Nov/Dec Story Prize

[Android675]

My apologies for being late in posting about the story prize for November.

I've been putting off posting about the prize because I wasn't sure what to say about the November stories. There were some good stories during the month, and I always want to give positive feedback to the authors who put so much time, effort and creativity into writing stories that mean something to them, and that they hope will resonate with others in the community.

That being said, there weren't any stories in November (or December) that resonated with me, personally. That's not to say there weren't any good stories, but just nothing that really worked for me in particular.

One of the most ambitious stories, and one which I think deserves a special mention was botfriend's "Family Matters." I thought it was well written, with an interesting backstory and good descriptions and dialogue. The only problems I had with it (and I'm sure this is arguable and very subject to interpretation), were the incest and underage sex themes. While I know some people will say "Traci was just a robot - she wasn't REALLY his niece," the psychology of it undermined the story for me.

I only mention this because I feel some sort of explanation was needed as to why "Family Matters" wasn't awarded the prize since on the face of it the story contains many of the elements that I said I was looking for in a good ASFR story.

As for the story prize, I enjoyed giving it out for the few months that I did it, but I think the experiment has run its course. It seemed to be a moderate success, at least at first, and I'm glad I did it, but in the long run I think there just aren't enough people out there writing to have the monthly prize make sense. And, as several people pointed out at the beginning, all the money in the world won't bring inspiration.

So, I think this is a good time to end the prize. But, I still have $200 set aside in my PayPal account which was intended for the prize, so if another story comes along that really floats my boat, I'll offer the author some cash if he or she wants it.

A

[tectile]

Hey Android675,

Just wanted to say thanks for offering up your hard earned cash for a bold experiment.

I kind of like the idea of a prize just floating out there ready to drop on some unsuspecting authors head.