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To be.		2.9%	[ 1 ]
Not to be.		11.4%	[ 4 ]
That is the question.		62.9%	[ 22 ]
..?		22.9%	[ 8 ]
Total Votes:	[ 35 ]

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Post: 10700606_1 created on Fri, 28 Oct 2005 23:35:35 +0000
Posted: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 23:35:35 +0000

[ Welcome to Free Reign ]

WINNERS ARE POSTED ON THE LAST PAGE!

[ Introduction ]

Hello and welcome to Free Reign, where you the contestants have control over the contest. How's that, you ask? Excluding the first round, you the contestants will be able to choose the prompt, the prize, the due date, word count, basically, anything.

Near the end of each contest, I will ask for three new prompt ideas and will let you vote on which one you want via a poll. Whichever one you choose will be your next prompt. You can choose no prompt, a poem prompt, a prompt about a secret society and their thirst for revenge. Whatever you suggest, however, must be approved by me. Don't automatically assume that your prompt will be selected as a "finalist." Any prize, within reason, will be accepted, be it a Lunar Cowl or 5,000g. Just be sure to remember that you as contestants will probably be funding most of the prize with your entry fee, which may vary from contest to contest. The due date will be set by either the amount of time I think you will need to complete your entry or a time suggested by someone who was serious about entring and winning this contest. Word count. It may be the hardest thing to achieve for some of you writers out there. That's why I'm allowing you to choose what you want the word count to be, minimum and maximum.

Please be serious here. I wanted to give you guys a little more freedom with a writing contest, and abuse of this freedom will result in it being taken away.

If you have any questions about this contest, please post them or PM them to me and I'll try to answer them.

[ Updates ]

2/1/06-February prompt added. February contest started.
1/29/06-Contest extended until Feb. 3.
1/6/06-Contest extended until January 31st; January prompt added.
12/8/05-HellRaiserAlchemist is the first donator! 1000g! Prizes were raised to 8,000 for first place and 3,000 for second.
12/7/05-Lady_Katz_of_Ravensmoor won 900g in the miniature contest. She was the only one to submit anything.
12/4/05-12/5/05-Mini contest to celebrate Johnny Rzeznik's birthday. Earn up to 1.5k! link here
11/28/05-I Am Fluffy Hear Me Roar is the first paid and posted contestant! Yea for him/her!
11/26/05-First contest is open!

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Post: 10700606_2 created on Fri, 28 Oct 2005 23:41:36 +0000
Posted: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 23:41:36 +0000

[ General Rules ]

1. Respect the other authors. Everyone here is on a different level of skill. Who cares if you think you're better than everyone else?

2. No song-fiction unless your chosen prompt asks for it.

3. No fan-fiction. I don't know too many shows or books that you people write about, and that will make me not want to read your entry.

4. PG-13 is preferred, but R is the max. If your story is R-rated, please either PM it to me or E-mail it to me. My E-mail address is ravensshadowz@aol.com.

5. If the prompt says to submit a short story, don't give me poetry. If the prompt says to give me poetry, I don't want to see a short story.

6. If you choose to pay the entry fee but don't submit anything before the due date or choose not to participate, your entry fee will not be refunded. If you make this mistake and report me because I didn't repay you, be prepared for a "You were warned" from me.

7. Along with rule #6: I will PM every contestant who hasn't submitted their entry fee and/or entry a week before the contest is over. Those who have given an entry fee but not an entry, as was mentioned before, will not recieve their gold back. Those who haven't paid but have given an entry will be ignored.

8. Entries can be posted here or PMed to me. If you don't include a title, I will dub it "Untitled." Changes may be made to your entry up to the day it is due. I don't care if you completely change your entry or if you simply fix a spelling mistake, as long as it is done before the contest is over.

9. This is not so much a rule about the submissions, just something I feel that I must say. I don't mind if you chat here. In fact, I welcome you to chat. But if it gets to a point where things are inappropriate or offensive, I'm stopping it. Those who were in my last contest may remember my spaz attack when someone posted a spoiler for the newest Harry Potter book. We don't want to see that again...

[ Entry Rules ]

1. I don't care if you've entered one of my contests before.

2. I don't care if you entered for the previous contest.

3. I don't care if the story/poem/whatever has been entered in another contest.

4. Repeat: NO FANFICTION!

5. Repeat: NO SONG-FICTION! Unless your chosen prompt asks for it.

6. Repeat: If your chosen prompt says to submit a short story, don't give me poetry. If the prompt says to give me poetry, I don't want to see a short story.

7. Please, please, when you post/PM/whatever your entry, double space between paragraphs. It is too hard to read otherwise.

8. Please fix any "?"s or codes that replace your quotation marks. It looks neater and is easier to read.

9. Where it says "Genre" on the entry form, put the word "rzeznik." This is the code word. It doesn't have to be spelled exactly like that; it just has to be close. This is to ensure that you read these rules (but still read the last rule).

