Writer of the Month #1: Guidelines

[WOTM]

Deadline approaching and we have no entries in yet.

Anyone still planning on entering? Anyone on-the-fence about entering? There's still time for you in either case. Don't be shy! We're hoping for a good turnout for our first month back. ^^

[Vilageidiotx]

I'll be entering, just gotta reach some freetime.

[PlatinumSkink]

I should get the time to work soon enough. I have an idea and I am intending to compete. It isn't a very large idea, though, probably won't be Adva- ... ... ... um, will probably be Flash Fiction rather than a Short Story. Haha. *cough*

[Meth Quokka]

I'm 2.6k words in and a whole day to work on it today. There'll probably be something in from me in the next 12hours

[Neobullseye]

Well, I've written a thingie. Do we still get a confirmation message about whether our entries are accepted or not?

[mdk]

Neobullseye said
Well, I've written a thingie. Do we still get a confirmation message about whether our entries are accepted or not?

You will, yes. It's a hard-working volunteer staff --- they'll get right to ya, soon as they can, and let you know you're squared away. Congrats on the entry.... I wanna say I've read something of yours before in an old WOTM, and liked it, but memory's a funny thing sometimes. For my part, I've got the characters and the setting and the conflict ready, I just need to find a moment to tear myself away from the great Basketbinge and scribble some narrative down, and I should be set. Look for mine tomorrow. Someone poke me if I haven't posted my story's completion, I mean to finish in a hurry once I get going. Manana.

[Neobullseye]

So, how many entires are we up to now?

[Kaga]

Neobullseye said
So, how many entires are we up to now?

Two. One flash fiction, one short story.

[Jannah]

I'm not quite sure what the differences are between flash fiction and short stories? I'm guessing flash fiction is just a shorter version of a short story.

[Kaga]

Jannah said
I'm not quite sure what the differences are between flash fiction and short stories? I'm guessing flash fiction is just a shorter version of a short story.

Well yes, that's pretty much the idea. If you look at the rules, flash fiction and short stories have different word ranges that entries must fall under. Also, flash fiction calls for the use of at least one component per entry, whereas short stories requires at least two.

On the old Guild, the two contests were referred to as "Casual" and "Advanced", but that brought up a lot of misconceptions. We changed the names to better reflect the two categories.

[Jannah]

Kaga said
Well yes, that's pretty much the idea. If you look at the rules, flash fiction and short stories have different word ranges that entries must fall under. Also, flash fiction calls for the use of at least one component per entry, whereas short stories requires at least two.On the old Guild, the two contests were referred to as "Casual" and "Advanced", but that brought up a lot of misconceptions. We changed the names to better reflect the two categories.

Ah alright. Thank you. I was unsure since I haven't actually entered one of these before.

[Jorick]

Less than 24 hours left to submit and we're still sitting at only 2 entries submitted. Here's hoping some of you guys are just waiting until the last minute to send something in, otherwise this is going to be a thoroughly unimpressive contest revival.

[Neobullseye]

That is... Less than impressive. I mean, I know that in the original Guild most WOTM entries tended to be submitted in the last few days, but this is ridiculous.

[Kaga]

Good luck on getting those last-minute entries in!

[Neobullseye]

Kaga said
Good luck on getting those last-minute entries in!

Or else the moon's going to fall and kill you all! So better get those entires in, or you'll meet with a horrible fate :P

[Jannah]

Shit, I've been busy. Can I write something in a few hours? I'll have to try.

[Kaga]

Jannah said
Shit, I've been busy. Can I write something in a few hours? I'll have to try.

Good luck!

[Jannah]

Kaga said
Good luck!

I still have to choose an era, damn T_T.

[Neobullseye]

Jannah said
I still have to choose an era, damn T_T.

Some random idea:
Prehistory; write about the first man discovering fire, hunting wildlife to feed his tribe, fight a nearby hostile tribe...
Middle ages: Enough to write about here. Royalty, knighthood, wars, crusades, crusades from the other side.
Semi-modern history: The forming of the United States, renaissance...
Modern history: The forming of the EU, the falling apart of the USSR. Alternatively, pick a random war from the last two decades or so. For bonus points, try to write from the other side's perspective.