User blog:Zaffie/CONTEST RESULTS!!!!!!!!!

They're finally here!!! After granting extensions, having evil computer trouble, and generally waiting AGES, I am finally going to judge all the stories entered in my contest, no matter whether they are finished or not. Star will also be judging them, and we will do out best to judge well! Please don't feel sad if your story doesn't win, I can tell you right now that I have read them all and they are all brilliant. I know working with characters that aren't ours can be hard, but you all rose to the challenge magnificently, and I am so, so impressed.

Persnally, what I imagined would happen to them was this: Jelliphant and Banana would get together, his kindly nature despite his illness winning her over. Rubypaw and Amberpaw would learn that it's how they see themselves that counts, not how their Clanmates see them. They would return to their Clan, with new fighting and hunting skills perfected, and become warriors, and have long and happy lives in the service of their Clan. But I epically loved some of the wonderful twists you guys came up with, it was absolutely fascinating! Please feel free to finish your stories after judging is complete, cos they are really good and I reckon people just like to read them.

Broken Moonbeam by Misty
Zaffie's Results

Plot: 8/10. Wow, it really kept me reading, wanting to know what was going to happen, and why. I did feel that it didn't really wrap up though, probably because time was also a factor. It felt like there were still some loose ends.

Character Development: 7/10. They developed well, but not entirely realistically. Hornet wasn't really given a motive for doing what he did, and it felt a little bit like Jelliphant changed too quickly. Banana, Rubypaw and Amberpaw didn't change drastically, but there were little, subtle differences which I liked.

Spelling/Grammar: 5/10. It wasn't perfect, but it wasn't awful either, and was still easy to read and understand the story. However, sometimes the mistakes did distract me a little from what I was reading.

Comment: Well, the first thing I noticed was that I really loved the picture. The story was very involving, and I was very tempted to skip to the end straight away, because I really wanted to know what happened. The problem with all the suspense was that the end it built up to wasn't really as great as you expected. I enjoyed the Epilogue, settling everyone down and making sure they were happy, and Hornet was a very terrifying character, particularly when Rubypaw and Amberpaw are remembering their encounters with him.

Star's Results

Plot: /10

Character Development: /10

Spelling/Grammar: /10

Comment:

 Total Score 

Plot: /20

Character Development: /20

Spelling/Grammar: /20

Total: /60

The Cliff by Leppy
 Zaffie's Results 

Plot: 6/10. It was very engaging, making you want to know what happened next, but the pace sort of slowed down a bit after the prologue, which was really excellent.

Character Development: 4/10. There wasn't really much character development, considering there wasn't really time for it. The way the characters interacted with each other was interesting, though, so points for that.

Spelling/Grammar: 8/10. Mostly very good. There were occasional mistakes, but on the whole it was pretty much fine.

Comment: This story started off really well, with an interesting, kinda abstract prologue, which I liked. It was starting to get very interesting when Banana met up with the cats in the cave, and I liked the way Rubypaw, Amberpaw and Jelliphant had already met, which cut down introductions and let the story progress quicker. It would have done a lot better if it was finished.

 Star's Results 

Plot: /10

Character Development: /10

Spelling/Grammar: /10

Comment:

 Total Score 

Plot: /20

Character Development: /20

Spelling/Grammar: /20

Total: /60

Outcasts by Arti
 Zaffie's Results 

Plot: 8/10. Wow, that was cool! I loved how there was an ulterior motive of getting Stardust to one place or the other. Great, really great. The only problem was that I felt confused about limbo, how could Jelliphant, Banana, Rubypaw and Amberpaw be there at the end if they weren't dead?

Character Development: 8/10. They all changed in realistic ways throughout the story. I did feel that the changes came just a little fast, but then it was quite a short story, not a book, so that was reasonable. I also really loved Rubypaw's attitude towards her sister.

Spelling/Grammar: 9/10. There were only a couple of really little mistakes in here, and I hardly noticed them.

Comment: I really liked this story. I was a bit unsure about whether Jelliphant, Banana, Rubypaw and Amberpaw were actually dead, or whether they were just having near death experiences, and I was also a little confused about how they could judge for Stardust if they weren't actually in StarClan themselves, but I really liked it, especially the way they played Clans. That was really sweet.

 Star's Results 

Plot: /10

Character Development: /10

Spelling/Grammar: /10

Comment:

 Total Score 

Plot: /20

Character Development: /20

Spelling/Grammar: /20

Total: /60

Star, can you pos your results in the comments, and I will put them up? And I hope everyone who entered feels proud of their stories - you should! Congratulations, and well done. Umm... I'll try and think of a prize for the winner... do people want to suggest what a good prize is? Normally I give them a special charrie in RoE, but I'm not sure if anyone actually considers that a worthy prize.