In order to qualify for this contest, you must:

1. Read Unseen (the story is short so this is only a commitment of 1-2 hours). The prompts will be based on Unseen, so having read the story will be necessary. While votes and comments are appreciated greatly, they are not a requirement and your story will be judged on its own merit, not on whether you've voted for my work or not.

2. Add Unseen to one of your public reading lists.

3. Write a story based on the prompt that is 2000 characters or less. Note: if you are writing on your phone, look for a free word/character counter app that will help you figure out how long your story is. 2000 characters is roughly 350 words. You can also use this website: www.wordcounter.net

Submission Process:

1. Submit your work as a Private Message to me. (Note: The title of your story does not have to be included in the 2000 character limit. If the title will not fit into the PM with the text of your story because of this limit, you may send it to me in a separate PM.

2. Add a comment to the current month's writing contest chapter after you have submitted your entry, stating "I've entered this month's contest. My story title is named..." This will be a way for me to verify that I've accounted for all of the current month's entries. DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR STORY AS A COMMENT ON THAT CHAPTER. If you do, I will ask you to resubmit it as a PM.

3. The contest opens as soon as I've posted the prompt, which will be on the 1st of the month whenever possible. Submit between the 1st and the 15th of the month. Any submissions received after the 15th will be disqualified.

In order to avoid being disqualified from the contest, please also observe the following:

1. Stick to the 2000 character limit. Any entry over 2000 characters will be eliminated.

2. Enter no more than 2 stories per month. If you enter more than 2, you will be eliminated from that month's contest (note: this limit may be increased if I do not receive a large number of submissions during my August test month).

Remember to have fun! My guest judges will have their own opinions, but their opinions don't mean that your story isn't good. So, if you don't win the first month you enter, try again the following month and never ever become disheartened, or at least, don't let your disheartened state make you stop writing. Keep writing!

NOTE: I will collect stories I really like which are not in a judge's top 4, and will publish them as their own chapter in the summer of 2015, so if your story is not selected by a guest judge, take heart...it may just appear at the very end of the contest!