ken barber Posted August 28, 2015 Report Share Posted August 28, 2015 (edited) BACK BY POPULAR DEMANDCastle Roland's 2nd Annual Halloween Short Story ContestSubmission Guidelines:Submission Deadline : 10/18/15Stories should be edited and polished. They will be posted exactly as you send them.Stories must contain a Halloween Theme. Embrace it and have a blast with it.Stories should be more than 15,000 words and less than 45,000 wordsSubmissions must be sent to castlerolandpr@gmail.com. Submission sent to any other email address with be returned as disqualified. This is to maintain the anonymity of the stories so it's a true blind vote.Should you have any questions or concerns please email the PR staff at Castlerolandpr@gmail.comAll submission will be posted to a special members only forum on the Castle Roland Community Forum Site and will be posted without author name and title. They will be listed as a numbered submission for exampleHalloween Story #1Halloween Story #2The Forum members will be asked to Judge the stories based on the following Criteria1. Theme: Does the Story Reflect a Halloween theme2. Content: Was the story gripping and Enjoyable3. Character Development: Were you able to connect to the main characters4. Plot: Did the Author develop a strong plot within the restrictions of the of the contest.5. Would you recommend this story to othersThe votes will be totaled and averaged by the number of voters for each storyThe three highest averaging stories will be posted to the Website on Halloween and the authors will receive a special award on the forums. Edited August 29, 2015 by ken barber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeikor Posted August 29, 2015 Report Share Posted August 29, 2015 I was waiting to see if anyone was going to post about the contest but I guess I will have to be first.I am so looking forward to this. I have two ideas already and trying to decide which one to write. I thought about doing both but that depends on how much actual writing time I get. Don't want to be rushed this year. Plus I now also must keep writing for my current series started from last year's story.I hope others are planning to enter; the more the merrier. Looking forward to reading the other entries too. Steve T. and ken barber 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken barber Posted August 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 30, 2015 I agree. Even though I handle a lot of this contest and exclude myself from writing I have a lot of fun with it and enjoy it immensely. I also know the feed back we got last year was great. The members and readers in general loved it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benji Posted September 1, 2015 Report Share Posted September 1, 2015 I always feel so much pressure when these contests come up. Couldn't even complete my entry for the last one because I was worried it wouldn't be good enough. Looks like I am trying again though. ken barber 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken barber Posted September 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 2, 2015 Don't feel pressure have fun. Jeikor 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeikor Posted September 2, 2015 Report Share Posted September 2, 2015 Just go for it, Benji! ken barber 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benji Posted September 4, 2015 Report Share Posted September 4, 2015 Right, I'mma go for it. Think I've decided on the general plot and story I'm going to use. I've started writing already, even. Jeikor and ken barber 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken barber Posted September 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2015 Benji,!FREAKING AWESOME! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynus Posted September 12, 2015 Report Share Posted September 12, 2015 I have a concept. Whether or not I find the time to put it on paper will be another matter entirely. Benji 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeikor Posted September 12, 2015 Report Share Posted September 12, 2015 Try, Cynus, try. Please! Come on you know you want to. Cynus 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maxieplus Posted September 13, 2015 Report Share Posted September 13, 2015 Okay, here I go, I love these competitions and I love reading the stories and I have written small silly ones that not even I believe in. lollLiving in Australia I have never experienced Halloween except I see costumes in a shop and what I see in movies, so anything i write will be in my head and all I see is a heap of little kids running around collecting sweets. hahaha. When I get serious I do think deeply and that conjures up inner ghosts, ghosts you can't see or touch but touch you in your everyday life I wouldn't put the label Halloween on a story like this but I would call it eerie. Question…… would eerie be acceptable even if it doesn't mention the word halloween in the story at all, no kids no sweets. I guess I'm trying to define the word to suit a story thats going around in my head and driving me batty. Stay calm mates. Oh, was just asking my house mate how he sees Halloween, he said to Google it. ummptffff ken barber 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken barber Posted September 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 13, 2015 (edited) Maxie,Erie is perfect. Halloween is a celebration of the supernatural. All the bogeymen our imaginations have ever created. One of the things we weird Americans like to do at