The Test Run Phase & Prompts

Hullo, fellow writers.

So, today, I want to elaborate on a couple of points that I think need a little more explanation: the meaning of a "test run" and how to deal with the prompts.

The test run is essentially the same contest, where you send in a piece according to the prompt, the judges judge it and give you feedback, then we select a Top Ten to post here for the people to decide on. The only difference between a test run and the real thing is that there's no money involved.

"WHAT?" you might shriek at your computer screen. "WHY DO YOU WANT MY MONEY, YOU BRIGANDS?!"

Well, firstly, thanks a bunch for using a classy word like 'brigands' to express your supposed offence. I shouldn't be happy about that, but there you go. Secondly, we'd want your money so that we can pool it all together to assemble the awards to your chosen charities. Sensible, fine, and, not to mention, incredibly un-brigandlike.

But why do I bring this up if we're doing a test run first, without ANY money involved? Well, just so you know what the future can hold for this contest if we get a ton of people entering and paying attention to the blog this time around.

In short, if we get a fairly large number of submissions, we know that we can acheive fairly high rewards for charities with the money we'd gain from submissions in future Vaccuum Contests. And you all are fans of that, right? I hope so. Not only that, but everyone gets feedback in any version of the contest, including this first one. It's a lovely thing, isn't it?

Moving on to the next point, the prompts are also in need of further explanation.

The prompt is something that you should have in your piece. It could be an object, person, idea, theme, quotation, et cetera, et cetera, and so forth. But what you do with it is your decision. It doesn't matter if it is central to the story, or if it is something briefly mentioned in your piece.

The point of having the prompt is so that the judges have something to unite the pieces around. And, not only that, but it may force entrants out of their comfort zones, and that is an incredibly good thing for writers to do sometimes. You might find things out about your writing that you've never known of before. You might have a blast writing it with the prompt. There are a lot of possibilities that can be done with prompts, and that's why we're using them.

Also, just as a brief aside, this contest IS open for people of all ages. So, if you're 90 years old and you want to enter, then, by golly, do so! And since a language that everyone here is familiar with is English, we ask that all submissions be in English. Just clearing up a couple of points that may have needed to be cleared up.

All righty, I think that's all I have to say for now. Remember the contest opens on FRIDAY, so start brainstorming/writing, spreading news of this contest like wildfire, and getting psyched, because all of us working in the Vaccuum Contests most certainly are! And, if you have any questions whatsoever, please email us at TheVaccuumContests@gmail.com or comment below!

I'll be back tomorrow with an entry with all of the requirements for entering!

- Katie