WRITER'S GAMES RULES

Use the menu below to jump to the selected section of the General Rules. As with any competition, we strongly recommend reading the General Rules and Submissions guide in their entirety before registration.

The Writer's Games Official Rules were last updated:

March, 2025

General Rules

Writer's Games Official Rules

1. Registration is required in advance for participation in each portion of the Writer's Games. Registration volume is limited by the capacity of the judgement team. Numbers will not be announced.

a. A "portion" is the sequence of Practice and scored Events, most commonly six in total. An "Event" is a listed challenge announced at the start of the 72-hour writing period.

i. The Writer's Workout may choose to host one or more portions for the year and may choose to host five or more scored Events per portion.

ii. Every portion begins with an unscored "Practice Event".

b. Registration is free and open worldwide to anyone over 13.

i. Registrants aged 13 through 17 will require consent from a parent or guardian.

c. Registration will include a private, early period for spaces earned through winning a Writer's Workout competition where the prize listed is "priority registration".

i. Event and Overall winners from the previous year earn priority registration access.

ii. Priority registration most commonly begins on the first day of the month before public registration and two months before the Practice Event.

iii. Priority registration will close at the end of the month prior to the Practice Event.

iv. Priority registration access may be deferred for one year.

d. Registration will include an open period for the public ("public registration"). The open period begins on the first day of the month prior to the Practice Event.

i. Public registration access may not be deferred.

e. Public registration will close when all available spaces are filled.

f. A waiting list will be made available during the public registration month for those who missed the public registration period.

i. The waiting list is first come, first served. Writers on the waiting list will be contacted to register if additional spaces can be made available.

ii. The Writer's Workout does not guarantee registration for same-year waiting list writers; however, waiting list writers will receive guaranteed registration (following "priority", before "public") in the year following their waitlist. This space may not be deferred.

g. Swaps, transfers, and reservations are not accepted.

h. Registration will be available by a single linked form on this Writer's Workout website. Substitutions or emailed requests are not accepted in lieu of the form.

i. Late registration is not possible.

2. Submissions are accepted from registered participants only and must be received before the Event deadline. Each Event will last 72 hours unless otherwise stated. Timing is listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

a. Submissions are accepted by email to submissions [at] writersworkout.net or the Dropbox button on the Writer's Games page.

i. The following file types are accepted: .doc, .docx, .odt

ii. Unlocked Google Docs and Word Live links are accepted. The Writer's Workout is not responsible for locked links and will not request access.

iii. Submissions pasted into the body of the email are not accepted.

b. Submissions are exclusive to The Writer's Games for the duration of the portion, ending with the Overall winner announcement.

i. Participants must keep their entry information private for their own protection to mitigate bias.

ii. Participants may direct questions privately to Theresa at Theresa.Green [at] writersworkout.net or by using the "Contact Us" link on any page of this website.

1. Participants may choose to post general, non-identifying questions in the public #writersgames channel on Discord but should not expect an immediate reply from administrators. Participants are advised that any reply from another Gamer is not necessarily considered accurate and might go against Rule 7.c.i.

iii. The Writer's Workout requests one-time, nonexclusive, serial publishing rights with worldwide distribution to entries placing first through fifth in any scored Event. Authors maintain the right to reproduce, distribute, or otherwise make available their creations from any Writer's Games Event, following the Overall winner announcement and conclusion of the portion.

iv. An additional winning piece will be selected for publication by judges' popular vote, known as the "Judges' Choice". This space highlights an author not otherwise featured in the anthology.

1. Disqualified and Practice Event entries are still eligible for Judges' Choice.

2. The portion's winning authors are removed from the selection pool.

c. Submissions must be formatted using the [modified] Chicago Manual of Style listed on the Writer's Games and Submissions pages and must include appropriate Title Information.

i. Submissions with missing or misplaced Title Information (absent or in the header margin) are not accepted and will not be distributed to judges.

ii. Submissions with incorrect or incomplete Title Information (out of order or using the Event number instead of Event name) for Writer's Games entries will be disqualified.

1. Submissions disqualified for Title Information still receive feedback and the writer is eligible to win future Events in the portion.

2. Title Information will include the following in this order, aligned top left in the body of the document:

Name

Entry Title

Event Name

Word Count
(additional information may be included after the word count as needed)

iii. Submissions using formatting other than outlined on the Writer's Games or Submissions pages will result in minor point loss.

d. One entry per registered person per Event.

i. Resubmissions are accepted until the Event deadline. Participants are strongly encouraged to send resubmissions as a reply to their original email or, in the case of Dropbox, add "REVISED" to the file name for clarity.

ii. Judges will review the last submission received from each registered participant prior to the deadline. "Last submission" is determined by timestamp.

e. Entries must be in English, complete standalone stories, and original works of fiction with unique characters and events, created during the 72-hour Event period.

i. Creative nonfiction is not permitted.

ii. Entries written outside the 72-hour Event period are not accepted.

iii. Late entries are not accepted except under special, predetermined circumstances.

f. A registered participant may skip any Event without notice. Skipping will not negatively affect the participant's score.

3. Exceptions may be requested in advance by contacting Theresa at Theresa.Green [at] writersworkout.net or the "Contact Us" link on any page of this website. Exceptions are not guaranteed.

