Author Topic: Cast of Wonders Flash Fiction Contest 2016 Rules  (Read 32032 times)

danooli

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on: August 04, 2016, 05:15:01 PM
Cast of Wonders Flash Fiction Contest

Submission Window opens Monday August 15 and will remain open until midnight EST Friday September 30.

To be a valid submission to the contest, each story must adhere to the following rules:

1. The story must be no more than 500 words long, not including its title. Do not use the title to skirt around the word count. Word count will be determined using Google Docs.

2. The story must adhere to the general Cast of Wonders submission guidelines. Most importantly, it needs to evoke a sense of wonder and be appropriate for a YA audience. We aim for a 12-17 age range: that means sophisticated, non-condescending stories with wide appeal, and without explicit sex, violence or pervasive obscene language.

3. The story must be original and previously unpublished. Stories will be posted on a members-only portion of the forum, so first publication rights will not be spent if your story does not win.

4. The person submitting the story must be the story's author (or acting for the author with express permission) and hold full publishing rights to the story. A story that is derived from a previously published work in another format (i.e. not a short story) is fine (assuming doing so isn't in violation of copyright, obviously).

5. If you are not sure whether your story counts as published or not (for example, if an earlier version has appeared on your blog but nowhere else), please send an email to dani@escapeartists.net with the subject line "QUERY" and ask before submitting. Please do not submit stories that have been entries in a previous Escape Artists contest.

6. The story must be submitted in its final form, as the author intends it to be read by the voting public. We may or may not allow minor typo corrections if those slip in, but as a general rule, we will not allow authors to submit changes to stories, especially not after submissions are closed.

7. Each author may submit only ONE story.

8. Included in the body of the submission must be the title and the text. Any byline will be stripped when the stories are posted in the contest, and will be revealed when either the story fails to advance, or ultimately wins. Feel free to request a pseudonym for the byline, but we will need a legal name if you win for prize purposes.

9. Winners will be paid $30, making this a pro sale of at least six cents a word.

Please blog, share on Facebook, tweet, email, send owls, telephone, text, light smoke signals, and otherwise get the word out.


EDIT: Here is a link to the submittable portal.
« Last Edit: September 04, 2016, 12:36:57 PM by danooli »



SpareInch

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Reply #1 on: August 06, 2016, 03:37:49 AM
Oh yeah... Legal name... And here I was just about to change mine.

Better get on with that too.

Fresh slush - Shot this morning in the Vale of COW


danooli

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Reply #2 on: August 08, 2016, 04:49:02 PM
Oh yeah... Legal name... And here I was just about to change mine.

Better get on with that too.

<3 So excited for you!



astrokath

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Reply #3 on: August 10, 2016, 08:40:26 PM
Woohoo! Looking forward to reading the stories everyone sends in. :)

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Not-a-Robot

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Reply #4 on: August 17, 2016, 05:41:32 PM
Okay. I finally started my story. One word down, 499 to go.



danooli

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Reply #5 on: August 17, 2016, 06:27:10 PM
Okay. I finally started my story. One word down, 499 to go.

Bwahahaha!

Remember, don't count the title! ♡



Thunderscreech

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Reply #6 on: August 18, 2016, 04:14:41 PM
Any chance the limit can be adjusted to 521?  I JUST CAN'T TRIM ANY MORE!   ;D



danooli

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Reply #7 on: August 18, 2016, 04:47:58 PM
Any chance the limit can be adjusted to 521?  I JUST CAN'T TRIM ANY MORE!   ;D

I had an author tell me yesterday they trimmed an 1100 word story down to 500.




Fenrix

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Reply #8 on: August 18, 2016, 06:09:36 PM
Okay. I finally started my story. One word down, 499 to go.

Bwahahaha!

Remember, don't count the title! ♡

THANKS FOR KILLING ALL MY PROGRESS DANOOLI

All cat stories start with this statement: “My mother, who was the first cat, told me this...”


Thunderscreech

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Reply #9 on: August 18, 2016, 08:30:57 PM
Any chance the limit can be adjusted to 521?  I JUST CAN'T TRIM ANY MORE!   ;D

I had an author tell me yesterday they trimmed an 1100 word story down to 500.



But every word is gold, Danooli, GOLD!



danooli

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Reply #10 on: August 18, 2016, 10:02:31 PM

THANKS FOR KILLING ALL MY PROGRESS DANOOLI

Are you sure it's dead?  Mostly dead is still salvageable, no?  :D

But every word is gold, Danooli, GOLD!

Sacrifice is tough, I know...but the Goblet of Wonders is very particular!




Not-a-Robot

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Reply #11 on: August 19, 2016, 10:04:54 AM
Any chance the limit can be adjusted to 521?  I JUST CAN'T TRIM ANY MORE!   ;D

I had an author tell me yesterday they trimmed an 1100 word story down to 500.



But every word is gold, Danooli, GOLD!

Oh no!!!

Thunderscreech is in.

I just deleted my word.
There's no sense even trying.
It's like platform/springboard diving against against China...
« Last Edit: August 19, 2016, 10:08:32 AM by Not-a-Robot »



danooli

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Reply #12 on: August 19, 2016, 11:30:31 AM
Oh no!!!

Thunderscreech is in.

I just deleted my word.
There's no sense even trying.
It's like platform/springboard diving against against China...

BUT BUT BUT...don't forget there will be THREE winners!!! C'mon, I'm sure you can undelete the word, right? And then, since it's likely to be lonely, you can invite 499 friends to join it!  ;D



Thunderscreech

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Reply #13 on: August 19, 2016, 01:28:30 PM

Oh no!!!

Thunderscreech is in.

