Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1997 01:45:31 +0000 From: BT Murtagh Subject: Re: INT: Contest Rules... "A true artist uses rules to draw curves." One of my favorite aphorisms, and not just 'cause I made it up... There are rules of grammar, spelling and punctuation. They're subject to change as society rolls on, but if you want to be a serious wordsmith you have to know what they are. They can even be broken if you know what you're doing and can justify it... but you'd better know what you're doing. Unless there's a good story-related reason for it (e.g. first-person narration by a character who couldn't be expected to know the rules, such as _Forrest Gump_) a manuscript with a large numer of grammatical errors is not going to be read through, much less accepted. Similarly, most editors _will not read_ an improperly formatted submission. There are rules for the layout of stories, scripts, et cetera and if you don't know them or choose not to use them then you are obviously not serious about your work; why _should_ an editor bother reading it? There are a gazillion other writers out there who do care enough to learn the rules of presentation and it's a reasonable assumption that if they took the time and effort to format properly (according to the rules) they probably took more time and effort on the content too. Contests usually have deadlines and there's a reason they're called deadlines; if your submission fails to get in by the deadline then it is dead on arrival. This is not unusual or unjustified in any way. If a contest sponsor allows you to submit late due to exceptional circumstance then that is pure goodwill on the sponsor's part; it is not a right granted you by the Universe. There are often other rules made by the sponsor which vary from contest to contest. You may agree with them or not, but the point is moot because there is one rule that is damn near universal; "who pays the piper calls the tune." Barbara is paying for this contest, therefore any rule she sees fit to impose is correct. If she wanted to make rules that every submission must be exactly 3600 words long and contain 1376 instances of the letter K then them's the rules. If you don't like 'em, well guess what? There's no rule making entry in the contest mandatory (not being a government she really didn't have the option, but you see what I mean!). Personally I think the rules she did impose were realistic, appropriate and well thought out. Since the contest is judged strictly on votes cast I can't see that there was even any need to exclude herself from the contest (and since my buddy Alcmaeon was the beneficiary of that rule in last year's Poetry section I think I can speak pretty impartially on that issue). Again, though, it doesn't even matter whether I agree with the rules; I'm not paying for the prizes. Entering the contest implies that I accept the rules; if I find the rules of a contest unacceptable then I don't enter. If I want a contest with rules that suit me I stump up prizes myself and start my own contest. That's all I have to say except for this: Thank you, Barbara, for giving up your time and money to allow us the opportunity to hone our skills in friendly competition. You're a love! Happy Valentine's Day to one and all, B.T.