[Update: This contest is now closed, but you can read the winning stories here!]
Do you have what it takes to write the spookiest short story? Here’s your chance to try your hand at scaring the pants off of us and our readers!
If you’re willing to take on the challenge, enter our 2013 Spooky Short Story Writing Contest! It’s free and it’s fun! Write your very own ghost story for your chance to have it appear on Retreat by Random House.
In order to get some inspiration for your own short ghost story, let’s turn to two experts who just finished writing spooky ghost stories of their own, John Boyne and Diane Setterfield. They’ve each graciously told us a little bit about their own writing experience and then chose 5 words each they think are essential when writing a ghost story.
From John Boyne: Before beginning to write This House Is Haunted, I went back to some of my favourite 19th century writers – Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins and MR James – to rediscover their ghost stories and was not surprised to discover that they had lost none of their potency over the years. I wanted to write a 19th century ghost story of my own but with a contemporary twist; in my case that twist was to employ a first person female narrator who does not need a man to save her but is strong, fearless and resilient, traits that were not always common in stories of the time. I told myself to have as many ‘jumps’ in the novel as possible, unexpected twists that the reader would not see coming and that would hopefully cause a chill to run down the spine. And I realised the most important thing when it comes to writing a novel like this: you don’t have to explain to the reader the existence of ghosts, but you do have to explain the existence of your ghost. In other words, when the explanation comes for why a spirit is lingering it has to be credible to the reader. Otherwise, the entire structure falls apart.
Here are five words that John Boyne thinks are essential when writing a great ghost story:
• Shadow
• Children
• Fog
• Mirror
• Revenge
From Diane Setterfield: I thought a lot about Scoobie Doo when I was writing Bellman & Black. All that storytelling energy invested in creating a good mystery only for it to turn out week after week that ‘It was the janitor in disguise!’ Even as a child that vexed me. So when it came to writing a ghost story of my own I wanted to produce something in which the supernatural element was not so easily explained, where the ‘ghost’ was elusive, hard to pin down, shifted according to the state of mind of the person being haunted… I’ve never seen a ghost and I don’t expect to. But I do know – we all do, surely? – the feeling of being haunted (by a fear, a past event, a loss, an unrealised hope…) and I tried to base my story on this psychological reality, and then to write something unsettling from that. I don’t think I’m giving too much away by saying that there’s no unmasking of the janitor at the end of Bellman & Black!
Here are five words that Diane Setterfield thinks are essential when writing a great ghost story:
• Black
• Hidden
• Sleep
• Eye
• Never
Contest details:
- Stories must be between 1,200 and 1,500 words. And, to make it just a bit more challenging, your story has to include the following 10 words provided by John Boyne and Diane Setterfield:
Shadow, Children, Fog, Mirror, Revenge, Black, Hidden, Sleep, Eye, Never
- The contest starts now and you have until October 24th at midnight (mua ha ha) to submit your story.
- Submit your entry by emailing onlinemarketing@randomhouse.com with the subject line “Spooky Short Story Writing Contest”. In the body of the email, please include your submission and your name.
- The three best stories as chosen by Retreat by Random House will be posted to this blog on October 31, 2013.
- For full rules and regulations, see below!
Rules and Regulations
ELIGIBILITY
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Contests are open to legal residents of Canada, excluding the province of Quebec.
Employees of Random House of Canada and their affiliates, as well as their immediate family (father/mother, brother/sister, son/daughter) and persons living under the same roof, are not eligible to enter this competition.
Previously published authors may submit texts providing that the submissions are unpublished works. There must be only one author per entry..
SUBMISSION
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Email your submission to onlinemarketing@randomhouse.com. The email subject header should be Spooky Short Story Writing Contest. In the body of the email, please include your submission and your name.
All submitted works must be original and unpublished works. All works that have published in print or on the Internet, including self-published works, as well as works that have been broadcast or delivered in front of a public audience, are considered previously published and are therefore not eligible for the competition.
Texts must be written in English
All works must be within the specified word count: 1,200 – 1,500 words.
Participants may submit as many texts as they wish. A writer can win only one prize.
• All submissions are final: no changes or substitutions are allowed
• No handwritten manuscripts or fax texts will be accepted
• Works will not be returned and editorial comments will not be given on the works
Deadline:
Competition opens: September 19, 2013, 12:00 a.m.
Deadline: October 24, 2013, 11:59 p.m.
Three winners will be announced on or around October 31 on www.RetreatbyRandomHouse.ca.
PRIZES
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Three winners will be chosen to have his or her story appear on www.RetreatbyRandomHouse.ca on or around October 31, 2013.
RIGHTS
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Participants warrant and represent they have created the work they are submitting and that they own all rights to it. Participants further warrant that nothing they contain in their submissions will be defamatory or will invade any right of privacy or infringe upon any other right.
Participants will indemnify and hold Random House of Canada and its affiliates, harmless from and against any and all loss, damage, costs and other expense arising out of claims, whatever their nature, resulting directly or indirectly from any alleged breach of this warranty and representation.
In submitting his or her work, each participant grants Random House of Canada the following licenses free of charge and irrevocably:
• The perpetual, royalty-free, worldwide, non-exclusive right to reproduce and publish the work submitted on the websites and platforms controlled or authorized by Random House of Canada.
Moreover, the winners agree, if requested by Random House of Canada, to have their names and/or picture published with their entries on Retreat by Random House.
JUDGING
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Works are judged on the basis of the author’s use of language, originality of subject and writing style. As well as whether they have included all 10 required words.
All decisions by the readers and the jury are final.
GENERAL RULES
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Should participants make any false statement, they shall be disqualified from the competition. If plagiarism is alleged, the jury shall conduct a reasonable inquiry in the circumstances, and if it determines that plagiarism has occurred, the participant concerned shall be disqualified. Such a decision by the jury shall be final and cannot be appealed.
Random House of Canada and its affiliates, as well as its respective directors, officers and employees, shall assume no liability resulting from losses, delays, mistaken addresses on e-mail received, typographical errors, technical, computer or telephone malfunctions, loss or theft of computer or telephone data, damage to software or computer equipment, fraudulent calls or any other mistake.
Random House of Canada and its affiliates shall assume no liability of any kind whatsoever in any cases in which its inability to act results from an event or situation beyond their control, including more particularly a strike, lock-out or any other labour dispute in their place of business or the places of business of the organizations or businesses whose services are used to hold this competition.
All personal information, such as participant’s name and email address is collected solely for the purposes of administering this competition and shall not be used for any other purpose without participant’s consent. By providing this information, participant consents to it being used for the stated purposes.
By entering, participants agree to abide by the competition rules which shall be applied by Random House of Canada. All its decisions are final and without appeal.
This competition is subject to all federal, provincial and municipal legislation applicable.
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