PC - any activity marked PC means that it takes place Pre-Convention
OE - any activity marked OE is an Optional Extra and involves the purchase of a ticket add-on
FE - any activity marked FE means Free Entry and is included in your main convention ticket
Writing Competition - PC / FE
Welcome to The Homecoming Writing CompetitionWe are staging a gen fic writing competition for people who are attending the convention in September 2016 in association with Fandemonium Books. To be eligible for entry into the competition you need to be the holder of a valid Homecoming ticket.
By entering the competition you give Gatecon the authority to reproduce parts of your story for publicity purposes (but not for financial gain). You also give Fandemonium the right to reproduce your story in part or in full.
The closing date for entries is 31st March 2016 and the judges will choose up to TWO winners - one for a Stargate SG-1 story and one for a Stargate Atlantis story. The winners will have their work published in the Fandemonium Books short story collection (2017). All rights to the story are granted in perpetuity to MGM and the winners will be required to sign a publishing agreement to that effect
Please note we are unable to accept any Stargate Universe stories for publishing licence reasons
You will need to complete the registration form at the link below to let us know you are entering the competition.
REGISTER HERE
Please read the writer's guidelines supplied by Fandemonium Books thoroughly to make sure you understand the requirements of the competition.
*Your completed script must be emailed to us before the closing date at gatecon.events@gmail.com Please make sure you have a subject line of "Homecoming Writing Competition" and include your full name and Homecoming Ticket / Seat number. We are unable to accept entries after the 31st March 2016. Your story must be original and previously unpublished.
Please send your script as a Word document and formatted as per the guidelines below.
Don't forget we are also lucky enough to have some of the Stargate Novels team with us at The Homecoming. The authors will be taking to the stage for a Q&A panel and will also have a table in the Dealers Room where they will be selling and signing copies of their books
Fandemonium BooksWriter’s guidelines: short stories1 Writers who can demonstrate excellent use of character voice and the ability to capture the mix of humor and drama for which the shows are known.
2 Stories that are firmly rooted in the Stargate universe – i.e. use of ancient mythologies/cultures off-world, use of realistic USAF military culture, use of the show’s specific ‘science’ as established in canon. Stargate is not the same as Star Trek
3 Strong understanding and use of the main characters’ back stories and interpersonal relationships
4 Use of a wide range of canon characters – development of minor characters is encouraged in order to illuminate the main characters.
5 Stories that put the team in an impossible and dangerous situation and then let them struggle free through their own ingenuity.
6 Stories that reflect what you see on screen in terms of content, language, and relationships
6 Word count: 8,000 - 10,000
A few don'ts:
1 Don’t focus the story on an original/minor character. The team must be the main protagonists and problem solvers in the story.
2 Don’t make any permanent changes to the Stargate universe.
3 Don’t include offensive language that exceeds that spoken on the TV show.
4 Don’t include explicit sex or hinge a story on it having occurred.
Style:Stargate:SG-1 and Stargate:Atlantis stories must adhere to strict third-person point of view with scene breaks to denote any POV shifts.
- Please use ‘off-world’ rather than off world or offworld
- Please use Stargate (capitalized) or gate (not Gate or ‘gate)
- Please use gate-room (not gate room or gateroom)
- Use n-dashes in the middle of sentences, and m-dashes to indicate interrupted dialogue
- Please don’t use 2IC instead of second in command
Format:- Proper indent the first line of each paragraph
- No line breaks between paragraphs
- *** break for major scene or POV change
- use left alignment, not full justification
- insert hard page breaks at the end of each chapter
- Leave plenty of margin, header and footer width for editing
- 12 point courier
- Use words to one thousand and numerals, 1001, thereafter
- Footer with title, name and page number
- US spellings throughout
Drumroll please, the names of the winners of the short story competition have just been received.
SG-1: Blinded by the Light - Barbara K. Ellisor
SGA: Second Time Sateda - Ron Francis
From Sally at Stargate Novels:
"A huge thank you to everyone who entered the short story competition! We had great fun reading all the entries – there were some really fun and imaginative submissions and it was wonderful to read stories written by such enthusiastic fans who clearly love the show and its characters.
Of course, that made choosing the winning stories pretty difficult, but in the end we managed to agree on our two winners. We’re sure you’ll agree that the stories are fantastic when you get to read them in our next short story anthology. Thanks again, everybody, and see you in September!"
The winners will be given their contracts to sign at the convention.
Congratulations!
