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Contest October-November Short 2015 Story Contest

Scalenex
Slann

Scalenex

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Let the fourth seasonal short story contest commence. In the honor of Halloween, this contest's theme is "Spirit of Horror." You can scare the audience or you can scare your story characters, perhaps both. Or do something ghost/spirit related, or mix and match.

-Must be between 500 and 2500 words, enforced by the honor system, we are not going to wordcount your stories or toss out anyone's work, but be mindful of the people who are reading your work and understand they will be binge reading several pieces at once.
-You may post a comic, provided it tells a story. Comics have no minimum or maximum size though it should have words in it, otherwise it's just a picture.
-Your name must appear nowhere with the story. There is no point in having an anonymous competition based on skill if we know whose entry is whose.
-You must send your story via private message to Scalenex by midnight (US Central time) on October 31st, ie Halloween
-The story must be new. No dragging up a story you wrote months or years ago.
-No plagiarism.
-The story must involve Lizardmen (or Seraphon or Salamanders) to some extant
-The story must stick roughly within the theme.
-Up to two entries are allowed per person.

I am not going to write an entry this cycle. If anyone asks, I can proofread a piece and make suggestions if you send me your piece a reasonable period of time before the Oct 31 deadline.

In fact, if you send your piece to me really early, you may get unsolicited proofreading feedback, but my real life stuff is getting substantially busier than before so editing service will not be available two or three days before the deadline like before. @spawning of Bob is traditionally willing to give fellow writers advice as well.

Last time someone politely asked for a "few extra hours" passed the deadline, and it turned into 6+ hours. I was OCD enough to forgo going to sleep until I had everything in and posted. Not doing that again. When it hits midnight in my time zone, entries are closed.

Then I'll set a poll for 30 days to vote on your favorite or favorite(s). Per usual, multiple votes will be allowed if we have more than six pieces. We have seven entries so far.
 
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It's not quite October yet, so ethical writers will neither not start brainstorming piece ideas until October 1st. So sayeth the panda.
 
Scalenex said:
You may post a comic, provided it tells a story. Comics have no minimum or maximum size though it should have words in it, otherwise it's just a picture.
Click to expand...

Can a comic tell a story without words? Is a comic is anything other than a picture? If you call a comic a comic and a comic is comic then is the comic comic a comic comic comic?

Questions for the philosophers.
 
Slanputin said:
Can a comic tell a story without words? Is a comic is anything other than a picture? If you call a comic a comic and a comic is comic then is the comic comic a comic comic comic?

Questions for the philosophers.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing your goal was to be a smartass, but I'm going to take your (first) question seriously.

Yes, a comic can tell a story without words. I'm still going to require words. I don't want to discourage comic creation, but I do want them to operate in the same tier as short stories. If short stories have to compete with wordless comics it's an apples-to-oranges thing. Is this drawing better than this story. You can argue that Pele is a better soccer player than anyone before or since. But it's not straight forward to decide whether Pele is a better athlete than Michael Jordan or Jesse Owens.
 
Scalenex said:
'm guessing your goal was to be a smartass, but I'm going to take your (first) question seriously.
Click to expand...

Smartass? I was just being comic.

Thanks for providing an answer however, it was a genuine question before I became lost in phraseology.

I already have ideas for this competition. I'm hoping for a diverse range of horror from this.
 
Itzahuan: [Sees new Short Story Contest Thread has opened] Oh, huh. Guess I'll take a look.
Itzahuan: [Sees Topic, get's post-traumatic vision eyes] ...
Itzahuan: ...YES.
___________________________________________________________________________

I'm definitely in on this one. And with a little luck, I won't drag my scaly ass all the way to the deadline before submitting.
 
Oldblood Itzahuan said:
Itzahuan: [Sees new Short Story Contest Thread has opened] Oh, huh. Guess I'll take a look.
Itzahuan: [Sees Topic, get's post-traumatic vision eyes] ...
Itzahuan: ...YES.
.
Click to expand...

When I read your your post I couldn't stop seeing this...


 
I don't like tarsiers. Their creepy... So are Aye Ayes... You know, the ones from Madagascar. I'm fine with the dramatic chipmunk though :beaver:

...yes, for the sake of the post, that is a chipmunk...
 
We are about halfway through the writing month. Many have expressed interest in this contest, but I haven't yet received anyone's draft or final version yet.

I hope you guys are cooking up some nice scary stories. Please, no new haikus or riddles until your short stories are in.
 
Who limits our fun
And places demands that are
Unreasonable?

(Clue: rhymes with Nalenex)

I am Hard at work on the horror. I promise it will be extra horrible.
 
My plan is to end story on Friday. I hope it won't be full of tense errors
 
spawning of Bob said:
Who limits our fun
And places demands that are
Unreasonable?

(Clue: rhymes with Nalenex)

I am Hard at work on the horror. I promise it will be extra horrible.
Click to expand...

Bob thinks he can write
Haikus ev’ry single night
But try as he might

But he is a fake
Though he can count syllables
Haikus not he makes

Even broken clocks
Are right twice a day because
I like his trash talk

Scalenex is mean
He is not a cute panda
Ugly Skink zombie
 
We are up to a whopping one entry. Writing month is a little over halfway over. Pick up the pace!

While Scolenex made me cry with his artful name calling, he did make a multiple stanza rhyming haiku.

By combining the arts of trash talking, limericks and haikus into one masterful concoction, Scolenex has sealed up victory in the haiku contest beyond any possible challengers. Therefore there is no longer any reason for anyone to continue the haiku contest. You can all give your horror short stories your full attention.

Since Scolenex has exempted himself from writing short story contest entries, he may write more haikus if that is what it takes to get you to write short stories. I can't be sure with Scolenex though, it's not like I can read his mind or anything.
 
We are up to three entries now, so Scolenex saved us all.

I still maintain Scolenex is the winner.

Time to do some proofreading.
 
oh jeezzz i havn't even started yet!

Loveing the theme for this one, the hardest thing to write is horror, it's a challenge to scare people in writing.

Looking forward to see what everyone comes up with.
 
Okay there's a week left to write and we have three entries. Note all three entries came in at roughly the same time and they are all by promising first-time entrants to our short story contests. I just finished proofreading the last one. They are excellent pieces but don't let that scare you from entering.

New blood is good, but I have either outright promises to write or at least documented cases of "I am interested in entering this contest" from no fewer than five other people. Don't make me call out holdouts by name. Spawning of Blank, Blankputin, Blank the Observer, Blank_NR_1, and x Turtle where x = some large number.

Come on people! Get writing. If we don't get at least six entries this cycle, I'll be sad.

EDIT: Four entries as of now, one of the Blanks came through.
 
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