“Dragons” Writing Challenge Pays $10K. But Hurry, It Closes In 7 Days

Two crucial rules you absolutely *must* follow

$10,000 DOLLARS. For writing a story. Can you even imagine?

Some people say writing challenges are a long shot. And they kind of are, because a lot of people enter.

But at the same time? Several of my readers have won.

Four or five, I think? I’ve written about them in previous stories. Do you know how good it feels when one of my readers emails to say OMG, I read your post, entered the challenge — and I won!!!

That’s happened several times.

So that’s why I’m writing this. Because I don’t write about the challenges with teeny payouts, but this is another with a big payout and I’d love to see one of my readers win. Here’s the details…

Straight from the horse’s mouth…

Here’s the contest details, copied from the contest page

Dust off your wizard staff, don your mithril breastplate, and prepare yourself for an adventure of epic proportions. We are asking the Vocal community to craft the first chapter of a fantasy saga.

Your story may be romantic, historical, or filled to the helmet brim with swashbuckling action. You can build new worlds populated with mystical creatures, or you can bring the magic into your own backyard.

What’s most important is that your tale captures the reader’s attention and leaves them wanting more! And, who knows, maybe somewhere down the dusty road you’ll have a chance to write the rest of the story…

To begin your quest, we are supplying you with the first sentence. Be warned, fellow adventurers: You must use the line below to start your tale. After that, the rest is up to you. Here’s the first sentence:

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley.

Here’s 2 things people are going to mess up. Then they’re going to be so disappointed when they realize their mistake too late.

I’ve seen this over and over. Writers see a big prize pot and they’re so excited, they dive right in and hit enter. But, they goof up and don’t follow the instructions to the letter. And it matters. It really, really matters.

So I want to call out these two crucial points…

1. You MUST, MUST start with the sentence they gave…

The contest rules specify the first sentence. Do not put anything in front of it. Nothing. Nada. No build up. No introduction. No preamble. Nothing in italics and no quotes or dedications of anything else to start the story.

When you start typing, the FIRST sentence in the body MUST be the exact sentence they specified. Nothing before it, okay? Not a word.

The first sentence is “There weren’t always dragons in the Valley.”

2. This is NOT a short story writing contest

If your story has an ending — you’re out. They want you to imagine you’re writing a book and just submit the first chapter.

So, it’s not a short story. It’s chapter one of a book. I know, there’s no book. lol. But that’s what they want. Chapter one of a story that could be a book.

Which means you don’t even have to wrap up all the little details. You just need to leave the reader wanting more. Which means the story shouldn’t have an ending the way a short story would.

Honestly, it should end with a cliffhanger.

Because that’s how books that won’t let you go to bed do it. Ever read a book that you can’t stop reading and before you know it, it’s 2 am? You know how they do that, right? Cliffhangers. So the reader can’t stop reading.

That’s what you want to do. Act like it’s a book. Leave them hanging and waiting for the next chapter. (Even if it never comes)

Also… lack of originality is a BIG problem

One of the things I know is that the judges look for originality.

Honestly, we humans struggle with that. People tend to write very similar things. Like, when they had a “pet” writing challenge, most of the entries were about dogs and cats. A fish here, a snake there.

The person who won wrote about trying to tame a wild animal in her back yard. Because, duh. Different stands out.

That’s going to happen again, because it always does.

Most of the entries are going to read like some kind of fan fiction contest where everyone writes the same kind of story with the same kind of characters.

As if Game of Thrones and Eragon are the only dragon stories that exist.

So, if you can think of an approach that’s not like anyone else, something the judges sit up and take notice of, you have a serious shot.

And to help you with that…

Tips from a writer who’s won 8 challenges…

When one writer has won EIGHT challenges, you know she’s done her homework and figured out what the judges are looking for.

Rather than paraphrase her words, I suggest you read it before you enter. Totally worth the read. She has a lot of strong points.

Last but not least — there’s a caveat. Make it two…

Vocal runs writing challenges all the time. Some are open to free members. The “free to enter” contests usually have small payouts.

The big payouts are for paid members only. Some people say that sucks. I mean, you have to have a membership to shop at Costco, right? Nothing wrong with a company giving the best to their members.

Plus, if entering the big ones was free for everyone, there’d be way more competition. Keeping the big prizes for paid members makes them a bit less competitive.

The base membership fee is $9.99/month, but they often send discounts or give cash bonuses when you become a member. Those are sporadic so I don’t know if they are running any incentives right now.

Honestly, if $9.99 will affect your ability to pay bills or buy groceries, then don’t do it. Enter one of their free challenges first. Maybe you can win a free writing challenge and work your way up.

So anyway, that’s the first caveat. You have to be a paid member to enter the 10K writing challenge.

The second caveat is that you have to live in a Stripe-supported country. Stripe is currently available in 43 countries. You can see the list here.

If you enter and win, please come back and tell me so I can write about your win, too. Good luck!

“You rarely win, but sometimes you do.” ―Harper Lee

Note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. If you sign up through me, I will get a small commission and it won’t cost you a penny more. :)