Winter Writing Contest 2018

Greetings again, everyone. The time for the highly anticipated FAKKU! Writing and Fanfiction section's annual Winter Writing Contest has come again. Members of the community new and old are welcome to try out and submit any kind of original written work from poetry to prose. However, we’re going to shake things up this year and try something new. There will be no judges; everyone is encouraged to participate as equals. There will still be a poll, but it will be for fun. In the past, the winners were able to receive some nice FAKKU! Prizes. This year, depending on the number of participants, there might be participation gifts instead to encourage everyone to contribute something. However, please take your submission seriously and avoid tossing something in with little effort just to get a prize. That said, you can discuss the contest and find the rules and guidelines in this thread.


The contest will accept entries until its deadline which is 00:00 of New Year's Day, the 1st of January, 2019 (EST, GMT-5). Submissions posted after this date cannot be included, so please participate, prepare your submissions, and remember to have fun in this seasonal and festive time of the year!

Rules

1. No word limit.

2. The themes this year will be: Past, Fate/Chance, and/or Winter/Holidays. The first two themes were suggested by waterflame and crazr respectively and I felt it appropriate to include the ability to also base your entries on winter/holidays if you desire to. You’re also welcome to write outside these themes if you wish, or something you’ve been planning for a while. Feel free to use these as a starting point.

3. It can be any kind of creative writing - stories and poetry are welcome.

4. It must be your own work. The community will be looking very closely at your words for anything that has been plagiarized.

5. Please avoid having someone else privately edit/improve/fix errors in your entry. It goes against the spirit of the contest in questioning whether your submission is truly your original work. However, feel free to post and ask the community for advice during or after the contest.

6. Keep posts in this topic relevant. Comments are allowed, and submissions should be posted here as links to separate Writing and Fanfiction forum threads. Details can be found in the post below.

7. Please try to include the following tag [Winter Contest Entry 2018] at the front of your entry's thread title. An example would be "[Winter Contest Entry 2018] Fakku's Wonderful Christmas".

8. Each contestant can submit any amount of entries, but they will not receive multiple prizes for doing so. One (1) prize per author.

Deadline

The deadline for entries is 00:00 of New Year's Day, the 1st of January, 2019 (EST, GMT-5). Entries after this time will have to be disregarded.

Judging

There will be no judges this year and thus no Judge's Choice or runner-up award, there will however be a public poll on the selection of top picks come January so that everyone gets their say. The winner of the public opinion on FAKKU will receive the Reader's Choice award title. The user receiving second in the polls will be a runner-up for this award who will also be commended for their close placement. There will be no additional prize for placing in the polls, however.

Prizes

Any participants will earn either a digital FAKKU published book or a month of subscription to FAKKU. For a list of current and planned releases, check this link to the FAKKU! Store Manga & Doujinshi page.
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Ask any questions you may have in this thread. You may PM me instead if you would like.

Also, please try to leave some comments on the entries of the participants, whether constructive or supportive. It doesn't matter whether you're a fellow writer, a participant yourself, or someone who barely writes and just reads; writers enjoy comments and feedback from almost anyone.

So please give it a shot and get your ideas out there; I wish you the best of luck. And of course, happy holidays!

Credits go to waterflame for working on this year's banner. Thank you!

F.A.Q.s
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--How do I submit my Entry?

Make a new thread for your entry in the Writing and Fanfiction Section. Then, copy the link of your entry and post it in this thread.

You MUST post the link of your entry in this thread or else it will NOT be counted.

--Can I submit multiple entries?

Yes, there is no limit to the number of entries one may submit this year. However, you will not get multiple prizes for doing so.

--Does it have to be under a certain number of words?

No, there is no restriction on word count this year. However, it may amuse you to know that people could make do with 1000 words in the first contest.

--Can I change or edit my entry?

Sure, but please announce it and let us in the community know. You can change or edit your entry up until the deadline - 00:00 of the 1st of January, 2019 (EST, GMT-5).

--Can I take ideas, or have a parody from an already-existing work?

Sure, you can. However, you need to explain it to the community that you did and have permission from the owner of that work if it's a work located on these forums. We may suspect plagiarism otherwise. Just leave a footnote regarding it in your thread.

--Do I have to include adult/sexual contents in my entry?

This is purely your choice. We don't mind if sexual content is present. We don't encourage or discourage it.

--What is this poll and how is it going to work?

Depending on the number of entries, we may have multiple polls. The top users in each poll will move on to the Final poll. The winner of the Final poll will receive the Reader's Choice award. The second highest will receive the Runner-up award.

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Polls

Closed: You can view the poll here.

Winners

Reader's Choice: Congratulations goes to d(^_^)(^_^)d for his winning submission Another Battle.

Reader's Choice Runner-ups: Congratulations also goes to FYakuza and I for tying with the entries The start of an adventure and Fantastic Paths: Discovering the Attributes Within.

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List of entrants and their submissions:


If your name is not on this list, it means:

- You did not post a link to your submission as instructed by the rules above.

- Your entry did not follow the rules.

- Your entry was not posted before the deadline.

- The list is yet to be updated.

If you've made an error from any of the infractions described above, then your entry may not be included, but you will be notified of such and given the opportunity to fix as appropriate, unless the deadline has passed.

To be frank, I've got nothing in mind to write for this contest even when the prize is quite enticing, but I wish you guys luck.

I agree... I've debated using something I recently wrote off a whim... but I feel really, I'd want to write something new(though possibly still share the other). I guess stay tuned :p!

Count me in! I look forward to sharing my work with all of you!

I've risen from the dead. Hopefully I find the time to whip something up for this competition during my short Christmas break from university. Best of luck to all participants!

"No word limit"
Hmm... time to submit that 230k word epic I've been writing :p

On a more serious note though, good luck to everyone who's entering! I'll be lurking here even if I don't post anything!

Here you go.

A (Not So) Lonely Christmas

here is mine time for a adventure

Mine is finally completed here:

Fantastic Paths: Discovering the Attributes Within

Here is my entry for the 2018 Winter Writing Contest, I hope you enjoy!

City Lights

Made it!

Another Battle

I'm late, but I thought I'd submit anyway in the spirit of the contest
Fireworks on New Year's Eve

You aren't late, it's not "1st of January, 2019 (EST, GMT-5)", looking at google, seems 3 or so hours left.

EDIT:

Here is my entries...

Wow, I'm so impressed! Look at all these submissions! Looks like I got some reading to do~!

Thank you all for your entries.

As of now, the deadline for the contest is passed and submissions will no longer be accepted. Stay tuned for the Reader's poll that will be posted in a couple days.

Thank you for your participation and happy New Year! May the year of 2019 guide your pen and hands to success and fruition.

Thank you very much to everyone for participating this year. It's great that we can come together, practice our writing a bit, and receive honest feedback on each other's works. We may have gotten small over these years, but I really love how dedicated this group is in sticking around, at least for the seasonal events that bring us much joy and camaraderie. Thanks for being here with me in keeping this nice tradition of ours going. It means a lot to me, and us all.

I'll be PMing you all for your choices of prizes for participating this year. Depending on how long it takes everyone to respond, expect a week or so to get them, after I forward that information to FAKKU!