[Contest] Heart of the Authors 3

Wyrmrest Accord
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Hello once more Wyrmrest Accord!

The leaves are changing around me in my home state and with the pre-planned chaos of the holiday season I'm moving my annual writing contest up a few months. If you were around this time + one month last year, you may remember this! If not, that's okay, I'm a Warrior again so I just Ignore Pain my heart feelings.

But maybe you clicked this because it says Contest in the title. What kinda contest? What kinda prizes?

I am announcing the THIRD Heart of the Authors competition, in which you - yes you, dear writers! - have the opportunity to submit a short fiction piece (1000-5000 word count) in hopes of winning prizes from the Blizzard store because there's a lot more of it now! Previously it was a Heart of the Aspects mount. Remember? The golden dragon thing?

With the quality of Blizzard's writing hotly debated across every forum I'm on these days, I thought it topical to let other writers have a shot.

The Bureaucracy of Rules
So what do you need to know to begin? Here's my rules! They may be updated as the day goes on and people point out things I've forgotten. I think I have a fairly comprehensive list of what I want, which is the best place for me to start.

  • A work of fiction, please. No anecdotal life experiences. Your short story is written on whatever inspires you. War, Noir, Romance, Action, Thriller, Suspense, Insightful, etc.
  • Blizzard universe setting only. WarCraft, StarCraft, Diablo - if you want you can do Hearthstone or some weird mish-mash via Heroes of the Storm! It would be odd to use a different setting in order to win a Blizzard item.
  • Reasonable length. Don't mistake brevity for potency, or length with quality. Write as long as you need to make your story feel alive to you, but keep in mind I'll have a lot of submissions to go through.
  • Alliance and Horde are allowed to compete!
  • Comedy, drama, mature, immature, it doesn't matter. I will try and host these off-forum so regular forum rules don't come down on a really good but extremely graphic piece, or auto-censorship ruins critical words and emotions.
  • To the above that may inspire "adult" writing, keep the top shelf grit at home since this is supposed to be a community viewed event. Steamy romance is fine, graphic sexual torture scenes and overly descriptive "cuddling" will be disqualified.
  • I am, at present, the only judge.
  • You're being judged on writing integrity, style, how well the story flows and if it can thoughtfully move someone, all the better!
  • You have from the minute you finish reading this post until October 31st, 11:59PM EST to submit your piece. I've expanded the timeframe from one month to two months to allow for more submissions, especially as I know many people are heading back to school and university during this time.
  • You have to have an active character on Wyrmrest Accord.


So What The Hell Are We Competing For?
Writing competitions always end with a stalemate at the very end, it's hard to pick "the best" and you end up with "most best." So I'm expanding the goody list a bit.

Two Grand Prize Winners shall receive a Blizzard Store mount! Yeah! Any of 'em!

1st Place Runner Up will receive a Blizzard Store pet of their choice!

2nd Place Runner Up will receive a Hearthstone Welcome Bundle!

Everyone Brave Enough To Submit will receive an in game item. I haven't decided what yet. Traditionally it's been a writing themed pet.

Submit your submissions to HeartOfTheAuthors@comcast.net, you maintain all creative control over your work and it WILL NOT BE HOSTED WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION. Please include your character name, Battle Tag or main forum handle so I can contact you easier, and also if you would or would not like it to be hosted on a community visible site - yes, this year I will get the site up and running too god damnit.

Good luck, and good writing!

TinyURL link for anyone who wants to help promote in game, in your Blizzard communities, or on various Discords: https://tinyurl.com/HoAContest2018

Questions, Comments, Concerns? Contact me @
Forum: You're already here!
Email: HeartOfTheAuthors@comcast.net
B.Net: Bridges#1120
Discord: Ben#2770
In Game: Branduran@WyrmrestAccord
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Reserved this year for F.A.Q
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Hi Visibility Vest Bump.
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This is an absolutely incredible thing you're doing.

I really want to help out, but I assume that would not be allowed if I plan to compete, which I'd really like to do. I doubt I'd win, but I've been working on my writing so this sounds like a lot of fun!
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08/28/2018 05:04 AMPosted by Shaysinn
This is an absolutely incredible thing you're doing.

I really want to help out, but I assume that would not be allowed if I plan to compete, which I'd really like to do. I doubt I'd win, but I've been working on my writing so this sounds like a lot of fun!


