First things first. The contest prompt is this:

Write a short story centring around the dialogue of two strangers on a train.

With this prompt. you can essentially tell any story you want! Our administrator (brilliant as she is) is not the first person to think of this; a great many short story writers have done it before, and we even have an example for you:

'The Hint of an Explanation' by Graham Greene.

If you look for them, you may well find other published examples of short stories in which two strangers meet on a train. That is because the idea has so much storytelling potential. The characters could be anyone, going from anywhere and to anywhere (especially if you don't specify the route of the train).

In Graham Greene's story, the two characters are apparently honest with each other throughout. It doesn't have to be that way. Several years ago, I read a short story in which two strangers met on a train, and every word one of those characters said turned out to be a lie. Unfortunately I cannot remember who wrote the story, or what it was called. I can only remember the storyline, and if you would like to know about that, please feel free to note *ThornyEnglishRose and ask her (me).

It's a risky thing to say, but as long as you stick to the prompt, there are no limitations on the contents of your story. (Of course, if you take that to mean you can write a bad story, you won't win.)

Rules and Guidelines

Any and all deviantART members may enter the contest, whether or not they watch or have contributed to *simplyprose, with the exception of the contest judges.
Only one entry per person will be accepted.
Only prose will be accepted, in short story form (no scripts or excerpts from longer pieces, please).
Entries must be a new deviation, first submitted in January 2009.
Stick to the prompt. The keywords are dialogue, two, strangers and train. This does allow you great diversity, and we would like you to try and be creative.
That being said, the best story will not necessarily be the most creative. Let the technique, quality and presentation of your writing be your priority, and be sure to proofread carefully. You will not win any prizes if you have consistent mistakes in your spelling, punctuation and grammar.*
There is no word limit, and we offer no advice. You be the judge.
All entries must be submitted into the correct gallery, and must comply with deviantART's rules and policies. Mature content is allowed by us if it is allowed by dA, and of course the appropriate warnings must be put in place.
Please mention *simplyprose, and this contest, in your artist's comments.
The deadline for entries is January 31st 2009, but we are not going to be strict about exact times. If it's still January 31st where you are in the world, you can submit your entry.

Once you have submitted your deviation, send a link to your entry in a note to *simplyprose with 'Contest Entry', or words to that effect, in the subject line. Notes with slightly different phrasing will not be rejected, but we will (hopefully) be receiving other submissions as usual, so you must make it clear what it is you are sending us if you want it to work.

At first glance those may look like a lot of rules, but please don't be intimidated - they aren't complicated! If you simply write according to the prompt, and then note us with your entry on or before the deadline, you are unlikely to have broken any rules.

*There are a great many resources for improving your written English here on deviantART, and here I must turn your attention to *WordCount's Punctuating Dialogue: A Guide, written by `GeneratingHype (that link is provided with his kind permission). Dialogue is particularly important to this contest, and consistent mistakes will really stick out. Of course we'd prefer not to see any mistakes at all, so please take care with your presentation.

Judges and Prizes:

The contest will be judged by our four *simplyprose staff members. At the time of posting these are *ThornyEnglishRose (administrator), ~Freyad-Dryden (news feature coordinator), ~oblivion00 and =cel3131 (public correspondence coordinators).

We can promise you some great prizes, but due to a slight delay in the organisation of said prizes, the details are not yet finalised. Keep an eye on our journal for updates.

If you have any questions, please post them in this news article.