10. Your entry will not be accepted if you use chat speak, don't format it correctly (meaning a double space between paragraphs), or if you leave codes as mentioned in number eight. I will be strictly enforcing this. If you do this, you will recieve one warning to fix it. If it isn't fixed by the deadline, the story will not be read. I mean this; take it seriously.

-~-a_thousand_words-~-

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Post: 10700606_3 created on Fri, 28 Oct 2005 23:47:28 +0000
Posted: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 23:47:28 +0000

[ Entry Fee ]

This is still days_night, just on a mule account.

Please send all entry fees/donations to this account. Do not PM this account. All entry fees sent to days_night will be cancelled. No exceptions.

The entry fee for this round is 100g.

[ Prizes ]

First place : TBA
Second place : TBA

**I will not be making any profit from this contest. Ever. If I end up with extra gold, it will either go into the next contest's prize or be used as another prize for the current contest.

[ Donators ]

HellRaiserAlchemist-1000g

**Any donations will be distributed evenly among these amounts

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Post: 10700606_4 created on Fri, 28 Oct 2005 23:51:10 +0000
Posted: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 23:51:10 +0000

[ Contestants and Entries ]

February Contestants:
1. The Donator - whee

December/January Contestants:

1. I Am Fluffy Hear Me Roar - rofl - Inspiration's Backlash
2. Sera15 - rofl - Alpha, Beta, Omega
3. Devonshyr - rofl - Quest
4. Darkwing_kShona - rofl - A King?s Herald - Not being judged; didn't follow directions.
5. mistydell - rofl - Dog Shows [please send it to me again]
6. serpenteyes - rofl - Sun-Kissed and Sun-Swept
7. HellRaiserAlchemist - rofl - Untitled
8. Lady_Katz_of_Ravensmoor - whee
9. X.x.tor.x.X - rofl - The Curse of the Sabio Family - Not being judged; didn;t follow directions.
10. darkcloudsburning - rofl - Rose
12. Sylphi - rofl - The Last Testiment
13. Abigail the Nightstalker - rofl - Happy Late Birthday
14. joelene1892 - whee
15. FallenMercury - rofl -Nighttime Omens
16. Lorenidae - rofl - Orbs of White
17. Sephiros_immortal - whee
18. Whitepatter - whee
19. Kiashana - rofl - No Parking
20. Dark_Snow - rofl - My True Nature
21. hippyhill - rofl - Truth Kills [confirm trade]

More may be added.

whee = Paid, not submitted
xp = Submitted, not paid
rofl = Paid and submitted

*If you either paid or submitted an entry and are not on this list, please inform me immediately so that I can add you. If you were mistakenly put on the list, inform me, too. Thank you.

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Post: 10700606_5 created on Fri, 28 Oct 2005 23:52:13 +0000
Posted: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 23:52:13 +0000

[ Current Prompts ]

February's prompt is: Write about Valentine's Day. I don't care if it's happy, sad, both, whatever. So long as your story is about and/or mentions Valentine's Day.

-or-

Write about something weird that has happened on a leap year. Is the 29th of February really a cursed day? Is it the one day that the aliens come down to Earth to plot against us? Run with the idea of something weird happening on February 29th, or having to do with February 29th.

February's Song Prompt is: Two Days In February by the Goo Goo Dolls.

Lyrics | n/a - E-Mail me for full song

*for the song: if you have an E-mail account and some sort of media player (Windows Media, Music Match, iMesh, etc...), I can E-mail the entire song to you. Just post in this thread with your E-mail address and a sentence saying that you would like the song and I'll send it to you.

Due date: February 28th, 2006

[ Submitting ]

When submitting your entry, please use the following form (if you know the URL, please supply it, if not, that's okay):

[b]Username:[/b]
[b]Title of story:[/b]
[b]Word count:[/b]
[b]Genre:[/b]
[b]URL:[/b]

*I have made a step-by-step guide to how to find the URL. There shouldn't be any excuse for not having it anymore. Link here.

Please, when posting the URL, just put the URL. I don't want the word "URL" linked to your post. Just put: http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10700606&page=9#596458175. That's it. Everything. Nothing more, nothing less.

[ Past Prompts and Winners ]

This will remain empty until this contest is over.

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Post: 10700606_6 created on Fri, 28 Oct 2005 23:53:39 +0000
Posted: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 23:53:39 +0000

[ Frequently Asked Questions ]

Quote:

Does it have to be a full story? Or can it be an excerpt of something longer?

As long as it can stand on its own without me knowing anything other than what is in the story. That means that you can put extra information into the story (I wouldn't know anyway), but nothing like a brief description of a character's life as an add on. Basically, nothing that begins with "Before I tell the story" or anything like that.

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Post: 10700606_8 created on Fri, 28 Oct 2005 23:57:33 +0000
Posted: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 23:57:33 +0000

[ Furure Prompt Ideas ]

Here is where I will post songs and prompt ideas for future contests. Suggest one, and I'll put it up for consideration.