Heyo Shay,

How would you be interested in helping out? Jury duty? Prize patrol? Hype Grrl 2K18?

My stance is 'never say never', I piloted the last one myself but the first one Thokk helped me do the judging because it got 50+(!!) submissions. This is meant to be a community event and so I'm always receptive to ways to bring the community into it more, I do know one complaint that's come up both times is it takes me longer than I'd like to paw through everything.

Aside from that, gosh golly it's definitely not perfect and if it can snowball into something even better that people look forward to every year I'm 110% open to ideas and help.

My one stipulation is I'm not comfortable handling anyone else's money (gold / items is okay I suppose), so donating to the prize pool that way is forbidden due to feels.

If you want to throw some ideas at my ears (or eyes since it'd be reading) without having to forum post feel free to add me on B.Net!
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08/28/2018 05:27 AMPosted by Evadyn
Hype Grrl 2K18?


Well this is basically my main purpose in life, so if I see the thread get too lost I'll bump it and TELL EVERYONE I KNOW IN THE MEANTIME.

I'd be happy to donate some pets to the cause though! I'll message ya in-game soon!
Also, I'll put the word out about judges if you need them. I know quite a few English teachers for some reason who just so happen to play this game.
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Did you know that participating in writing contests gets you in the beta for new Allied Races?

I mean it doesn't so it would have been fair to not know that.

But hey here we are back on the front page.
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Oh wow, this is great! Can't wait to read all the entries :D
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(( Oh, this is really rad! It's been a long time since I've entered a contest like this. Question: would you prefer new works, or can we enter old junk? I'm pretty busy lately, and just wanna make sure I can throw something your way no matter what. ))
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08/28/2018 10:10 PMPosted by Umcha
(( Oh, this is really rad! It's been a long time since I've entered a contest like this. Question: would you prefer new works, or can we enter old junk? I'm pretty busy lately, and just wanna make sure I can throw something your way no matter what. ))


Hot funk, cool punk, even if it's old junk it's still a good sub to me.

But yeah as long as it clears the "Blizzard multiverse" and the Rated R but not XXX rules it's a-okay.

Also bump.
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08/30/2018 05:06 AMPosted by Evadyn
08/28/2018 10:10 PMPosted by Umcha
(( Oh, this is really rad! It's been a long time since I've entered a contest like this. Question: would you prefer new works, or can we enter old junk? I'm pretty busy lately, and just wanna make sure I can throw something your way no matter what. ))


Hot funk, cool punk, even if it's old junk it's still a good sub to me.

But yeah as long as it clears the "Blizzard multiverse" and the Rated R but not XXX rules it's a-okay.

Also bump.


(( Ah, good to know! I have a LOT of old stories haha. ))
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I submitted a thing because I'm brafe. Bump!
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This is cool and I appreciate you for doing it, Evadyn!

I write fantasy for a living, as it happens. I won't be able to contribute an entry this time around, but if it comes down to another situation where you're swamped with submissions, I'd be glad to help with reading and judging. Just let me know if it's needed!
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Expect something from me! (When I'm sober enough to write coherently.)
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h e c k y e. Expect some writing from me!
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Definitely glad to see this back again, hopefully can drum up something good for this once more. :D
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09/01/2018 08:55 PMPosted by Jasreha
h e c k y e. Expect some writing from me!


Language.

09/01/2018 11:02 PMPosted by Naiea
Definitely glad to see this back again, hopefully can drum up something good for this once more. :D


I look forward to your entry!

09/01/2018 02:54 AMPosted by Zheco
Expect something from me! (When I'm sober enough to write coherently.)


Get soccer mom wine drunk and then start writing for maximum results.

09/01/2018 12:33 AMPosted by Azhaar
This is cool and I appreciate you for doing it, Evadyn!

I write fantasy for a living, as it happens. I won't be able to contribute an entry this time around, but if it comes down to another situation where you're swamped with submissions, I'd be glad to help with reading and judging. Just let me know if it's needed!


I'll be in touch! There's definitely already a lot of swirl around it this year as opposed to last (probably because it came out of nowhere as a revival of a contest from Cataclysm) so I might need to formulate a panel.
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I'll definitely be working on something fun.
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(( friendly bump bc lots of people should enter this! ))
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Labor day slash evening bump.