Writing Contest - 1 Week In

   Well, we're one week into the Atherya Sunleaf writing competition, and so far there are no entries. I'll be honest, I'm not surprised. I had thought that my reach wasn't long enough yet, and that people might be put off of the contest by the idea that they had to be good at writing, but I tried it anyway.

   I'm not going to give up, though. I'm going to stick with it and cross my fingers.

   There are a few points I will re-iterate to try to encourage people to participate:

1. You do not need to be good at writing, at all. I'm not looking for talented writers, just new ideas. I want to put Atherya's story in someone else's hands.

2. The short story doesn't have to end properly. Leave it open if you wish. The diary won't end as soon as the competition does, so any open ends can be tied up by myself as time passes.

3. The short story is just that - short. It can last for 2 pages or 20 (though perhaps the shorter the better). You can work on it for an hour, or you can work on it for a week. The amount of time, and the length of the finished work, will have no affect on the outcome of the story.

4. Your own characters are encouraged to be in it. They will be written into the diary for as many entries as it takes for the winning story to be complete in the diary.

5. You can have a hostile confrontation with Atherya, regardless of your own character's standing - perhaps it's a Goblin who has a personal dislike of Blood Elves, or simply a Dwarf who hates the Horde. Or, you could have a peaceful meeting regardless of whether you're on the Horde or the Alliance. It is entirely up to you. You could even do both in one story, using two of your own characters, or collaborate with a friend.

6. You don't need to read the entire diary to be able to enter. There is a character profile at the bottom of the original competition post that goes over the important details about Atherya.

7. There are prizes. There will be a couple of honorable mentions, who receive a loot card, and the winner will get a custom watercolour painting of their WoW character, a pet loot card, and, of course, inclusion into the diary and credit given at the foot of the diary entries that work with the story.

For full details, see the original competition post. Otherwise, I'd love it if people could enter. If I only get one submission I may be forced into using that, even if it isn't really suitable, so I'd love more to choose from. If this ends up working out, I expect I'll do it again in the future with completely different criteria. If you don't wish to enter - or perhaps you do! - please spread the word of this competition through tweets, or mentioning in blog posts.