4. Poetry and screenplays are accepted for all Events provided Event parameters are met.

5. Scoring is individual per entry per judge per Event.

a. A judge determines the entry's qualification by adherence to the Event challenge and the score by use of the Event's listed Core Concepts as well as overall writing quality.

b. An entry's Event score is determined by averaging the judges' scores for that entry.

c. A registered participant's Overall score is determined by adding their Event scores.

d. Event Winners will be announced prior to the start of the next Event.

e. Overall winners will be announced within a week of the final Event's winner announcement.

f. No person may have access to the score sheet or numerical scores under any circumstances except for the impartial cofounders of The Writer's Workout.

6. In the event of a points tie for first place, a winner will be determined by Death Match: a final writing battle. Rules for the Death Match and judgement thereof will be made public where applicable.

a. In the event of a Death Match, the Event and Overall winner announcements will be delayed.

7. Any submission may lead to disqualification for the Event or Overall.

a. Event disqualification occurs when the submission does not meet the challenge parameters. The entry receives a score of 0.

i. A disqualified entry receives the full critique length selected at registration. The registered participant is eligible to win future Events in the portion.

ii. A registered participant may appeal entry disqualification at any time during the active portion, prior to the Overall winner announcement, by emailing Theresa at Theresa.Green [at] writersworkout.net

b. Title Information disqualification occurs when the submission's Title Information is missing, misplaced, incorrect, or incomplete. The entry receives a score of 0.

i. A disqualified entry receives the full critique length selected at registration. The registered participant is eligible to win future Events in the portion.

ii. A registered participant may not appeal Title Information disqualification.

c. Overall (portion) disqualification occurs with violation of one or more of the following rules. Registered participants found in violation of any points under rule 7.c will be notified by email with a full explanation and dismissal from the portion. Participants may appeal an Overall disqualification.

i. No cheating. Cheating is defined as working with a partner or team; incorporating characters, situations, or written works created by someone else or used in a previous work; submitting work written outside the 72-hour Event period, or submitting partial or segmented pieces of a larger work.

1. The judges will perform plagiarism checks without cause or notice.

ii. No sharing. Sharing is defined as submitting, posting, or otherwise making available any entry for a Writer's Games Event before the conclusion of the portion.

iii. No spamming. Spamming is defined as disrespectful, distasteful, pushy, or frequently repeated messages sent during a short amount of time.

iv. No harassment. Harassment is defined as intrusive messaging, pushy or bullying comments, or repeated contacts after being asked to stop.

1. Harassment of any kind will result in permanent banishment from the Writer's Workout community.

8. The Writer's Workout will neither accept, nor review, any works with political, religious, or erotic themes.

a. No fanfiction. Fanfiction is defined as incorporating characters or settings created and owned by someone else. See rule 7.c.i: cheating.

i. The subgenre known as Real Person Fiction (RPF), or inserting a real person into the work as an active character, is not permitted for any Event.

ii. Real settings are accepted.

b. No AI-copied content. AI-copied content is defined as any work partially or wholly generated by an artificial intelligence program.

i. Assistance tools like speech-to-text and spelling/grammar checkers are accepted.

ii. AI editing tools will trigger the "AI content" response in random checks and are not permitted.

9. The volunteer judges agree to critique each applicable entry assigned to them. Critique is also known as feedback.

a. Standard feedback is free and included in pursuit of the spirit of the competition: self-growth.

i. Writers may opt-out of feedback at registration.

ii. Writers may choose to change their feedback option between "out" (to not receive feedback) or "in" (to receive feedback) during the competition. This change may be made one time during each portion.

1. To request this change, contact Theresa at Theresa.Green [at] writersworkout.net or use the "Contact Us" link on any page of this website.

iii. "Extended Critique" is an additional, very limited option of feedback providing 3x the length and depth of Standard feedback for each of the participant's submissions that portion.

1. Due to the extra strain this option places on the volunteer judges, this option has an associated, one-time fee at $25 per portion.

2. Extended Critique cannot be purchased or reserved in advance.

3. Extended Critique may occasionally be offered as a prize for other Writer's Workout challenges or competitions at the administrators' discretion.

b. Feedback will focus on the Event's Core Concepts; it includes a breakdown of positives and negatives, suggestions for improvement, and other areas of success outside the scope of the Core Concepts.

c. Judges may choose to skip triggering content without explanation.

d. Feedback is delivered through a living document organized on the Writer's Workout Drive. Each participant receives a link by email to their private Feedback Folder, housing all Writer's Workout feedback documents applicable to them.

i. A participant's feedback is pasted into their feedback document after each Event. The team makes every effort to deliver polished feedback before the next Event's writing deadline.

ii. Feedback delivery will be announced in the #writersgames channel on Discord.

iii. Some judges' feedback may be withheld for reasons determined by the administrative team—most commonly, failure to meet minimum standards. The team will always place priority on providing helpful, polished feedback from at least three judges per entry, per participant, per Event.

1. Explanations for withheld feedback will not be discussed; withheld feedback will not be released.

10. The Writer's Games is an individual competition; entries must be completed solely by the writer alone. Editors, beta readers, test groups, etc, during any phase of the writing process before submission are not permitted for any reason.

a. Minor exception: participants under the age of 18 may receive assistance from a parent or guardian concerning formatting and submitting their entry on time. We strongly discourage parents from influencing story content, plot, and other aspects.

Tip: Try each Event. The goal of the Writer's Games is to help you improve and expand your own personal writing range. This is a fun, fast-paced competition created to push writers toward quick improvement. The Events are designed to be utilized across most genres. If you don't try, you'll never know what you alone can do.

Rules may be subject to change, participants will be notified as needed.