Please use the * to indicate bold. It simply means having a line that says:

I hate using bold!

when you want to indicate:

I hate using bold!

Same with italics.

Italics can be annoying.

for

Italics can be annoying.

The reason for this rule is that different word processors use different codes to create bold and italics and it screws things up when it comes to printing time. (It can also be difficult for the print setter to see the bold and italics depending on the font and word processor.) You may notice on some websites where there's question marks showing up at odd times - that's because the person wrote their stuff in a word processing program then cut and pasted the text into a web page. It just doesn't translate properly.

Just type up your entry in something like Notepad (please don't use the Enter key unless you are making a new paragraph) and attach it as a .txt file to your e-mail. (Quick tip: You can spell check it when you're done by copying the text into your word processor and have it spell check your story.)

It really does take a lot of extra time for us to reformat the entries if people don't follow the rules. (And it greatly increases the chances of errors in the final story presentation.) Besides, part of the idea behind the contest is to give people experience in writing stories for publication, and these are standard submission requirements. (Actually, publications usually insist on things like courier font as well, but with .txt attachments, changing the font is a snap, so we're not concerned about that part.)

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask!

Cheers!