Trick or Treat With Me!

Note: This blog was originally published on my MySpace blog, September 12, 2008.

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Last year, I invited friends, fans, writers, artists, and readers to trick-or-treat at my place.  It was so much fun that I'd like to make it a yearly tradition, so if you'd like to ring my bell, I'm listing the rules (pretty much identical to 2007) below.

As with last year, I'll be having a Halloween party on my site beginning October 1st.  Right now, the home page features my introduction, and a random piece of art every time you visit. On October 1st, the decorations go up, and I'd really like you to ring my bell and show me your costumes. If you do, they'll go in that spot where my cover art usually resides.

Also, this year there will be a separate Halloween gallery (I was going to call it "Gallery of Ghouls" but that just seemed so morbid).  This way, you can see all the pics at once without having to refresh the page over and over.

There are lots of ways to ring my bell:

If you're comfortable—or if you have a really great mask—send me a picture of yourself in costume or (mmm) cosplay.

If you're a writer, send me a "scary-fied" version of one of your book covers. An easy way to do this is to wash the image in red. For example, my uber kawaii and heart touching True cover would have a transformation like this:

But if you've got other ideas, run with them. I'm aching to see how creative you can be. Animations work for me, but please make those files .gif and keep the size of them under 500kb's.

If you're an artist... hell, you can do just about anything as long as it's Halloween themed. Dress up a favorite character in another favorite character's clothing, or create a new image just for the occasion. Personally, I'd like to see one of my own characters in costume, but what writer doesn't adore having someone do fan art for them?

Ohhh, and plushies.  Would love to see some plush madness.  I have a Gaara that loves to cosplay.

The nitty gritty:

The image has to be in .jpg, .gif, or .png format. It has to be at least 500 pixels high and no more than 400 pixels wide.

If you want, print a message on the picture. It can say Happy Halloween, Trick-or-Treat, your website address, your tag, etc. Just don't, you know, swear at me.  If you'd like me to print your name on the picture, let me know what you'd like to be called and exactly how you want me to spell it.

No nudity.

The picture must belong to you. If it's a book cover, it has to be your book cover. If it's a person in costume, it has to be you in the costume. I'm giving a little leeway with the fan art and whatnot because it's Halloween and it's all about the cosplay, but no ripping off someone else's stuff and saying it's yours.

To enter:

Just email the image to mcbride_rowan@yahoo.com with "Trick-or-Treat!" in the subject. The pictures will start going up October 1st, and I'll keep accepting them right up until Halloween. Remember, it's my prerogative whether to put your image on my site, so don't be offended if I feel it's inappropriate for reasons not listed above.

Have fun!