It's always good to see a free writing competition. .If nothing else, it means the organsers cannot be simply after the entry money, so they probably are genuinely interested in seeking out some quality writing.

This latest free contest goes by the catchy title of "The Terry Pratchett Anywhere But Here, Anywhen But Now Prize" and, you guessed it, has Terry P. as a judge. Other judges include Tony Robinson (presumably 'Timeteam' Baldrick), a bloke from Waterstone's plus two senior members of the editorial team from Transworld Publishers.

The contest is open to unpublished writers (ie no authors of novels with ISBNs) and entries have to be 80,000 to 150,000 words long, a complete work of previously unpublished fiction and accompanied by a synopsis up to 600 words. The closing date is 31st December 2010

The £20,000 prize is actually an advance on royalties, the real prize being a publishing contract.

But before you start dusting off the old novel script that those publishers you sent it to obviously never read properly, or before you roll up your sleeves and start rattling that keyboard, be mindful about what Mr P. says he's looking for.

The contest title is a little misleading. As Terry P. explains on his website, the stories must be set on Earth and can be set in the past, present or future as you want. Plus, it doesn't have to be a factual Earth. History may be a little different. The geography may be a little different. (That perhaps makes sense of the 'Anywhere, Anywhen'.) Even biology may be different. The example Mr P. gives is that dragons may have evolved and exist on this Earth the story is set in.

What Mr P. seems not to want is writers messing with physics ("the story must be theoretically possible") or going astronomical ("we are after stories set on Earth" & "what goes up must come down") Even if the Earth is a little different than the usual one we know and love, it still must be the Earth.

And if the story is set in the real version of Earth, it surely won't matter. It just has to be good. Perhaps here is the opportunity for that novel idea that doesn't fit neatly into the recognised bookshop shelf sub-genres. Perhaps Mr P. doesn't know what he's after until he sees it. ("It might be one day in the life of an ordinary person. It could be a love story, an old story, a war story, a story set in a world where Leonardo da Vinci turned out to be a lot better at Aeronautics.")

Well, that's our take on it. The full rules and definitive instructions can be found down this link on Mr P.'s website.