The Official Shock Totem Flash Contest Rules

[Mercedes]

THE OFFICIAL SHOCK TOTEM FLASH CONTEST RULES

To gain access to the contest forum, please send a PM to one of the mods and someone will add your username to the group. However, you must participate in order to remain an active member of this group.

GENERAL

The monthly flash fiction contest is a prompted contest. The prompt—a photo, subject matter, quote, whatever—must be integral to your story and not just vaguely referenced.

We will have a contest each month of the year except June and December, at which time we will hold a separate private contest for the previous winners. The winner of that contest will have their story featured in the next issue of Shock Totem.

To keep things more intimate and beneficial to each writer, if more than 30 people sign up any given month, we will split entrants into groups. The winner of each group will then move to the final contest in June or December.

The contest will run for one week from the date its prompt is posted, which should be the first day of each month, barring any unforeseen circumstances. At the end of one week, the entry thread will be locked and voting will begin.

The maximum word count for all entries is 1,000 words or less. No exceptions!

Shock Totem team members may participate in the contests, as the contests are about supporting writers and promoting growth and not just about prizes. In the event that a team member's story is chosen as the First Place winner, the monthly prize will go the Second Place winner and their story will be in the running for inclusion in a future issue of Shock Totem.

In the case of a tie for First Place (excluding Shock Totem team members), there will be no tie-breaker. Each story wins.

Winner(s) will also get to choose from a variety of prizes.

SUBMISSIONS

Please e-mail your entry to contests@shocktotem.com. Follow our main submission guidelines, but please write CONTEST in the subject line. Any contest entry sent to our normal submission e-mail address will be deleted.

Stories submitted will be posted anonymously in a non-public forum, viewable to only those given specific access—generally an accepted safeguard against giving up First Print rights.

Once the voting is complete, the authors' names will be revealed, so please do not submit the stories anonymously. Include your personal info, as well as forum username!

If at any time after the contest is complete you wish your story to be removed, please let one of us know and we will remove it immediately.

Please do not submit previously published work, or stories we have previously rejected

VOTING

Each entrant is required to vote on their top three.

Votes for First Place will receive five (5) points; votes for Second Place will receive three (3) points; and votes for Third Place will receive (1) point.

Do not post your votes to the forum. Please PM them to Mercedes.

Voting will continue until all participants vote or two weeks pass, whichever comes first. Results will be posted thereafter.

You may not vote for your own entry, and only that month's participants may vote.

Authors who do not vote will be disqualified and will not receive any feedback given.

FEEDBACK

All participants are encouraged to read and comment on the entries.

Do not post your feedback to the forum. Please PM feedback along with your votes to Mercedes.

As mentioned, feedback of any kind is encouraged not required. But please consider that feedback will help each writer strengthen their work, thus making the contest worthwhile for all.



These rules are subject to change. Thank you and good luck!

[Laurah213]

I want in!! I can't wait to write a good short story!!! Hey Ken -- give me access!!!

[Mercedes]

Reword that, my sweet friend. Ken is rather pervy. But yay! This will be fun!

[kaolin]

By "first five" do you mean "top five", or the five winners from the first five months of the contest running?

[Mercedes]

After five months of the contest, we'll choose a winner for publication in Shock Totem.

[andrewkempster]

Oh I wanna play! Lemme in, Ken.

[shadowflame1974]

May I please be let in also?

[shadowflame1974]

*knocks on door* Please?

[Laurah213]

fine -- I want access to the secret hidden special exciting new forum

HAPPY NOW???? LOL

[Laurah213]

quick question... sorry about posting so many times -- can we submit every week or just once or only 5 times, etc? And if we don't submit can we still vote???

[Kenwood]

*knocks on door* Please?

Settle down!

You guys have been given access. You should see it underneath The Fine Print section. There's nothing in there yet.

[Kenwood]

quick question... sorry about posting so many times -- can we submit every week or just once or only 5 times, etc? And if we don't submit can we still vote???

What do you mean by every week? You mean for each contest? If so, then yes, you can have an entry in each contest. Hell, you can win each contest, too. Then your own stories will battle it out at the end. It'll be epic! Haha.

As for voting, it'll only be for those who participate. It's a more intimate contest, so to speak.

[Mercedes]

You may submit one story per contest. That is one story a month. Only people who have submitted a story to that month's contest can vote.

[Kenwood]

The contest rules have been updated. See the first post. Any questions, just ask.

[Paula Ray]

I would like to participate...my I be permitted?