Well, I mentioned I was going to have a contest. What you have to do: Create a character, place, thing, creature, etc. that you think should be in the world of Dern. That’s right. You get to actually create something and if you win, I’ll use it! Some information about Dern, though, to help you stick within the continent. Dern is a new continent I’m creating for the World in the Satin Bag, which becomes, at some point, a centerpiece for The Spellweaver of Dern, which is the second book that I’m going to hopefully start writing in January. Dern is going to be somewhat similar to a colonial England or America. There will be gunpowder, a lot of sailing and ships, etc. There will be differences, of course, but I’m shooting for that sort of feel. I’m not looking for it to be authentic colonial England or America, but to have little tinges of both. Given that, there will be new critters, races, etc. Humans will still be there, but I will be including a lot of fantasy elements, new magic, and the like, only all within this colonial, muskets and gunpowder and big-gun ship world. So, invent something that will go there. It could be a tower, a person, a creature, a thing, even a magic style, etc. The skies the limit. Just don’t invent machine guns and nuclear bombs. This is still very much an old, slightly industrial world where such things wouldn’t exist.(Yes, I know that in WISB there were ships that had cannons. I have an answer for that and it’s something that fits into the continent of Traea) Here are the rules: Anyone can enter. You can be of any age. One entry per person. You must use the comments feature and choose your name as anonymous. The reason for this is so there is no chance of there being a personal bias at all. I want this to be fair. Just remember what you wrote. Check your spelling and grammar. You don’t need to be perfect, but if you write in text speech I’ll just toss your entry out. I need to be able to read it. Hopefully that’s not unreasonable. Be specific, but not too specific. Don’t go off and write every single little itty bitty detail about whatever it is you’re entering with. If you create a place, say a special building, just talk about the building, not the city it is in, or its location. I want to be able to integrate what you create into the story properly. By entering you are agreeing to let me use your idea for the Satin Bag books (however many there may be). I won’t use them for another unrelated story without your permission, but you are basically saying I can have the idea. This also is why I don’t want you being too specific. You’re basically giving up copyright on the idea and you are agreeing to that by entering. Contest ends January 5th, 2008, at 12:01 AM, Pacific Time. Why? So I can actually look at the entries and pick a winner. Winter quarter opens up on the 3rd, so I don’t want to get bogged down in the middle of the quarter if I’ll be writing SoD and a dozen other projects. What will you win?A $10 gift certificate to Amazon.com! Or something of equal value (which translates to books) If you win, you will be given credit for the idea. If the Satin Bag books ever end up in print or in some other media form, you will be credited. That’s it! So, start thinking!
