The Regular Writing Rampage

=======================================================================
Details

At the beginning of each fortnight, I will give you some new prompts on which to base a short story. Your entry must be submitted by midnight of the Sunday two weeks after that (EST) (give or take an hour)

I shall endeavour to advise the winning entry within 72 hours of the closure of that fortnight's competition.

My purpose here is to encourage you to write, by providing guidelines, a time limit, and most importantly, an IDEA or a prompt to get your imagination going. If you ever have any ideas or suggestions for a prompt, please email them to me directly and I will consider each suggestion seriously.

==================================================================

Here are the rules!

* * * * * * * * RULES * * * * * * * *

1. Only one short-story entry per person, per fortnight.

2. The prize for best short story each fortnight has doubled to 10,000 GPs or an Awardicon. (Awardicon will be awarded at the host's discretion}
WOOHOO! I may even throw in some extra GPs for another entry.

3. All genre is welcome, but please keep the rating to PG-13 or under. No poetry please, only short stories.

4. Length of short story - no more than 6,000 words. (I know that sometimes it can be difficult to restrict it to only a few thousand words or less.)

5. Judge: is me Rasputin but I may appoint a guest judge every now and then. If you are interested in being a guest judge, let me know.

6. Please write your story and save it in your portfolio, then come back to this forum, select "post a new message" and add your item into the body. You do this by writing {bitem:######} with ###### being the number of your item. If you are not an upgraded member, you may post your story directly in your message post. Here are two good articles on posting in the bitem format.

The illustrated guide to linking  (ASR) Confused about how to link? Exactly what to type? Click here! #560037 by Writing.Com Support

Invalid Item  This item number is not valid. #977363 by Not Available.

7. As mentioned earlier, I will endeavour to advise the winning entry within 72 hours of the closure of that weeks competition.

8. There must be a minimum of two entries in order for me to judge the contest. If the round ends with only one entry I will continue the prompts for another two weeks. If there is still only one entry, I will award that person a prize less than the 10,000 gp's. The amount shall be at my discretion and depend on how much I like the story.

9. This is a contest for 10,000 gp's. That's nothing to sneeze at, so tell me a story and I'm not talking flash fiction here. You have two weeks to perfect your story. You can edit until your heart's content, so two or three paragraphs is not going to cut it. I hesitate to put a minimum word limit on this but if you're less than 1,000 words, you are in serious jeopardy of not winning. Weave me a tale of words and please use spell check.

10. Feel free to change the gender, names etc., for any of my prompts. As long as you hold to the meaning or diection of the prompt, everything else is up for grabs. For instance, if my prompt reads:

"He walked out of his door and faced another depressing Newark morning."

and you would rather:

"She walked out her door and faced another depressing San Francisco morning."

Go for it!

==================================================================

SOME QUESTIONS

"Do you need to include the actual prompt in your story?"

"No, you don't have to include the actual sentence in the story, but I think it would be helpful for the readers to see where the connection is between the prompt and your story. If you feel it would hurt the story to leave the prompt in, then omit it, otherwise, I do encourage you to make it a part of your story."


How will you judge the stories?

A: I will look at the story as a whole, ie the content, the opening, the conclusion, the characters and how the story reads. If it is a horror story, did it give me chills? If it's a comedy, did the story make me laugh? And so on. Grammar is an important tool for EVERY writer to learn, so I will also include this in my assessment. (If I have time, I may even suggest ways you can improve the grammar in a story.) Spelling will only be taken into consideration if there are a significant number of errors.

What if I feel you should have chosen my story over another, or if I feel you were too tough on my entry?

A: I am sure that you will find that I am a fair judge and do not allow friendships or prejudices to influence my decision. Each and every entry will be judged on an equal basis. I will endeavour to do an R&R for each individual item, although time constraints may limit how much I say. If you feel that I have been unfairly harsh or have good reason to believe that your entry is superior to the winner's story, then email me directly and explain your reasons to me. I will read your email and re-assess and get back to you.
(If you still feel that I have been unfair - I believe we will just have to agree to disagree and leave it at that. Don't forget that you are free to enter the numerous other contests on Writing.com.)

What if my entry is 600 words over the limit or half an hour late?

A: I'm not too concerned about the time limit so I'll be a little flexible there. In regards to word limits, I will draw the line at 6,000 words, which I'm sure you will agree is very generous. That should give you heaps of scope to work in.

Please encourage other writers that you know to join in the fun! And most importantly, write, WRITE ... WRITE and have lots of fun yourself!

Following is a new sig I did up for writers who contribute to "The Regular Writing Rampage" . Feel free to add it to your signatures or wherever, as it's set up to be shared. Just type {image:699660}. Of course if you have other ideas or suggestions for names or images, please let me know.

** Image ID #699660 Unavailable **

A Few Words From The Contest Founder!
magdalena_b

Because of ongoing health problems, I am finding it difficult to put the time and energy into reviewing all of the terrific stories that are entered into this contest.

BUT THERE'S GOOD NEWS!!!! Although I shall bow out as competition co-ordinator, Rasputin has offered to take over "The Regular Writing Rampage" ! Isn't he terrific! So after I finish this next round on 26 July 2004, Rasputin will become your new Rampage Director!

I encourage you to continue with your writing. I feel quite blessed to have been part of your literary career, and hope that you will one day find that all of your efforts at growing as an author, will pay off.

Warm regards

Maggie


THIS FORTNIGHT'S PROMPTS (Please choose one):

This round closes at midnight on Sunday 26 March

1.The water was chilly, yet it didn't seem too cold. Joe knew this was deceiving, as he fought to keep his mind focused on making it to shore. Twenty, maybe thirty minutes, until hypothermia sets in, was his best guess. Behind him, somewhere in the darkness, were the rest of his men.

2.“All I did was spill coffee on the keyboard. Honest, nothing else. The next thing I knew the computer was doing this.”

3. Doc said I should learn to relax. “Take up fishing”, he said. What a brilliant idea that turned out to be.

4. The skull glowed a bright phosphorescent green. It sat on a pedestal in the middle pf the chamber. Telnor squatted in the entrance and studied it. It’s to easy, he thought. There has to be a catch.

Closing date: midnight Sunday 26 March center}

Contributers!!

Starr Phenix
paul_k
There was also one other contributer and I lost the email. I'd like to give you credit, if you let me know who you are.