So, it's been about four months since the last writing contest I ran, and I'm going to run another because you all are awesome! Unfortunately, I'm just starting seminary and have very little spare money, so I can't promise any prizes (yet), but every entrant will get put on my whitelist! I swear it's worth it. Not right now, but trust me, once in a while there's something good. In a fun twist, I will also be entering... so I better get writing. I won't win though, that would be unfair. If you've been writing something, and want a chance to get some recognition for it, here you go! You can be the "SteamGifts GoodWritingPerson of October 2015, or at least the GoodWritingest of the People who Entered", which is an official hereditary title which I am somehow qualified to endow. Also, uh, I can give feedback if you want, though I won't unless you request it. And there are giveaways for everyone to enter, and perhaps more to come later?

I had this stipulation in the past, but forgot to initially post it here; there are actually two categories; long (1000+ words) and short (less than 1000 words). Some writers do better with longer/shorter so the categories give everyone a chance to compete in their best area! Please enter now. We have like, 1 eligible entry. I'll, like, do some prizes even maybe? Please? Unlike the others, there is no minimum, since there are no prizes at stake (yet?), so even if you just write up a cool scene that works!

Submissions so far, by alphabetical order by category:

Shorter story Author Zed's Pick
Conviction Venhiem -
Farus TreeB -
Grey Squire Zed -
The People You Meet in Your 20's Silvershine
Two Little Pigs and a Ham Sandwich magnificentone -
STORIES THAT GOT LOST IN BADARATZIA Bombaklats -
The Weird Thing Taskmaster1 -
Poetry Author Zed's Pick
The Lily in Her Hair Shadea
Sonnet TreeB. -
(W)hole chuckie001 -
Longer story Author Zed's Pick
Bionic Rapture (long entry) DragonOnTheHill -
Captain (long entry) Yours truly -
Chicago Uprising (long entry) jbondguy007 -
I can hear her voice (long entry) Kartyl

Anyway, here's all the boring stuff.

DUE DATE EXTENDED: OCTOBER 9TH

The restrictions:
English language. I don't have high enough reading comprehension in any other language to weigh those entries properly, and Google Translate would not be your friend in the grammar category.

No "erotica"; adult elements are fine, but if your work is just smut, I'm not interested. Adult relationships are fine, but if you're just writing a sex scene, there's... places for that.

Preferably no "shipping" fan-fiction. If you write a fan work, it should be in keeping with the original universe and interesting as a story to someone with no prior knowledge of the setting. I live under a rock, so I probably won't get your references, so try to keep it entry level or explain where it's from (links to wikipedia pages, etc. are appreciated!)

You may use works that you've written before, but remember to format them properly. For the sake of keeping the thread clean, I will not judge submissions that are simply posted in as text to the thread. The only exception is that I will not allow submissions that were in prior writing contests that I hosted, because I want to see fresh content!

How to submit:

Make a clickable link to a Google Document or other online storage service, which is accessible with only the link, in this thread or share the document with me using the address "squirezed@gmail.com". You can do this whenever you want, but remember that I will be judging the works based on how they are over the weekend of October 3-4 or shortly later depending on the quantity of entries.

LEGAL
This is not to get rights to your works so I can republish them. There are no contracts, you keep your work, I'm just interested in seeing it. I don't want to publish it (though I will contact the winners about links here if they do not post public links) or make money from it, and all rights will remain with the author. Thanks to schalart, for pointing this out. That said, your submissions should still be your original works which you own distribution rights for. Legalese is hard, so unless you are the original author of an otherwise unpublished work, please do not submit the work. Remember that posting your work publicly online can make some publishers refuse to publish your work. In case I actually muster up some prizes: If your place of residence doesn't let you win contests, tough. Not my responsibility to guarantee that you won't get in trouble. I live in the US, and I will not circumvent region locks to get you your prizes should you win.

Feel free to contact me at the email address above or via Steam message or any other arcane way you devise to contact me for clarification. I will try to respond to questions posted in this thread.

View the last contest here, with links to the earlier ones also.

Update: I have listed all the entries that I have up above by title and username divided into short and long categories. The hyperlinked ones are ones that I have a shareable link for; if you want a link, and you don't have one up, it's probably because it's not shareable as is (either your link is for editing and not just commenting/viewing or your story is in the body of an email). I can format it and share it if you want me to; just send me an email or post here and I'll update with a link at your request, but I don't want to share your work without permission! If you're not on the list at all, it's because I managed to lose your entry (sorry!) and it's my fault and please just send it again or post here to remind me. There are a lot more entries than I was expecting (which is a good thing!), so I'll try to get it done this weekend but I might get behind on judging.

