  Contests & Activities
This week: Read the Rules Edited by: Annette  
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There was a day, last week or a decade ago, that you typed "writing" into your search engine. You wanted to show off some of your poems, short stories, or maybe even get feedback for a whole novel. You found Writing.com.
On this site, you found all that you searched for: Portfolio space, helpful reviewers, encouraging groups, style and grammar lessons from peers. Nothing prepared you for the amazing bounty of: Contests & Activities!
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Read the Rules
Reading and following the rules to contests is the first step to winning.
On Writing.Com and for most activities in real life, there are rules to follow. It doesn't matter what it is you are trying to accomplish, but chances are, there is a set of rules you have to follow in order to do what you want or have to do.
Rules in writing contest are made for a number of reasons, mostly they are there to create stakes that are high enough to create a competition.
 Time
Every contest stars on a certain day and has a submission deadline. If you are late, you are late. Yes, some contest hosts will be lenient, but most will enforce their time limit. Some contests run daily or weekly, some monthly, allowing late entries dilutes one of the main hurdles of the contest. Yes, I have seen in my time here a piece of over 10,000 words be turned down from a contest for being a few hours late. Fair is fair.
 Word Count
The majority of contest have word count requirements. There are contests that ask for 55 words or 100 words exactly. There are contests where you can have up to 869 or 1000 words. There are also contests where your story may not be shorter than 1500 words. No matter what the word count requirement of a contest is, it is a rule. If you don't want to write so few or that many words, turn around and go back to "Writing Contests @ Writing.Com" to find a contest that fits your writing style.
 Genre
Really, I can only speak for myself, but if I ask for a specific genre in a contest I run, then I need to be able to see that reflected in the submissions. Of course, a good story will transcend several genres. Even a tragic story benefits for a moment of comedy relief. On the whole, if a contests asks for Sci-Fi, the host won't want to read about a 18thy century romantic tragedy unless there is a spaceship or time travel involved.
 No Means No
If you see on a contest page that something is not allowed in the contest, don't do it. If a judge doesn't want to read certain stories, there is no way to force them. A judge is a person like anybody else. If they say that only stories up to 13+ are allowed, don't expect them to read your XGC entry. They simply don't have to.
 Judge
Don't question the judge. Didn't like not winning in the last round? Write better next time. Seriously. Judges put a lot of time into a contest. Coming up with an idea, checking in the forum and answering questions. Sending reviews. They get to award the piece they liked best. If you want to impress a judge, you'd do well reading some of their work. That doesn't mean you have to write like them, but try to see who your audience is.
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Contests & Activities: November 15, 2011 Issue [#4702]
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