Why themes? Readers play favorites, you know. Everybody has their favorite genres and our contest’s season themes are here to assemble winning story collections that readers will love. These themes function as story prompts for our author base, suggesting fun mashups and settings for the most creative, hard-hitting fiction. We only accept stories that fit these themes, and we wish you much Havok as you craft your best work!
UPDATED April 24, 2025: We have prepared a downloadable/printable PDF of the monthly themes and deadlines (click the thumbnail to download). We highly recommend checking out these resources for ideas as you craft your story! Feel free to tag @havokauthornews on Instagram or email authorcentral@gohavok.com with any questions about our themes and guidelines. Sign up for our author newsletter (see sidebar on this page; scroll down on mobile) for tips from our editors and news about author contests.
Our Season 12 flash fiction contest features a character prompt. We challenge you to take the character of the month — each designed by one of our stellar featured authors — and work it into your story in some way. And by “some way” we’re tapping into the theories of the fictional multiverse. Your interpretation of the character and how you write them to fit our five genres will be unique!
- Take the character and make him/her your own. The core traits listed here in the prompt should not be violated, but everything else is up for grabs. If the character profile includes genre-specific details you are allowed to adjust them to suit any of Havok’s accepted genres.
- The character must appear in your story, but does not have to be the protagonist. They could be a side character, an antagonist, or even just appear as a cameo. But keep in mind that your portrayal of the character does impact our selection of contest winners.
- We need stories for ALL FIVE HAVOK GENRES: mystery, science fiction, humor, thriller, and fantasy. How does this character appear in a mystery story? If they existed in a sci-fi or fantasy universe, what would that look like? In what sort of thriller or suspense plot did they get caught up? What’s the funniest scenario you can imagine for them?
For reference: All the past, present, and future Season 12 character profiles on one page.
NOTE: Deadlines are always for 11:59pm Pacific time on the date indicated. Get those stories in by midnight, or they’ll turn into pumpkins!
Luke James (aka Therrus) by Olivia Gratehouse stories: SUBMISSIONS CLOSED
Ebenezer Scrooge by Charles Dickens (Deadline: Sept 19)
~ Publishes in December || See Project Gutenberg’s copy of A Christmas Carol ~
Physical description: “Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him.”
Personality / traits: Selfish. A greedy, miserly, joyless workaholic. Unmoved by external appeals. Clever strategist when it comes to making money. Cruel in his complete lack of care for the well-being of others.
Core values: Take care of yourself, because nobody else is going to do it.
Greatest weakness: Blinded by fear of falling into poverty. Unable to see what his obsession is costing him–and others.
Deepest desire / motivation: To build and keep enough wealth to avoid poverty and suffering. But secretly, so secretly that he doesn’t admit it even to himself, he is desperately lonely and afraid that it’s too late for that to ever change.
Backstory (optional): As a child, Scrooge wanted to enjoy Christmas as much as anyone. But he was also neglected as a child, left at boarding school during the holidays. He suffered from the hardships of poverty, so later Scrooge decided money would solve all his problems. This single-minded pursuit of wealth as protection against suffering caused all other considerations to fall aside. The obsession destroyed his relationship with his fiancee, Belle. He had no compassion on his employees when they were in need. Even his deceased business partner, Jacob Marley, warns Scrooge from beyond the dead about the ultimate end of the path he has chosen.
Remember! When using public domain characters, be careful not to include any details or characters from later works (retellings, movies, TV shows, etc) that may have come later and still be under copyright. Use the original source material only as your inspiration.
Season 13: Encore – Now open!
Rebirth (Deadline: Friday, Oct 17)
~ Publishes in January 2026. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, our very first season celebrated life’s enduring spirit. And true to form, we’re doing it again! And you’ll get the chance to revisit our sub-themes of rebirth, recycle, relocate, reform, recover, and redo. For detailed ideas, see a description of the original Rebirth subthemes (PDF).
Now Go Write!
Using the season theme above for ideas, go write and then send us your best story that fits any of our Accepted Genres. Be sure to download and use our Manuscript Formatting template and follow the Submission Guidelines!
The themes below will open for submissions ~2 months before their deadlines.
(Full Season 13 themes list coming soon! See our recent blog post about it.)
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