All Hallows' Tales Contest: The People of the Wood
Results are in! Thanks to everyone who entered!,This contest is now CLOSED to entries! Thanks to all who entered. The official judging period ends now. I hope to announce winners on October 31, or ASAP after that. Happy Halloween!FAQ now posted!This contest is generously sponsored by prize donors and the following groups: @CRLiterature, @communityrelations, @Schreiberlinge, @theWrittenRevolution, @PromotingPositivity Avoid the moor in those hours of darkness when the powers of evil are exalted.- Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the BaskervillesMike: There's people out here messing with us, and I'm not going to play with that. Heather: How do you know it was people?Mike: Well, even if it isn't, I'm not going to play with that, either!- The Blair Witch Project (1999)Don't you see that killing me is not going to bring back your apples?- Sgt. Howie, The Wicker Man (1973)It was a house without kindness, never meant to be lived in, not a fit place for people or for love or for hope. Exorcism cannot alter the countenance of a house; Hill House would stay as it was until it was destroyed.- Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill HouseI'm going to hide this tape when I'm finished. If none of us make it, at least there will be some kind of record. The storm's been hitting us hard now for 48 hours. We still have nothing to go on. One other thing: I think it rips through your clothes when it takes you over. Windows found some shredded and bloody long-johns in the trash but the name tag was missing. They could be anybody's. Nobody, nobody trusts anybody now, and we're all very tired. There's nothing more I can do, just wait. This is R.J. McReady, helicopter pilot, US outpost #31.- McReady, The Thing (1982),Greetings once again my little monsters! I bid you welcome to this 12th ANNUAL edition of All Hallow's Tales, where once again we gather to celebrate deliciously dark stories and poems in this, the season of all things spooky!Isolated folk devoted to peculiar gods. A village untouched by the hand of progress, with a past that intrudes on the present. A self-contained experimental colony, where residents must remain for ten years. Stories of bloody killers passed down through generations of summer camp tradition. A secretive fraternal order, whose masked rituals are never discussed with outsiders. What is real? What is imagined? What is the secret of the People of the Wood?,The ContestThis is a Halloween-inspired, Literature-only contest asking for submissions of PROSE FICTION and POETRY.This year, you will be writing stories or poems around the theme of a group of people (at least three), bound together by circumstance or purpose, who are somehow isolated from the rest of humanity. The isolation can be physical, mental or metaphorical, but it has to be clear in the story or poem. Possible situations could range from a small village in the middle of nowhere, steeped in dark secrets, to that table in the office cafeteria where those Accounting folks always eat in stone silence, taking bites in unison, to a Mars colony where relief personnel are a bit too long in arriving, to a loving family on a road trip, but aren't those highway signs getting weirder and weirder?What kind of story or poem you write - and what you choose to write about - is up to you, but please remember that this is a Halloween contest. We're looking for pieces that are scary, disturbing, morbid, chilling, creepy, thrilling, suspenseful, ironic, satirical, or even darkly funny. Halloween, most of all, is supposed to be fun. Your entry should be entertaining to read, regardless of all else. So have fun with it!,How to EnterWhen your entry is ready, post it as a Literature Deviation (NOT a Journal or a draft in Stash) and send a note (titled CONTEST ENTRY) to @Memnalar with a link to it. I will then collect your entry into an Entry Gallery. You can make changes to your entry even after you've entered, but be aware that your entry is fair game for judging as soon as I've placed it into the Entry Gallery.,RulesDeadline is 11:59 PM Sunday night, October 25 (CDT), and winners will be announced by October 31 or as soon as possible after that.PROSE: 3,000 word maximum. Fiction.POETRY: Both fixed forms and free verse are welcome, but with a minimum of 10 lines and a maximum of 150 lines. (NOTE: Cycles of poetry are allowed as a single entry, as long as all poems in the cycle occupy a single Deviation, all poems tell the same "story" or follow the same general idea, and the total number of lines does not exceed 150.)Up to one entry per contestant per category (Prose and Poetry) will be accepted. This means a single contestant may enter ONE Prose and/or ONE Poem in the contest. Two prose entries or two poetry entries are not allowed. Judges are eligible to enter ONLY in a category for which they are not judging. If you are judging Prose, you may only enter Poetry and vice versa. Word count and line count limits are absolute. No exceptions. Don't even ask. Entries must be written in English. Entries must be new pieces posted after the contest begins.Entries earning Daily Deviations or major features before the end of the contest will be disqualified. No fan-fiction will be accepted.,JudgingThis contest is still accepting volunteers for judging! Prose, poetry or both. If interested, drop me a note. Each entry will be judged on a point system encompassing four factors: Creativity, Technique, Use of Theme and "The Halloween Factor."The official judging period will be the week after the contest deadline. HOWEVER, judges will be encouraged to read and score the entries as they come in. Please be aware that your entry is fair game for judging as soon as I place it in the entry gallery, so don't send it to me until you're ready for it to be judged!,PrizesI will be accepting prize donations until the contest results are revealed. Almost anything is welcome: Points (through donation widget on @Memnalar's page), Core Memberships, Prints, Commissions, Books, Original Artwork, Journal Features, Critiques, Editing/Proofreading Services, whatever you've got. HOWEVER: Llamas, faves and watches will not be accepted as prizes in this contest.Points Pool Donors:@ThornyEnglishRose donated 1500 points.@Tobaeus donated 1000 points.@Zara-Arletis donated 1000 points.@BarbecuedIguana donated 666 points.@JessaMar pledged 500 points.@Flammenfeder donated 200 points.@prettyflour donated 100 points.Pooled points may be used for prizes or other contest-related activities.GRAND PRIZE (One, from all entries)6-month Core Membership from @communityrelations 1-month Core Membership from @ikazon A campaign diary from The Rook and the Raven, up to $60 value from @ikazon A copy of Scrivener writing software from @ErlenmeyerKat Two critiques from @neurotype One critique from @Zara-Arletis 1000 Points from Points Pool500 Points from @Memnalar PROSE and POETRY First Runners-Up (One from each category)3-month Core Membership for each from @communityrelations A copy of Scrivener writing software for each from @ErlenmeyerKatOne critique each from @neurotype One critique each from @Zara-Arletis 500 Points each from Points Pool200 Points each from @Memnalar PROSE and POETRY Second Runners-Up (One from each category)1-month Core Membership for each from @communityrelations One critique each from @neurotype One critique each from @Zara-Arletis 250 Points each from Points Pool100 points each from @Memnalar Journal Features for all winners donated by @Leonca, @Asahi-Taichou, @JessaMar, @Malintra-Shadowmoon, @theWrittenRevolution (courtesy @Zara-Arletis), @PromotingPositivity (courtesy @RTNightmare).Have fun, darlings!,More Halloween Happenings on DAHave a Halloween-related contest, challenge or event on DeviantArt? Send me a link and I'll add it below.A Monster Calls - Prose and Poetry contest, run by @prettyflour ,A Monster Calls- 2020October 3, 2020Fall is here. Leaves are turning. Apples and
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