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Primus Pilus

Creative Writing Contest

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Congrats so far... and please I encourage people to share your thoughts about the stories and the judgement we made.

 

Did we pick the right winners or not? (As I said it was very very difficult)

Can we help our writers with their style (without being overly critical of course)

What did we really like about certain entries?

 

etc.

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Guest spartacus

3rd place was my favourite!

 

Mixing fact and fiction with an enjoyable story!

 

I would invite Spurius to write another one and post it on the media forum

 

 

Anyway well done, I hope you enjoy your prize! :lol:

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Wow. :rolleyes:

 

I thank the judges for their choice, and I thank you for the compliment.

 

This is a nice surprise after a less than sucessful day at work.

 

I'd like to choose the book Imperial Governor and the Gordian coin.

 

Once again, thanks! B)

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Nr 3 is actually a very good story, if the structure were different it would've been the winner.

 

We were asked to write a short story, so the "in medias res" intro is a must. Excellent start! I tried the same thing but failed to drag the reader into the story (that story was part of something I wrote earlier and it shows). Going into a wide shot is an excellent way to introduce the surroundings and zoom back into the protagonist's feelings.

 

The presentation of the main character is good. You get to know his thoughts, some insight into his character but not too much ... this is not a novel.

 

The instruction part I like least. It's too schematic, sounds like a RPGgame instruction. Might've been better if you'd made a complete flashback, including the thoughts of the protagonist at the time.

 

The link with present-day findings is a good one, but - hey, it's only me ... don't lynch me - I would've started with it. Give the reader an enigma and solve it at the end of the story.

 

- JUG (not a fair second, if you ask me)

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I too was unhappy with the lists in the middle, but I didn't have the time to rework the story enough times as I wished. Kids do suck up time! B) Plus, I wanted to use those messages...they too were actual messages found in roman digs and possibly carried by centurians. (They acted as messengers a surprising about of time, along with the higher officers spending lots of time in social visits.) You could almost say I plagarized a good hunk of my story by using so many old inscriptions and tablets.

 

Your idea about the inscription::bag: I could have put the naked inscription at the begining and kept the same end.:rolleyes: That's why you got #2 instead of me.

 

You did quite well with launching into your story with dialog. It can be hard to maintain the pace for a short piece that way, but you did it well. (That's why mine had so many abrupt endings...edited for time!) The one thing that bothered me with you piece, and it probably was a problem in how it was submitted, but you could have broken up the paragraphs and dialog a bit more. On paper it's no major problem, but on a screen it can cause eye strain. ;)

 

Let me make this clear, you and Lee deserved the head slots :notworthy: .

 

Here's to the next contest when I'll have more time!

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I praise Matt Gallivan for his wonderful poem....and getting Fourth place I think he deserved first after reading all of the stories and poems but that just my opinion.

 

My own story I did not work that hard on, I was being lazy and I had a lot to do. Next time I will try harder.

 

But congrats to all the winners!! Enjoy the Aurelian Coin that I so longed for and of coarse the free map was what I really wanted.

So yeah good job this was a great contest I hope we do something similiar to it again.

 

Sorry about spelling,

Zeke

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I was informed by the 5th place winner that he is happy just to get selected and will let the 6th place winner select ahead of him.

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For what its worth, I liked them all. It must have been a nightmare to pick one.

 

I have to say, if i had to chose the winner I would've gone for the poem too. Its not often you get that "braveheart speech moment" tingle when you read something.

 

But there wasn't one entry I thought was pants. Must be all the educated geniuses that populate this site!!! :D

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It must have been a nightmare to pick one.

Indeed it was. Remember too, that the 'winners' are based on the preferred styles of the judges. Perhaps next time we will leave it completely open to votes by the community. My only reservation is potential for fraudulent votes, but its probably something we can control somehow.

 

Anyway, all prizes have been claimed and I hope to get them all to post office by early next week.

 

Congrats all again!

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Here's a thought:

Keep the same basic panel of judges and then add the first, second or even third place winners of the previous contest to the panel.

 

That way you get more judges and preferences, and keep the same people from possibly winning over and over.

 

( I too got a chill from the 4th place poem, but I don't know how you can place poems vs prose. Tuffy.)

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I'm glad to see people enjoying the poem. It's such a difficult genre.

 

And no, you can't put prose and poetry in the same contest. Many people dislike poetry, for many reasons. I can't blame them, actually. It's such a small difference between a good poem and sheer rhyming. I personally try to avoid rhyme in a poem and try to focus more on the metrum. It's a matter of taste, I guess. Then again, an epic poem needs rhyme and this one clearly did the job.

 

Maybe the next writing contest could focus on poetry? And after that, a comedy contest ... please. :D

 

- JUG

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Guest hkelukka

short poem inspired by number 4 :rolleyes:

 

A roman man, born to scorn,

A true roman, yet son to non.

Thus makest his story,

on a mountain of gory.

Filled with many of romans,

all those rich, vain, morons.

But alas, faileth he here,

near the gates of pierre.

 

Any good ? Note the perfect 2-2 lines. hope ye likes it ^_^

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All packages mailed out Monday, March 21, 2005.

 

Books/Coins were mailed in one package while Posters were mailed separately.

 

Domestic (US) packages should begin to arrive within a few days and European packages should arrive between 6 and 10 business days.

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