Survivor FAQ: Surviving the Confusion

Lauren Hynde

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Do you have a question that you need answered regarding how the contest works? Just ask it here.


Here are links to questions already answered in this thread (compiled from this and other threads, and previous years' FAQ):


General
Stories and Poems
Scoring
Immunities
 
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Is the 2008 winner eligible to compete again this year?
Technically, yes. It has been debated in preparation for this and previous year's editions of Survivor that a rule preventing previous winners from participating again for a year or more could be implemented, but since time has shown that winners usually choose not to participate again in the following year, there was no real reason to introduce the rule at this point. In the future, that may change.
 
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What happens in case of a tie?
Should there be a points' tie at the end of the year, the moderators' final standings recommendation to the owners will break ties in favour of:
  1. the author with more categories with at least one submission or immunity;
  2. the author with more submissions entered in the contest.
Keep in mind that this will simply be our recommendation. On previous occasions when ties occurred on other contests at Literotica.com, Laurel and Manu have generally decided to award top prizes to all participants involved in the tie. That is no guarantee, though.
 
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How do I get a ScoreCard so that I can track my submissions?
After you post on the Rules and Registration thread, giving notice of your intention to participate, a moderators will create a new ScoreCard thread in your name. You will be notified via PM when this thread is created. It is essential that you have Private Messaging enabled in order to register for Survivor and get your ScoreCard.

To track your scores, you will need to reply to that thread, and we advise that you copy the content of the ScoreCard template and paste it in that reply. That way, you will only need to edit that post and add the pertinent data each time you have submissions accepted at Literotica.com.
 
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I can't find my ScoreCard. What happened to it?
No ScoreCards will be removed for whatever reason. So, if you already posted on the Rules and Registration thread, giving notice of your intention to participate, and if you already received the notification that your ScoreCard thread was created, chances are it simply slipped to the next page of the forum.

As an easy alternative, the ScoreBoard thread also links automatically to every contestant's ScoreCard.

If you are still having trouble locating your ScoreCard, please PM one of the moderators.
 
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Can submissions that are posted under different usernames be used for Survivor in the same ScoreCard?
No. All the stories in your ScoreCard must be found posted under the same username that entered the Contest.

If we were to allow multiple IDs, there would be nothing stopping two or three differently registered authors doing a coalition at the end of the year to split the prize money, and that would be contrary to the spirit of Survivor.
 
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Are the stories and poems that I submitted this year before I joined the Survivor Contest eligible for points?
Yes. All stories and poems with posting dates on or between January 2nd, 2009 and January 1st, 2010 are eligible for the Contest.
 
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But I didn't write SURVIVOR CONTEST in the notes field when I submitted them. Is that OK?
Yes. You're never required to do it, but you should be aware that if you don't write SURVIVOR CONTEST in the notes field when you submit stories or poems after December 20th, 2009, they may or may not be posted in time to be eligible for the Contest.
 
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My story won an award at Literotica. Does that mean it is ineligible for Survivor?
No. All stories and poems with posting dates on or between January 2nd, 2009 and January 1st, 2010 are eligible for the Contest, regardless of their ratings, participation or results in Literotica.com monthly contests. However, this year, there is a new category called Special Contests. Any stories submitted for those contests are to be counted for that category only if you wish to receive the Special Contest bonus. They cannot count for both Special Contests and the erotic/non-erotic category in which they've been submitted.
 
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I don't own a microphone. Can I ask a friend to record my audio submissions for me?
Yes. As long as you're the author of the story, that situation is allowed by Literotica.com's submission guidelines and by Survivor's rules. The specific rule reads:

All audio stories must be 750 words or more to be eligible for the contest. There is no minimum length for poetry submissions. The accompanying text must be an accurate transcript of the submitted audio, and must be posted in the Text With Audio or Poetry With Audio categories as applicable. See Audio Story FAQ for information on submitting work.


There is also always the possibility of using immunities you may come to win in the weekly drawings.
 
What about illustrated stories and poems? Can I use a friend's artwork or photographs, or royalty-free/public domain images?
No. According to Literotica.com's submission guidelines, all art within the story, like the story itself, must be your original work. The editors of Literotica.com are sometimes lenient with public domain images, or in cases where the legitimate copyright owners express their permission, but the specific Survivor rule for illustrated images is:

All illustrated stories must be 750 words or more to be eligible for the contest. There is no minimum length for poetry submissions. All submissions, including the illustrations, must be original work of the entrant, i.e. photographs taken, or drawings or paintings created by the entrant. The use of royalty-free and/or public domain images will make a submission ineligible for points. The use of the same illustration in more than one submission will render all said submissions after the first ineligible for points. See Illustrated Story FAQ for information on submitting work.