9 years ago*

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Are you going to try to enter?

View Results
Yes
No
Maybe so?

Reserved! Also, uh, there are giveaways now. More to come, hopefully.

9 years ago
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As always; I''m in, most likely.

I'm just trying to decide whether or not to enter the first-ish "chapter" of my current work, or try doing something from scratch.
I might just write something specifically for this contest. :3

9 years ago
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I'm writing something from scratch... kinda. I'm using characters I've used before, but differently and from a different perspective!

9 years ago
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Might join this time. I am an amateur. Please don't judge me. :D

9 years ago
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No worries!

I am also technically an amateur, because I've never been paid to write either. I have gotten gift copies of books before, but only when my story made it in (school literary journals and stuff, nothing amazing), so you're in good company.

9 years ago
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Sounds nice. Haven't written anything in a while so I might join this for practice :)

9 years ago
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Does the writing have to be fiction? I haven't written fiction in years, I doubt i'm still any good. Not that i'm necessary good at writing nonfiction/personal narratives either. I'm joining either way.

This comment feels incomplete,but I don't know how to end it. This doesn't bode well for me writing a story.

9 years ago
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All genres/forms allowed, though I'll be writing fiction and I'm most familiar with fiction. I think some of the past winners (or at least runners up) were essays.

9 years ago
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Bump with a giveaway!ENDED Okay, maybe this was supposed to go in the Cakeday thread thing, but I forgot, so it's here now!

9 years ago*
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bumping! since I can't write anything :P my best was a grocery list :P

9 years ago
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Bumping so I have less chance to win Chaos Ride!

9 years ago
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Writing contest yay! I'm so in :)
BUMP

9 years ago
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Bump!

9 years ago
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Writing contests are not for me, but here's a bump! :)

9 years ago
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Keydrop: 8bitboy: KHH64-LR4RP-LXVNZ

9 years ago
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I'm planning on rewriting an old project I started years ago. I read back through it, and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought, the content is alright, but structure of the writing isn't great, there's a lot of unnecessary commentary from my character, and the ideas aren't really fleshed out. One thing I defiantly need to change are the names. My character has the generic name of Jones, who has a friend named Jaque, the name of a Spanish chess magazine. I guess I was trying to make future names derivative of old names such as Jacques. Then I have a psychologist named Mrs. Frayes, which isn't a horrible name, but I would still like to change it.

The point of this update is to bump this thread without only saying bump. Maybe I should get started on rewriting my story instead of bump messages?

9 years ago
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A Highlight

"He gave me his old IDeck so that I could program my own HoloGram"

I don't know what's worse, IDeck or me spelling hologram like it's a product.

9 years ago
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Well, it makes sense. We Will Use WikiWords In The Future :p

9 years ago
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A story I wrote for the school magazine 2 years ago, so it's cheesy as hell. Named 'Conviction' -_-

9 years ago
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Unless I can enter with my almost-but-not-entirely finished thesis, I'm afraid I'll be chasing a different deadline. :-) But still, these contests are cool! May all participants enjoy the ride!

9 years ago
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9 years ago
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Not really a writer, just a b u m p !

9 years ago
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Will write some later ^^
Please bear with my engrish and bad bad grammar @_@

9 years ago
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So we have until the 2nd to complete this correct.
I will have something by then!

9 years ago
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Bump with a giveaway!

9 years ago
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Bump with keydrop: 0JALM-KFKHM-F3K67
PeriAreion

9 years ago
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9 years ago
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My submission! As always, I appreciate any feedback.

9 years ago*
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Looks interesting. I've only had a glimpse so far,but i should have time to read it later tonight. All I can really comment on now, is that I haven't seen present tense writing in a long while and now it sounds weird to me.

9 years ago
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I actually wrote half past tense and half present tense and then retooled it all into present. I didn't like the way parts of it read in past tense, so I committed to present... which had the same issue. I know there's a stigma to present tense, but I tend to write in sort of a flow, so it comes naturally to me.

9 years ago
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Bump

9 years ago
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Maybe. Yes.

9 years ago
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Closed 9 years ago by SquireZed.