About: 3-Day Novella

What is it?
3-Day Novella is the spiritual successor to the International 3-Day Novel Contest, founded in 1977. Each year, writers from around the world scramble to write the best book they can in just 3 days. The Original 3DNC only published the winner, and their whole process was dubiously sluggish and opaque. 3-Day Novella publishes the top 3 winners, and strives to give all participants the promptness and transparency they truly deserve.
 
Why do we need a new contest? What’s wrong with the old one?
What indeed. Where to begin? The management running the 3-Day Novel Contest in recent years has been pretty grim. It used to be that the contest was run over the Labour Day weekend, (in September), and that the winners were then announced by January the following year. But things went downhill. The winners of 2015 weren’t announced until 8 months later, in mid-April of 2016. That’s when Geist Magazine was running it. By 2018, when Leni Goggins was running it, (a woman who PROMISED we’d have a shortlist by October 2018), we didn’t get that shortlist until June 21, 2019! The official announcement of the winner of 2018 were not announced until January 1, 2020! That’s ridiculous. Leni has since removed her name from the website, and the Facebook page. (And who can blame her? I wouldn’t want to go down in history as having run the contest that badly either! Unfortunately for her, we have memories, and it doesn’t matter if she redacts her name from social media. She can’t gaslight us. We know what happened!) Leni claims she passed on the contest to another person named Cara Lang, a person who never appeared on any of the social media at all, and now appears to be missing. Oh yeah, and the 2019 winners were never announced. At least not yet, as of July 9, 2020. So this has all been sketchy as hell, and I think enough is enough. We deserve better than to be jerked around like that. Especially given that we paid to enter, and now it appears someone has made off with our money.
 
That’s where I come in. This year, I want to prove once and for all that we can, in fact, have our own contest in 2020, and announce the winners in 2020! Not only that, I’m now calling from submissions from all the people who were let down in 2019. You can still e-mail in your subscriptions until August 15, 2020. Best of all, it’s FREE. Just be sure to follow the instructions on the 2019 Legacy Contest web page.
 
How exactly is this contest going to be better run than the old contest?
Glad you asked. The key here, I think, is going to be transparency. Writing a novel in 3 days is no easy task, and those of you who actually finish deserve to know exactly what’s happening with your manuscripts throughout the process. That’s what I hope to fix. I have a schedule lined up, for the whole year. And if I really need to deviate from the schedule at all, you’ll all know about it BEFOREHAND. Why my predecessors weren’t able to manage this, I can’t understand.
 
Relevant Dates for 2020:

• July 1 – 31, 2020: Early Bird Registration for 3DN2020 ($35 USD)
• August 1 – September 4, 2020: Standard Registration for 3DN2020 ($50 USD)
• August 15, 2020: Last day to submit your 2019 entries for consideration.
• September 1, 2020: 3DN2019 shortlist announced.
• September 4, 2020: 3DN2019 winner announced. Also, last day to register for 3DN2020.
• September 5 – 7, 2020: The three days of the 3DN2020 Contest. Good luck everyone!
• September 15, 2020: 3DN2020 submission deadline.
• December 1, 2020: 3DN2020 longlist announced.
• December 12, 2020: 3DN2020 shortlist (Top 10) announced.
• December 20, 2020: 3DN2020 winners (Top 3) declared.

 
Who are the judges?
So far there are two of us.

• Gavin McKercher (me): I am a 6-time veteran of the 3-Day Novel Contest, and was 2^nd place winner in 2015 for Bordertown. I have a Masters in English Literature, and am also the author of the Bordertown Chronicle Trilogy.
• Dorothyanne Brown is a retired nurse, and was on the 3DNC shortlist in 2012 for Recycled Virgins. She has been published in several places, including the Army Times, Country Connection, the Ottawa Citizen, the Oxford Companion to Medicine, and the Canadian Author's Association Anthology. She also runs Somewhat Grumpy Press.
• Siri Nesheim is a museum educator who writes and edits the historical society’s educational and promotional materials. When she isn’t teaching or developing history programs, she spends her time Beta Reading fiction and its sub-genres. She has currently edited and helped guide two novels to publication. www.sirisreadingcorner.com.
• Tim Covell is a technical writer and freelance editor. He has published academic research, a wide range of short non-fiction, poetry, and short humour. His first novel, Ocean's Lure, a contemporary romance, should be available this fall. www.covell.ca

 
Other judges are pending. As soon as I know who they are, I’ll list them here. I plan on having 4 judges, but should there be an unexpectedly large number of entrants this year, there may be more. All judges WILL BE PAID, provided there is enough money after awarding the winning prizes.
 
What registration gets you:
Registration gets you several GUARANTEES:

• Your book will be read TWICE, by at least 2 different judges.
• The top 3 winners will be declared by December 20, 2020. No more waiting around 6 months into the following year, wondering if you’ll ever hear back.
• The top 3 winners will be published by 3-Day Novella, with a 1-year renewable contract, in addition to an immediate cash prize. The top 10 writers will be immortalized on the website, (also the Facebook page, and we can tweet at you if you like), and receive free copies of winning e-books.

 
Rules:

1. You must register BEFORE September 5, 2020. Registration fees are non-refundable.
2. The contest runs for three days, from September 5-7, 2020. You must write and edit your entire manuscript within that 72-hour time-span. If you get stuck, consult the survival guide.
3. Write any story, in any genre you want. Your ballpark target length is 100 double-spaced pages. (About 25,000-30,000 words.)
4. Manuscripts should be saved as Word documents, and named with the following formula: 3DN2020_[YourName]_[BookTitle].doc (e.g. 3DN2020_DelilahMcGiggles_TheNightTheMoldyThingInTheFridgeAteMyDog.doc). Manuscripts should be double-spaced, begin with the title of the story, your name, and the e-mail address you used to register. E-mail your submission to 3DN2020@3DayNovella.com. The deadline for this is September 15, 2020.
5. Please refrain from self-publishing or submitting your manuscript into a different contest until after this contest is over. Doing so will disqualify your entry.

 
Prizes:

• 1^st Place: $500 cash advance*, plus publication.
• 2^nd Place: $300 cash advance*, plus publication.
• 3^rd Place: $200 cash advance*, plus publication.
• All Shortlisters: Honourable mention on the website, and free copies of winners’ e-books.

 
*--Cash prizes are dependant on there being enough registration money to go around. As long as 30 or more people enter, the cash prizes will be awarded in full. The contest will go on regardless, and publication prizes will be awarded regardless.