, and Sebastian Liesl. Silas and Soloman are respectfully from Klembokxian and MoHommonite cultures. They look similar to gigantic upright-walking combinations of a reptile and a mole. Although they are from different worlds, Klembokxians and MoHommonites are considered genetic cousins. Liesl, Von, and Izasa are humanoid, and like Villikon, both Liesl and Von are burdened with the same corneal eye damage.

Out of all of the convicts exiled with Villikon, only one emerges as Villikons most trusted companion, Sebastian Liesl. Liesl, a gentle man with the aspirations of a divine proctor, becomes Villikons conscience during his crusades for freedom. Sebastians preaching of the religious doctrine, Kramgassels Decree, to the crusaders creates an inspiration of hope that all unfair atrocities somehow lead to a divine revelation with Kort Villikon poised as their savior. It is this hope that inspires crusaders with courage to endure. In subsequent scrïpts, it is revealed just how accurate Liesls interpretations of the decree were, and exactly why it is so.

The three other convicts exiled with Villikon -- Silas, Soloman, and Epimetheus Von became servants of Creighton, the Porphyrian Master.
Porphyrians are vampirical creatures spawned from a genetic monster named Creighton. Creighton, the Porphyrian Master, is a malfunctioning genetic weapon created by a military mad man, High Admiral Nefarious Skryton.
Creighton is the central nemesis throughout the first Villikon screenplay, Ascension of the Expatriates. Any being can become a Porphyrian if they are bitten by one of them at the base of the spinal column. The spinal column contains precious spinal fluids and blood that the Porphyrian race craves.

The planet Itasca is home to more than just military outcasts and clans of exiled prisoners. Many native creatures exist on the planet. There are creatures called dirt and ice whales, which are tamed for transportation and hunted for food. The meat of a dirt whale has many health restoring properties, and because it is petroleum based, it is good for fueling a fire. The health benefits of a dirt whale are not mentioned in the Villikon scrïpts, but this story element is referenced within the Villikon graphic novel series. Villikon names his dirt whale companion, Exuma.

Also living on Itasca are terrifying gargantuan Warslugs, which burrow in underground tunnels, and ferocious swarms of blood flies. The most intelligent native species is probably the prides of Itascan Hill Giants.
The Giants morn over the desecration of their homeland in a fashion that is similar to the plight of early Native Americans.

A slave ship called the Omophore crashed on the planet many years ago. It is the legend of the damaged Omophore slave ship, and the journey to find it, that becomes the adventure throughout the first scrïpt.

>From the survivors of this craft, and their offspring, came multiple
civilizations located across the planet. Some survivors found refuge and protection by joining scattered clans of convicts and military exiles, and others located themselves within a dormant volcano called the Region of the Green, founded by a man named Afognak, the pilot of the slave ship. It is during Villikons time in this brilliant green oasis that he finds peace within himself, finds love in the form of a new wife, Zandora, reunites with his trusted friend Liesl, builds an allegiance with two committed soldiers, Enkryptus and Adonia, and lastly, finds sanctuary away from the threat of the dreaded Porphyrians.

The other Omophore survivors who joined with clans of military exiles werent as prosperous as the survivors in the Region of the Green. Two female child survivors of the slave ship, Mystere and Fallon, were separated from Afognak after their rescue from the crash. An exiled military assassin named Lord Jasta, raised Mystere and Fallon as his own. Jasta also had a biological daughter named, Shaleste. Jastas compound was a village of social and moral disorder where citizens of varied species openly indulged in sinful activities. Mystere and Fallon were both forced against their will by Shaleste, the sinister of the three surrogate sisters, into performing acts of prostitution to gain favor over rival clans for new convicts.

Eventually, after Jasta is forced out of the compound by a coup, Shaleste organizes with Epimetheus Von and Izasa before being turned Porphyrian by Creighton, the Porphyrian Master, and assumes the position of queen of the Porphyrian Hive. Fallon also is transformed into a Porphyrian. Mystere spends the remainder of the story in a hybrid state, struggling between humanity and Porphyrian succubus instincts after she too is also infected.

Mystere is the first person on Itasca to befriend Villikon, and she is immediately attracted to him. Villikon leaves the company of Mystere to separate himself from Jastas compound after it is taken over by Shaleste and Von. Mystere remains behind, believing that the clan of convicts will keep her alive. However, it is this separation from Villikon that leads to her eventual Porphyrian infection and to the loss of Villikons affections to Zandora, the woman he later weds in the Region of the Green.

In a strange twist of circumstances, Villikon later discovers that Zandora is Mysteres half-sister, born of Afognak and Mysteres biological mother (rescued from the Omophore.) In spite of this fact, Zandora and Mystere continue to be constantly at odds with each other to win the affections of Villikon.

The rest of the first story takes us on a perilous journey with Villikon leading a crusade comprised of Liesl, Enkryptus, Adonia, and villagers from the Region of the Green to find Mystere, locate the Omophore, defeat Creighton, and ascend from the prison planet. Unfortunately, during the crusade, Adonia is lost in a battle with the Phorphyrians. Villikon and his loyalists are victorious in their quest, and Mystere inflicts the fatal blow to Creighton.

During the crusade, Malcolm Vismal, and High Admiral Skryton hunt Villikon in a mock rescue attempt. Villikons former father in-law and trusted ally, Vice General Rybolt, petitions to have Villikon exonerated for his crime.
Rybolt is the commander of the rescue initiative and is initially unaware of
Vismal and Skrytons motives to sabotage the effort.   WOW! 



Thanks to that last fan for putting the story so far into perspective

TO BE CONTINUED

Thank you,

Bryan J. Kinnaird
Author and Executive Producer " The Villikon Chronicles"
Los Angeles: 310.893.0990
villikoncomix@hotmail.com

Okey dokey! I think I've reached a solution that will please everyone.. I've changed the MAX WORD COUNT to 3000.

So you dont have to chop your story up into chapters anymore!
And I get to keep Story War nice and simple with no messy categories sections!!

People who have already submitted CHAPTERS.. how about deleting/resubmitting or cutting and pasting them into one Submission now?