Wicked Writing II
November's contest announcement, News and another Digest!
The spookiest time of the year has come and gone, but horror lives here at Macabre Monday year-round.
How was your Halloween? Full of tricks, treats and slashers I hope!
Before we get to the announcement of November’s Wicked Writing contest I wanted to share some news with everyone. If you follow me on Notes, you may already know some of the stuff I am about to talk about.
As you all are probably aware by now, I am very passionate about uplifting the writers in the horror community here across Substack. Going into it I had a lot of plans for Macabre Monday, but after the first month went by I realized that I had been stretched far too thin to accomplish everything with the quality that I wanted. I also lacked knowledge on other key things that I had planned and I realized that I couldn’t accomplish everything being a one man show.
Enter: the official Macabre Monday team.
I invited some very talented individuals to join together as a team, so we can make Macabre Monday the best that it can be. They have been avid supporters and contributors since Macabre Monday began and, together, I know we will achieve everything that I hoped this publication could be.
is taking over the Meet the Maniac interviews!
is taking a leading role in the anthologies!
is using her skills to better organize Macabre Monday and the Wicked Writing contest!
volunteered his many skillsets and will bring a whole lot to the table!
We will all be working hard for the community to bring you the very best! With all that being said, many changes are ahead of us. Good changes. We hope to have the rest of the contest changes all set in place before the beginning of the next contest.
Changes/new stuff regarding the Wicked Writing Contest
Working on a form to submit your entry for the contest, rather than sending an email with your work.
Working on a page that will feature all the rules, requirements and information of the Wicked Writing contest. This way you won’t have to go searching for the announcement post, rather you can click on the navigation bar to view everything you need to know. It will be updated for every contest as well as host the submission form to enter the contest.
Working on policies and a contract for each winner to sign in order to have their work featured in the anthologies.
Judging criteria has been polished and will be explained more transparently.
Rules and requirements have been polished.
Not new, but let me be very clear: Being included in the top 5 winners, your prize is being featured in the anthology and receiving a free copy of it. There is no “free copy” for the first anthology, since it will be entirely free. (First place still receives a $20 e-gift card, as well as a featured spot in the anthology)
Changes regarding the anthologies
Instead of releasing monthly, these will be released quarterly. The current schedule that we are aiming for is January, April, July and October. I realize this might be a little disappointing, but there are reasons for this. Just to name a few:
We can collect a broader range of stories (3 contests worth). This will be more attractive to readers.
More authors will be involved in each anthology. It is our hope that they will be invested in promoting the anthology to help build their own audience which will, in turn, make it easier to market the anthology through word of mouth.
It gives us time as a team to properly edit, format, and design each anthology. All these steps require extra time investment to give them a professionally published feel.
Publishing four times per year will make it easier to balance our respective day jobs with working on the anthologies.
Looking to expand publishing beyond Substack to further promote authors work. We are exploring many different ways to go about this, including physical copies. (This does not include the first anthology, which will be free and likely only published to Substack).
Going forward (after the first anthology, and starting with the 4th contest), if you are not comfortable having your work as part of a saleable product, then you cannot participate since it will be conditional upon entry. We are promoting your work so that you gain readership. You will always retain full rights to your stories to do with them as you please. Payment for the stories is being considered, and sponsors/partners are being looked for to finance this for future anthologies.
I think that is all the news I have to share with everyone! Now on to what everyone is here for…
Something is off. The pressure in your office seemed to change out of nowhere. You’re excitement about the Wicked Writing contest disappeared—your mind favoring anxiety instead. Getting up from your chair took more effort than normal, but you persist in order to look around the room. You’re alerted to something in the air around you…can you feel it?
Nothing is there, but you sense it. It’s maddening.
A feeling of unease creeps up your back until your entire body feels uncomfortable. Dizziness overwhelms your balance. You reach out to grab your desk only to find that you entirely missed it and fall to the ground.
How is this? You could have sworn your hand was positioned to grab the edge of your desk.
Never mind that, your attention was quickly drawn to your computer which just turned off out of nowhere.
Carefully, you reach up and grab the table firmly. You squeeze to make sure you have a grip before hoisting yourself to your feet so you can look at your computer.
A single word of white characters remained against the black background.
Proprioception.
November’s Wicked Writing Contest!
If you have participated before, it’s great to have you back! If you are new here, then welcome. We hope to see you take the dive into Hell and submit your work to be judged.
Speaking of the judge, this time around it is no other than the winner of the last contest:
Not only is he the judge, he also picked out the theme himself. He went to great lengths to explain what the theme is, why he chose it and provided some inspiration points for everyone!
Same as last time, the reward for first place is $20 towards a book of your choice. An e-gift card to your chosen storefront will be provided! For entries that place 1st-5th, they win a spot in the Wicked Writing anthology that will come out in January 2024. It will be a culmination of the top 15 stories of the first three Wicked Writing Contests. (This is the only edition that will be free to all).
If you haven’t already guessed, this month’s theme is a little something called proprioception.
Theme Introduction:
Proprioception is our innate sixth sense, a silent guide that shapes our interaction with the world, yet remains largely in the shadows of our consciousness. It’s the sense that allows you to walk in complete darkness without tripping, or touch your finger to your nose with your eyes closed. Rooted in our muscles, joints, and tendons, proprioception tells us where our body is in space at any given moment.
Why Proprioception?
