Submission Window: October 1st to Friday the 16th, midnight.
Choose a graphic image as a prompt then start writing! Less than 1,000 words. Yes, 1,001 is more than 1,000. Story content should relate directly to the graphic of choice and should also follow the content guidelines as posted on our Fantasy Magazine guidelines page. Please submit at . . .
contests [at] fantasy-magazine [dot] com
With your flash, please include the following within the .doc or .rtf attachment:
- Contact information — Full name, pseudonym, address, email and phone number.
- A .jpeg or .gif graphic – All copyright rules apply. Graphics may be original or taken from a pay or free site as long as Fantasy Magazine can publish without infringement.
- Image copyright information – If the image cannot be published on Fantasy Magazine because of copyright issues, the corresponding flash submission will be null and void. Remember: The image should be embedded into your submitted document either before or after your micro-short, NOT attached separately.
When submitting, please make sure that your subject line reads “Halloween Flash Submission: [Title] by [Author].”
Payment and Publication: I will choose and post the finalists by October 31st. Among these finalists, Fantasy Magazine readers will choose the first, second, and third place stories. First place will publish with an award of $50 and follow FM guidelines.
Make sure to click the “Notify me of followup comments via e-mail” link below so that you’ll stay updated on contest news.
Rae Bryant is a 2008 recipient of the Whidbey Writers’ Prize and editor nominated for StorySouth’s Million Writers Award. Her works have appeared or will soon be appearing in Weird Tales, Fantasy Magazine and Farrago’s Wainscot, among others. Read more at RaeBryant.com.
Where should we get the graphic images from? Can we just Google them?
You can use any image from any source as long as the copyright will allow for it to be published on Fantasy Magazine with your story.
Are multiple entries allowed? There are an awful lot of intriguing images out there…
“Are multiple entries allowed?”
I wish I could say yes, and I’m so glad that you feel inspired. We’ll not be accepting multiple entries, but don’t worry, we plan to offer this contest several times a year.
Happy writing.
Should stories be directly Hallowe’en-themed, or can things capturing the same sort of tone, dark, creepy, mysterious, folky, Danse Macabre, etc style apply as well?
And because I forgot to check for followup, I have to comment again. Dur.
Yes, the premise should be dark. It does not need to be overtly set on Halloween. I’d rather not further limit the creative scope.
1000 words with title?
Can I modify the public domain graphic?
Assuming that FM will retain exclusive first world electronic rights for 60 days from publication, and non-exclusive anthology rights. After 60 days (assuming that my story is chosen) can I publish on my own site?
Thanks.
Gary…
The 1,000 words does not include title.
When I use public domain graphics whether in whole or in part, I give credit to the original work or works, and I make sure I’m retrieving it from a source that will allow me to use the public domain image free of copyright. Be careful. Even public domain images, when used online or in print, can be copyrighted by the online or print venue.
Http://www.pdimages.com/law/13.htm gives some advice on how to handle copyrighted and public domain images. If you are unfamiliar with copyrights and public domains, perhaps it’s best to either use an original image by you or a paid image. There are several image domains online that are reasonably priced.
Are you all having email troubles today? I tried to submit my entry, and received a failure notice saying “No Such User Here.” Then I tried to send a general message via your contact form, and that didn’t go through either. Just a heads up, on the off-chance you didn’t already know.
Thanks, Eden, for the heads up. Yes, we’re experiencing a little technical reflux right now. We’re on it and will have everything up and running before long. Sorry for the inconvenience.
When I’m certain that our techie geniuses have cleared everything up, I’ll post here to let everyone know.
Thanks for everyone’s patience, and I’m looking forward to reading your stories.
Best,
Rae
The contests@fantasy-magazine.com submissions box is operational again. Have at it.
I’m so in. I hope. Comment mostly for the “mail me followup comments”
The more the merrier…
I did a google search on my subject of interest, “Copyright free,” and “image.” I found the perfect image (that I had in my head before I wrote this year’s Halloween story for my own amusement). I traced the image back to its owner and it seems that she has not given explicit permission for anyone to use it (she posted “her name, 2005″ under the image, which having dealt with Coyrighted materials tells me that she holds the Copyright on it). (It’s on a website at which artists post images of their sculpture, pottery, etc.)
I wrote to the “author” by posting a message to the website indicating that her image is *perfect* to go with one of my stories, telling her where I found the image, gave her this contest’s URL, but I’ve yet to hear back from her.
Moral of the story: “Copyright free” websites do not necessarily post Copyrighted images. Tracking down the “author” of the images is difficult, probably impossible.
I went to deiventart to find mine. Asking the Orig. creator was easy that way.
@Celia
Did you make sure the original artist knows that the work might be published, and that you stand the chance of receiving monetary compensation for it (while they do not)? They might dispute your right to use it if it turns out that you weren’t clear on that point.
I haven’t heard back from the “author” of the imaage. I sent this person the URL with the submission guidelines.
Since the deadline is fast approaching, I thought about another story line and the type of image that would support it. (Backwards again, I suppose.)
It’s not inexpensive, but I found an inspiring image at http://www.istockphoto.com
Ms. Bryant,
Is the following format acceptable? Or, do you have a preference for something else? Thank you, Julie.
1″ margins.
12-point Courier font.
Single-spaced within each pargraph.
Double-spaced between paragraphs
Italics noted thus: _italics_
Bold-faced type noted thus: *bold-face*
Greetings! Hayley (from an above comment) informed me of this contest and I’m happy to report to you that this was the contest I needed to pull me out of a dry spell of writing. I haven’t written creatively in a few good years now so I must thank you for the inspiration. I hope you will enjoy my entry! I’ve just sent it in:)
Yes, Julie, that format is fine.
Hi, Angela. So glad that this gave you a muse.
@ L. Grabenstetter
I did email them and sent them a link to this posting so they could review the contest info
Their reply was long as they recieved credit, I could use thier photo
I was reading over your submissions guidelines and was wondering if I could get some quick clarification concerning the “rights” of a project. If I submit a story for the Halloween contest and it is chosen to be published on the website, how long does Fantasy Magazine retain the rights to the story, and when would I be able to reprint or republish the story?
Thank you!
Just submitted my story. It’s 11:32PM, so I just beat the midnight deadline. Thanks for doing this contest. I can’t wait to read the other submissions!