The Contest Categories

The contest has three categories: standard EVE lore-based, freeform/ingame events based, and humor. 

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[Note:  The Very Short Fiction prizes are not for a separate category in the contest.  They're for very short stories entered into one of the three contest categories below].

 

The first category:

Eight Thousand Suns in New Eden – Stories of the citizens and societies of New Eden:  capsuleer ships, crowded cities and lonely outposts; fertile planets and busy stations; corporate offices and peasant shacks; the immediate present, or the deep, distant past.  

 

This category is for stories set within the official canon of New Eden, similar to the EVE prime fiction Chronicles.  The story can be about baseliners or about capsuleers, but it should not mention an in-game player character, corp or alliance.  Basically, the story should be set in the New Eden milieu as laid out in the prime EVE fiction. It's possible to write about a player character or real in-game events, but the names of player entities should be changed, and the setting and events should fit into the framework of the New Eden lore.  (See below for additional guidance on the standards for conforming to the lore).

 

The larger prizes will be in this “standard works,” canon-focused category.  That's because the body of lore in the Chronicles and EVElopedia is rich, detailed, and huge, and we think it deserves more exploring.   Also, because writing within the canon requires more attention and care.  And finally, because each year this category gets the most entries and thus the toughest level of competition.

 

   

The second category:

A Day in the Life – True, somewhat true, or completely made-up tales of player character miners, mission runners, manufacturers, pirates, scammers, spies, and other heroes, rogues, and opportunists of EVE. 

 

Stories in this category can be about actual in-game events.  You can mention player characters, corps, alliances, real in-game events, or "player-driven content."  Basically, you can do anything you want, you need not conform to the canon. If you want to write a story about your corp and its members, a stroke of pvp tactical brilliance, a corp infiltration, a local chat encounter,  etc., it should go here. 

 

The third category:

Other Things Just Make You Swear and Curse – The humor/humour category. There are no specific rules for this category, except the story should be EVE-themed.  And humorous.  Preferably, to other people also, as well as to yourself.  ; )                                                                                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Rules

-The contest will run from October 1, 2018, 2018 to November 11, 2018.  Entries must be received by 23:59:59 EVE server time on November 11, 2018.   To be fair to everyone, any late entries cannot be considered as contest entries.  But we can still post the story in the Reading Bank for everyone to read.

 

-Works can up to 5,000 words long.  The maximum word limit rule is rigid.  There's no minimum word limit.  If your shorter story is ready to go head-to-head against a longer one, that's totally fine.  (That's what the Very Short Fiction prizes are for.  To be eligible, the story must have 750 words or less). 

 

-The work must be your own, of course.

 

-The work must be a new and not have been posted or published before.  Sorry, we have to follow a bright-line, no exceptions rule on this, otherwise the event could get flooded with any number of EVE-based stories written over the years.  We can't ask our judges to read through a large number of older stories.  If you have an older work you want to share, we're very happy to link it for everyone to read on the Reading Bank page, but we can't enter it in the competition. 

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-Entries have to be in English, only because that's a language that the most people in the community can read.  If English isn't your first language, don't be shy.  A story doesn't have to be in perfect grammatical English to be good.

 

-A work can only be entered in one category.

 

-You can enter as many works as you want.   Entering multiple stories in the same category, or across different categories, is encouraged.  Write as much as you can.  :)

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-Trolling entries or any work that disparages or is abusive of any real-life member of the EVE community will be rejected.  Writers just need to use common sense on this. 

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-Stories can have mature language or content, within reason.  If we feel that the general community of EVE players would find a work offensive, the work will not be entered into the contest.

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​-We recommend using your word processor's spell check before you submit the work. You worked hard on your story-- why let little cosmetic errors hurt its overall impact?

 

How to Submit Your Work

​1) Post your story somewhere on the internet where it can be accessed by the judges and readers.  Examples:  The EVE Fiction forum, pastebin, Medium, Backstage Eve fiction forum, or any free blog host such as Wordpress or Blogger.  The URL will be shared with the public, so don’t post in a password-protected place.

