Guess what, folks? I'm initiating a writing contest just for the heck of it because I'm cool like that. I'll be posting this on LJ, FFN, and dA to get exposure to as many contacts as possible, so if you follow me around much, you might see this pop up more than once. Now, I'm not the sort to just dish out a wimpy contest that anyone can do without giving it any thought, so make sure that you're actually serious about trying this before trying this, because it's intended to be a bit hard. The contest opens as soon as this notice is up, and will continue until June 24, 2008. That's my birthday, so it's easy for me to remember, hehe. You may submit as many entries as you like during that time. You will still hold the copyright to anything you send.

Seeing as how there is only one person doing the judging, there will be some natural limitations. If you are writing something completely original, there should be no problem there. If you choose to write fanfiction, however, you must do one of two things: 1) Write from a series I know, or 2) Write from an unknown series while explaining everything as if you had made the entire story up yourself. Be honest that you didn't create the original story, but if it's a series I am unfamiliar with, then not explaining everything will immediately disqualify you. This would be quite difficult, so unless you're looking for the trickiest writing challenge possible, you might want to stick to either something I know or write your own completely original story.

Series/Shows that I am familiar with:

--Fullmetal Alchemist
--Elfen Lied
--Cardcaptor Sakura
--InuYasha
--Harry Potter
--Stargate SG-1
--Star Trek TNG
--Charmed
--Futurama
--Family Guy
--Chobits

There may be other things I'm not remembering right off hand, movies I have seen, books I have read, and other things I have not mentioned, or a vague familiarity with a small portion of a series that I didn't consider worthy of mention. If what you want to write about is not on this list, either write to me and ask if I'm familiar enough with it to count in the first category, or just put it in the second category and describe everything.

All entries must fit within certain guidelines to be considered. Each submission must be at least 2,000 words long, but there is no limit to how long the entry gets. All stories must have a definite plot. ((In other words, no stories composed entirely of journals or other non-plot-based concepts, though it's fine to have these things factored in as part of the story overall.)) The characters must be well-developed, so no Mary-Sues. If you're writing fanfiction, keep the characters in character at all times unless going out of character is integral to the plot.

Below is a list of prompts to be used in the writing of your story/stories. You may interpret them however you wish, but each and every prompt must be utilized in the story somehow. Failure to use a prompt will result in disqualification.

--pirates
--post-apocalypse
--foreign currency
--purple cloth
--heartache
--chocolate
--first kiss
--the color red

You do not have to use these exact phrases or the commonly accepted interpretations of them, but you must use these prompts in your story somewhere. In your submission, write a paragraph at the top or bottom of the story telling me where each prompt is located, so that I can know that you used every one of them.

While I accept submissions of almost all genres and ratings, please don't submit hardcore pornography. I'm not officially against it, but it should just be common sense that if the judge's stomach is doing flip-flops, you're probably not going to win, heh. Less explicit sexual themes are fine.

All entries will be posted in a gallery on my own website as soon as is feasible for me, unless specifically asked not to by the contestant. The link to the gallery will be posted here once I have said site up and running. Any and all winners and honorable mentions will be given high visibility locations on the site, as well as links to the story from the websites I frequent. The grand prize winner will receive a custom made banner of his or her choice to be displayed either on the site or wherever they wish.

So, good luck to everyone who tries this, and I look forward to reading your stories!

Best wishes,
Melissa