The Precocious Costume Contest!

It took five years, but Precocious is finally getting a real Halloween story! To celebrate, I am having a contest that lets you get cool stuff AND shape how this Halloween story unfolds.

The fun of Halloween comes from the costumes, and this is where you come in. Submit your ideas for what the kids should dress up as this year, and you have a chance of seeing your idea pop up in the comic! What makes this contest extra interesting is that I've left the ending of this story open, because one good suggestion could fuel some creativity. I'm relying on you to provide inspiration!

(After my weekend trial run, I've update this post to make it clearer and fine tune things. Make sure you read it all!)

What you need to know and do to enter:

-While most entries will be in text form - which is perfectly fine - I'd love to give this contest a fan art aspect. If you can include an image of your costume idea, that will certainly make me favor your entry.  I don't require finished art - sketches like these are fine - but I need to see enough details to understand what you're proposing.  I'm really looking forward to showing off a gallery of costume submission art, so if you have any art chops at all I encourage you to take the time to whip something up.  Submit your text ideas ASAP, and make are if you want to or can.

-The costume I choose for the grand prize gets their idea incorporated into the Halloween story, and I will draw the submitter an art card of their winning suggestion. See the witch Yvette illustration in the banner for an example. (Oh, and I am putting her art card in the store if anyone wants to grab it! Cards are alphabetical, so Yvettewitch will be at the end if she's there.)

-Everyone who enters will be part of a drawing for a second prize. That winner has the choice of a signed copy of a Precocious book, or an art card from the store.  (If the winner is outside of the United States, you must choose an art card due to the high cost of shipping books.)  There will be a third book/art card prize that will go to one who submits art, provided enough entries appear.

-The entire class is in play for suggestions. I have *my* list of costumes for the kids. Your goal is to give me something even better. Have fun with this!  I wonder who will get the most suggestions - and how many will get none? (I hope I get enough entries to have lots of choices for everyone!)

-Check out the contact page for how to reach me. Send your entries to my email.  Just so I can keep track of stuff, I'd prefer you put all your suggestions into a single entry if you're doing text-only entries. While you can do more, aim for around five costume suggestions. Edit your ideas down to the best ones!

-As this is a time-sensitive thing, you are free submit your ideas in text, then make and send drawings for your entries later. I want to make this an easy contest for the artists out there, so I shall be flexible!

-I'm looking for a costume idea, not a script or suggestions on what to do with the costume.  I want the image if you have one, and a description along the lines of  "(character) as (costume)." You can include a description, and maybe a link to explain any reference your making, but don't write a lot to sell it.  Anyone offering their own joke suggestions gets disqualified. This contest doesn't change my policy of not accepting joke ideas. It's possible to submit ideas for costume sets, with multiple characters coordinating, though I'd like the grand prize winner to be a single costume idea.

-I don't know how many suggestions will make it into the final story, as part of this contest is to let your ideas guide me. I could choose the best or the worst ideas for the story - whatever inspires me to write a joke!  The most clever entries might not have an opening for them.  That's why I'm sharing the cool entries on the front page too, because clever stuff deserves to be celebrated!  The earliest possible date for a costume suggestion to appear in the comic is October 24th, by the way.  (Well, there's at least one comic before then with a costume idea that someone will surely suggest, but it's an obvious one and was in the script before this contest was announced.)

-Again, I encourage artwork, and I'll favor the art entries.  Doesn't matter how skilled you are. I like to see the effort! (Blackmailing artists friends to draw for you is good too!)

-You have a better chance of your idea being chosen the earlier it shows up. October 23rd is likely the latest date for you to submit ideas and have a chance of seeing them used, though I won't disqualify a good idea that comes later. Still, if I can get a script out of a good idea sent early, a great idea sent late will be bumped out because I lack the time to write it in.  I'll be traveling to FurFright from the 24th to 28th, so I need comics for those days finished before I leave. I'll accept art all the way through the end of the Halloween story, because I can still show it off even if it's too late for scripting.

-I ask that you not share your ideas and contest artwork with others until after the Halloween story is over. If I do choose your suggestion, I don't want other readers expecting it.

-If your suggestion doesn't make it into the comic, or a similar idea to yours is chosen instead, please don't get upset. As mentioned, I'm going with what gives me the best scripting potential, not necessarily the strongest submissions. I won't know what's right until I see it. Could be highly clever. Could be basic and simple. I could put in a dumb idea to make fun of a kid in a dumb costume! That's the thrill of it. You are the inspiration I don't know where it'll go yet!

Email me with any questions or concerns. If any new notes/edits need to be made, I'll update this post.