Ever wondered why the early hours of the morning are so still, so silent, and yet so ... creepy? The Witching Hour isn't just when the bars close; it's an archaic belief that sinister forces emerge between the hours of midnight and 3am, growing heightened in their powers and number. But here on the dark side of Wattpad, we don't stay up late for those phantom howls, black magic rituals and the distant footfalls of the undead. That's why, this Halloween, we're bringing the Witching Hour to Wattpad.
In association with fright, ParanormalCommunity, ParanormalLovers, WattVampires, WattVampiros, & WattyWolves.
"THE FIRST HOUR"
The Wattpad Witching Hour Short Story Contest
For the first part of this collective event, we're offering you the opportunity to write a short story that could form the basis of Part 2: "The Second Hour". This is also a portion of the prize, as Wattpadders flock to your story to try and solve its secrets!
So, in 1000 - 3000 words, tell the tale of a mysterious, ominous event that occurs during the Witching Hour, in which people (supernatural or otherwise) are reported missing ...
What manner of sinister activities led to the moment you found out the truth? And what, or who, is the cause of it?
Things To Consider
We are looking for three key factors to be apparent in your story in order for it to be carried on to Part 2:
Your story should be paranormal-, horror-, or mystery-themed. This doesn't necessarily mean we are looking solely for chills and thrills, but something that is imaginative, elaborate, and polished.
Your story takes place in or refers to the Witching Hour.
Your story has closure. I.e., we learn who, what, where, how and why.
Contest Guidelines
Stories must be rated for Everyone as they have a chance of being added to The Witching Hour anthology on the Paranormal Community profile. This unfortunately means we are not accepting Mature stories at this time. You can read the Wattpad Content Guidelines right here to find more about these definitions.
Stories should be no less than 1000 words long and no more than 3000 words.
Stories should be written in English. We apologise for any inconvenience! If English is not your primary language you are still welcome to enter. We also accept translated works.
We are accepting only one entry per user.
Your story should be complete, as we cannot accept ongoing works.
Stories should be original (unfortunately we cannot accept fan-fiction at this time) and written especially for this contest.
How to Submit
Please fill out this submission form.
Tag your story #WattpadWitchingHour
Submissions will be closed on 6th October 2017 23:59:59 EST. Entries submitted after this time can regrettably not be counted.
Optional: Nominate a friend to participate!
The Prizes
There will be multiple winners to this part of the event. Winners will be automatically added to The Witching Hour anthology on the Paranormal Community profile (more information on that coming soon!).
Winners will be promoted across all associated Wattpad profiles to an audience of almost 300,000!
The grand winner of the short story contest will have their story immortalised as the basis of the next part of this event, as well as take a feature spot on Halloween in The Witching Hour anthology.
The grand winner will also win an epic audio reading of their story, courtesy of WattZombie!
Reminder: Do not post the link to your story in the comments. This may jeopardise your chances of winning!