REGISTRATION CLOSED, CHALLENGE UNDERWAY
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REGISTRATION CLOSED, CHALLENGE UNDERWAY ✩
Jump Scare
The Archetype Spooky Microfiction Challenge
The Archetype Spooky Microfiction challenge is officially underway! Registration is now closed. Please keep an eye on our website and social media to read the winning stories!
Spooky season has arrived and we’re celebrating with a microfiction challenge full of chills & thrills.
Can you spook a reader in 150 words or less? This spooky season, Archetype is hosting Jump Scare: A Scary-Story Microfiction challenge, designed to challenge writers to use a brief moment to tell their story. We’re looking for short, sweet and spooky.
The title “jump scare” is intended to reference the short nature of microfiction for a tongue-in-cheek challenge title—your story does NOT have to involve an actual jump scare to qualify (but it can!).
See below for challenge rules, FAQs, and prizes. Must be 18 years old or older to participate.
The challenge:
Participants will have 72 hours to write a micro-story (150 words or less) based on a location prompt that will be sent out at the kickoff the challenge on Friday, October 24. Writers must use the prompted location in an original short & spooky narrative.
The top 3 stories will win prize money & publication, and there will be feedback from professional writing coaches and editors on every submission.
“Spooky” can apply to a range of style and scariness. If writing scary stories isn’t your jam but you want to participate, no worries! “Cozy spooky” and “creepy” are totally acceptable—your story doesn’t have to be horror.
Horror stories will be accepted, but we are not looking for stories with graphic or gratuitous violence. Stories with excessive depictions of violence and/or hateful content will be disqualified. While violence can be a part of horror stories and ghost stories in particular, please keep it reasonable. We’re here for fun spooky vibes and everyone having a good time.
If you are unsure what the distinction is or where your writing style falls, please reference our spooky sub-genres below!
Prizes
First place: $500 + publication on ARCHE/TYPED digital magazine and editing voucher for a full manuscript edit from Archetype.
Second place: $250 + publication on ARCHE/TYPED digital magazine and editing voucher for a full manuscript edit from Archetype.
Third place: $100 + publication on ARCHE/TYPED digital magazine and editing voucher for a full manuscript edit from Archetype.
How it works & what to expect
Timeline: All participants must be registered by Thursday, October 23, 2025. The challenge kicks off at 11:59pm eastern time on Friday, October 24, 2025. Registered participants will receive an email with the story prompt and a link to submit their story at the start of the challenge. Stories must be submitted through the emailed link by the deadline.
Deadline: Writers will have 72 hours to submit their stories after the prompt is released. Stories will be due by 11:59pm eastern time on Monday, October 27th, 2025. Stories submitted after the deadline will be disqualified. Winners will be announced on November 28, 2025.
Word count: This is a microfiction challenge, and all stories must be 150 words or less.
Prompt: Participants will receive the challenge prompt via email at the start of the challenge, which will include a location that must be relevant to your story. The story doesn’t have to solely take place in the prompt location (though it can), but it must be relevant to the story. All stories must be thematically spooky, which can include scary stories, ghost stories, horror stories, creepy stories, or cozy-spooky stories. You can checkout some suggested sub-genres below, but feel free to let your imagination run wild on the spooky elements.
Judging and feedback: All submitting authors will receive written feedback on their stories from our judging panel. Stories will be judged by the panel anonymously and identified by a story ID set by Archetype staff to avoid conflicts-of-interest or judging bias. Written feedback will be sent to each writer individually (via email) 2-4 days after the challenge results are announced on November 28.
Registration fee: $18 to register to help us compensate our judges and staff to provide thoughtful, in-depth feedback to all submitting writers.
All participants must be 18 years or older. Please read official rules and participation agreement. Official Challenge Rules and Participation Agreement can be found here.
Statement on the use of AI: all stories in this challenge must be original to this challenge and developed within the challenge window based on the prompt. Furthermore, any story found to be generated using AI will be disqualified. We will not accept stories written in any part by AI, and we will not use any AI means to rank stories or provide feedback. All feedback will come from real editors and writers reading your work!
Ways to get ‘spooky’
In general, “spooky” stories for this challenge should be scary stories, or have some elements of scariness to them. Your story should incorporate some element of creepiness, fright, mystery, or hints of the uncanny. That said, they can exist on a scale of darkness, and they don’t have to intrinsically be horror stories (though they can be). Below are a few sub-genres of scary stories to keep in mind, though you are not restricted to these sub-genres. Get imaginative!
Ghost story: Stories involving hauntings, otherworldly apparitions, and the deceased. Usually scary, and often suspenseful. A famous example of a ghost story is The Shining By Stephen King.
Horror story: An account of an unnatural, terrifying, or horrifying occurrence. Usually focuses on a feeling of fear. Famous examples of horror stories include works by Edgar Allan Poe and The Haunting of Hill House By Shirley Jackson. (Horror can exist in many other genres, like science-fiction horror, paranormal horror, and gothic horror.)
Supernatural story: Focuses on supernatural elements and creatures like vampires, werewolves, and witches. Examples of famous supernatural stories include The Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer and Dracula by Bram Stoker.
Cosmic horror story: Involves otherworldly, uncanny, and unknowable elements. An example of cosmic horror is the Delta Green roleplaying game.
Cozy spooky story: Cozy spooky stories include elements of the otherworldly, supernatural creatures, or creepy settings, but in a more whimsical fashion. Think Hocus Pocus, The Addams Family, and Practical Magic.
Folktale: Story originating in mythology or popular culture, something you can picture being told around a campfire. Think, Baba Yaga or the stories recorded in the Millennial nightmare-fuel, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz.
This writing challenge is an exercise of skill and is in no way whatsoever a game of chance. Winning stories will be selected by a professional judging panel based on a rubric assessing plot, pacing, prompt execution and writing skill.