Stories submitted to the 19th Annual Dead of Winter contest (December 2019) will use the theme: FAMILY TREE. Your entry must follow guidelines linked below.
Have you shaken the branches on your family tree and found a character you’d like to fictionalize? Have you taken a DNA test from a popular website and thought about how it could go wrong? With the growing focus on our roots and branches, we hope you’re inspired by this theme.
SPECIAL:
Your entry will not only use the theme but will also use it in a central way, not as a peripheral or “dropped in” detail. Examples of ways to use the theme might be a discovered family Bible has missing information, a man claiming to be an uncle appears out of nowhere, or a visit to the local cemetery reveals the headstone of a twin.
Please give your story a unique title, not “The Family Tree.”
EVERY YEAR:
- Stories MUST be based on the theme provided.
- Stories MUST be set in winter.
- Stories MUST fall in the horror genre
- The word count range for DOW2019 is 2500–5000 words.
HOW TO ENTER:
The contest opens October 1, 2019 and the deadline for submission is 11:59 PM ET December 21, 2019.
Email entries to dow2019[at]toasted-cheese.com with the subject line:
Dead of Winter Contest Entry
Follow general contest guidelines and general Dead of Winter guidelines