 

2) Send Telegram Sam an EVEmail with:

-The author's name  (The author must be an EVE player character, so that we can transfer in-game isk or items to you if you win.  If you want to also include your RL name or some other name, just let me know).

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-The story's title

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-Which category the story should be entered in

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-The story's word count

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-Your confirmation that it's your story and hasn't been posted/published before

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-The URL link to where the story is posted.

 

-Optional:  Let everybody know about your story over in the contest's EVE Player Fiction forum. 

-Encouraged:  Give your fellow writers some feedback.  They appreciate feedback as much as you do.

 

As stories come in, we'll be posting the links to them on the Contest Entries page.  Check back often to see what the writers of EVEdom are producing. 

 

Any questions about the contest, post them on the EVE Fiction Player forum page here, or on the Discussion page.  Or you can contact Telegram Sam through EVEmail or in-game PM, if I'm on. 

 

 

Note 1: Works in the 8,000 Suns category should conform to the official EVE official lore.  Several of the judges are lore experts who will very likely dock points if the story significantly violates the official EVE backstory.  Think of it as if you were writing something that could go into the collection of EVE Chronicles. 

 

Writers might find Ashterothi's The EVE Lore Primer very helpful, with its many links to original sources.  Mark726's EVE lore guide has always been a core resource as well.  Both highly recommended, take advantage of the work and help people have laid out for us.  If in doubt about a point of the lore, the people in the EVE Lore Discussion forum will likely serve as good consultants.

 

Hint to writers:  Here's the judging standard for 8,000 Suns, and I directly quote:

("In the original 2012 contest, EON offered to publish the winning story in their magazine. So the story needed to fit into the official, published EVE backstory.  That's still the general standard for the 8,000 Suns category.  If the story fits into the established EVE backstory universe, and it could be published in EON or added as a Chronicles listing, it's OK.  As CCP Zapatero (EON editor/publisher) said at the time: "If the story explores the backstory a little, that's OK. But if it features Tibus Heth making sexy time with a goat -- it might not fit into the lore."

 

So, if the story is set in the New Eden environment and explores around in it some, no problem.  But if it seriously deviates from the lore, or wildly alters the New Eden backstory, points could be docked.

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Example:  The lore says that a capsuleer in a capsule has her nervous system mapped just before death, and that the information is then transferred to her clone.  A story has a capsuleer being ambushed and killed in a station corridor, and the capsuleer wakes up in his clone.  That doesn't fit into the mechanics of how things work in New Eden, so a clear lore violation, and points will be docked.

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Example:  A story is about a clone doctor or technician being bribed to tamper with a clone activation process.  It goes into some detail about that station's corp's procedures for managing the clone bay.  The official lore is silent on that, so the story is filling in details within the lore, not changing it.  Not a lore contradiction, points should not be docked. 

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Example:  A story says that Empress Jamyl Sarum is still alive, and that it was just a clone that was killed.  It then describes a plot by Jamyl's supporters to restore her to the throne.  The official lore clearly says that the Empress herself was killed.  The judges would very likely consider changing the backstory itself a lore violation, and therefore dock points.  

 

Example:  A story is about a group of Amarrians who believe Empress Jamyl's death was faked and she's still alive.  That doesn't contradict the backstory, it fits a new story into it.  Should not be considered a lore violation.

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Probably the best way to get an idea what is acceptable for 8,000 Suns is to read the past winning stories in the category.  Many of them explore within the lore pretty liberally, but were still picked as the prize winners.

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Note 2: From previous years' results, we expect the most entries and the more intense competition in the 8,000 Suns category. The Day in the Life category gets the next most entries, and then the humor category.  The links to previous contest entries in the Reading Bank will show you the numbers.

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Note 3:  Some stories from previous years have been put into Rixx Javix's beautiful illustrated eBook called The Empyrean Age.  It is possible that your story may also be put into a similar compilation, or otherwise re-presented in future anthologies.  I (Telegram Sam) cannot give permission for this, only you the writer can.  So if you leave your story publicly posted on the internet, please assume that someone may re-present it somewhere someday.  Personally I wouldn't think that would be such a bad thing at all.  :)

 

Note 4:  Have fun writing!  Lots of fun!