• Start with one of your own stories. It doesn't have to be super-fleshed out, but it does need to be written down in some form, even if it's as simple as a series of character sketches and the world they live in.
• Change something important. There's a lot of options. Ask yourself 'what if X had happened differently' and go from there. Aside from changing key plot points, you may want to significantly alter a character (yes, genderbending is acceptable).
  
• Write it down! Not completely willy-nilly; there will be guidelines, of course. Oh my stars and garters, what a convenient segue.

Guidelines

• Know your grammar/spelling conventions. While I'll make allowances for non-native English speakers, there are no excuses for bad spelling. None.
• Submissions must be original prose narratives, submitted to the appropriate category. I'm not putting a word limit in—although I will say it's a lot easier to be disappointed by a longer piece than a shorter one—but it needs to have some kind of plot progression. NO VIGNETTES.
• The contest is for alternate universes, not story rewrites. See above on that whole 'what-if' thing.
• Story must stand alone. The only reason I want the original version is for judging purposes.
  
• All content must be your own. This doesn't mean I will sacrifice you to Tezcatlipoca if you use a trope, meme, or cliche, but no derivative work.
  

Prizes

To contribute a prize (journal features & critiques most welcome), please comment here or note me. A huge thanks to all the wonderful people who've contributed to the prize pool!

First Place

• Series 2 Emoticon Stress Balls + 600 points from #communityrelations
• 900 points (prize pool)
• Journal features from `IrrevocableFate, =DrippingWords, *SadisticIceCream, =NobleQueenOfLothaire and =Cassildra
• Critiques from =Cassildra and =DrippingWords
  
• Commission and a llama from =DrippingWords
• Pixel portrait from `mirz-alt
  

Runner-up

• Series 2 Emoticon Keychain Set + 300 points from #communityrelations
• 650 points (prize pool)
• Journal features from `IrrevocableFate, =DrippingWords, *SadisticIceCream, =NobleQueenOfLothaire and =Cassildra
  
• Critique and a llama from =DrippingWords

Honorable Mention

• Emoticon Buttons + 300 points from #communityrelations
• 400 points (prize pool)
• Journal features from `IrrevocableFate, =DrippingWords, *SadisticIceCream, =NobleQueenOfLothaire  and =Cassildra
  
• A llama from =DrippingWords

NOTE: if there are less than ten qualifying submissions, there won't be an Honorable Mention. So it's in your interest to get more people to submit, but they have to do it right, else it won't count.

How to Submit

Screwing this up will automatically disqualify your submission.

• Note ^neurotype with your entry between January and Feburary 18th. The contest will run until 11.59pm PST, and then that's it. No extensions.
• Link to the 'original universe' piece in the Artists' Comments. As mentioned above, there aren't any standards for it, but I need to be able to tell what the change from the original is, so make it sufficiently readable. I don't want the change written out anywhere. It's not fun.
• Don't mess with deviantART's default text formatting. No subscript, no weird fonts, no journal skins. (I already have a userstyle to narrow the text.)
  

Questions about the contest welcome, ideally as comments here or by note if you're shy.

Got nothing to ask? What are you waiting for, start writing


^neurotype

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