Rules & Register

What Are the Rules?

The 33rd Annual International 3-Day Novel Contest will take place over the 2010 Labour Day Long Weekend (Sept. 4-6, 2010). Email info@3daynovel.com to join our mailing list and get notification when registration opens in spring.

The Rules

1. Registration: Paid registration must be in the mail by the Friday before the contest (Sept. 3, 2010). The entry fee is $50, with some discounts available for group registrants. Full details will be posted on the registration page in spring 2010.

2. Preparation:You are allowed to develop an ideas and an outline prior to the contest, though you are not required to plan at all. You do not have to submit an outline to us, and you can change your plans at the last minute. Keep your outline brief—the shorter it is, the more rewarding the creative experience.

3. Location: 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.)

4. Writing: The actual writing must begin no earlier than 12:01 a.m., on the Saturday of the Labour Day weekend, and must stop by 11:59 on the following Monday. Novels may not be edited outside the contest time frame.

5. Form: The contest exists to help you write the novel you want, so you may write in any genre, on any subject you wish. There are no limits to the novel’s length, but entries average 100 typed pages, double-spaced. Thereabouts. Length is a factor in judging, but it is only one of many.

6. Collaboration: You may collaborate with up to one other author on a novel. Fees are per novel, not per writer, so if you are collaborating, you only need to submit one form. Include both author names, but only one mailing address.

7. Submitting:You are not required to submit your manuscript for judging, but we suggest you do. It completes the experience—and it’s the only way to get your certificate. Print up and 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 the Friday following the contest to qualify.

8. Witness statement: Include a statement, signed by a witness, confirming the novel’s completion over the Labour Day long weekend with your novel. There are no rules or templates for this statement, just make sure it affirms that you followed the rules.

9. Other rules: 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.

Mailing Instructions

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 or special packaging. SASEs and IRCs are no longer necessary.

Our team of judges spend the fall and winter reading and rereading your entries. Winners will be announced the following January. Then we 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.

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 or library, order them direct through Paypal, or get them at special entrant prices on your registration form.