Writing Assignment Guidelines

[dorkelf]

General Submission guidelines

Contests usually have a word limit requirement. The reason for this is that all of us as writers must learn how to say what we REALLY want to say, by cutting out what is extraneous. At first you may chafe under this restriction. But every time you cut down your assignment, you will likely find yourself admitting that it is notably improved in style and easier for the reader to digest.

Contest submissions must be related to the topic at hand - HOWEVER, there is no restriction on format or method. Poetry, free-throught, mad ramblings or whatever else is perfectly fine - it just needs to be perceptibly related to the assignment.

Submissions must be teen-friendly, because many of the participants and readers will be teens. All writers have to learn how to write in a way that is appropriate to a target audience. Your target audience is teens and up.

I reserve the right to delete submissions for ANY reason, at my sole discretion, without comment, explanation or notification.

If you are apt to push the limits of what is allowable, you are probably going to run into trouble here. Please keep in mind your target audience and make your stories appropriate for that audience, and you'll be fine.

How to get your submission posted

Submissions must be either posted directly to the contest thread by the author, or pm'ed to me on or before the posted due-date for that assignment. If your submission is late it is not eligible to be entered in the contest. However you're still welcome to post it as a non-entry so it can be read and critiqued.

I will post any submissions I receive anonymously in the assignment thread.

Critique requirement

All who submit entries must critique at least one other entry. Critiques are not pm'ed to me but are posted directly to the assignment thread. Please read the Critique Guidelines sticky for more information.

Winning Submissions

After an open vote, the winning submission for that assignment will be announced. Anonymous authors will be revealed only with their permission. The winning assignment will be posted on our weblog at http://assignmentwriting.blogspot.com.

Time Table and Deadlines

Varies. Contest due dates will be posted, but contests will not close until THREE entries have been submitted. As soon as a third entry is submitted in an overdue contest, the contest closes immediately to further entries and voting is opened.

Critiques as well as revisions and rewrites may be submitted at any point before the end of voting, but please submit your critiques as early as possible to give the author time to revise or rewrite if he/she wishes.

Revisions, Rewrites and Multiple Entries

Because this is a learning process involving others critiquing your work, revising or rewriting an entry is permitted and highly encouraged. Voters should always consider the most recent submission of a work.

Multiple contest entries by the same author in the same contest are fine, as long as the entries are completely non-related (no prequels, sequels or multiple-part stories please).