The EVER-inspired GHOSTS (and the girls who love them) blog-hop/contest/giveaway doesn't start until Friday, but I decided to post the rules for you now, just in case there are questions. NOTE: The rules WILL be posted again with the contest, so no worries if you miss this post. ;-)
I'd like to have them all addressed before the contest goes live on Friday, if at all possible, so PLEASE ask away!
Please read all notes and rules carefully, and PLEASE ask me any questions you may have in the comments section below.
A couple quick FAQs:
WHAT IS A BLOG HOP?
A blog hop is a fun little activity that brings many different bloggers together, to move from one blog to another reading entries and leaving comments. By including the link list in each participating blog, your name and blog will be reaching many people you may have never reached before.
WHAT IS FLASH FICTION?
In my eyes, flash fiction is a short story, done in a flash. Easy enough, right? Well, for a more detailed answer, please go check out this post on 365 TOMORROWS. I could never explain it better than they did.
BLOG-HOP SCHEDULE:
- August 31st-September15th: SIGN UPS via Mr. Linky Tool *will be on actual contest post on FRIDAY.
- UPDATE: September 15th-18th: Post your flash fiction ghost story entries on your blog. You have three days to do this, which is plenty of time. (If you are going to be away from your computer during that time, I know that blogger allows you to schedule your posts. Not sure about other sites like Wordpress.)
- UPDATE: September 18th-30th: Tell everyone you know about the contest! Go around and check out everyone else's posts and vote for your favorites by commenting. *This is when you want to get your friends to vote for your entry too. :-) You can vote for as many as you'd like, but only ONE VOTE PER ENTRY. The finalists will be chosen by the amount of peer votes they receive on their blog post. (I suggest removing any captchas you may have on your blog during this time. You want to make it quick and easy for people to comment.)
- October 1st-15th: After I tally all the comments on each entry, I will announce the FIVE finalists on my blog. The judges will read each finalist's entry and privately tell me who their favorite is. Judge voting will not be public, but the judges may comment on any entries at any time, if they so choose. Please remember that comments from judges are NO INDICATION of who the winner will be.
- WEEK OF October 16th: WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT!
THE NITTY GRITTY (aka THE RULES):
- SIGN UPS: Sign-up linky tool will open (on Friday's blog post) as soon as the post is live. The linky tool will remain open until September 30th, 2012. Which means that you can join the blog hop at ANY TIME, even the very last day! (YAY!) You must sign up with your name and email address (email address will not be public), and link to YOUR BLOG or WEBSITE.
- FLASH: Write a flash fiction piece, no less than 300 words, and no more than 1000 words, inspired by EVER's main theme: GHOSTLY PARANORMAL ROMANCE. It can be sweet, scary, sexy, young adult, middle grade, adult, etc. My only requirement aside from sticking with the theme of ghosts is NO PORN. A little erotica is fine, but nothing crazy, please. Keep it classy. ;-)
- POST: Your story must be posted on YOUR blog or website, BY OCTOBER 1st. Any posts that go live AFTER 10/1 will be disqualified from the contest.
- UPDATE: VOTING: All positive comments are allowed, so feel free to tell your fellow contestants how much you love their flash pieces. BUT. As far as voting goes, ONLY comments with the actual word "VOTE" will count as votes towards the five finalists. So if your crazy Aunt Gertie comes along and leaves a comment asking you to come over later and let her chickens out, that WILL NOT count as a vote. Only comments from an actual person (NO ANONYMOUS VOTES) with the singular word VOTE will count as votes. Any questions? Please leave them in the comment section below.
- LINK: Do not forget to add the linky tool to the bottom of your post. (You'll be able to do this once the form is live on Friday. It says "Get the code here." You'll be able to click on that and add it in the HTML of your blog post.) YOU MUST INCLUDE THE LINKY.
FLASH FICTION REQUIREMENTS:
- Entry MUST be a GHOST story
- Must be between 300-1000 words
*Story Request: Love between a human and a ghost would be an awesome inclusion in your flash fiction entry, but is not a requirement. (Make it a love triangle like EVER's, and I'll love you forever.)
