ESO: Character backstory competition

[Geel-Kajin]

Striders- Character backstory competition

Hello Guild mates,

We will be having an fun writing competition among Guild members. This is a character backstory competition whereby participants feature their own ESO characters before the formation of the Guild, developing upon their history, personality and growth.

The competition will stretch from today(5/16/2014) to the sunday of the first week of June(7/6/2014), giving you ample time to cook up a great backstory. To help with the generation of ideas, each story must have an overarching theme to it. This theme is evident throughout the whole story and may be affecting the character even in the Guild Rp. Of course, your character does not need to be in the Guild Rp at the moment for you to join the contest. Simply select your theme, and start writing your story. Here are some themes that can be(but do not have to be) used:
1. Love or Hate
2. Loss
3. Degeneration
4. Racism
5. Culture
(Here is a list of other ideas: homeworktips.about.com/od/writingabookreport/a/themelist.htm )
This will be an ideal competition for the Guild as it provides us the opportunity to stay connected to our characters, even if we are not yet in-game. Non-Guild members are encouraged to join if they have a keen interest in ESO. This will give us the opportunity to better understand each others existing characters while getting to know new ones that we may soon see in the Guild.

Like any competition, a set of rules will be posted in this thread in the near future, but are not necessary for you to start writing on your character. Please send in your works before the dateline, so they can be compiled and sent to a 3rd party (probably Reka , if she's fine with it) and will be judged upon a certain set of criteria that is posted alone with the rules. Hopefully, we can have fun in the competition.


Taqgging a list of those potentially interested:
Melee
Darth Meeb
Google
OnlyAhaark
Wick
xiigenocide
mikos
darkelfdude
RPwizard
Sir Flint
Sir Jackleberry
Skies
iMortal
Gunnbjorn

[Darth Meeb]

Fun Idea! I'll definitely be participating

[Geel-Kajin]

Character Backstory competition-Rules
As with all competition, there are a certain set of rules to

1. Stories must be original.
2. Characters must be from the Guild Rp (Or in the case on non-rp participants, brand new)
3. Stories must be longer than 350 words, but no longer than 1,350 words
4. Stories must have a theme (post above)
5. Images, screenshots or other forms of media may accompany the story
6. Stories must not be leaked pre-dateline
7. Have fun

To submit your stories, send the story with the Theme of your backstory as the title of the message.

Character Backstory competition-Judging Criteria

1. Character development
This criteria is judged based upon one's ability to fully flesh out their character. While keeping the personality, nature, strengths and weaknesses of the character in this story comparably similar to that in the Rp is important, it is also good to incorporate some form of character growth into this piece. Perhaps we can find out more on who they are. For those who do not have a Guild character, they will be judged based upon their progress and development through the story. Besides the changing nature of characters, memorable characters are also good to haves.

2. Storyline
Character development alone cannot substantiate a story- There must be an gripping, exciting plotline that grabs the readers attention. The more exciting the storyline, the better. There is no need to create an over-the-top, surreal storyline- storeys that are earthly, yet carefully wrought by the writer, are very impactful.

3. Language
While a story need not be the most fluid, extravagantly worded piece out there, it is essential to maintain basic grammar and keep spelling errors to a minimum. A spelling checker is advised.

4. Theme
Relevance to the theme is also important. The closer it ties in, along with the expertise in which it is incorporated in the story, makes it all the better. Themes do not have to be bluntly stated in the piece, as it can be picked up from the work itself.

[Reka]

*me ponders on this*

[Geel-Kajin]

Reka, would you like to act as judge?

[Sir Flint]

forgot about this. ill get started and try to finish in time. might make a new character though.