The use of images in the production of which the contestant was not directly involved, either by creating or by being portrayed in them, will make submissions in the "Illustrated" and "Illustrated Poetry" categories ineligible for points in Survivor. That means that you can use photographs that you yourself took or that were taken of you, or paintings or drawings that you yourself created. It also means that you cannot use royalty-free or public domain images, or images pulled from somewhere off the web.


For those of you who do not own a digital camera or a scanner, and for those who think they don't have artistic talent, there are plenty of alternatives before trying to cheat or giving up on the category altogether!
  • Use an immunity. There are 52 weekly immunity drawings, each of them with seven numbers. That means that statistically, chances are you're going to win more than seven immunities during the year, and there are only two illustrated categories!

    (And if you think that you actually lose points from using immunities, that is only true if you have already posted at least 10 stories on each of all the other categories. That's a whole of a lot of stories in a whole lot of categories you have to write before you need to start thinking about the possible downside of immunities...)

  • Have the photos taken on your conventional camera burnt to a CD, when you develop them. Almost any photo lab will do that, nowadays.
  • Snail-mail your photos or drawings to a friend you trust and have him or her scan them! There is always someone willing to help.
  • Create your own artwork in your computer. There are plenty of image programs, either bundled with your OS or available for free download off the web. With a little bit of practice, anyone can create amazing drawings even with the simplest of tools. Look for example at Eating the Full Moon by Angeline, illustrated using MS Paint.
  • Use an online art creation applet. One of my personal favourite sites is Mr. Picassohead. There have been a few submissions on Literotica with illustrations made with its help, like WickedEve's Green Snake or Pomegranate Lover. Another great site is TYPEDRAWING.
  • Not so much for the Illustrated stories category, but for Illustrated Poetry, write your poem already incorporating graphic concepts, and make the way you present your words be, in itself, an illustration. Look, for example, at "hear my name..."
 
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I noticed this year's ScoreCard template doesn't include a non-English category. Why is that?
The specific Survivor rule concerning non-English submissions reads:

Submissions in all languages are eligible for the contest and must be posted in the corresponding categories as applicable. There will not be a specific non-English category in the scoreboards. All submissions must be original work of the entrant, and subsequent translations in any language are not eligible for points.

Due to the recent changes in Literotica's indexing structure, non-English will soon cease to exist as an index category. In addition to this, there have been many complaints from non-English-speaking readers about the flood of poorly bot-translated Survivor entries that degrade the experience of reading Literotica. It is our feeling, and Laurel's as well, that our first and foremost obligation as authors is toward our readers, and we are all authors above being Survivor entrants. The current changes are being made to guarantee not only the adjustment to the site's new reality, but also that the influx of poorly translated stories stops, and to make the contest equally accessible to Literotica members of all nationalities and/or languages.

As a desirable side effect, non-English stories eventually submitted by ESL participants have the potential to raise the quality of non-English entries and compensate the negative impact of the several previous editions of this contest.
 
What is a templated story?
A template is a significant pre-determined structure from which words or small blocks of text can be changed in order to produce new stories that are only superficially different from each other.

The objective of the contest is to write as many new and original stories in as many different categories listed on the main story index in the course of the year as possible, and stories produced making use of templates can hardly be considered to be new and original, so they will not be eligible for points in Survivor.
 
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Are the ScoreCards just for me to use, or are they necessary to the contest?
All the tallying is done by legwork. At the end of the year, the moderators will be checking your ScoreCard entries against your list of submissions, not the other way around. Your ScoreCard isn't just for you; it is the basis for judging the winners of the contest.

Until a submission is inscribed in your ScoreCard, it will be not considered as a Survivor entry, and it's the entrant's responsibility to accurately track story scores, immunities, and bonus points. That's why you are all encouraged to keep track of your submissions as they are posted, and not wait until the last moment.
 
Do I have to put all the categories on my ScoreCard, even if I'm not using them?
You can maintain your ScoreCard however you choose. If you want all the categories on it, by all means! If you do not, don't put them there. There is a template you can use, but you don't have to if you don't like it. It's your ScoreCard.

The only rule is that immunities must be tracked to include the category they're used in.

