Fantasy E-zine Writing Contest!

(If this is the wrong place for this, I apologize.)

To commemorate the start of a new Fantasy E-zine I am holding several contest. One or more piece(s) of writing will be selected from each of the contests to be featured in our first issue. There will be three contests one each for Short Stories, Poetry and Serial works, respectively. (If you are part of the Writer's Cafe community, you can enter the contests already in progress there. http://www.writerscafe.org/contests/Fan ... est/12126/)


Short story Contest Guidelines: We are looking for original works that engage and thrill the reader. Short stories should be between 1000 and 3500 words. These numbers are not exact, but are good guidelines.

Please only submit fantasy (this can include any sub-genre of fantasy - high fantasy, urban fantasy and so on.) Steampunk and Sci-Fi will also be accepted given they have fantasy-like themes. Stories with well worn themes such as vampires and werewolves will likely be passed over unless they present a truly unique view of the idea. Fan fiction will not be accepted.

Poetry contest guidelines: Poetry of any length will be accepted. As with the shorts, it should be fantasy themed. That is a very wide range and as with the shorts can include Steampunk and Sci-Fi. Again, we are looking for work that draws the readers in.

Serial story contest guidelines: This is for short pieces (1000-4000 words each) of a serialized story. Each part should have these elements. Opening, conflict, resolution (at least temporary or partial). In each piece the characters should grow and the story should develop. Those selected as winners of this contest will have a (temporary) position as staff writer and their work will be published monthly. NOTE: If you are not sure you can deliver a piece each month, please do not enter this contest. Those who enter should already have their serialized story plotted out and a summary written.

To submit your serial story entry send the first two installments of the series along with a complete story outline. End each piece with the words "The End" so I can be sure to keep things separate.

How to submit your entry (applies to all contests: Shorts, poetry and serial stories): Send all entries to cobwebmote (at) live.com with the subject line 'Contest submission' followed by the contest is applies to. (ie, Short, poetry or serial). Please include your name, email address, story word count and story title. The entry should be included in the body of the email. No attachments, please. Plain text only. Do not indent. Denote breaks (indent) in poetry with a dash (-).

Grammar and spelling are, of course, a must. We want your best work!

All contest will be open for entries till March 1st, 2011.

If you have any questions, please do post them here.

I'm looking forward to reading your work. Good luck and happy writing.

Moved to the Lounge.

Also, is there a website for the e-zine? And will the winners be paid?

Ah, thank you. I realized my mistake and had already reposted in the contest section. O_o Feel free to delete one or the other should it be needed.

At this time there will be no monetary compensation. (Our editors and web designers work for free too). This may change in the future, but for now the only compensation is having your work published and perhaps gaining a bit of circulation and a little something for your writing resume.

As for website, yes. It's still being worked on but when it is finished I will post a link in this thread for those who are interested.

Next time, instead of reposting, just PM one of us folks in green and we'll move it. :D In any case, I've deleted the duplicate topic.

And this sounds pretty good. I hope you get the website up soon.

And before I forget, might I inquire as to what rights would be transferred to the e-zine upon submission? Or are they determined upon an individual basis/publication?

It will vary from piece to piece though we are of course looking for fresh material and prefer that it be previously unpublished. Material posted on blogs or personal websites wont be considered published.

But generally, all material published with us will be under First worldwide electronic rights which basically means the author is giving us the right to publish their work first, electronically, to be ‘distributed’ worldwide.

If you have any further questions, feel free to ask. : )

I should also add to that archiving rights since we will be archiving the issues. But all that said, the author retains full rights and can do whatever they want with their work once we’ve published it.