Hello, fans of fall, one and all!
We’re sorry for our completely inexcusable absence last time year, but on behalf of my sister and I, we’d like to welcome you back
To the one, the only-

HARVEST MONTH WRITING CONTEST!

Hang on, girls. It’s the Spooky Month contest, not the Harvest Month-

Same difference! Everyone knows the only important thing about Halloween is that it happens during our beloved autumn! How could some childish trick-or-treat thing compare to the majesty of a good harvest?

Or the changing colors of the leaves!

Ah, yes, the leaves. Truly a life or death matter there for the villagers, isn’t it, Shizuha?

Ah, yes, because everyone’s dreams of fall are about grubbing around with dirty root vegetables, aren’t they, Minoriko?

They are when they’re farming for a living!

Right, so that’ll keep them busy for a while. So without further adieu, welcome back to the third annual Spooky Month Contest!

THEME

As per the results of a Discord poll, the chosen theme for this contest is Sea of Stars! Which means your entry must feature either water or space (as in outer space) in a prominent role!

WHAT?! This theme doesn’t have anything to do with us at all!

Shizuha’s right! What happened to the harvest festival? Where’s our beautiful autumn?!

That was last year’s theme. The theme changes every year, we’ve established this.

This is false advertising!

What advertising? I seem to remember getting browbeaten until I promised to let you two host the next contest. Perhaps you should have considered the rotating theme then?

Wait, sis, I have an idea! There’s that one tengu that does stargazing, right? And for water, there’s both the kappa and those lake gods!

Yeah?

Just picture, stargazing by the lake at night, enjoying the autumn breeze, watching those beautiful leaves changing color-

… would you even be able to see the leaves if it’s night time?

Youkai have night vision, shut up!

Or maybe you’ve got a campfire, for roasting sweet potatoes!

That’s the spirit! We just have to expand our vision; it’s the Youkai Mountain Harvest Festival now!
Please ignore them. Rest assured your entries only need to relate to water or space; autumn has nothing to do with it.

Heresy!

Burn the heretic!

Ah. Sanae, a little help here?

CONTEST RULES AND PRIZES

Now that we have a little peace and quiet, let’s go over the rules.

You have until Oct 31st, 11:59PM EST to write your story! The story must fit the theme (prominently featuring either water or space), but aside from that anything goes. Feel free to make your story as long or short as you want, within reason - the soft cap for these things is two full posts worth. (Which isn’t to say you can’t go above it - when I posted Hidden Thoughts for the first contest, it ended up a three-parter. Just don’t go too overboard.)

When Oct 28th rolls around, I’ll make a shorts thread for you to submit your entries. Remember, you only get one story, so make it count!

As for voting and prizes, that will depend on the number of entries we get. If we have five or fewer entries, then it’ll be one vote per person, and only the winner will receive a prize. If we have six or more entries, then we’ll use the same voting system as last year - each person will be allowed to vote for two stories, with one of them being a priority vote. Most voted story wins, with most priority votes as the tiebreaker. Furthermore, if we have six or more entrants, there will be an additional prize split between 2nd and 3rd place!

For the record, I will neither be entering nor voting. I do intend to review the stories entered, but after voting has finished, so as not to bias the results.

Each prize-winner will receive a short story from me and an image drawn by Kosuka. These prizes are NOT restricted to the contest theme, but I reserve veto rights, just in case a particular idea is too difficult to work with or something I don’t wish to write. (To be clear, the main restriction there is that I refuse to write anything that would belong in /at.) With that said, feel free to bandy ideas - some negotiation is expected here, and I’ll try to work with anything that’s not too “out there”.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Why are these contest hosts such terrible people?

Well that was a shorter reprieve than I’d hoped.
Like really, inexcusably terrible people.

You do realize you’re helping host this with me, right?

We can always walk out!

You can. Is that the lasting impression you want to give to all these prospective believers?

...hm.

Isn’t that letting him win, though?

True. Unless… hang on, I have an idea.

I should probably be more worried about that. But anyway…

Are you open to proofreading?
I’m afraid not. It’s a departure from how Gooboi hosted these, but with the amount of difference editing and rewriting can make, I think it’s better if I avoid influencing the results at all until voting concludes.

Or he’s just lazy and doesn’t want to put in the effort.

It’s probably that one.

Ah. What would I do without the godly peanut gallery?

What if I need an extension?

If you need an extension, then-

Of course you can have one! Who hasn’t wanted fall to last a few extra months?

You know, like nine or so?

And given this is still a fall contest, it’s only fair that as gods of autumn we give you those extra months you’ve been screaming for!

No! This is a month-long contest, not a year-long one!

You know, the old host would have given an extension. He was better at it.

Look, they can have an extension-

You heard the man! One eleven-month extension, for the autumn-to-autumn Harvest Contest!

Do I need to get a shrine maiden over here again? To be perfectly clear, extensions within reason may be provided, but please let me know early!

If this is a Halloween Contest, does that mean we have to write Horror?

Of course not! Autumn has way more to it than some stupid spooky festival! Write about love, of longing, of the chance meetings of leaves upon the breeze!

Or of hard work, of common people, of the joy of making things grow and the little things that make you pleased!

Let your imagination run free and your words flow like water!

I’m sure you can find inspiration outside some bloody slaughter!

... did we overwhelm him?

Actually, they got that one about right. though I suppose I should note you obviously can write horror if you want to.

With all that out of the way, there’s only one thing left to say.

Let the glory of autumn be your muse!

And write the most gripping, most compelling, most harvest-related story you can!

Best of luck to you all!