Brigit's Flame: An Overview

Brigit's Flame (aka "the Flame") is, at its core, a monthly writing contest. However, there are a lot of peripheral activities to keep members entertained between writing their entries; even people who don't wish to write can have a good time!

How does the main contest run?

Authors sign up at the beginning of each month to play. Each week, a topic is posted, and contestants (and "just for fun" entrants) have approximately a week to write and submit their entries. When the deadline for new entries passes, a poll is set up with links to all submissions. Voting generally runs for two days, after which time the top 50% of contestants advance, based on the number of votes each entry received. For the final week (week 4), the entry with the most votes triumphs, and its author is declared winner for the entire month. Winners are announced to the community, and their names are immortalized on the community's profile page and the sidebar of the main page forever.

You can find more detail about this question on its FAQ page.

How else can I enjoy the community?

There are lots of ways for you to have fun between contest entries or even if you aren't an author. Chatter posts go up five days per week, with a "weekly roundup" of the topics posted on Saturdays. The Writer's Showcase is a weekly feature of one author in the community, including a biography and a featured story or poem. The ROAR team reads and comments on every entry. Editors comb over entries to help authors who request in-depth comments. The Literary Library provides articles on proper usage of English, methods in style, stylistic suggestions, and more to help authors and editors. Art contests provide multimedia content for our users, including icons and banners. Mini contests are used as fillers on extra weeks or in addition to the regular contests, usually in the latter weeks of the month. NOMinations recognize members who constantly work to improve the community. As if all that weren't enough, there's even a chat room open 24/7 on the website where members can meet to talk about writing or anything else they may want.

More information on all of this can be found on the appropriate pages of the Frequently Asked Questions. However, feel free to ask any of the moderators or community members if you have any specific questions!

What is this community's philosophy?

To put it in five words: "Relax, grow, and enjoy yourself." It's just an online writing community.

Then again, it's a good, competitive, and supportive online writing community. The members on the Flame are all laid-back, hard-working, and wholehearted people. They're used to giving it their all, so expect some fierce but friendly competition! The writers here are fantastic, intelligent, and extremely talented people, and you will be impressed by what these people can create. Even making it into the second week of the competition is something to be proud of around here!

The community draws a distinction between winning and doing your best. Winning is fantastic, and it's part of any good competition, but if you can surpass yourself in your writing, there's really no way to lose. Our editors and ROAR team members are certainly here to help you improve, but everyone on the community is here to support your efforts.

As a final note, if there's something inside of you that can only come out through "exorcism by the written word", this is the place for you. We have a caring, supportive, and very sensitive group here, and your feelings and emotions are safe with us. You're going to receive words of encouragement, compassion, and, if you ask for it, appropriate and meaningful criticism of your writing. Welcome to your new family!

Who is welcome here?

You are! Anyone who wants to join in a contest is fully invited to do so. The community is proudly made up of people from all walks of life. People from all countries, religions, orientations, and ages can come together here and get to be good friends. Everyone can share and engage in stimulating intellectual exchange, regardless of level of education, native language, how many of you are sharing the same body, or any way in which you may identify. Chatter posts and contest topics are kept as universal as possible to allow people of all cultures to participate. The community does the best it can to make the content here as accessible as possible for all people, including those with visual or other impairments— please let the moderation team know if there's anything we can do to improve your experience!