CafeDoom's Sixth Annual Writing Competition -- Rules thread

[Ed]

 

This year we are teaming up with Ken Allen Wood and his staff at Shock Totem Magazine

Ken will choose the winning story from our top ten, publish it in Issue #4 and pay the author the princely sum of five cents per word. In addition he will choose the second and third place runners-up, whom I will award Amazon vouchers to the value of $100 and $50 respectively. To sweeten the pot a little more I'll be giving away copies of Shock Totem, issues #1 and #2 to the authors of my personal favourite top three, which may or may not feature in the overall top ten.

Word limit is 5,000 and the closing date is 30th October 2010. For a full list of details please read on:


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We're sticking with the same format as the past couple of years, which is a fairly unusual way to run a comp, because all the entrants get to have their say about the stories and pick their favourites.

What happens is each entrant has to join the Cafe Doom forum (if they're not already a member), then send their entry to blunted (at) cafedoom.com via an e-mail attachment in .rtf or .txt format, single spaced, line breaks instead of indents to denote paragraphs, and use BB Code to format any italics, etc.

In the body of the e-mail, they must state their forum name and the title of their story. DO NOT POST YOUR STORY IN THE BODY OF THE E-MAIL.

On 31st October, the day following the closing date of the competition, all the stories will be posted anonymously on one forum thread by the forum admin. Thereafter, and for the following seven days (may be extended to fourteen if we're swamped with submissions), the entrants must read the entries, and vote for their top three favourite stories on another forum thread. Failure to vote will result in the entrant being disqualified and their story being stripped of its points. Ken Allen Wood will choose the winning stories from the top ten entries.

To summarise –

Prizes as follows:

1st place - Pro rate of pay, plus publication in issue #4 of Shock Totem.

2nd place - $100 Amazon voucher.

3rd place - $50 Amazon voucher.

In addition to this I will give issues of Shock Totem #1 and #2 to the authors of my three favourite stories.

Theme – open, but dark.

Word limit - 5,000

Closing date – 30th October 2010


Be aware that Shock Totem may require the author of the winning story to make changes to it in order to meet their editorial standards. As with any other market, the magazine will sometimes ask their authors to make a few edits and additions to keep the editor happy.

For a better chance of catching the editor's eye, take a look at the Shock Totem submission guidelines:

What We Want:

Fiction: We consider original, unpublished stories within the confines of dark fantasy and horror—mystery, suspense, supernatural, morbid humor, fantasy, etc. Stories must have a clear horror element. We're looking for short stories up to 5,000 words (firm).

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You can find the story thread here - http://www.cafedoom.com/forum/index.php?topic=3428.0

You can find the voting thread here - http://www.cafedoom.com/forum/index.php?topic=3427.0

Both threads are locked for the time being and are off limits to guests - you must join the forum to view them.

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Please feel free to ask questions and comment on this thread.

Finally - good luck, everybody

[Rev. Austin]

Woo!  Nice one Ed!

I squandered my chance last time by entering something quite unlike what I normally write, so this time it's Rev Austin Style all the way, baby!  Woo!  Yeah!

[elay2433]

Thanks, Ed. Great of you to set this up.

[delph_ambi]

Hurrah!

Only now I have to write a story. I'm not writing stories this year. Hmm... 

[leatherdykeuk]

Super!
Now there's another 'long' short story on my to-do list!

[delboy]

Great stuff, Ed!

I was going to give this year's comp a miss... but each year I think the same thing and each year I get tempted into having a go and really enjoying the event. Now it's up to 5k it's even harder to resist!

I'm not writing stories this year.

Same here, Delph. Might need to make an exception for this, put the novel aside for a month and see what happens...

Derek

[Bec]

Ooh, this looks good. I might have a go at this one.

[Kenwood]

Good luck, everyone! =)

[catephoenix]

I love the guys over at Shock Totem. Fantastic news, Ed.

[JonP]

Great stuff! Although 5000 words is wa-a-a-ay beyond my usual limit ....

[Ed]

I love the guys over at Shock Totem. Fantastic news, Ed.

Yeah, Ken's been great. I kinda pounced on him with very little notice and pummeled him for a decision, but he took it all in his stride and has very generously offered his time and funds to sponsor this year's comp. I'm looking forward to this one, big time.

Jon -- don't worry, you don't have to use the full limit. There's no minimum

[BluGilliand]

Sweet! I was hoping this announcement was coming soon!

Blu

[cherlynn]

I came across this contest last year, but didn't enter.

I have one question that may sound trivial with the great prizes available.  With the stories being posted on the forum for us to vote on, will this make the story considered published for those who wish to send them elsewhere once the contest is over. You know, the one's that don't get picked for publication with Shock Totem.

Also, as an aspiring author, I'm always wonder what is necessary for your stoy to have a horror element. I've submitted to Shock Totem in the past, but have been rejected. Not sure, the stories may have not been scary enough. I'd enjoy hearing some thoughts on that matter.

[Kerr]

Thanks Ed. That should be enough time hopefully to make something scary, maybe.

[shiney]

Those cats at SHOCK TOTEM are tough eggs to crack, as far as what they look for in horror content. We read everything....and we like what we like. Simple as that.

And we hear we might be pretty sexy, but I fear that could be a lie.