Judges, you DO NOT have to read this. You may if you want more information, but all you need to fill out is this form below and DM me the score after you judge your assigned stories.

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Title:

Author:

Score [_/86]

Theme [_/5]

Title [_/3]

Cover [_/3]

Description [_/5]

Plot [_/15]

Characters [_/15]

Pacing/Syntax/Grammar/Voice/Flow [_/20]

Dialogue [_/10]

Ending/Overall Enjoyment [_/10]

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Theme [_/5]

Every story should have a theme that binds everything together and adds a pretty, little bow to the story. The questions you should ask are:

What is the author trying to tell their readers? Why did the author create this story? What is the moral of the story?

Title [_/3]

A name holds meaning, and a title does too. The title has to represent the story in some way.

Is the title just an obscure word from a different language because why not? Or does it have a connection to the story and the plot?

Cover [_/3]

The cover should be an eye-stopper because it is the first impression of the quality of the story. This is how you may scale your points:

1 point: It's a cover.

2 points: It's a cover and it caught your attention.

3 points: It's a cover, it caught your attention, its related to the story, and it's art.

Description [_/5]

If the cover is the first impression of the quality of a story, the description is the first impression of the contents of a story.

After reading the description, you should be able to write a makeshift logline of the plot. What is a logline? It is a one-sentence summary of the plot that should catch people's attention and induce interest. A description is a longer logline that creates a contract between the author and reader. When a reader reads the description, the author is promising that something amazing is awaiting them after the Read button.

However, there are limits to what an author should include. The description shouldn't spoil the entire story. It should leave mystery, introduce the characters, and give the basic plot.

Plot [_/15]

The theme creates the plot, and the plot supports the theme. Plots don't have to be complex to be good. There can be cliches, but the excessive use of them makes a plot bland. This can be solve with subplots.

Every story has subplots. This is where the character development, love lines (unless it's romance), and obstacles come into play. Each subplot has its own purpose and ties together at the end with the main plot. If the author employs them correctly, they will reinforce their story, their theme, and their characters.

Make sure the story does not have a deus ex machina because the reader wants the characters to solve the conflict they're in. They don't want some magical force or unexpected power to all the sudden save the day. If there is a conflict, then the characters need to be able to solve it themselves.

Judges, if you can draw a basic plot diagram, then the story has a direction and it is heading somewhere. Search for holes in the plot, and if you cannot find any, then the author is doing a good job. I will leave it up to you to decide how good and unique a plot is.

Characters [_/15]

The characters are the star of the story, so they need to shine. Are the characters dynamic or static or rounded or flat? Dynamic characters go through a major change throughout the story, while static characters do not. Round characters are well developed characters—characters that can actually exist in life—whereas flat characters are your Mary Sues and Marty Stues (or characters that are just one-dimensional).

Just because a character is static doesn't mean they're a flat character, but most round characters are dynamic. Since nothing in this world is black or white, the character morality should be the same. The characters should have different beliefs, desires, and goals. They should have nuance and flaws. The characters should also struggle and overcome hurdles to achieve their goals. In short, they shouldn't be a perfect princess or white knight.

How good a character is can be decided with one simple question: Can you imagine this character being your neighbor or a person in real life? If so, then the story has a good character.

Pacing/Syntax/Grammar/Voice/Flow [_/20]

What gives a story life is writing.

Writers control the story through pacing, and they pace with syntax. The pacing controls emotions, keeps readers at the edge of their seat, and creates a hook. Pacing can be slow or fast. Just because a story is slow doesn't mean it's boring, and just because a story is fast doesn't mean that it's fun.

To use pacing to its full extent, writers need to know how to employ syntax. Syntax is sentence structure. Authors may use multiple long sentences and then smack the reader in the face with an unexpected short sentence. That style highlights the short sentence and emphasizes the writer's point. The stories should have varying sentence structures that create flow in the story. A story should not do this:

I woke up. I got dressed. I went down stairs. I ate breakfast. I was happy.

Now, grammar. Grammar is important. Commas, dashes, colons, semicolons, and periods support pacing and flow and makes a story readable. Make sure the grammar is near flawless. Good grammar is necessary. Bad grammar turns readers away.

All these factors (grammar, pacing, and syntax) create author's voice and flow. Each writer has a unique voice. Judges, you need see if the writers utilize that and add that layer of uniqueness to their story. Make sure the writers are concise and that they do not use repeat adverbs, or adjectives, or verbs, or words in general.

Dialogue [_/10]

Dialogue is important. It builds character and carries the story along, but too much dialogue is a story's downfall. A story needs a balance between dialogue and actual descriptions and such because pointless dialogue is exactly what it is: pointless.

Everything needs to build up the plot or theme or character or something. Dialogue is the same.

Ending/Overall Enjoyment [_/10]

The ending should wrap up all the loose ends and conclude the story quickly after the climax (unless the story is incomplete).

Overall enjoyment is self-explanatory. Did you enjoy it? Would you continue reading it (if incomplete)? Would you read it again? Was it worth your time?

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Questions?