The First Chapter Contest

Openings are the hardest thousand words in a fantasy novel. You are introducing a world, a voice and a person, persuading a reader to trust all three, and doing it before anyone has any reason to care. Most manuscripts that fail, fail here.

So that is what this contest is about.

What to send

The first chapter of a fantasy novel. Up to 5,000 words. It does not need to be from a finished book — an opening to something you are twelve thousand words into is welcome, and so is an opening to something that does not exist yet.

Any subgenre. Epic, grimdark, cosy, romantasy, sword and sorcery, portal fantasy, whatever you are calling the thing you are writing. The only requirement is that it is recognisably fantasy and that it is the first chapter — not the best chapter, not a standalone scene.

The rules

• Your own work. AI assistance is fine and does not need declaring; wholly AI-generated submissions are not what this is for and will be set aside.
• Previously unpublished, including on Wattpad, Royal Road, a newsletter or a blog. Work in a private critique group is fine.
• One entry per person.
• English only, for the boring reason that we cannot judge what we cannot read.
• You keep every right to your work. Entering grants us permission to quote a short excerpt if you place, and nothing else. We do not take publication rights and never will.
• Open to anyone aged 16 or over, anywhere, with no purchase or subscription required. A free account is not required either.

How it is judged

Every entry is read with the author's name removed. We are looking for three things, in this order:

1. Voice. Does the prose have a person in it?
2. Momentum. By the end, do we want the next chapter — and can we say why?
3. Control. Is the worldbuilding delivered or dumped? Does the writer know what they are withholding?

Length, polish and how much of the book exists are not criteria. A rough opening with a voice beats a clean one without.

Prizes

• Winner: one year of Master Scribe, plus an editorial letter on the chapter — two to three pages, specific, from someone who has read it properly.
• Three runners-up: six months of Master Scribe and a page of notes each.

All four are offered publication in the library if they want it. Nobody has to.

Dates

• Opens: 11 August 2026
• Closes: 31 October 2026, 23:59 UTC
• Results: by 15 December 2026, to every entrant, whether or not they placed

How to enter

Email your chapter as a .docx, .rtf or .md attachment, with the subject line First Chapter Contest, to the contest address on the community page. Include your name and the title in the email body, not in the document — the document is what the readers see, and they see it anonymised.

If you do not get an acknowledgement within three days, chase us. An entry we never received is the worst possible outcome for both of us.