SHADOWKAT SHORT STORY CONTEST (MAY-NOVEMBER)

Never participated in an MW contest before because you're not very talented in terms of visual art? The day has finally come where you can get some spotlight.

So what is this new contest for? Well, the goal is to suitable short story as a back-up feature for Shadowkat: The Novel.

What are the basics? We suggest reading all previous Shadowkat stories on our page (look in either the "Shadowkat" or the "Stories" folder) to get a grasp of who Shadowkat is as a character, as well as reading more into him on his bio at mwcomics.wikia.com/wiki/Shadowkat. You should also be sure to pick a good Shadowkat villain, read up on him/her, or if you're going to feature other MW Central characters you should similarly look into them as well. There's a lot there to do, so this contest will be much longer than our typical ones to give people enough time to both do their research, write, and then proof-read their entries. There is no exact upper or lower limit, the story should be as long as it needs to be. If it's a paragraph or so and ends up winning, we will allow for more than one entry to be in. All stories should star Shadowkat or one of his "satellites", such as Bulldog or Loanshark (satellites are further explained below).

If you have any problems with characterization, Shadowkat's creator, Matthew Werner, will be open to giving consultation as you're writing, ensuring that you get their personalities, diction, abilities/powers, and such all down. If you'd like to privately contact Matthew, either note us on here or email us and let us know how you'd like to talk (Skype, email, notes, Google Hangouts). In the event that something you decide to do disrupts the plans for future MW Central stories, we'll try fixing that without making you have too much weight on your shoulders.

Remember, we will proof-read your stories for any grammatical or otherwise small errors. We do ask you try to spell and whatnot as well as possible (less work for us, the faster it is we can announce the contest winners), but don't think that just because you miss the one "f" in "giraffe" that your entry will not be accepted. We'll tighten all that stuff up for you.

RULES:
1 Writers can make as many practice drafts or short stories as they wish, but they can only pick one official entry.
2 No one is to disrespect another writer or their entry. If anyone does then they will be warned not to continue, and if they do they will be disqualified.
3 Entries are to be original, not plagiarized or written by someone else for you. If someone is exposed as a plagiarist, they'll be disqualified and black-listed for future contests.
4 Entries should read like a Shadowkat short story, not a contemporary character like Batman or something which otherwise does not suit Shadowkat like smut. Remember, this story will be part of the MW canon, and as such should be consistent.
5 Contestants are to link their official entry in the comments of the official MW post, send it to us via note or email, or tag us (though this is not advised as the only way to let us know you've entered--please send us a private message as well if you decide to tag us). If there's a way which is more convenient for you, please feel free to let us know in the comments and we'll see if we can work things out.
6 Stories are to be submitted before the last week of this November, specifically Thursday the 23rd. We'll accept entries for 12 hours afterwards, to have a grace period, but there will be no further extensions. The revisions period will be from the 24th to the end of November, 2017. During this time we will fix any glaring technical errors (spelling, punctuation, etc.) and judge all entries which were sent in during the eleventh hour. Once we finish judging and correcting, we will announce the winners.
7 Our own writers, members, and partners can participate in this contest, as it's all in good fun. Judging will be done fairly, however--if we think your story fits the character better than that of any of our members (as well as every other contestant, of course), you will win, no questions asked, and no bias towards our members. Their stories will almost certainly be repurposed and released otherwise so we would have no reason to do something like that.
8 If you decide to have any other character in your story which is not part of the Shadowkat satellites (who are basically the main and supporting casts) or an MW Central character: please make sure that the character is either your own or one we can actually get permission for (please arrange this beforehand, and not retroactively). That means sorry, but no Optimus Prime's or Zenyatta's (we know the pain). We just can't try putting those characters on our website or elsewhere, say "No, but our dude is the other guy; we get that we don't own the rights to ____.", and not expect a backlash of some sort; whether legal, from the copyright owner, or just public, in people skewering us for whatever reason. Stories which feature copyrighted characters without the expressed permission of the copyright owner (whether that be someone from MW or elsewhere) are immediately disqualified.

PRIZES:
1ST PLACE The winner will have their Shadowkat short story used as a back-up for Shadowkat: The Novel and properly credited for it; it will be posted on our websites (mwiki.snack.ws and mwcomics.wikia.com) as well as other MW literature pages (Wattpad, WritersCafe, etc.); they will receive credit in every future re-issue of Shadowkat: The Novel, including a potential physical release; they get a no questions asked request of one of our artists (do remember that we cannot guarantee a certain artist will be available for your request in a timely fashion (only applicable for non-MW members, unless they happen to have an original character that another artist will draw)) and one of our writers (similarly, we cannot guarantee a writer's timely availability); they can have a private chat with some of our members; they will be given a free digital copy of our upcoming comic, Shadowkat: Fine China (written by Matthew Werner, penciled by Benjamin Delabays (bendels), inked and colored by Edward Joseph) as well as early access to the future sequels to Shadowkat: The Novel, including the next one, Shadowkat: The Bleeding; the writer may become a regular MW writer; we will give free promotion to any creation of theirs they wish as well as any that aren't theirs as they wish (as long as said creation isn't anything like pro-Nazi).
2ND PLACE Runner-up will get a similar no questions asked request of one of our artists and writers; their entry will be featured on both MW websites and other MW literature pages; they'll also be given a free digital copy for the first half of Shadowkat: Fine China and early access to future book sequels; the writer in question may become a regular at MW.
DIDN'T PLACE BUT... Anybody who doesn't make it into the top 2 who we still think did well will have their work featured on both MW websites and other MW literature pages; they'll be given early access to future book sequels; the writer(s) in question may become regulars at MW.

Hey, I wanna join MW/Hey, I have a studio and you guys seem 'ight/Hey, I'm working on a comic and wouldn't mind having you guys help out with something
Well send us a note or email at mwindustries2016@gmail.com, tell us what you're interested in working with us on or what your studio publishes or what your series is and how we can help. "The more, the merrier" is our mantra.