April is AASL contest month! Each week in April, we’ll announce a new contest prompt in a different genre of creative fiction (you can can now vote for Gayle Forman’s Contemporary Fiction contest here), and this week it’s romance.
Alyson Noel is the #1 New York Times best selling, award-winning author of the Saving Zoe, the Immortals series, Faking 19, and Art Geeks and Prom Queens, among others.
Here’s your prompt: Romance happens in unusual places. Write a story or poem in fewer than 750 words (short and sweet!) about two people who meet in an unusual or downright bizarre location.
How to enter:
-Create a new writing
-Tag it romancecontest
-Be sure to press “Publish Now”
-Wait the hour or so it sometimes takes for entries to show up BELOW.
The deadline is Sunday, April 17 at 9PM EST. Then YOU decide the finalists by voting on your favorite entries; you can vote until Friday, April 22th at 6pm EST. The top hearted entries will become finalists. The winner will receive signed copies of Alyson Noel’s books, get highlighted on our blog and newsletter and AASL’s blog and newsletter, and be entered (along with the winners of all four contests) to win a Kindle. Good luck, Figs!
1. One entry per person, please.
2. The promotion of your contest entry is not allowed on Figment. This includes self-promotion and the promotion of other users’ contest entries in the Figment forums, the comments and reviews of stories, and the Figment Facebook page. Independent promotion on sites unrelated to Figment, like personal Facebook or Twitter accounts, is fine.
3. Works must be published between the announcement of the contest and the closure of the contest. Entries created before the start date or after the end date will not be included in the pages of contest entries and will be ineligible to win. This means a new story must be created for the contest; adapting an old story published before the start of the contest will make the entry ineligible to win.
4. The rules of the contest are both strict and open to interpretation by a moderator.
5. It is the user’s responsibility to properly tag the story so that the story appears within the contest submissions. Untagged or improperly tagged stories will not be shown with the submissions and will not be eligible to win.
6. The creation of multiple accounts to heart or otherwise vote for your contest entry on Figment is prohibited, and may result in the disqualification of that entry, the deletion of your Figment account, and/or the blocking of your IP address permanently from the site, at the moderator’s discretion.
I stink at romance
you dont stink at romance just let the love feeling out and write it on here
nobody stinks at romance
The heading says about two people who meet in an unusual place. Does it have to be romantic? *Can’t tell, despite the tag* I suspect so, just want to check.
Yeah I think so
Can you heart you own story?
Yup .)
Does it have to take place in just a day or can it be a flashback?
my sister and I share a computer and she published my piece on her account, but then deleted it- We didn’t realize until it got six hearts though, so is okay, since it is deleted, that I post it on my page? I’m changing the title back to how I had it and changing the cover. Please?
Hi K.N.F.
You can publish it under your own account, but please make sure it’s tagged properly. Best of luck!
SORRY!
I accidentally published multiple versions of the same story (I changed the title and for some reason it thought that was a whole different story) and I just deleted all of them but in case any of them do show up here the only one I WANT is called “The Best Stories End in Tragedy” and has a picture of a gravestone for the cover.
Thank you and sorry for the confusion!
Eliza
Yes you can heart your own story
I wrote my book and published it and everything, but then I changed the name of the book and the content and everything. Is that ok?
That’s perfectly fine, as long as it’s tagged correctly!
this is my first time entering a contest..and i find it somewhat unfair….without promotion and stuff NOBODY is going to find my work its buried under many other works….and ever if someone were to like it they couldn’t find it….no one browses and reads all of hundreds of works…i feel as if this is almost not fair
I understand your frustration. We try to make it as fair as possible — if you want to read about why we do this, visit this page: http://figment.com/topics/18891-Lindsay-Please-read-this-. Hope this helps a little, though I understand it doesn’t fix anything.
I’ll read it!!!
I just can’t find it tho
I wrote a story for this contest and tagged it romancecontest, but I don’t see it on the list of entries. Its title is Junkyard’s Treasures. I just wanted to make sure its entered, that’s all. By the way, I really love the theme of this contest!
Hey C.C-
Yup, I checked and your story was properly tagged. Entries take a while to make it onto the contest page. As long as you created a new story for this contest–that is, didn’t simply edit an old figment story–you are all set! let me know if you have any further questions: esteele@figment.com
-Emily
Can the story have a touch of the supernatural?
Sure!
Mine hasn’t showed up but I posted it and it comes up when I search for the romancecontest tag. It’s called Just a Little Further. Has anyone seen it?
Hi Julia
It’s showing up on the last page of the entries list. Just go here: http://figment.com/contest/romancecontest/2011-04-10/2011-04-18?page=14
Best of luck!
I have a question about rule 6. I have one main computer in my house and three siblings discluding me that all have figment accounts. So that makes four total. If we all voted for my writing, would that qualify as cheating under rule 6? Thanks!
Hi Alex
That rule only applies to a disproportionate number of hearts and accounts coming from the same IP address. Since it’s only around four, you’re good
Best of luck!
Who actually picks the winner? I know that the most hearted are the finalists, but what happens after that?
Thanks so much
Eliza
The finalists go to Alyson Noel, who picks the winner.
I just entered this…I hope I’m not to late…
I’m not entering because i’m not really ready for something like that yet, but, wow, Alyson Noel, I love you and I’m waiting for your book everlasting to come out!!!
yeah
If I get hearts before the 17th, do they still count as votes?
Yes!
I just missed it -____- FML
Ok, nevermind, I entered…yeah
My story is over 750 words…is that OK?
Hi Kasey
We have to be strict about the word count, so please try to edit what you can so that it’s 750 words or less.
How many finalists will there be? Sorry I ask so many questions
There will be 10 finalists. And no problem!
i was wondering if the cut off date for voting was friday why does it still have all entries and not just the finalists just curious
Hi Tia
In that post, all the entries will be listed. In the “Contests” tab, though, you will find a separate post listing only the finalists. Just go to “Contests” and scroll down to find that post.