The 2017 Eternity Authors' Challenge

[Sal]

The Challenge

The 2017 Eternity Authors' Challenge is the first - of hopefully many - general fiction writing challenges.  It is open to everyone on the forum and is meant to be a fun, mostly noncompetitive for now exercise in prose to help stave off writer's block and foster creativity.

Each quarter, a prompt will be posted.  The type of prompt may vary: a set of words, a phrase, a picture, a sound clip, a color...  Some may be vague, while others may be very specific.  Participants will incorporate the prompt(s) into a short story and post them below.  Stories can be about anything and everything.  All genres and styles are welcome.  First person, third person, sci fi, horror, romance, purple prose, and dialogue-heavy - they're all golden.

You may even get a participation ribbon.  (Cue the oohs and aahs.)


General Guidelines

There aren't many rules.  There are a few suggestions which may help participants avoid any confusion, but as this challenge is meant to be a not-so-serious exercise just for funsies, don't sweat the smaller details.  

• Follow the general forum rules regarding topics and language, but remember that you are not limited to the MTRP/NationStates themes of the main Siora forum.  In fact, MTRP/NS themes are discouraged; don't we get enough of that already? Let your imagination run wild, and all that.
  
  
• Stories should be written using the most recently posted prompts.  You can check the end of this post for the current prompt.  Once a prompt is closed, no more stories written using that prompt will be accepted.  (Although you may still post them under the general Writer's Bloc forum if you'd like.)
  
  
• Some prompts may have specific guidelines.  Check the prompt at the bottom of this post for any specific guidance.
  
  
• There is no set length for submissions, but short stories are generally between 5,000 and 10,000 words, so this is a good target.
  
  
• Try to keep submissions contained to one post.  If your length exceeds maximum word limit for a single post and you must break your submission into multiple posts, then include some sort of "part x of x" statement at the beginning of each.  Also, if you must break your submission into multiple posts, try to post them after you've completed the entire story one immediately after the other such that other participants' submissions are not in the middle of yours (ex. If Sal writes a full-on novella that has to be broken into 3 posts because she broke the maximum word limit, she should post them all at the same time, after she has finished the entire novella, and should label them [1/3], [2/3], and [3/3] respectively.)
  
  
• Titles are optional, but encouraged.
  
  
• Feedback on/critique of any submissions, should the author request it, should be done in the "Discussion" subforum of the Writer's Bloc and not in this thread.
  
  
• Participants are free to submit more than one piece for the same prompt. Unlimited submissions, wow!
  
  
• No poetry, please.
  
  
• Primarily English, please.
  

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The 2017 Quarter 3 Challenge is Open

Participants should choose one of the following pictures on which to base their submissions:



artist unknown


jakub rozalski


museo atlantico lanzarote



Prompt-Specific Guidelines:

• Participants should follow the general guidelines.
  
• Indicate which picture you are basing your prompt on by placing the picture in your submission.
  
• You can write one story about each of the pictures if you wish.
  
• Quarter 3 will stay open until approximately 11:59p September 30.
  

Happy writing!