Introduction:

Winter by now is in full swing. Now that the lanscape is [should be] now decked in snow, my mind often wanders back to occasions years past, of memories with family and friends. And, if your weather is similar to mine, the cold keeps you blockaded inside with almost nothing to do except to sit in front of a computer with your thoughts for company.

We here at Age of Kings Heaven have manufactured a solution to your boredom. This Christmas day, Age of Kings Heaven is hosting a Writing Competition for all you creative writers out there. What better way to spend your day(s) off than to let your imagination run free!

Whether you prefer prose or poetry, realism or fantasy, modern or historical, dramatic or humorous, we accept them all. So, this is the perfect opportunity for all of you budding storytellers to flex your writing muscles and exercise your creative side, for there is a prize involved. Interested? Read below:

The winner will receive the grand prize of a Custom Title, which he or she may choose freely!

Rules:

What's a competition without rules? Despite your groaning, feast your eyes over these rules below, because you don't want to write a 175 page novel and realize it won't be accepted.

• Your entry must not exceed 6,000 words – if you get up to 6002, you can probably find a sentence to rephrase.


• This is a competition for all sorts of fiction; short stories, prose, poetry or screenplays, anything fictional will be accepted. However, articles, essays and so forth will not be accepted.


• All entries must be sent by email to Leif Ericson, email can be found here


• Once you have sent your entry, you will have no chance to edit it further – make sure you’re happy with it before you send it in.


• Your entry must be your own work and yours entirely – no team entries, no cooperation between two writers, etc. etc. However, you can use pre-existing backgrounds for your story, as long as the story itself is original (for example the realm of Middle Earth, but don’t go copying and pasting the story of Lord of the Rings)


• Your entry must be sent in before 11:59 PM February 16th.

Judging:

The competition has two judges who will give a maximum of 50 points to each story; up to 25 for Technical Proficiency, and up to 25 for Literary Content. The judges are forummers CarolKarine and backlit (previously known as Thunder).

For "Technical Proficiency" the main areas that will be judged will be how well your entry is structured, the literary technique displayed, the use of language for effect, characterization, thematic development and others. You will be marked down for spelling and grammatical errors (unless of course it is used as colloquialism during dialogue), so be sure to check your entries thoroughly for any errors.

"Literary Content" will be the content of the entry itself, and to be blunt - did the judges like it? Was your entry satisfying, was the plot developed, or was the dialogue wooden with the characters lifeless? It may be good writing a well thought out and technical piece of prose, but if it isn't interesting to the judges you are shooting yourself in the foot.

Now that you know what to do and what to expect, it's time to let the creative juices flow! Good luck and have fun writing!

[This message has been edited by Leif Ericson (edited 02-11-2012 @ 05:53 PM).]