The Rules

Please read the following rules fully before registering (and again before the contest starts, just to refresh your memory).

The 31st Annual International 3-Day Novel Contest will take place August 30 - September 1, 2008. Registration Forms are available here. Entrants must get their paid registration in the mail by the day before the contest (Aug. 29, 2008). Group registration rates are available: click here for details.

Outlines are permitted prior to the contest; however, the actual writing must begin no earlier than 12:01 a.m., Saturday, August 30th and stop by midnight on Monday, September 1st. Novels may be written using any method, and in any location, anywhere in the world. Yes, the honour system still exists! (You'd only be cheating yourself out of the experience! Seriously. We can tell if you didn't commit to the contest.) Novels may not be edited outside the contest time frame.

Mail your completed novel to us as soon as possible after the weekend is over. If you handwrote your novel, you have a few days to type it up...otherwise just send it in right away. Novels must be postmarked on or before Sept. 5, 2008 to qualify. Include a statement, signed by a witness, confirming the novel’s completion over the 2008 Labour Day long weekend. You must send in a novel--even if it isn't as finished as you like--to get your certificate. So send it in!

Send typed, double-spaced novels, printed on standard white paper with pages numbered (no folders, clips or staples please), to:

3-Day Novel Contest
200 - 341 Water Street
Vancouver, BC, V6B 1B8
Canada

Send novels using regular mail--the date you send it is what counts, not the date it arrives, so you don't need to spend extra money on couriers. SASEs and IRCs are no longer necessary.

Manuscripts will NOT be returned so keep a copy. If you plan to revise it, please save a copy of the work in its original form. Entrants retain all copyright for their work, however, publishing an entry in any form (including self-publishing, chapbooks, or web publishing) before the winner is announced will disqualify the author from winning. After the announcement, we will present the winning author with a publishing contract. All other entrants may develop, publish, dissect or ignore their novels as they wish. Each entrant holds the copyright to his or her own novel.

Winners will be announced the following January, then we'll distribute the prizes and send all successful entrants a list of the winners, a fancy certificate to prove that you really did it, and a coveted "I survived" sticker.

SOME FURTHER GUIDELINES

1. There are no specific rules on outlines, but keep them brief. The briefer the outline, the fuller the experience.
2. Collaborations are permitted, but no more than two per novel. You only need to send one registration fee for a collaboration on a single novel.
3. The contest exists to help you write the novel you want, so you may write in any genre.
4. There are no limits to the novel's length, but entries average 100 typed pages, double-spaced. Thereabouts.

Study up on the winners!

Past winning 3-Day Novels are available for sale! Click here for details on each winning novel. Ask for them at your local bookstore, order them direct through Paypal, or get them at special entrant prices on your registration form.

Queries

info@3daynovel.com.

3-Day Novel Contest
341 Water Street, Suite 200
Vancouver BC V6B 1B8
Canada