This theme challenges you to bring the unseen into the spotlight—to unsettle, to horrify, to intrigue. What happens when this hidden sense turns against us, or becomes the playground for supernatural phenomena? Imagine a world where proprioception can be hacked, altered, or manipulated to horrifying ends. Picture characters who must confront the terror of their own bodies betraying them in spaces both familiar and foreign.
Inspiration Points:
The Loss of Control: What happens when a character can no longer trust the position of their own limbs, or even sense where they are?
The Uncanny: Use proprioception to delve into the unsettling feeling of something familiar turned impossibly strange.
Ethereal Threats: Could there be entities or phenomena that specifically target our proprioceptive sense, making us feel haunted from within our own skin?
Medical Horrors: Experiments aimed at enhancing proprioceptive senses that result in disturbing, unforeseen consequences.
Environment: Environments where the rules of proprioception are altered, such as a house where your sense of body position changes from room to room.
The Challenge:
Your task is to weave a tale that explores the dark and horrifying corners of proprioception, pulling this unseen sense into the revealing light of narrative. Make us feel, deep in our bones, a terror that we’ve never felt before—because it’s coming from sense of self.
Wicked Writing Contest Rules
Contest Deadline: November 20th, 2023
Entry Requirements:
Word Count: The entry must be a minimum of 500 words and a maximum of 3000 words.
Format: The entry must resemble a short story. (if your poem can reach over 500 words, have at it).
Genre: The entry must be speculative horror/dark fiction and written in English.
Subscription: Anyone who wishes to enter must be a subscriber to Macabre Monday.
Number of Entries: Only one entry per person.
AI Restriction: NO AI—Not like that trash would win anyway.
Collaboration: Multiple authors can work on and submit an entry, but only one author can take credit for it. Other authors are allowed to make a separate entry.
Submission: The entry must be a shared Google document or similar file. Once complete, send the document to MacabreMondayEditor@gmail.com with the subject line “Wicked Writing Entry” to be confirmed. This will change next time!
Publishing Rules: The entry content cannot be posted to Substack until after the contest is over, to prevent biased judging.
Timing: Must be work that was started and completed within the contest timeline, no sooner.
Repeat Winners: Any 1st place winner must wait for an additional contest to pass before they are allowed to participate again.
Blind Judging: No personal details (Bio, Substack name, etc.) are allowed in the document to preserve blind judging. Provide your name(s) and Substack in the entry email.
Good Sport: No unkind behavior towards other contestants or the judge will be tolerated. A verbal warning will be issued first, followed by a total ban if the behavior continues. If something occurs that we are not aware of, please feel free to shoot over an email about the situation. We aim to make this contest a safe and fun place for writers to engage in light-hearted, healthy competition.
Judging Criteria:
Entries will be judged upon each of the categories listed below. Each category is worth 10 points, allowing for a total of 50 points to be earned overall.
Creativity & Originality (20%) - Evaluates how novel and unique the story is. Considers new ideas, twists, or innovative approaches to the genre.
Flow, Structure, and Character (20%) - Assesses the logical progression of the story, the organization of its structure, and the depth and believability of characters.
Quality of Writing (20%) - Measures technical excellence of the writing, including grammar, syntax, and style. Focuses on effective language use, sentence variety, and textual richness.
Macabre Meter (20%) - Evaluates the intensity and effectiveness of dark, grim, or chilling elements in the narrative and their contribution to a feeling of dread or horror.
Thematic Coherence (20%) - Looks at how well the story adheres to or explores the given theme and the integration and consistency of the theme throughout the story.
To all that plan on entering, best of luck to you all! Please make sure you understand all the rules and judging criteria before submission. This will prevent your submission from being denied, as well as provide you with the best chance of placing in the top 5.
Your Weekly Horror Digest
shared reviews on 3 horror books and paired songs along with the novels. This time around she talked about Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, Catriona Ward’s Little Eve, and Carmen Maria Machado’s Her Body and Other Parties. posted about horror that is unintentional. She provides great insight into some of the weird fears that we may have had as children, and even now as adults. shared a new story that he wrote, however, for the first time ever he worked with a talented voice actor to make it an audio story! Go check it out!
That’s all I have for you this week! Check back in next Monday to read an interview by
that features !Join the discussion on notes here on the Substack platform every Monday!
Stay Spooky.
If you are looking for people to follow on notes for Macabre Monday other than the ones above, check out all the people participating:
haunting the staircaseJenoviaHoneygloomJohn CoonShaina ReadreinancruzKoshmarovMichael S. AtkinsonPC3Author Michele BardsleyL.C. MarinoL.L. FordLloyd MinerA. B. FrankCyndi GacostaLaura JohnstonPatricia J.L. 👻🧶🖊️Jessica MaisonJennifer MorrowStirling S NewberryBrian SchellRoss JefferyNicolina TorresLauren SalasStephen A. DavisChaotic TrashSusan EarlamJon TDaniel W. DavisonDaniel O’DonnellMichael P. MarpaungRobert WalrodJohn ParceBuck WeissLeigh ParrishMaceyCole NobleOlivia St. LewisNewton WebbEJ TraskJoshua T Calkins-TreworgySkylaAndrei AtanasovAnna C. WebsterLucas MangumCarla Pettigrew
Exciting to see a new contest coming! Thank you for featuring my post too!
True story: I was at a Walgreens store once where they had a collection of Sally figurines; I, erm, accidentally dropped and broke its head off.
Fortunately we are still together, even if the Sally figurine isn't.