"Truth in the Shadows" Suspense Writing Contest 2025.7.10-2025.12.10 INTRO When the veneer of everyday life cracks, darkness seeps through the gaps. A series of grisly murders. A politician's mysterious death on the eve of an election. A suicide without a trace of motive. A husband vanishing into thin air. A cursed town. A strange kidnapping. Invisible threads of cyberbullying… You could be the detective chasing shadows, the unhinged psychopath, the professional assassin, or the hacker lurking in the depths of the internet... Revenge. Lies. Murder. Ghosts. Betrayal. Secrets. Love... What are those truths hidden beneath the mist? PRIZE 1st $3,000 2nd $2,000 3rd $1,000 *If the above winning works eventually reach 200K words, there will be an additional bonus of $1,000, which can be gained after the contest concludes. *The winning works must be no less than 100,000 words. Rising star $500*7 INSPIRATION 1. He’s an unemployed man drowning in debt, forced to rent out a room in his home. When a mysterious woman moves in, things spiral—strange noises at night, a rotting stench he can’t erase, and neighbors whispering behind his back. His darkest secret might not stay buried for long. 2. She’s a detective investigating a chilling threat: “Thirteen innocents must die for one guilty soul.” As a feminist activist’s tour sparks chaos, her friend becomes a bodyguard for the activist. Two seemingly unrelated events converge, revealing a deadly web of vengeance and justice blurred by obsession. 3. He was a big city defense lawyer who returned to his hometown to start a new life and work for family reasons. He immediately took over two cases: a rich kid was accused of murder, and a poor kid was accused of arson. Both swore they were innocent. In this small town in the South, the court rarely found someone guilty... 4.She is a single woman in New York who has always had little luck in love. Recently, she is deeply fascinated by her perfect new boyfriend. However, a case of a young woman being brutally murdered caught the police off guard. The murderer would date the victims before killing them. She began to suspect that her new boyfriend was involved in the murder... 5.She is a former Los Angeles police officer who resigned and moved to a coastal town in California to become a private detective. The seemingly quiet town is actually turbulent. In just 48 hours, she found the body of a teenager, and the locals warned her not to trust anything here... GENRE: Suspense/Horror/Mystery/Thriller/Crime/Murder/Dark Romance/Mafia/Sci-fi TAG： FBI/Murder/Unsolved Case/Female Detective/Female Lawyer/Female Police/Psychological/Comfortable Suspense/Private Investigator/Small Town/Science Fiction Thriller Crime/Revenge /Suspense/Murder/Divorce/Infidelity/Kidnapping MALE LEAD (Reference) Disillusioned Ex-Cop/Vengeful Hacker/Charming Con Artist/Stoic and Reserved Professor/Mafia Leader Haunted by Past Mistakes/Overconfident but Deeply Flawed Detective/Reluctant Hero with a Dark Secret FEMALE LEAD (Reference) Relentless Detective/Clever and Resourceful Journalist/Feminist Activist with a Fiery Spirit/Emotionally Guarded Artist/Mysterious and Enigmatic Scholar/Empathetic but Determined Psychologist/Fearless Bodyguard/Killer Driven by Revenge/Charming Manipulator with a Hidden Agenda/Courageous Survivor with a Soft Heart Rules of contest - Be written in English. - Exclusive original works only, plagiarism will result in immediate disqualification - Submission Progress： Creating Stories: https://www.novelsnack.com/book/create; Apply for the contest with a story exceeding 3k words. Select Contest Tag: #Suspense Writing Contest (The writer needs to tag "Suspense Writing Contest" in the contract application, and add popular tags in the submission) APPLY FOR ENTRY