Gentle April 2017

What is Gentle April 2017? It’s the natural evolution of Cruel January 2017, and idea borne of Twitter conversation, and now spreading in all directions, a creative force that will not be contained. Some of us that wrote cruel stories are ready to write what we love; and some of you that aren’t naturally inclined to write a Gentle story want to flex those muscles; and some of us want to write, period. Here’s this chance.

Any size-fetish or size-fantasy writer can participate. Anyone that has a Gentle story to tell can participate. Composing and submitting an entry is open to any and all. The purpose of participating is to have fun, to challenge yourself to write something new, to engage your mind with a theme that might be new to you, and to do it all using a specific amount of words.

Here are the few, simple rules:

• The theme is “Gentle“. Aside from the official definition, it’s really up to the author to decide their own approach.
• One entry per author.
• The flash-fiction entry has a word limit of 2,000 words, no more.
• The size is Micro (normal people and tiny people), or Macro (giant people and normal people).
• Size parameters are up to the authors. Amoeba sized, ultra sized, you decide.
• Submit all stories as Google Doc, single-space, Arial 11pt.
• Original characters only; no recurring characters or settings.
• No underage characters.
• Entries are to remain anonymous: don’t post excerpts of your lovely story anywhere, or give anyone public or private hints about your entry. The price for breaking this rule is either Eternal Pain in Utter Darkness, or some sort of public shaming, or maybe a shaking of an accusative finger. Maybe a couple of enraged glares.
• Deadline to submit your name for participation is 11:59 PM EST, March 31, 2017.
• Deadline to submit your story is April 30, 2017; judges will evaluate over a yet-to-be-determined time period in May.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: If English is not your native tongue, Aborigen offers to give your completed story a light edit, both to make it look its best and to support anonymity. If you are interested, you can reach him using this contact form, or at his Twitter page.

And here’s what I lifted from Aborigen’s CruelJan17 blog page:

What does the winning writer receive? Congratulations and scene cred, probably.

Who are the judges? You, the fans and readers! Any interested party who sees the notice of the finished stories can read them all and compare them against each other.

Who’s competing?

• Undersquid
• Aborigen
• Nyx
• Will Edgecomb
• Crushed Boy Wonder
• Little Comrade
• Pedro Fellini
• MoonlightUmbry
• Karie Senkow
• Taedis
• Nodqfan
• Jackie Smalls
• Nostory
• Theophilous Bolt
• Giantess Tina
• Versusterminus7
• Nemo
• 0neGenericWord
• JDO
• DeisDratini
• Olo
• pseudoclever
• gruffmcmilitary
• agmiotti
• ryan the rebel
• newmark42

The deadline to submit your name has been reached, and the window for participating is now closed.