Fan Fiction Writing Contest

Fan fiction writing contests are a fun way to get your work seen by others and to get a nice boost in the search engines by using popular stories. It’s also a great way to come up with ideas of your own when your faced with the torturous struggle of writers block. Focusing on a short story for someone else helps me when I start to struggle on my own writings. I believe part of it is because it helps to quiet the mind. Some of the decisions are already made for us because of the writing contest rules. Fan fiction has the same allure. We already know about the characters. We are allowed to place our favorite characters into our own fantasy situations.

When I started writing The Bewitching I had several things in mind. First, I wanted it to be a trilogy where each chapter would make a good movie and appeal to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Twilight fans. My second goal was to write it in a way that there would be multiple ways to turn it into a television show. The way The Bewitching is written it can be made into a Buffy the Vampire like series in the modern time. I also had a second idea in mind. What if it was written in a way that made it easy for fan fiction writers to create their own stories of the characters.

When I was younger I was a fan of the television show Sliders and Quantum Leap. These shows were written in a way that the possibilities were endless in where each show could go. In Sliders the characters would jump to different dimensions, worlds that were only limited by the writer’s imagination. Quantum Leap revolved around the lead character taking over bodies of different people in different time periods. For instance, in one episode he found himself as the body-guard of Marilyn Monroe. In another he found himself in the body of Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the famous sex therapist.

I left those possibilities open with The Bewitching in a similar way. There are little bits and pieces of the character’s past lives. While writing about their past lives I researched some of the attire from those periods, what was going on in certain time periods with wars, or the routes people traveled and places they populated. While the first book didn’t go into a lot of detail, the second and third I hope to include more of that research.

I believe there are a lot of possibilities in a fan fiction writing contest for the past lives part of The Bewitching. I’m sure there are ideas I haven’t even thought of with ways to incorporate real history with The Bewitching characters. With some of the stories I’ve seen on Wattpad I’m sure there are those who can come up with some amazing possibilities. So here are the rules for the first ever The Bewitching fan fiction writing contest.

Fan fiction Writing Contest Rules

1. The characters used must either be Dantes, Elyssa, Annette, Alicia, or Tobias in any combination together or by themselves
2. Remember the last time Elyssa and Dantes were together was during the Salem Witch Trials. If your story has both of them after that time period, but before the present, they must not be aware of one another
3. The story must be no shorter than 2,000 words and no longer than 4,000 words.
4. Bonus points if you can incorporate any type of ancient or spiritual symbols that fit your story
5. More bonus points if you can mix the story with an event in history and place the characters in that setting
6. Multiple entries are allowed
7. You can email me your entry on FB at The Bewitching Fan Page or to Martin@TheBewitching.com and put The Bewitching Writing Contest as the subject
8. The contest ends September 30th and fan fiction winners will be posted by October 14th.

You can find an example of one of the past lives in chapter 13 of The Bewitching – Memories of a Lost Love. While that chapter deals with a flashback of a past life, for the writing contest feel free to write the story as if it’s actually happening.

I’ll post the top 5 fan fiction stories on both of my websites at MartinDouglas.info, TheBewitching.com, along with several social networks I have set up on the web. If you’re on Wattpad I’ll give you a shout out there so all my followers can find you. For those who haven’t noticed, in the last week alone my followers have gone from around 13 up to over 250+. I have some things I’m working on that should increase that number even more, along with a feature spot that’s been mentioned by the Wattpad managers. That’s a lot of possible followers that will be able to find your work through me.

If you’re up for a fan fiction writing contest then I’m up for checking out all the great stories you can write. I’ll be posting updates for the fan fiction writing contest on The Facebook Bewitching Fan Page and The Google+ Bewitching Fan Page for those who’d like to follow me there. You can also follow on my personal fan page on Facebook at Martin Douglas or on Google+ at Martin Douglas.

For those who may have missed it, besides the writing contest we still have The Bewitching character contest that is still open for entries posted here!

Fan Fiction Writing Contest

The Bewitching, How it Started Part 2

At some point it seemed I had written all I could think of in terms of relationships. Maybe I just became bored writing about the problems I saw in those relationships. I wanted to apply it to film, or to the scenes I use to write in classes, with my new understanding of human nature. I wanted a challenge and to see how deeply I could affect someone with what I wrote. I believe it was the famous actress Uta Hagen who once said that it was easy to get applause as an artist. To actually touch or connect with someone when performing in a way that you can bring tears to their eyes was a whole different challenge. When you do, that’s when you know you’re doing something right.

Writing of course has the same challenges. In my eyes it’s what separates a good writer from a great one. It’s what I hope I am, and what I hope to be. I wanted to do it differently though. Most of the scenes I had written for acting classes were sad. I asked myself what would be another indicator of affecting people emotionally. At the same time, what would be a challenge to write? I wanted to do something I’ve never done before.

I thought it’d be interesting to write a short erotic story. I can’t remember exactly why that came to mind. Maybe it was through some of the relationship discussions I had with women that wandered lightly into that territory, and a few of them mentioning having read such stories that they enjoyed. To have an effect on someone in that way, through words alone I thought would be quite a feat. It was also something I hadn’t attempted before. It would be a challenge to write something for women that was erotic and yet not vulgar or offensive. The idea intrigued me as it’s such a difficult balance to find with women.

Several days later I had completed the story. I hesitantly posted it on a blog. I can still remember cringing as I posted it. I was afraid of looking like a deviant in some of my readers eyes even though it wasn’t as graphically descriptive, or pushing the limits, as some similar writers do in their books. I can’t begin to explain how hard it is to think of non-vulgar sounding words that describe human anatomy in a way that’s attractive. Although, my wording was likely tame by todays standards with books such as 50 Shades of Grey.

Even though it was only a few pages long, I actually received a few great comments on it. I also received a few emails that told me the effect I was wondering if I could create through words had actually done just that. Surprisingly, there was no hate mail or mention of being a deviant to my relief. I sometimes wonder if I had started writing it at this point in time with 50 Shades of Grey being so popular, if I would have had the same cringing worries or carefulness in wording with the story. It’s odd how the openness and acceptance of society to such writings changes so quickly over time. Like acting, I would encourage any writer to write about what makes them uncomfortable. It opens so many doors in becoming comfortable in ones own skin and realizing that society isn’t always as harsh as we think it is. With that comfortableness comes confidence and awareness which is one of the most valuable assets to any artist. Between that and the positive responses, I began thinking more about the possibilities of actually writing a longer story.

The Bewitching, How it Started Part 2