I was thinking it might be a neat idea to do a Dovahzul-only short story competition. The recommended word count would be around 500 words (really short story). So, who's interested? I know at least four people who would be interested, but is there anyone else?

Details:

- Due August 31st (we all get about a month).

- Aim for 500 words, not too short and not too long. You can go over if you want, but keep it below 750 words if you can. You can see examples of these types of short stories here: https://theshortstory.co.uk/resources/free-short-stories/

- Dovahzul-only! I know this will seem hard to a lot of people, but it's possible to make a story using only canon Dovahzul. However, for those who find it too difficult, you can utilize non-canon ("Legacy" on this site) words if you're absolutely stuck with how to say or convey something in Dovahzul. All I ask is that you keep it to a minimum and comply with Dovahzul grammar as showed on this site (unless you are writing a character with bad grammar, of course, lol). I will post some tips on how to write a story in Dovahzul to help.

- No writing prompt, so you can choose your own topic, setting, and theme. However, no RP characters you've already created, no fanfiction (using another author's universe/characters), and that includes the Elder Scrolls Universe. We're trying to create new works here, and I don't think it should be too bad, since they're very short stories (500-750 words, that is).

- No sexual themes.

- Criteria for judgment: Let's keep this pretty fluid. For me, the better stories would show (a) Ability to use Dovahzul as accurately as possible, given what we know about the language, and (b) be creative, which is of course, subjective!  I'd like everyone involved to vote on what they think is the most creative, and others can vote as well.

If you have any questions, post them here and I'll answer! Once again, I'll post some tips on writing stories in Dovahzul as I'm writing mine, which will hopefully help others here.

OED Kaldmit
@Zinrahzul can we use a mix of Canon and legacy?

Yes you can! Since this is story-writing, it'll be really hard (read: an extra challenge) to do canon-only vocabulary, but it can definitely be done.

I'm in and I have many questions.

1 how strict is that word limit, would 450 or 550 be acceptable for example?

2 what criteria are we being judged by?

3 is usage of prompts allowed? Will we be writing from one you give us or just anything we want?

Sonaak Kroinlah

I'm in and I have many questions.

1 how strict is that word limit, would 450 or 550 be acceptable for example?

2 what criteria are we being judged by?

3 is usage of prompts allowed? Will we be writing from one you give us or just anything we want?

1. The 500 word suggestion is to not discourage those who aren't able to write a lot. The word count also determines the type of story you can tell. For example, this is a site with 500-word sample short stories. In the end, the goal is to write as much as you can, but not too much as to make this a hassle for those who don't want another (Your Native Language) course.

2. Criteria for judgment: (a) Ability to use Dovahzul as accurately as possible, given what we know about the language, (b) Creativity - subjective - I think everyone involved can vote on what they think is the most creative, (c) I think that's it, unless you have other ideas. 

3. I almost want to give a writing prompt, but I don't know what all you (all) would prefer. I don't want to provide a prompt that some people wouldn't care to write about. I want to leave it up to people, but I do have the following rules: (a) No using your own RP characters or created universes. These are new short stories, (b) Try to avoid Elder Scrolls universe, as I'd like people to try to apply Dovahzul outside of the normal context, if possible.

So, what do you think? I'm flexible, except for my rules under #3

I think that sounds fair. I'd prefer not to be given the prompt but I'm fine if you want to give one. Are you going to pick the winner of put it to a vote? (By non competitors of course)

I updated the first post with the rules and details. Questions, corrections, concerns, etc. please let me know here!

Oh, Update to rules: No sexual themes

I'll attempt it but i'm not very good at story writing or the dovazul format for that matter. But its something new.

Qahhunrahgol

I'll attempt it but i'm not very good at story writing or the dovazul format for that matter. But its something new.

Excellent! Don't worry about perfect. I don't even know how many canon Dovahzul short stories are out there. I know there are some in the Library on the site, though, though to use canon-only would be even harder, especially when trying to translate story ideas into Dovahzul. 

But it can be done, I'm sure of it!