Thanks, guys, for all your comments, which has really gotten me even more interested in this project now and encouraged me to start putting out some more feelers in other parts of the internet. A few people have already weighed in on word limit (thank you @NyteRose @Karababy52 and @katrinasforest), and I'm interested to hear other people's take on what you think the optimal word limit should be.
@divanthesimmer Thank you for the simlit judge suggestions!
@SoulGal7 You mentioned that you struggle to get things done in a month, and I'm wondering if a "heads up" section could solve that, like maybe provide a picture of whatever is going to be uploaded for the following month's contest, so that people can start planning two months ahead of time. As far as loose censorship, I don't want to give the impression it would be a free-for-all. You can't even say the word that starts with cr and means doodoo on the forum (one of my favorite words, LOL), and I know people have gotten dinged on Tumblr for stuff that would be rated PG, so I just want something that isn't so restraining but that still isn't gross and over the top. I'm specifically thinking of the horror genre, as well, which I love but could potentially be problematic in a heavily censored environment. So, hopefully you would still feel comfortable with what I have in mind.
@Karababy52 A small comment like "thank you for sharing" would work. I'm still debating if I want to do this or not due to concerns people have brought up. Also, if entrants' stories were forum-friendly, then they could totally use the forum for their original post, but if they weren't forum-friendly, they would still have the option of entering the contest and posting their original post elsewhere. Those are some very interesting questions and perspectives you shared about Simlit and images and what the definition of simlit actually is. I don't have all the answers, but I like that you brought them up. Your post did not sound critical at all, and I appreciate your feedback.
@Dollyllama108 Thank you for all of your comments. Regarding the commenting, I was thinking if I did the contest in a magazine form (so possibly publishing the previous winning entries on my a site I create) I could ask people to fill in a form when submitting and tell me which post they commented on from any previous contest (so this wouldn't be a requirement for the first contest). Also thinking about reducing it to just one comment. I'm not set on this and not even sure if I'll do the contest yet, but those are my preliminary thoughts after hearing people's feedback. Another option would be to just encourage people to like and comment but not make it a requirement. While I do want to avoid the "me me me" sentimentality I see from a lot of people on the internet and in social media, I know that sim writers, as a group, are generally a pretty giving group of people. Let me know if you have any further thoughts on this.
@Katrinasforest See comment above to dollyllama regarding the comment requirement and let me know what you think. That's good to know about your reader/editing background, and I'll definitely keep you in mind for judging. Working on a fantasy magazine sounds so interesting! Thank you, also, for the heads up on FictionRatings.com as I hadn't heard of that site before.
