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 write

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.

How to enter

Entries happen on Fantasy Writer, which is free:

1. Create a free account — no card, no purchase necessary.
2. Create a book and write — or paste — your first chapter into it. You do not need to use the AI features at all; pasting your own words costs nothing.
3. Publish the book to the library. Published books are public; that is the entry.
4. Open your book and click Enter the First Chapter Contest while the contest is open. That is it.

You will get an acknowledgement email straight away. If the button refuses — the chapter is over 5,000 words, the book is not published yet — it will tell you why.

One entry per person. If you enter the wrong book by mistake, contact us via the contact form before the closing date and we will sort it out.

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• Previously unpublished anywhere else — not on Wattpad, Royal Road, a newsletter or a blog. Work in a private critique group is fine. Publishing the chapter here, to the Fantasy Writer library, is how the contest works and does not count against this rule.
• 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 — the free plan does everything entering needs.

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

• First place: one year of Master Scribe, plus an editorial letter on the chapter — two to three pages, specific, from someone who has read it properly.
• Second place: six months of Master Scribe.
• Third place: three months of Master Scribe.

All three are offered publication in the library if they want it — they will already be there, having entered — and nobody has to stay published.

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

Questions

Anything the page does not answer — eligibility, edge cases, your particular situation — ask through the contact form and a person will answer. If you are looking for somewhere to start, what a lore bible actually is and how to build one you will actually use are the two guides most first chapters wish they had read.