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Articles -
Articles About Contests
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Written by Grace Tierney
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2004-10-19 |
Horror Writing Contests - or How to Scare People and Win Prizes for It
"Let us help you to find the perfect writing contest to enter and leave you free to do what you're good at, writing your entry."
by Grace Tierney Do you love scary movies? Does your bookcase groan under the weight of the collected works of Stephen King? Do you think you can make readers jump at the sight of their own shadow or begin to wonder if ghosts, vampires, and werewolves really exist? Then at this spooky time of year you need to be considering horror writing contests. Horror writing contests have been around longer than most. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley wrote Frankenstein in 1816 for a horror-writing contest suggested by Byron and her novel remains one of the greatest horror stories ever written. Younger writers should also be encouraged to be ghoulish by her story as she was only 19 years old at the time. Where do you start in your search to create spine-chilling supernatural stories? A good place to begin is the site for The Horror Writers Association. It's an international group that offers plenty of advice on the art and business of writing horror ( www.horror.org/writetips.htm ). The Salem Witch Trials page will educate you on that period ( www.salemwitchtrials.com/ ) and the origins of Halloween are explained at holidays.net ( www.holidays.net/halloween/story.htm ). You might need some more inspiration however, so try out the investigations of the International Ghost Hunters Society ( www.ghostweb.com ). If your vision of horror is tapping into people's fears as Hitchcock did in 'The Birds' then you should review this terrifying list of phobias ( www.pho b ialist.com ), but be prepared to avoid graphophobia and scriptophobia. I've gathered an evil dozen horror contests below, you can write something as short as 500 words of flesh-creeping, right up to a novel-length work or even a screenplay to make 'The Blair Witch Project' look like a walk in the park. Now get your Dracula cloak on, practise your scary laugh, seize your pen (dipped in red ink I assume), and get writing. You will find my regular round-up of contest deadlines for the month at the bottom of this page, I found more than usual this month, so enjoy! Happy Halloween! PS. Before you reach for your dictionary, graphophobia is the fear of writing and scriptophobia is the fear of writing in public.
All contests are annual unless otherwise noted and all are open to international writers
Coming Soon to the Writing Contest Department Forthcoming features will focus on contests for young writers, seasonally themed contests, personal essays, plays, screenplays, haiku, quirky contests, non-fiction writing, no-fee contests, humor writing, short story contests, travel writing, writing for children, speculative fiction, contests with unusual prizes, and mystery writing contests. I'm always looking for new contest types to research so if you're looking for one, just drop me a line. I'd also love to hear from you if you win a contest you read about here or if you have a contest to suggest for inclusion. Please note that I will only include contests that are open to writers anywhere in the world as our readers are geographically dispersed.
Contest Deadlines from November 11 to December 10
November 14
American Accolades Screenwriting Competition
screenplay in one of five genres; drama, thriller/horror, comedy, sci-fi/action/adventure, and other
http://americanaccolades.com/contest_rules.htm
November 30
Real Writers Short Story Awards
short fiction
www.real-writers.com
November 30
Daphne du Maurier Short Fiction Competition
short fiction (including a category for younger writers)
http://www.restormel.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=8620
November 30
Lough Prize for Poetry
poetry
Email: ploughpoems@tesco.net
November 30
Soul-Making Literary Competition
Poetry, short fiction, creative non-fiction, novel excerpt, prose poem, flash fiction, song lyrics
http://www.soulmakingcontest.us/
November 30
The Subway Chronicles
personal essay about New York subway system
http://www.thesubwaychronicles.com
November 30
Ohio State University Journal - Short Fiction Prize
short fiction
November 30
Praire Fire Writing Competition
poetry, short fiction, and creative non-fiction
December 1
Keep it Short, Short!
flash fiction that is food related
www.food-writing.com
December 1
The Mona Schreiber Prize for Humorous Fiction and Non-Fiction
humor, comedic essays, articles, short stories, poetry, shopping lists and other forms
http://home.pcmagic.net/brashcyber/mona.htm or www.brashcyber.com
Grace Tierney is a freelance writer who lives in Ireland. When she's not researching writing contests, she enjoys gluttony, reading, gardening, and travel. Her short stories have been published in the US and UK, and her non-fiction has been published in Ireland, the UK, America, and Australia. She is a staff writer with Writer Online and Netsurfer Digest . Grace may be contacted via www.gracetierney.com |
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