GIVEAWAY PRIZE:
PARTICIPATION PRIZE:
GRAND PRIZE:
PRIZES!!! ALL THE PRIZES!!!
THERE ARE THREE WAYS TO WIN!
GIVEAWAY PRIZE:
- One giveaway prize: NO PARTICIPATION NECESSARY! Fill out the Rafflecopter form below to be entered to win an e-book copy of my debut novel EVER! You don't even have to participate in the flash fiction blog hop to be entered! SWEET, RIGHT?
PARTICIPATION PRIZE:
- One Participation winner: Each person who participates in the flash contest (and follows all the rules) will be entered to win a signed print copy of EVER. :-) I will RANDOMLY choose ONE winner for this prize, and all you have to do is participate! YAY!
GRAND PRIZE:
- ONE finalist will be chosen by the panel of judges to be the GRAND PRIZE WINNER, winning a prize pack of awesomeness (prize includes a query critique from an amazing editor, a first-three-chapters critique from my favorite lit agent, lots of e-books, some awesome swag, and a couple autographed print books! YAY!)
So, there ya have it! The rules and the details! The GRAND prize pack will be listed on the post on Friday, as will the list of ESTEEMED judges!
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE read everything carefully and comment with ANY questions below!
Thank you!
Hey Jessa! I was wondering if a loose interpretation of the word ghost was permissible? Does the person have to actually be dead? I was thinking some sort of disembodied spirit. (something like the spirit of a person in a coma, or an alien astral projection, or something along those lines). Would they be within the guidelines? Just wondering before I start planning any further. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat question, Lissa! I think that's a creative spin on it, and I am never one to say no to creativity. So go ahead and go with that idea! :-) So glad you'll be entering!
ReplyDeleteGreat! So the disembodied spirit definition is a go! :)
DeleteHehehe! I have a lot of questions. I'm fairly new to the blogging thing and I've never done a Linky tool. I'm not sure what that entails or how to accomplish it. Also, just for clarity, we don't publish our story until Sept 15th, right? Not before if it's done? Also, how does one vote. Can you only vote once? Do you have to use the word vote in the comments, or just leave a comment? Do we wait until all the stories are posted to vote or what? Sorry for the question ramble... :)
ReplyDeleteThat's fine, Lissa! I wanted to get all of the questions addressed ahead of time, so keep e'm coming! Now let's see ...
DeleteLINKY: I really don't know how to help you with the linky tool until we have one to look at. It will be on Friday's post, so I can help you with that when the time comes. Basically, it will say something like "This is a blog-hop! You're next!" And then you will click to add yourself and go from there. You can see in my older posts for the Buccaneer Blogfest what the end product looks like, but since that linky is no longer live, i can't exactly walk you through it yet.
PUBLISH: Your story can be published any time BETWEEN September 15th and October 1st. You can post it before then, but no voting will be allowed or counted until September 15th. Does that make sense?
VOTING: You raise a good question, and one I hadn't thought of! So glad you asked! :-) I think that comments are allowed, but only comments with the actual word "VOTE" will count as votes. So if crazy Aunt Gertie comes along and leaves a comment asking the writer to come let her chickens out, that won't count as a vote. :-) I will add this clarification to the rules.
As far as voting goes, that's up to you guys as participants. If it were me, I'd post my story on September 15th and give myself PLENTY of time to get the votes.
Let me know if I wasn't clear in any of my answers! :-)
Does it matter which person in the ghostly love story is male or female? Or should we be basing it on your story of a living woman and a dead man?
ReplyDeleteOOH! That's a good question too! I'm going to say no - it doesn't matter. Just so long as someone is a ghost. :-)
DeleteFor some reason I can't reply to your reply...
ReplyDeleteOh well, you didn't answer if you were allowed to vote for just one or for as many as you wanted. And if everyone is posting at random times, how will you be able to read them all to know which you like best? Unless you can vote for every one you like, then I guess it doesn't matter...?
Hmmm. Good point. :-)
ReplyDeleteOkay, I am going to change that. Everyone will have a three day period to post their entries. (Sept 15-18th) THEN, from the 18th to the 30th, we will have voting. Does that sound like it will work better?
So we only vote for our favorite, not multiple times? Did I read that right?
Delete