Fair Winds

This week's Challenge is simple: write a short creative fiction piece, no longer than 2,000 words, that includes a ship on the horizon at some point in your narrative. Whether it's an integral part of your story or just a brief detail, it's the only requirement your story must include.

Your narrative could involve being lost at sea, or trapped on a deserted island, or it can take place totally on dry land—maybe the ship appears on the horizon of a painting in your main character's library, or in a troubling dream. The details are entirely up to you—the only requirement is that at some point in your story, whether it's a major plot point or a minor detail, your story must include the detail of a faraway sailing ship. Whether you choose to create a horror mystery, a vintage romance, or an action-packed fantasy, anchors away.

For your story to be eligible, it must be between 600 and 2,000 words and adhere to our Community Guidelines. Stories published on Vocal and entered into the contest up until April 27, 2021, at 11:59 PM EST will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here.

The Fair Winds Challenge is exclusive to Vocal+ members. To learn more and upgrade to Vocal+ visit https://vocal.media/vocal-plus.

To be eligible to win the grand prize, second place, or third place prizes, you must be over the age of 13 and residing in a country where Stripe is available at the time of entry. A complete list of countries where Stripe is available can be found here—winners will need to have a Stripe account created and connected in order to receive the prizes. For this reason, entrants located outside of any of these countries will not be eligible to win.