I just deleted my word.
There's no sense even trying.
It's like platform/springboard diving against against China...
HA!  I've got a feeling this one is going to be a huge challenge.  Can't wait to see what my story looks like after I've brutalized it through more trimming.  I wish this was in german, you can make compound words by just removing spaces.  Kinda.  :P

Looking forward to reading yours!  These contests are my favorite part ot EA.



Not-a-Robot

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Reply #14 on: August 19, 2016, 05:02:06 PM

Oh no!!!

Thunderscreech is in.

I just deleted my word.
There's no sense even trying.
It's like platform/springboard diving against against China...
HA!  I've got a feeling this one is going to be a huge challenge.  Can't wait to see what my story looks like after I've brutalized it through more trimming.  I wish this was in german, you can make compound words by just removing spaces.  Kinda.  :P

Looking forward to reading yours!  These contests are my favorite part ot EA.

Why are you always ruining this for me? My first word was:

Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitänsmütze

But seriously, these are also my favorite part of EA. Let the good times roll.
« Last Edit: August 19, 2016, 05:19:59 PM by Not-a-Robot »



danooli

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Reply #15 on: August 19, 2016, 05:19:00 PM

Oh no!!!

Thunderscreech is in.

I just deleted my word.
There's no sense even trying.
It's like platform/springboard diving against against China...
HA!  I've got a feeling this one is going to be a huge challenge.  Can't wait to see what my story looks like after I've brutalized it through more trimming.  I wish this was in german, you can make compound words by just removing spaces.  Kinda.  :P

Looking forward to reading yours!  These contests are my favorite part ot EA.

Why are you always ruining this for me? My first word was:

Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitänsmütze

:looks in narrator database for German speakers in case Not-A-Robot wins:




astrokath

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Reply #16 on: August 22, 2016, 09:51:59 AM

Oh no!!!

Thunderscreech is in.

I just deleted my word.
There's no sense even trying.
It's like platform/springboard diving against against China...
HA!  I've got a feeling this one is going to be a huge challenge.  Can't wait to see what my story looks like after I've brutalized it through more trimming.  I wish this was in german, you can make compound words by just removing spaces.  Kinda.  :P

Looking forward to reading yours!  These contests are my favorite part ot EA.

Why are you always ruining this for me? My first word was:

Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitänsmütze

:looks in narrator database for German speakers in case Not-A-Robot wins:



Trust me, Dani, German's fine... until you get to the bit where the author adds something like 'in a voice like a rusted piccolo'.   :'(  PLEASE, AUTHORS. BE KIND TO YOUR POOL OF NARRATORS.

Not the droid you're looking for.


danooli

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Reply #17 on: August 22, 2016, 12:35:02 PM
PLEASE, AUTHORS. BE KIND TO YOUR POOL OF NARRATORS.

And, this folks, is really what it boils down to for an audio fiction podcast LOL



Thunderscreech

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Reply #18 on: August 22, 2016, 12:53:11 PM
"Q̵̩̺͍'̴̘̰̮͡m̧̖̻̺̠͞z̩͖͈͍̩͠-͢҉̢͙̥͍͉ͅw̸͖̼͓̼̗͟o̢̞͇̰̩͖ŗ̩͔̠͚̯m̷̟͇̬͜d̨҉̙̲l̯̪̗̠̬͕͘ͅ", the Syzygian Prince trilluped.



danooli

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Reply #19 on: August 22, 2016, 01:21:11 PM
As danooli's eye twitches...



astrokath

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Reply #20 on: August 22, 2016, 02:41:31 PM
"Q̵̩̺͍'̴̘̰̮͡m̧̖̻̺̠͞z̩͖͈͍̩͠-͢҉̢͙̥͍͉ͅw̸͖̼͓̼̗͟o̢̞͇̰̩͖ŗ̩͔̠͚̯m̷̟͇̬͜d̨҉̙̲l̯̪̗̠̬͕͘ͅ", the Syzygian Prince trilluped.


I just do fart-noises for those.  ;)

Not the droid you're looking for.


Unblinking

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Reply #21 on: August 22, 2016, 04:14:38 PM
I'm in!  Bring it on folks!



Unblinking

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Reply #22 on: August 22, 2016, 04:16:00 PM
So the ads in the casts for this often refer to it as the TriWonders tournament and refer to three challenges.

I'm assuming part of that is to reference the Harry Potter's Tri-Wizard tournament.

But the three challenges... what are they meant to be?  The initial, semifinals, and finals?



SpareInch

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Reply #23 on: August 22, 2016, 04:32:29 PM
So the ads in the casts for this often refer to it as the TriWonders tournament and refer to three challenges.

I'm assuming part of that is to reference the Harry Potter's Tri-Wizard tournament.

But the three challenges... what are they meant to be?  The initial, semifinals, and finals?

Trial 1: danooli's gatekeeping. Only qualifying stories make it through.
Trial 2: The voting rounds. Only great stories make it through.
Trial 3: Alligator wrestling. Just because. :P

Fresh slush - Shot this morning in the Vale of COW


danooli

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Reply #24 on: August 22, 2016, 04:36:00 PM
So the ads in the casts for this often refer to it as the TriWonders tournament and refer to three challenges.

I'm assuming part of that is to reference the Harry Potter's Tri-Wizard tournament.

But the three challenges... what are they meant to be?  The initial, semifinals, and finals?

Trial 1: danooli's gatekeeping. Only qualifying stories make it through.
Trial 2: The voting rounds. Only great stories make it through.
Trial 3: Alligator wrestling. Just because. :P

Bwahahaha! Yes!  SpareInch has it right!

Although...Unblinking...you are also correct :)


But the three challenges... what are they meant to be?  The initial, semifinals, and finals?

The winners have to pass all three rounds :)