A Spooky Tales Competition

Hey everyone! We’ve been through a lot over the past few weeks, but now that we’ve had a chance to settle into the new place, it’s time to have a little fun.

Have you ever found yourself alone at night and heard a thump in the dark? Did you catch the doll on the shelf move out of the corner of your eye or did you leave the closet door open?  Perhaps new neighbors have just moved in and there is something not quite right. We want to see your best spooky stories.

They don’t have to be scary, but they must contain some element of fear or fright. Please keep in mind that entries with gratuitous gore or extremely graphic violence will not be accepted.

All categories are open except for the following ones: Micro Fiction, Plays, Poetry, and Songs.

The maximum word count is 5000.

Quick Facts:

You cannot submit already published work.

The story must be stand-alone.

We will not accept gratuitous gore or graphic violence.

The maximum word count is 5000.

The winners will be announced on November 12, 2021.

All our standard story contest rules apply.

Yee haw! A spooky comp ending on Hallowe'en and I have a week off coming up. 

No gratuitous gore or graphic violence!? I'M OUTTA HERE!!!

I won't enter--I'm not sure I'm allowed--but I look forward to reading the entries. Good comp theme! 

Quote by verbal

No gratuitous gore or graphic violence!? I'M OUTTA HERE!!!

I won't enter--I'm not sure I'm allowed--but I look forward to reading the entries. Good comp theme! 

No gratuitous gore or violence is just fine with me. I prefer more subtle forms of horror and ghost stories anyhow. I'm a big fan of classic English ghost story writers like M. R. James and Algernon Blackwood. If you can't tell from my previous scribblings in the genre. Just realized this also takes care of my annual Hallowe'en ghost story, much as one of my Cheers to Ten Years entries took care of last year's.

Quote by verbal

No gratuitous gore or graphic violence!? I'M OUTTA HERE!!!

I won't enter--I'm not sure I'm allowed--but I look forward to reading the entries. Good comp theme! 

Well, and there's that whole writing a novel thing. 😊 Though I'd hope he could drag himself away from that for 5000 words.

I did post this over on Wondercafe2, the site I admin. Not sure we'd get anyone from there but someone might surprise me. And I do promo my own stories and occasionally others on there so it might at least get us some readers.

Quote by Molly

Quote by verbal

No gratuitous gore or graphic violence!? I'M OUTTA HERE!!!

I won't enter--I'm not sure I'm allowed--but I look forward to reading the entries. Good comp theme! 

Why can't you enter? Because you won the last one? Don't worry, that's not a thing here. If you get an idea we definitely welcome it. 

I've got mine in already. Just to make the numbers up, I wrote it in an hour. Not sure if it will pass muster or not. Horror isn't really my thing. 

Yeesh, you're quick. I only just got an idea on the way home from work and probably won't start until the weekend.

We've got our first story!

Verity: https://www.storiesspace.com/stories/supernatural/a-village-in-cornwall

Is there a tag or anything special that has to be added to mark the story as a competition entry? I didn't see such a thing on the first entry, but it is early morning here, so maybe I missed it. 

But if there isn't one, could something be put in place to have the entries stand out and be identified?  🤷🏻‍♀️

Quote by Mendalla

Yeesh, you're quick. I only just got an idea on the way home from work and probably won't start until the weekend.

Quote by verbal

Quote by Molly

Quote by verbal

No gratuitous gore or graphic violence!? I'M OUTTA HERE!!!

I won't enter--I'm not sure I'm allowed--but I look forward to reading the entries. Good comp theme! 

Why can't you enter? Because you won the last one? Don't worry, that's not a thing here. If you get an idea we definitely welcome it. 

It's seems unsporting somehow. And Ape is right - I need to keep my eyes on the road for the next 8 months, no side trips to write short stories (though if I get blocked that may well change).

 

Quote by gypsy

Is there a tag or anything special that has to be added to mark the story as a competition entry? I didn't see such a thing on the first entry, but it is early morning here, so maybe I missed it. 

But if there isn't one, could something be put in place to have the entries stand out and be identified?  🤷🏻‍♀️

I've sent them a message about that. That is something I dropped the ball on and assumed it would pop up automatically. 

For now, I'll just ask everyone to add competition to the tags.

I didn’t enter the last comp so I’ll pull my finger out and try this one  

Thank you for sorting it, Molly. Regular competitions are good for SS IMO x 

Competition details tweeted. I hope everyone else does the same 😊

I entered to give support to the site. It's a good site and people should give it a breath of the living. 

My story is on first draft after a bit of a rocky start. And I basically set it in my own office just for lulz.

Quote by Mendalla

My story is on first draft after a bit of a rocky start. And I basically set it in my own office just for lulz.

Mine’s going to be a last minute rush as I’m busy at work at present then I’m going on holiday for a few days. Hopefully, a break will give me inspiration, the dreaded writers block has been very real for months now  

I don't have any stories currently to flesh out for this, but I'll try and come up with something suitably creepy and disturbing. 😈

Love the banner that up on the top of the home page now. Perfect promo for the comp.

Cool banner!!!

I've been pretty busy in real life, but I think I've finally got an inkling of an idea (love the banner too). Just need to figure out how to approach it. 😋

Quote by Molly

All categories are open except for the following ones: Micro Fiction, Plays, Poetry, and Songs.

The maximum word count is 5000.

Quote by Mendalla

Quote by Molly

All categories are open except for the following ones: Micro Fiction, Plays, Poetry, and Songs.

The maximum word count is 5000.

Molly, the two items above aren't on the competition page. I had to come here to confirm the word count.

Quote by Molly

Quote by Mendalla

Quote by Molly

All categories are open except for the following ones: Micro Fiction, Plays, Poetry, and Songs.

The maximum word count is 5000.

Molly, the two items above aren't on the competition page. I had to come here to confirm the word count.

I'm adding it now.

Time to give this a bump, I think. Six entries so far including Tams, who just went up this afternoon. We hit the two week mark tomorrow with about 17 days to go after that. Still lots of time to get in on the action, folks. Last comp we hit 15 entries and I think at least one of the ones last year hit 16. Can we better that mark this time around?

Quote by Mendalla

Time to give this a bump, I think. Six entries so far including Tams, who just went up this afternoon. We hit the two week mark tomorrow with about 17 days to go after that. Still lots of time to get in on the action, folks. Last comp we hit 15 entries and I think at least one of the ones last year hit 16. Can we better that mark this time around?

If we get ten or fewer, I will make the top ten. Hurrah I say.

Eight stories in, ten days to go. And there's some great stuff coming in, too. Let's keep it rolling.

Three days to go and things are getting spookier all the time. Three more entries in the comp, bringing us to twelve. Will there be more? Is one going to jump out from behind the bushes and go "Boo!" at the last minute?