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The Summer Story Contest is a long-standing (as much as anything on the net can be!) tradition on Usenet.  The first one was started seven years ago on ASS by Duchin, who read all the stories himself and did the judging with only three other people!

The rules are pretty simple this year and will be posted to ASS and SSS weekly.

The contest began Monday 28 May 2001 and will end Monday 3 September 2001.

Instructions for how to submit a story for the contest are at the end of this post.  Please read them carefully!

oOo

RULES

1.  SSC stories must be no longer than 500 words.  (Headers, titles, author names, comments, copyright notices and such aren't included in the counts.)

2.  Stories need to be about our topic of common interest (that's spanking in case you've been wondering <g>) in some general or loose sense.

3.  Stories need to be complete in and of themselves.  If you just split a bigger story into 500-word chunks, it'll make it really hard to read and review properly.  The challenge here is to write self-contained stories of 500 words or fewer.

4.  Stories shouldn't have been entered in an SSC before.  If a story has been posted before, but not in an SSC, that's cool.

5.  SSC stories must be posted to either soc.sexuality.spanking, or alt.sex.spanking, or both.  They must also be e-mailed to this address, which will make sure they get reviewed and archived:   ssc@gelemna.org

Please note that it's a tradition for SSC stories to be archived publicly.  By entering a story in the SSC we assume that you're giving your permission for it to be archived.

6.  Please make sure to put the tag 'SSC' (without the quotes) at the start of the Subject: line.  When posting to alt.sex.spanking please also follow the 'ZZZ' Subject: line convention.  It'll help if you also put the category that you're entering the story for in the Subject: line.

7.  All stories will be reviewed and (with the exception of 'Festival' stories) judged.  A panel of readers will nominate 'bests' in each category, and at the end of the contest we'll have an open vote to decide which of the nominees is the winner and runner-up in each category.  There'll be plenty of 'special category' awards, too.

8.  Spanking should be taken seriously <g>.  This contest shouldn't.  The point here is to encourage original writing by lots of people, (especially those who haven't written about spanking before!), not to make anyone feel better or worse than someone else.  :) If you find yourself feeling better or worse than another writer, take a deep breath, turn off your computer and go outside for a while.  After all, it's summertime!!

oOo

CATEGORIES

Here are the categories for this year's contest.  When you enter a story, choose the category that you'd like it to be entered in, and identify the category clearly when you post.

Adult - No one in the story is a child.

Child - At least one of the story's characters is under 18.

Edge - One cool thing about the SSC is that authors can push their own writing to the edges of their fantasies.  Edge stories should be writing that, for whatever reason, is edgy to you.  An author's notes explaining why a story is edgy for them is always interesting, and doesn't count toward the word-limit.

Beginning - Stories using a specific, given first sentence.  Ending - Stories using a specific, given last sentence.
Watch out for announcements about what first and last sentences are available!  To keep the contest fresh this year, we'll be adding new sentences every few weeks or so.

• The key turned easily in the lock.
• Once upon a time, I was foolish enough to believe
• I always knew he/she was insane, but this...
• It was a dark and stormy night
• He was a dark and stormy knight
• And the schoolgirls [or boys] laughed until they cried.
• It was the last thing I'd expected to find.
• No, we didn't kill each other, but that's a whole different story.
• Come, love, it's time
• I wasn't there, but some things you know
• It was easy
• Tabitha had no reason to be on Clark St. at two in the morning
• But in spite of these things, it was a gay and magnificent revel...
• I don't know why I'm writing this
• There was no possibility of taking a walk that day
• It is impossible to say how the idea first entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night
• Most people hate airport lounges; I find them bursting with possibility

The line does not count toward the 500 word total.

Festival - These stories will be reviewed and archived, but not judged.  This category is intended for posters who want to participate in the SSC but are put off by the idea of competing in a contest.   :)

oOo

HOW TO ENTER A STORY

 (Please read carefully!) --  So, here's how to enter a story in this year's SSC:

1.  Write the story!  (That's the hard part done.)

2.  Choose a category (from those shown above) to enter the story  in, and mark the story clearly with the category you've chosen.

3.  Post the story to either soc.sexuality.spanking, or  alt.sex.spanking, or both.  Make sure to:

• Put 'SSC' (without the quotes) at the start of the Subject:  line.
• Post in plain text.  If you use a word processor with a  proprietory format, like MS Word, save as plain text before you post.  Please also avoid using attachments, and avoid  posting in HTML if you can.  Plain text will be easier for everyone to read.

4.  Also, send the story by e-mail to the readers at this address:  ssc@gelemna.org

5.  Wait for lots of praise about the story.  :-) Oh, and get to work writing the next story.

oOo

READERS

This year we're very lucky to have lots of help.  The following delightful people have volunteered to be readers and reviewers:

I have, of course, accepted their offers.   :)  You can send e-mail to all of the readers by writing to <ssc-readers@gelemna.org>.

As has been the case for the last two years, technical support and archiving are provided by Don Croyle.  Thank you hardly seems enough.

Pablo Stubbs is going to be co-organizing the contest.  He just isn't to get any of the credit.  However, if something goes wrong you should, of course, blame him first.  :)

Special thanks to past contest heads, Michele, Duchin, DLynn, Sparkle and Randi for their advice in getting this going this year.  However, their accusations of insanity are unfounded.   Um, I think.

Don't hesitate to write to me <mijita@newsguy.com> or Pablo <Pablo.Stubbs@newsguy.com> if you have any questions about the contest.  But please keep in mind the arbitary nature of dictators and remember that the rules may change based solely on my whims.  Bwahahahaha!

Peace,

Mija
who hasn't noticed her headgirl pin now reads pinhead.

Go to the directory of stories.

Last updated:  March 19, 2013