Your writing talent and the contest

So first, let's talk about human decency: Hundreds of people, from all backgrounds, walks of life, and geographical locations, join this competition to have fun, receive feedback, grow in their writing, and maybe win some money. No matter your reasons for being here, no matter your skill level, this is a welcoming place. Or at least it should be. Have a little respect for your fellow writers, will you?

Having respect for fellow writers and having respect for fan fiction writers are two different things.

Second, let's talk about competition: Competition is inherently a difficult thing. Someone wins, someone loses, and it never feels good for the loser. It's even harder when it's a competition for something like writing, which can be highly subjective by nature. So yeah, we all get that you're disappointed in your loss. But insulting folks who scored higher than you is juvenile and boorish.

It's only insulting if you feel writing fan fiction is an insult.

Third, let's talk about fan fiction: You know what the difference is between a published writer and a fan fiction writer? Subject matter. That is LITERALLY ALL. A fan fiction writer cannot publish their work for profit because the subject is "already taken," because they're playing in someone else's sandbox. That is not in any way a reflection of their talent, skill, or creativity. Some of the best fiction I've EVER read--and I'm a voracious reader--has been fan fiction. To wholesale insult literally MILLIONS of people who write fan fiction--many of whom are far better writers than you OR me--is honestly one of the most insanely stupid things I've ever seen. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Source: I am a fan fiction writer who is also a published author. Since you are apparently neither of those things, I fail to see where you get off acting like you know anything about either one.

Yes, that's literally all. Because subject matter is the only thing that is different. Fan fiction is utterly dependent on a lack of originality. It's not the writers world. The people inhabiting it are not the writer's creations. They are merely bastardizing the creations of someone else and making it their own. That's pathetic. There is fan fiction writing, and then there is writing. They are not the same thing. So what if I insult millions of people writing fan fiction? I take the effort to write wholly original works and I do not respect a 'writer' who doesn't do this. Just because millions of people do something doesn't mean I have to like it, accept it, or respect it.

I don't really believe people when they say they are a 'published author' on these forums. If you didn't write a traditionally published novel, or get a short story published in a respectable publication, then you're really stretching what it means to a published author. Getting selected from some online, self-published anthology doesn't count. So are you a published author or a "published" author?

Fourth, let's talk about talent: Writing talent is subjective, we mentioned that above. But there are certain elements of a writer's style and skill that are universal; descriptiveness, creativity, inspiration, grammar usage, etc. Clearly, on those particulars, three people in your heat were better than you. That's still a respectable showing, but to be perfectly honest, you're ruining everyone's appreciation of your work with your horrific attitude and your nasty hostility toward the winners of this round. Perhaps instead of insulting everyone, you should take a look at your work and see where it can be improved--because no matter HOW good you are, there's ALWAYS room for improvement. tl;dr -- Be a decent human, stop being a sore loser, insulting millions of talented folks is a terrible idea, and spend more time looking at your work instead of trying to cut down those who beat you fair and square.

Three people in my heat were not better than me. As I predicted, one of the judges was a f**king moron and it was demonstrated in the feedback, and this is what cost me. It's not a respectable showing because I wrote a better story. And sure, there is definitely room to improve my story, but that doesn't mean my story wasn't better as it existed. Two of the judges obviously understood my story and their criticisms thus bear weight. The third judge was a literal moron and didn't understand my story, not because it wasn't easy to understand, but because they were a moron.

If I was beat by stories I felt were damn good or because I knew I dropped the ball, as I did in the FFC because I'd never written anything so short, I'd have no issue in losing, or in not finishing first...I've not been upset about either with the three stories I've submitted to these contests. It's not about being a sore loser, it's about being screwed out of what is deservedly mine. And you can call that brash. You can call that arrogance. You can call that delusion. You can call that delusion. But I call it fact.