Prompts:

-Have a character say, "Well tickle me pink and call me 'Bubbles'" in any context or attitude in your entry.

-Write about what would happen if you met your most favorite celebrity in an everyday situation. [Must be more than, "I entered Wal-Mart and was shocked at what I saw. Could it possibly be? Johnny Rzeznik buying undies? eek Without thinking, I ran up to him and died at his feet." Yes. More than that. Make it at least psuedo-intelligent.]

-One of your original characters shows up at your school/job/whatever and demands that you send them back into their story. [by Lady_Katz_of_Ravensmoor]

-Something about a murder at a masquerade ball. [by Lady_Katz_of_Ravensmoor]

-A story combining three very different time/place periods (Ex: Midieval, colonial, and old west) [by Lady_Katz_of_Ravensmoor]

-A ghost story where ghosts are common in society. [by Lady_Katz_of_Ravensmoor]

-Your original character comes to visit you over a holiday that they do not celebrate where they are from. Show them what that holiday means. [by Lady_Katz_of_Ravensmoor]

-Create an original holiday and write a story in which your characters perform it.

-Write a story about a character that is falsely accused of being/doing something that that aren't/didn't do. [by Lady_Katz_of_Ravensmoor]

Songs:

-Two Days In February by the Goo Goo Dolls [To be used for February]

-Bullet Proof by the Goo Goo Dolls

-Black Balloon by the Goo Goo Dolls

-Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls

-Hey, Jealousy by the Gin Blossoms

-Found Out About You by the Gin Blossoms

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Post: 10700606_10 created on Sat, 29 Oct 2005 00:28:32 +0000
Posted: Sat, 29 Oct 2005 00:28:32 +0000

[ My Likes and Dislikes ]

Back by popular demand, here is a list of things that I like in a story and things that I don't like. These are general things, and may not apply to the current prompt.

Likes:

-Music: Write a story about a band you made up, insert a song that you wrote (as long as it's not a song-fic). I don't care, as long as it's within the prompt. Oh, no crap-er, rap.

-Poland: You will learn rather quickly that I become obsessed quickly over the strangest things, Poland included. Actually, my obsession with Poland came from my obsession with a guy whose parents were Polish.

-France/French: I take French in school. Use a French word, mention France, have your story take place in France, I don't care. The same thing goes for Poland above.

-Dark-haired, blue-eyed guys: Yes, I am a girl. I don't know why, but dark-haired, blue-eyed guys are an attraction for me.

-Vampires: Yes, it's true. I'm not gothic or anything. Vampires just appeal to me.

-Werewolves: Oh, I love werewolves. And just wolves in general.

-Made-up planets: Write about your made up planet. Don't make it to sci-fi-y, though. Fictional planets give more options for things that wouldn't normally be possible on Earth.

-Guys with dark, troubled pasts: Don't ask why. My ideal guy is dark-haired, blue-eyed, pale, taller than me, at least a month older than me, and with a troubled past.

-Guys with long-ish hair: Buzz cuts and bald heads don't appeal to me. I have no idea why, though.

-Secrets: I love it when people have secrets. Especially when they can alter lives or affect a friendship drastically.

-Hidden powers: I love it when someone has a magical power that they never knew about. Not Harry Potter-powers, though. I'm talking about the ability to read minds or the fact that someone's mixture of blood makes them a very powerful psychic. Or when someone finds out that they are pyrokinetic or are the only hope for saving a world.

-Secret societies: A team of people who hide in the shadows and down dark alleyways, protecting those in danger. An entire kingdom, hidden from the rest of the planet, interacting only with cities in the kingdom. Fun. I love secret societies. I have one myself.

Dislikes:

-Sci-fi: I just don't like the idea of aliens with three heads invading Earth and destroying it and saying "Take me to your leader." Laser guns...Maybe, if they're used in a cool way that doesn't involve blue blood and three-headed aliens.

-Rap: If the prompt asks for a song-fic, don't give me one to a rap song. 1)Rap doesn't appeal to me. I don't want to hear hot sexy some guy thinks a girl's butt is. Linkin Park is about the only rap that I can stand, and it doesn't seem to me to fit my stereotype for rap. 2)Eiw...I just think it's gross. 3)They have many double-meanings and curse words and situations for me to want to read about.

-Free-verse poetry: Err! I just hate it. Don't know why, it's just a major, major pet peeve of mine. There's just no beat or meter or rhyme in it. I don't care if a poem doesn't rhyme, as long as it has some kind of pattern in it.

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Post: 10700606_12 created on Sun, 30 Oct 2005 00:14:24 +0000
Posted: Sun, 30 Oct 2005 00:14:24 +0000

[ Link List ]

If you have a shop/contest/quest/whatever, PM me a link and I'll post it here. If it is not PMed, it will be ignored, the post asked to be deleted. Thank you. mrgreen