2010 Blizzard Global Writing Contest

The Blizzard Global Writing Contest is open again. There is some confusion about the deadline though that I'm hoping Blizzard will answer. On the main contest page it says the contest ends by July 30th, but the official rules page says it does not end until August 23rd.

That's quite a difference. Three weeks' worth.

I'm hoping it's the latter since that will give me more time to refine my story, but a part of me wants it to be the former since I'm going to be quite stressed about that time of August since I will be heading off to the Writing of the Future workshop for the contest I won earlier this year. I would not be able to take full advantage of the extra time, but extra time is extra time and I'd be able to use most of it.

Unlike last year, I've found what I'm going to write almost off the bat and there will be less brainstorming involved. Last time a fictionalized version of Gillien, my paladin, went on a mission to find and execute his sister, who had joined the San'layn, but he ended up sparing her at the end of the story when he realized she hadn't been entirely subsumed by evil.

It wasn't my best work (I was so stressed, I was doing revisions up to 3am the night before), but good enough to garner an Honorable Mention.

Now that WotLK is coming to a close I think it's time to return to Gillien and his sister and find out what happens as he joins the war effort against Icecrown Citadel.

I suppose my primary concerns would be that if Gillien's story wasn't interesting enough to be selected as first place or a runner-up last time, why would it this time around? Or, what if Blizzard feels like they've read this story before, since it will involve the siblings meeting up again?

There are a lot of particulars I need to figure out too. Since this is a short story I feel it's important to end on a powerful message. Why is this story being told? Why does it matter? Why will the reader remember it long after the story is over?

And the answers are: I don't know yet. My last story was titled "By Whatever Means Necessary" because that's what Gillien had believed when it came to his mission, and in the end he comes to realize another (less ruthless) meaning in those words. I would like to do something similarly meaningful with this story.

I have a couple working titles already in mind that could tie into a couple potential themes, but I'm not sure where I'm going with them yet. I guess I still have some time.

I'm undecided whether Hana will come back as a character this time around. She served as Gillien's conscience in the last one, but after his awakening at the end of the last story I'm not sure he needs one anymore.