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Did anyone else submit an unfinished story?

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dias View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dias Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Did anyone else submit an unfinished story?
    Posted: 28 Mar 2021 at 6:31pm
...by unfinished I don't mean "this could use some tweaking/polishing". I mean literally missing chunks of the plot Confused

I didn't plan my time properly for this round and, while my story has a beginning and an end, it's missing a critical middle section that would have explained my MC's motives, and delved into the assigned "subject" of my story. I realised with an hour to go that I didn't have time to write that properly, so I ended up doing a rush job and just submitting what I had. Came very close to not submitting anything...there were literally 30 seconds on the clock.

It sucks to not do justice to the story you have in your head, but I'm not feeling too down (it's happened before and sometimes I've been pleasantly surprised by the results...and in any case it still feels better than submitting nothing). But I'm curious to know if anyone else is in the same boat, and whether you will post your stories? Personally, I don't want to look at this script again...I dread to think of how incoherent it is and it's quite possibly still got my editing notes in it...

I wish there was some way of indicating to the judges what happened, so they can focus their feedback on the writing that is there, rather than the many gaping plot holes Ermm
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TreeTheGreen View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote TreeTheGreen Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Mar 2021 at 7:35pm
Dang, that really does suck! I'm sorry you ended up in this situation. That hasn't happened to me (yet), so I can't exactly say anything too confidently on the subject. The judges may say some sus things about your script because they of course don't realize what happened behind the scenes, but I think if you post it on the forums people will be more forgiving and try to critique what is there rather than pointing out what isn't (since we have context of your struggle). 

So I mean, if you're not too tired of thinking about your script in the first place, I say post it! As long as you make it clear that you're not looking for critiques on the flow/other specific things. I personally don't mind reading an unfinished script, at least! Smile All up to you though 

But hey, look on the bright side, you wrote something and managed to submit it! That's more than some people do after signing up for these challenges. 
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collin.sideris View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote collin.sideris Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Mar 2021 at 9:07pm
I will say I understand your feelings exactly! I had for some reason tricked myself into believing the deadline was Friday and was 6 pages into my final draft with only 2-2.5hrs left. If I had to submit Friday I know I would have felt the same way as you and was heartbroken because I thought my latest draft was so much better.

I think like TreeTheGreen said you may as well post it anyways. I feel like half the reason I got the draft I submitted to a point where I didn't hate it is because of feedback for other NYC Midnight writers. So you could post with disclaimers saying "focus on these things" or take the next few days getting the draft to where you want and maybe just mention the situation and I'm sure people will still be happy to give you feedback.
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dias View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dias Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Mar 2021 at 6:00pm
Thanks both! Yeah I think I will give it a few more days and then decide, still not ready to look at it yet Pinch I like the idea of adding a "focus on this/ignore this" disclaimer for feedback. Thanks again for the encouragement and best of luck with your scripts!
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