You would think this would be simple to write,
But you see, it wasn’t
What is the event?
The event is a three way contest between drabbles, stories, and art in celebration of Traveler having hit 10k reviews, followers, and favourites. This is different compared to previous contests on the server, which have focused in on one particular category.
In essence, there are three separate competitions that are occurring simultaneously. Voting will be carried out for individual categories, as well as an all together vote, with individual works displayed on a dedicated website (likely this one), for viewing and voting purposes.
Please keep in mind the due date is the 17th of May, 11:59pm PST time. I recommend submitting a few days early, something I know many of us have never done.
What are Drabbles?
A drabble is a short work of fiction, typically 100 words exactly. On the server we have two divisions, those being 75 word short drabbles, and 150 word drabbles.
The word limit for drabbles in this category are 200 words. If you’re looking for a nice, approachable way to enter into the competition this is what I would recommend. They’re nice, small commitments that you can change fairly easily.
Stories?
Stories are much more free-form, with a minimum and maximum word count of 3000 and 5000 respectively. You’re more than free to do what you wish with the format, as long as it fits within and compliments the Traveler setting.
This can expand on corners of the map, propose a new pseudo, look at character relations, offer new perspectives. etc. Whilst there is a prompt list if you’re looking for inspiration, you are free to choose whatever you would like.
Art?
As long as what you submit maintains consistent theming, and can conceivably be called a singular package, I’ll allow it. If I try to restrict it any further, allowing animations, music or comics, suddenly becomes really, really difficult.
There are a lot of fantastic things in Traveler to depict, this is your express excuse to spend a week rereading the entirety of Traveler to look for scenes.
Please read:
There will no AI utilised in any category. If there is suspicion of AI being utilised in your work, I will ask to get WIP files and verify it. Make sure you save them. If you wish to use AI in some form, DM Chaos (me) and negotiate with him.
No smut. Jokes implying it are mostly fine, use your judgement and remember the server is 16+, not 18+.
Do not try to double vote for people, or otherwise game voting. I’ll be double checking votes, and verifying them.
Follow the server rules. If you wouldn’t post it on the server, probably not something to submit here.
If you wish to contribute to the prize pool, please contact Elf, as he holds the paypal all the funds will be in (when he finally sends me his paypal so I can send my share)
No ai-centric submissions.
How will placements be decided:
This will be accomplished via voting. Voting is accessible for all members of the server, the forms will just require your discord username so that we can verify your vote (and help protect against doubled votes).
Voting for yourself is not allowed. For overall placements you will be given three votes, one for your favourite, one for your second favourite, and one for your third favourite. For individual categories as the only placement there with a prize is first place, you will only be given one vote for it on the dedicated forms.
Prizes:
All amounts are in USD
1st place: $200
2nd place: $100
3rd and 4th place: $50 each.
5th-8th place: $25 each.
1st place in each category: $50 (separate vote)
Additional notes:
There will be a delay between the submission date, and when everything will be viewable. I am unsure how long the delay will be, it’ll depend largely on how complex displaying everything ends up being. After that we’ll have a 1 week viewing period before the 2 week voting period.
Whilst in previous competitions, Elf and the Mods have been unable to compete, they will be eligible for this competition. I plan to compete myself for that matter as well, though if people have concerns over this, I’m happy to chat about this and put something in place to ensure everything is hunky dory.
Thank you
I would like to thank Elf, Raptor, Jain, Val, and Pixel for their help in the formation of this competition. I would also like to thank Elf and Raptor for contributing some of the funds for the event, made it a lot easier on me to save up for this.
Thank you everyone for sharing in the fandom with me, I never expected that the story I would read on 2 hour drives in the back of the car would end up being so large a part of my life, nor did I imagine that I would call so many other fans of it my friends.