In the long long ago when I had entirely too much time for writing, and Smashmouth was still enjoyed unironically, there was a super community run writing contest.  It was fun.  This is going to be that but more better.

The concept is as follows:

 - A prompt is chosen
 - Folks have one month to write a short story based on that prompt and submit it as well as a new idea for a prompt anonymously
 - Every one who participated votes on which story was best, not voting for their own story as that is super weak and against the rules
 - Explaining why you chose which story you voted for is encouraged as is constructive criticism
 - A winner is chosen and gets to chose the prompt for the next month 
 - The winner may chose to let folks know he/she won or remain anonymous
 - At the end of the year maybe we see who won the most or maybe not, it's mostly just for funsies and to develop our writing

I would like to begin this in April which means we have the remainder of March to pick an initial story prompt.  We may as well vote on that as well.  If everyone interested in participating in a monthly Short Story contest could suggest an initial prompt by say March 26th then by the end of the month we could democratically pick one to start with and have a jolly good old time.

Prompts could be things as simple as Universal Themes like Loss, Love, Balance, or Time or Settings like Wild West, Fantasy, CyberPunk, Warhammer or a combination of things if you want to be more specific.  You might also make the narrative style part of the prompt, like First Person, Third Person, Third Person Omniscient, or Unreliable Narrator.

My idea is "Loss in a Fantasy Setting"

It's a pretty vague prompt which is in my opinion usually for the best.  It could be mega edgelord "Drea'th Manslaughto, last of my tribe" or it could be "Timmy got bombed on Orcish Grog and lost his life savings in a game of Halfling Toss" or anything in between.  But if anyone writes that second one I think we have a clear winner.






[hider=Prompt Voting for April]
"Loss in a Fantasy Setting" [i]suggested by BangoSkank[/i] 
(1 Vote from Kassarock)

"Halfling Goes to Casino" [i]suggested by DraconiWarlord[/i]

"Campfire Stories Made Real" [i]suggested by Kalleth[/i]
(3 Votes from BangoSkank, chrysocoma, and sassy1085)

"Friends Turn Lovers Turn Enemies" [i]suggested by sassy1085[/i]

"To What Lengths Does a God Go To Protect Their Friends?" [i]suggested by ZAVAZggg[/i]
(1 Vote from Kalleth)
[/hider]