Halloween is to tell ghost stories, We try to see who can tell the scariest story Its also a time when things like seances or Ouija boards are popular. Masquerade balls and costume parties are popular. We have haunted houses and haunted hay rides where the creators of the events try to imagine our worst nightmare and we willing walk into them and try not to pee our pants. There is certain foods other than candy that we embrace as part of the tradition, like apple cider, spice cakes and my favorite Caramel apples. It more than just the kids going from house to house begging for candy. Where I live in the US (The Northeast) its a celebration of the fall season. We have feasts and festivals and parties and parades. (Love my alliteration there.) My Family is big into the pumpkin carving and we have a whole day each year (Usually during the week before October 31st) where All my brothers and sisters and I, plus the nieces and nephews, and the grand kids, some aunts and uncles, and some cousins get together and carve pumpkins.Those are a couple of my creations from last year.Halloween is a time to embrace our nightmares and laugh at them. So just go with the flow and have fun with the stories. If ghost are what your mind is coming up with then ghosts are a big part f halloween run with it. Edited September 13, 2015 by ken barber Benji 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maxieplus Posted September 13, 2015 Report Share Posted September 13, 2015 Amayzing Ken, and thank you for the reply. I had better get to writing I suppose or should I say rewriting, fingers crossed I get something submitted ken barber, Jeikor and Benji 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeikor Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 Yay! Yay! Another convert. Beginning to think it was just going to be me and benji.And Ken down here we have haunted corn mazes too. Love the carvings; that's one of my fave things to do for Halloween. ken barber 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken barber Posted September 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 Corn Mazes terrify me but yes I forgot about those Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken barber Posted September 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 Here is one of me actually starting a carving and yes that is a drill.l BrianM and Benji 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 Great picture, Ken! Especially of you... ken barber 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maxieplus Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 The drills not bad either… lolol ken barber 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shayn059 Posted September 15, 2015 Report Share Posted September 15, 2015 I'm 6 pages in on a Halloween story and I'm sure you won't have any problem recognizing mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken barber Posted September 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2015 (edited) Shayn thats exciting cant wait to read it Edited September 15, 2015 by ken barber spelling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shayn059 Posted September 16, 2015 Report Share Posted September 16, 2015 How much of this story do you want done before I send it? do i do it in one chapter or in a few? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken barber Posted September 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 16, 2015 Shayn,The story needs to be "Complete". Of course it can be continued later or have a cliffhanger ending but it needs to be able to stand on its own. You can break it into multiple chapters or one if you want but the entire story cannot exceed 45,000 words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shayn059 Posted September 16, 2015 Report Share Posted September 16, 2015 OK, on with the show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken barber Posted September 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2015 (edited) FYI Everyone the deadline is in 32 days Edited September 17, 2015 by ken barber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Schaeffer Posted September 18, 2015 Report Share Posted September 18, 2015 So I have a question (and a scary comment...)I would like to try my hand at writing for this contest, since I liked that last one so much. However, here's my scary comment...wait for it....it's coming....Ugh! I don't like Halloween. I don't celebrate it, we don't participate in Trick or Treat - my house is the one with the lights off and no one is home. I hate to be scared - I wouldn't be caught dead (or alive) in a haunted house, and the last "horror" movie I saw was Friday the 13th (the original, way, way back in the day). No judgement if you do, but I don't. (I do like anything related to pumpkins, especially if they're made into a pie...grin.) However, I still want to write. So....here's my question - can I write something that is not necessarily scary or evil or zombie riddled or chock full of witches and warlocks and ghosts? I never saw a Harry Potter movie nor did I read the books, so I know nothing about spells and wizadry. Just not my thing. I could write a story that takes place at the time of Halloween and references some of the usual themes, I just don't know if I'm wasting my time as far as the judging bit goes. You know...if it ain't scary, you have no chance. Thoughts, criticisms, flames?Jack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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