The only thing we ask is that you make it easy for us to figure it out and find which stories are in which categories and what is your total of points. Remember it's in your best interest to keep the tracking as clear as possible, as we will go through all of them, as well as do random checks to maintain accuracy in accounting.
 
Will I be notified of the points I earn?
No. It's your responsibility to accurately track story scores, immunities, and bonus points.

The points system works like this:
  • First submission posted in each story category (except "Novels and Novellas"): 3 points;
  • Each subsequent submission posted in each story category (except "Novels and Novellas"): 1 point;

  • First submission posted in the "Novels and Novellas" category: 6 points;
  • Each subsequent submission posted in the "Novels and Novellas" category up to and including the 10th: 2 points;
  • Each subsequent submission posted in the "Novels and Novellas" category after the 10th: 1 point;

  • First poem posted in each category: 3 points;
  • Each subsequent poem in each category: 1 point;
  • There is a cap of 10 poems per poetry category eligible to earn points;

The bonus systems works like this:
  • For posting at least once in 10 categories (including immunities): 5 points;
  • For posting at least once in 20 categories (including immunities): 10 points;
  • For posting at least once in 30 categories (including immunities): 15 points;
  • For posting at least once in all categories (including immunities): 30 points;
  • For posting stories in all Special Contests: 30 points.
 
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I know there is a 5-points bonus for having 10 submissions in the same category. Does that mean that I'll get another 5 points if I have 20 submissions?
No. This bonus has been discontinued for the 2009 contest. You can no longer get bonus points for the number of submissions you have in a category.
 
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If there is a 5-points bonus for having submissions in ten categories and a 10-points bonus for having submissions in twenty, does that mean that by the time I fill those twenty categories, I will have received a total of 15 (5+10) bonus points?
Yes, those bonuses are cumulative. If you happen to fill all the categories, you will have by then received 5+10+15+30=60 bonus points.
 
Do immunities count toward my category bonuses?
Yes. If you use an immunity for any one category, for example, you will only need to have submissions in nine other categories to receive the 5 bonus points for filling 10 categories.

Keep this in mind, however: At the end of the year, all immunities claimed will be considered valid, as long as there are two regular submissions for each immunity. e.g.: If a contestant has 7 immunities won, but has only 12 regular submissions, only the first 6 immunities will be considered valid.
 
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How do I request an immunity number?
Simply go to the current month's immunity thread and post a request for it. The number you choose will, by default, be added to the rollover list and remain registered for you indefinitely or until you choose a different one. You may change your number at any time simply by posting a request for it.
 
What do I do if I win an immunity? When do I have to use it?
If you've won an immunity, the first thing to do is make a post in the official immunity thread corresponding to that month (and only that thread) that you've won an immunity and which category you will use it for. This is the only way you will earn the immunity.

Do not edit the post after 7:30 PM GMT of the following Wednesday. If you do it, your immunity will be invalidated. This post is the only way we have to verify the immunity and the category you chose.
 
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Can I include in my ScoreCard stories and poems that are still pending approval at Literotica?
No. You should wait until those submissions are approved before you include them on your ScoreCard, because:
  • those submissions may not be approved;
  • those submissions may be end up being approved on a category different than the one you chose when you submitted;
  • until they're approved, there is no way for us to verify if they exist.

If you really feel the need to include on your ScoreCard submissions that are still pending, for your own control, please indicate them clearly and do not include them in the tallying of points.
 
I am planning on writing at least one sequel to a story I have already written. Is the next story eligible for points in the 2009 contest since the first part was submitted in 2008?
Only if the submissions are in the Novels & Novellas category. Multi-chaptered submissions in any category besides Novels & Novellas and Chain Stories are not allowed to be counted for points in this year's contest.
 
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Reviews and Essays - the description states "Your take on art, films, & all things sexual" however I have noticed that some of the submissions aren't about sex - do they have to have a sexual theme?
No, they don't. It encompasses reviews of films, books, art, sex-toys, shows, essays on whatever aspect of life you want, etc. I recall there even was one of the theme competitions some time ago for which all entries had to be Reviews & Essays submissions about Free Speech.
 
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Are erotic poetry and non-erotic poetry the only categories that we cannot enter more then 10 submissions?

It's all poetry categories that can only have 10 submissions. Those 4 categories (erotic poetry, non-erotic poetry, illustrated poetry, and audio poetry) are the only ones with the 10 submission only restriction.
 
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