Shipping Not Included

Entry for 2025 Lodestar Conest

prompt ▶︎

-- Instructions and Guidelines ----

*Captainwheel* Opens: Feb 1
*Captainwheel* Deadline: Feb 28

*Captainwheel* Choose one of the relationships, below.

*Captainwheel* Write a short story that is built around your chosen relationship. It can be a character-driven story where the evolution of the relationship is the plot, or it can be a plot-driven story where the relationship is a key element and driving force behind the events.

*Captainwheel* All genres and content ratings welcome, but make sure you pay attention to this contest's rating when choosing your story's title and what type of link to use when entering.

*Captainwheel* No word limits, but know this: you only have a month to write, so you probably want to keep it under 3,500 to 5,000 words, depending on who you are. You probably also want to shoot for over 1,000 words to allow for the proper development of the relationship—again, depending on who you are. I'm not going to pretend I haven't seen incredible novellas written in a month or flash fiction pieces with astonishing depth. The latter tends to be more difficult to pull off, but don't take that as a challenge; your judge enjoys reading longer pieces.

*Captainwheel* Proofread, edit, and revise.

*Captainwheel* One story per contestant.

* Linking ▼

*StarfishP* Judging notes: 1.) If the characters are engaging, the story has a great chance of being engaging. 2.) No matter how engaging the characters, beautiful the story, or genius the incorporation of the contest's requirements, none of it will come through with poor grammar and mechanics. A few typos aren't going to hurt your chances, but general sloppiness will.

---- Ship Plans ----

Choose one type and build your story. Preferably, there should be no more than two main characters, even if others who fit the 'ship are involved.

Ships
Romance - This relationship should either go from existing to not existing, or vice versa.

Friendship - This needs to be an established relationship that is based on a lie.

Family - There needs to be a clear revelation on one side of this relationship or the other. Close family, please—a parent and child, grandparent and grandchild, or between siblings.