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Event Autumn 2022 One-shot Competition Announcement

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Good September, authors! Announcing our Autumn event this year - a fresh one-shot competition, this year themed for Hallowe'en!

The brief explanation is that it will last two months, each entrant gets to write a short story under this theme, and everybody gets a bunch of reviews. For more details, see the full rules below. Regular participants will no doubt find these familiar:

Rules
  1. :bulbagarden: The theme is "Hallowe'en" Your entry should be appropriate to that theme, although you're welcome to take it in any direction you like. We're looking to receive stories which about unconventional approaches to problems and protagonists in unusual situations, but the context, genre, tone, and so on are up to you.

  2. :bulbagarden: The wordcount cap is 10,000 words. To hold everyone to the same standard, please check your wordcount using this link.

  3. :bulbagarden: You have two weeks to register as an entrant, starting immediately and ending 23:59 GMT on 15th September. Use this time to come up with a plan for your story.

  4. :bulbagarden: You have eight-nine weeks to write your entry, starting now, with the posting deadline being within 48 hours of 23:59 GMT on 30th October.

  5. :bulbagarden: Do not post your story until the last two days. To afford roughly equal time for reading to the community and judges, please publish your entry within 48 hours of the deadline. Publish your work in its own thread, and post a link here.

  6. :bulbagarden: Judging/voting will last three weeks. Judging will conclude at midnight GMT 21st November. The panel of judges will read and judge every entry, and pick a winner in each of two categories, these being overall writing quality and use of the competition theme. There will also be a community-wide vote for a third category, best overall story. You don't have to review to vote, but even a few short comments would go well-appreciated!

  7. :bulbagarden: Please register your interest in judging here. By registering as a judge, you promise to read and judge every entry in the competition in a timely fashion, and not to provide beta-reading services to other entrants.

  8. :bulbagarden: The winners will be selected using weighted multiple choice voting. In other words, you give 5 points to your first pick, 3 points to your second choice, and 1 to your third. Naturally, you may not vote for yourself.
Naturally, all normal forum and section rules apply, and please conduct yourselves with good sportsmanship.

Remember to register as a participant and/or judge before the deadline, feel free to ask me anything if you have questions, and lastly, good luck to all who get involved! It will be my pleasure to read every single entry.

Participating Writers
Torchic W. Pip
Cresselia92
Beth Pavell
takoyaki
Daren
Psycho Monkey
AinaMangrove
Lone_Gararumon
InfiniteBakuphoon
PandaSamma
Prince Mulan
spookiserenity
Lightning Flame Blast
joshthewriter
ShieldDoesPixels
Ryoma Maser
System Error
newpokemonfan
columboisreal
Minnachu
jukibernina
Greninjaman
Dr.Pastry
SparklingEspeon
Blanc
Otters
Aozora
galacticarticuno
Spiteful Murkrow
iG.maliant

Judges
Beth Pavell
takoyaki
PandaSamma
EternalPokéFanGirl
Fitzy3386
mr jevil
Dr.Pastry
galacticarticuno
Esiouqrut
 
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It's been a few years since I've written anything so this might be a good way to shake the rust off. Before I start though, I have two questions:
1. Does the project need to be a Pokemon themed Halloween or is anything fine so long as it fits the conditions?
2. Is mature content allowed so long as it's properly labelled as such or does it have to be for general audiences?

Edit for a third question came to mind:
3. Can we post entries for the contest elsewhere by Hallowen night as well or would we have to wait for judging to be over here first?
 
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It's been a few years since I've written anything so this might be a good way to shake the rust off. Before I start though, I have two questions:
1. Does the project need to be a Pokemon themed Halloween or is anything fine so long as it fits the conditions?
Anything is fine as long as it fits Halloween!
2. Is mature content allowed so long as it's properly labelled as such or does it have to be for general audiences?
Mature content is  okay, I believe, but labelling with Workshop policy and stuff is something you need to do! @Beth Pavell this is correct, right?
Edit for a third question came to mind:
3. Can we post entries for the contest elsewhere by Hallowen night as well or would we have to wait for judging to be over here first?
Which I will also leave to Beth lol~
 
:bulbagarden: The theme is "Hallowe'en" Your entry should be appropriate to that theme, although you're welcome to take it in any direction you like. We're looking to receive stories which about unconventional approaches to problems and protagonists in unusual situations, but the context, genre, tone, and so on are up to you.
A question regarding the specifics of the theme: Would a more straightforward horror story without any traditional "Halloween-y" trappings be acceptably on-theme with Halloween's more scary vibes? I'll be completely honest Halloween is such a vague concept to me as someone who didn't grow up with it so I'm just now sure how to theme to it outside of, like, the trick-or-treating that media portrays of the holiday.
 
A question regarding the specifics of the theme: Would a more straightforward horror story without any traditional "Halloween-y" trappings be acceptably on-theme with Halloween's more scary vibes? I'll be completely honest Halloween is such a vague concept to me as someone who didn't grow up with it so I'm just now sure how to theme to it outside of, like, the trick-or-treating that media portrays of the holiday.

I feel like horror stories in general should be fair game. I’ve seen a similar Halloween concept in another fandom and a lot of horror stories weren’t tied to Halloween. They featured horrifying legends, dealt with macabre concepts about the canon, or had vibes similar to The Twilight Zone. Only a couple of them were fully Halloween-themed.

So yeah, imo horror tales are fine.
 
2. Is mature content allowed so long as it's properly labelled as such or does it have to be for general audiences?

Yes. The Ratings Guide should tell you all you need to know regarding labelling.

3. Can we post entries for the contest elsewhere by Hallowen night as well or would we have to wait for judging to be over here first?

Yes. Judges ought to remember that they're not to provide any feedback or commentary before then (It's best practice not to read anything before the judging period begins)
 
I feel like horror stories in general should be fair game. I’ve seen a similar Halloween concept in another fandom and a lot of horror stories weren’t tied to Halloween. They featured horrifying legends, dealt with macabre concepts about the canon, or had vibes similar to The Twilight Zone. Only a couple of them were fully Halloween-themed.

So yeah, imo horror tales are fine.
Magnificent! In that case I'd like to register as a writer please.
 
Is there a deadline for judge registration as well? I'm interested in judging, but if possible first I want to know how many works I'll have to read in those three weeks.
 
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