Okay guys, I think it's time!
First off, I must say that despite all talk of the contrary, this had to be one of the most delay-fraught rounds (second only to the time my laptop keyboard broke while I was on a busy elective, which was entirely my fault.) This time, though, it was kinda everybody's fault for a whole host of different reasons (everybody, that is, except Cenere). Due to this I decided it'd be most fair if we could somehow try to be as accomodating as possible even if it meant a little extra time, and so it is that we've now come to this point. I do feel that there were a few inevitable disparities, but we've done what we can, and besides, the story of the WoM is much larger than winning and losing (although winning is nice).
To reiterate, this incarnation of the WoM is a prototype, a casting call with which to discover stories of heroes and villains, so that this can become a larger project, which I originally stated to be a fighting game with RPG elements (or the other way around). To this end I haven't been disappointed, and remind everybody who has taken part thus far that I'll be continuing to work with certain people once the tournament is over. I'll also remind you now that characters I wish to include in the larger WoM project are not restricted to the winners, only that winning in these rounds gives one a better chance of representation due to increased exposure and incentive to continue participating in the tournament. Once the tournament has been completed, I will make an announcement clarifying all this.
This said, we must come to a decision, and I must convey this decision to you, with detailed feedback. I guess I'll start with the announcement, and after that, I'll provide the commentary.
Winner of Round 9: Crimsonblade and Xzeno
As I said before, timing was a big issue here. I confess that setting such a loose group task like this was done with the intent for a delay, as the round started just before I had to apply for jobs and sit exams at the same time. However I did lay out some criteria both explicitly and implicitly, so I judged based on how well those were executed.
Thoad and Poison got a slightly raw deal here in that Thoad's computer kinda died, leaving Poison in the lurch, and then I had difficulty contacting both to see how things were going, and then they had difficulty contacting me because I fell ill. In the end the entry was a bit of a rush job and while it starts fairly strong and characteristic, it sputtered and ended rather vaguely. I won't go into to much detail because of the circumstances surrounding its writing, but stress that there will be more opportunity to explore the characters of Frank and Thoad even after a loss. Just wait for the next round and you will see what I mean!
As for Crimson and Xzeno's entry, they took a prodigously long time to get it together, but having read it, I can see why. In painstaking detail the action unfolds, blow for blow, ekeing out a million references to old details of the characters, developing existing threads, and even introducing several new ones (what is this strange fictional universe that Leon is bringing into the WoM!?) What I found particularly commendable about this entry is that it really shows great thought went not just into the mechanics of that one battle, but also of how it fit into the whole story at large. It is an ambitious approach, but precisely the kind of thing I wanted to see at this stage of the project.
However the approach was not without its disadvantages. The sheer amount of content and detail requires a engaging narrative style, and this was the single biggest weakness of the entry. One golden rule of writing a compelling story is to "show, not tell", which, for our purposes, means immersing the reader in the action through writing what is perceived, as opposed to what actually happens. This then also means leaving interpretation up to the reader, thus engaging their imagination. However certain things in the entry required a very precise description e.g. "employed a wing-arm block" (which I certainly understood, though I don't know about what the majority of people would make of it!), and so the entry reads more like a clinical objective account, or even instructions for filming. Because of the logistical challenges this round presented, this criticism is really more of a tip for future writing than cause for deductions, but for aspiring writers it is by far the most important lesson in actual process of writing, and one that I'm still struggling to learn myself.
Okay, that's it from me. I now turn the floor over to Cen, should he have anything he'd like to say about this round. Following this, I will then contact people with their assignments, and post the scenes that I've been now promising for quite a while!
Many thanks to you all, and onward to the climax of the tournament!
