In the last WEbook Writing Challenge, we asked writers to create a monster. Now, we’re going to have you slay one—a dragon, to be specific. After this challenge, we’ll move away from mythical beasts (probably).

If you’re currently thinking, “There aren’t that many ways to slay a dragon, this is going to be a boring challenge where all the entries are the same,” you are addressing this challenge in a closed-minded fashion. We hypothesize that there are well over a thousand original ways for a ... more »

In the last WEbook Writing Challenge, we asked writers to create a monster. Now, we’re going to have you slay one—a dragon, to be specific. After this challenge, we’ll move away from mythical beasts (probably).

If you’re currently thinking, “There aren’t that many ways to slay a dragon, this is going to be a boring challenge where all the entries are the same,” you are addressing this challenge in a closed-minded fashion. We hypothesize that there are well over a thousand original ways for a dragon to be slain, and that the entries in this challenge, while they will be exceptional, will only begin to scratch at the surface of possibilities.

There is only one restriction: The scene must involve a human slaying a dragon.

Time period, type of dragon, type of human, situation, method, and motivation for the slaying are all factors left entirely up to the writer, and comprise the meat of the challenge. We want to see some world-building and some deep emotion here. Hate? Sorrow? Guilt? Joy? Guilt caused by Joy? Revenge? Greed? Pride? Sense of duty? These are a few examples you can incorporate into your slaying-scene, but don’t feel limited to just these. We trust you to recognize a deep emotion when you feel one.  

With a challenge like this that relies on ingenuity, there is the possibility of copy-cat-etry (i.e. submission #4 has a robot dragon and then, by some magical coincidence, so does submission #7, #10, #14, and #15). Since we like to keep these challenges open and collaborative, this issue can’t really be avoided. We have three preemptive thoughts on this issue:

1. These challenge are for fun, don’t freak out if somebody submits an entry that “copied” your idea.

2. Sniping somebody else’s dragon-slaying method is a pretty lame thing to do.

3. The idea is rarely the deciding factor in a winning entry. If you come up with an awesome idea and execute it skillfully, we will recognize you for doing so, even if someone else used the same idea.

Entries are not to exceed 500 words. The deadline for this challenge is March 31, 2011 at 10 PM EST.

The Prizes

The WEbook editorial staff will pick 6 winners and award them a coupon to PageToFame. We will feature the top three entries on the WEbook blog in successive installments and highlight the stuff we liked about these entries. The #1 dragon-slaying scene-writer will receive an actual dragon in the mail. No joke. We’ll mail you a dragon and probably a really nice note.

To enter the Dragon Slaying Challenge, START A NEW CHAPTER in this project.

Note #1: WEbook does not take into account the user ratings when deciding who will win the challenge. We read each submission carefully, and decide the winners based on our own judgment.

Note #2: There is sometimes a word count discrepancy between MS Word and WEbook's word count editor, causing authors' entries to appear to go a few words over the limit. Don't worry about this! We are aware of the issue and a few extra words will not affect our consideration of your writing.

Note #3: Only one submission per person, please (you can, however, revise up until the deadline).

Good luck, Dragon Slayers.

—WEbook  Less