On a dark and stormy night in the old, abandoned Rodgers mansion, the team crept room to room. With lightning the only aid to visibility, each creak and groan of the structure echoed through its empty spaces. Some said the mansion was haunted but the only way to find out is to SPLIT UP, GANG!
Send your entry in 1,000-6,000 words by email to submissions@writersworkout.net before 12 am Tuesday, UTC. Remember to include your Title Information specifics: Name, Title, Event Name, Word Count. May the words flow to your victory.
Core Concepts: foreshadowing, planning
exciting!
Is the Event name just "Mock Event 1"?
The Event name is in all caps in the announcement.
Should we base our short story on the event announcement with the haunted mansion, or should we come up with our own?
The haunted Rodgers mansion in the announcement is an example and should not be copied or used in your entry.
Should it still/should it not be a mansion, or does it matter as long as the characters split up? Also can we still include ghosts?
You can still include a haunted mansion and ghosts but be cautious to make it different from the announcement. This Event is about solving any mystery.
Are we encouraged/discouraged from making a character actually say, "Split up, gang!"?
You can if you want to but it will not add any points or anything to your ‘score’
@Cindy McWilliams And does the split up need to be voluntary or can the characters be forced apart?
@Clarissa Rossman That’s for you to decide
I never noticed the creeper in the background there and where’s Daphne?
My favorite event!!!
Would we also be getting guidelines and disqualifiers?
Read the announcement carefully. If you’re concerned that something specific about your story might lead to disqualification, check the Event’s definition on the Tips & Events page. Everything you need to create a fully qualified entry is right here in the announcement.
Can it be based off of real life or entirely fictional?
Writer’s Games is a competition of fiction, as per Rule 2.
The instructions say to write our name, title, event name, and word count in the top left corner, but also to use Chicago Format. From what I understand of Chicago format, (which granted, isn't much) you're supposed to have a title page that has most of that information centered on the page, rather than in the top left margin. Knowing this, should we still include the title page? Sorry if this is a dumb question :/
All submissions and formatting information is on the Writer's Games page in a box around half way down the page and explained in the Rules. We use CMS for story formatting and our own Title Information as explained in the Rules and on the Games page.
Is there a Dropbox to submit entries?
Not for the Mock Events. If you want to submit, you can email submissions@writersworkout.net
I am a little confused about when this submission is due. The announcement says we need to submit before 12am UTC on Tuesday, but that is more than the 72 hours allocated for events. I am definitely not complaining about having some extra time, but I wanted to make sure I understood it properly. Thanks!
Midnight is considered the start of a new day. The deadline is on the cusp of Tuesday so it's in around 8.5 hours, which is 72 hours from the announcement.
Thanks for the clarification! We host our meetings on Thursday's at 12am UTC, and we meet that Thursday, not the Wednesday before it, which got me confused about what was meant by the submission due date. Due dates and time zones always make my head spin a little, and I generally get myself confused with them. I appreciate the extra help!
The only reason we call discussion time "Thursdays at midnight" is that most portions, all judges are in the US and when we do have judges outside the US, they're in UK and can't make the meetings anyway because it's 1 am for them.
We hope you solved the mystery, this Event is CLOSED.