Take Me Away

Throughout history, writers have created imaginary worlds. Now it's your turn to take us away … to a land of make-believe.

Here's how: Create an imaginary town, city, country, or world, with distinct features and landmarks. Then write a short story or a poem set in this imaginary place. You can include an illustration of your imaginary world. (Acceptable forms of illustration include drawings, sketches, photomontages, and collages.)

Four winners will be selected by our guest judge, award-winning fantasy author Ursula K. Le Guin. Each winner will receive a signed copy of one of her books and a cash prize. Winning entries will be published in the April/May issue of Writing.
Rules to Know

* The contest is open to students in grades 5-12. Categories: Junior (grades 5-8) and Senior (grades 9-1 2). One entry per student, please.
* Poems should not exceed 400 words, and stones should be no longer than 800 words.
* Each entry must include a completed entry form. Incomplete entries will not be accepted.
* All entries must be postmarked by Nov. 22, 2006.
* Download an entry form at weeklyreader.com/writing.
* Mail contest entries to: Writing Magazine "Take Me Away" 200 First Stamford Place, P.O. Box 1 20023 Stamford, CT 0691 2-0023

Writing Advice From Ursula K. Le Guin

Try not to use a setting you've seen on film or in an interactive game, and try to avoid the standard fakemedieval fantasy story setting with princesses.

Go for broke: Try to really imagine a place of your own. It can be based almost entirely on a real place you know or have seen. You just make some changes that suit your fancy, you twitch it a little, add some things that weren't really there…. Or go wild, go to another planet, another world, and stop and look and say what you see. Two things to keep in mind: One, describe exactly. "It was huge" doesn't tell us how much. How huge? Bigger than what? How long would it take to walk around it or dimb it, or eat it, or wash it? Details!

Two, let one thing lead to another. The more you look, the more you see. Suppose you have a purple glass tower that's 900 stories high. Let us see what it looks like with the sun on it. What kind of shadow would it cast? Are there birds nesting in the window ledges, like pigeons in New York? What kinds of birds? Do the people who live in the tower feed them, or shoot them, or ask them what the weather is going to be?

You see what I'm asking for? Everything should be clear in detail, and hang together, work together, in the particular moment you're seeing it — the way it does in the real world.