“The Forgotten Writers” foundation was created after the Egyptian revolution with a clear Mission Statement to reveal the depth of Egyptian writers to the rest of the world. This would be done by writing about cultural and social topics that are original and novel and collaborating with other cultures, through the story competitions that are released. The first project this foundation offered was a workshop of short stories about the revolution by twelve Egyptian residents. The Foundation issued its first short story competition with the title of “Resurrection of Ancient Egypt” and it has witnessed so far a wide range of attraction from the media and people.

For the results of the first competition please visit: marwarakha.com

“Women’s Domination” is the second competition offered by the Forgotten Writers Foundation. The theme is about writing stories that reveal the power of women in terms of direct and metaphorical gestures and lines.  The competition is open to all women and men who are feminists and anti-feminists, and the aim of it is to measure how both sexes in different cultures perceive women’s domination.

I do not personally believe in setting rules in writing and in formulating guidelines. A writer is a mini-creator who has the absolute freedom in writing whatever, and however. This competition is a little different, so the guidelines set below are not to limit the creativity of the writer, but only to direct it to the main social and scientific goal of this competition.

About the Women’s Domination Competition:

Write a story starting by a woman dominating a man, it can either be political, emotional, financial, economical, sexual, or work domination. The artists are free to be creative in any kind of domination, whether positive or negative, because this will help us when we write the literary analysis on how human beings measure power towards the other sex, and if they view it as a threat or protection! We strongly believe that there are still unwritten theories about the psychology of a human being, and feminism/anti-feminism sciences. We are expecting our writers to bring the best of their cores and nourish the world with new theories, for a better social communication between genders and with the self.

It is better that all the stories start by the concept of domination. And there is a reason behind this. When testing a variable one usually puts different people under the same circumstances, and amazingly observes the wonders of the human mind from their reflex actions. This will help us much in our analysis, and some people claim that this might affect the creativity of the writer, however I think creativity is always there and even if one is give the starting and ending line, one has the chance to make an unexpected body!

Eligibility:

1. The competition is open for Egyptians and Non-Egyptians.
2. Applicable for age of sixteen and above.
3. Eligible for both; females and males.
4. In English.
5. Unpublished work.
6. One is allowed to submit more than one entry.

General Competition Guidelines:

1. Maximum 3,000 words / Minimum 500 words.
2. You (Male or Female) are the first narrator, it is not allowed for a man for instance to choose to become a first narrator for the woman protagonist or vice versa, because we will be doing a psychological analysis on how genders view “free and powerful women”. / For (Transgender Writers), you are free to choose the sex to write about.
3. There must be a title for the story.
4. It is possible to use illustrations as figures, pictures and drawings if you are a painter.
5. It is possible to include your own poetry within your story.
6. It is NOT possible to use quotes from other writers.
7. You are free to choose any genre of horror, fantasy, politics, romance, or any other one.
8. You are free to use any kind of style, however we do not allow unnecessary sexual vocabulary or extra obscene scenes due to the respect of all cultures, if they are irrelevant to the philosophy of the text.
9. Numbers must be written in (words) except if it was a date-year / ex: 1996 – Seven years old.
10. Write using American English (spelling and vocabulary).
11. Do not use (&) instead of (And).
12. The submission period starts from the “International Women’s Day” / 8 – March – 2012 , until 28 – February – 2013.

Guidelines for Women:

1. For instance if the Story would start by the following sentence (or a similar one) that reflects the meaning of the domination of a woman over a man in any way, and the scene-story should be completed:
   

   Ex: “As I planted my heels upon his so-called strong chest, to where his heart lay, my roots found their way through the thick masculinity of his body, into the deepest of his heart…”

2. Conversations are allowed, however revealing the woman’s thoughts, feelings and philosophy regarding all aspects of the story is NEEDED, including domination.
3. Writing about the man’s internal feelings is NOT allowed, however anticipation is highly recommended, for example:

You are allowed to say this: (I felt the subjection of his heart, his weakness, his longing…etc.)

You are NOT allowed to say this: (He felt weak, lustful, the chemistry…etc.)

Guidelines for Men:

1. For instance if the Story would start by the following sentence (or a similar one) that reflects the meaning of the domination of a woman over a man in any way, and the scene-story should be completed:
   

   Ex: “As she planted her heels upon my so-called strong chest, to where my heart lay, her roots found their way through the thick masculinity of my body, into the deepest of my heart…”

2. Conversations are allowed, however revealing the man’s thoughts, feelings and philosophy of being dominated through the story is NEEDED.
3. Writing about the women’s internal feelings is NOT allowed, however anticipation is highly recommended, for example:

You are allowed to say this: (I felt her power, her greatness, her greed, her carelessness, her generosity…etc.)

You are NOT allowed to say this: (She felt divine, she felt my weakness, my love…etc.)

Submission Guidelines:

1. All stories are sent via email.
2. Word Document: Font must be Times New Roman, 12, Margins Justified and Pages Numbered.
3. The Title of the story must be centered in the middle of the page, bold, and size 12.
4. Do not mention your name in the word document.
5. Save the word file with your Name and Title on it.
6. Please include in the email message these details; Your (Home Country, Resident Country, Political Notion-Party, Religion-Belief), these details will help us in our study when publishing the Book to understand the concept of women’s domination, and see if it is more related to the culture one belongs to, or to the instinct in humanity, and if such details are too personal, forget about them and just send us your story please, and we apologize!
7. Kindly email your stories to: Native_Writer@Yahoo.com , write in the title: Your Name – Women’s Domination – Submission.
8. For questions email: Native_Writer@Yahoo.com , write in the title: Your Name – Women’s Domination – Questions.

Judging:

1. The winning stories will be chosen on the degree of creativity and the novelty of the idea. Strange and unusual ideas are strongly recommended.
2. The depth of the text, characters, places, scene… etc.
3. The metaphors and similes used.
4. The beauty of the writing style and dialogs if there are any.
5. The ending of the story and how powerful it is.
6. There will be no judging on grammar because it will be unjust since there are those who have English as a first language and those who have it as a second language. We will do the editing if needed for you, but try to introduce your piece as decent as possible.

Conclusion:

Notice that this book will be a cocktail of different ideas. It is more of using the suitable ratios of stories rather than it is a competition. There might be outstanding stories that might not find a place in the book. But, we will try our best to make all the good stories fit, even if it will be possible to make two separate books. So, just write and know that this competition is not measuring your level, but consider it as a workshop and a chance to do something different, challenge yourself and get to know new intellectual people.

Your Native Writer and Loyal Reader,
Mahmoud Mansi

Questions and Submissions can be sent to:

Mahmoud Mansi: (002) 0100 92 818 08 / Native_writer@yahoo.com

• Author of; A Journey from Darkness to Light
• Winner of “A Sea of Words” Literary Award, Spain – Egypt 2010
•  Journalist / Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alex Med Newsletter
• HR Specialist / The Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport
• MA Degree / Marketing
• DC – Forgotten Writers Womens Domination Competition Flier