If the prospect of crisp, fall evenings and a cool breeze brings to mind stories around a crackling campfire, the Independent-Mail has something for you.

For the 17th annual Halloween Writing Contest, we ask you to imagine that campfire and tell your own story using our two story introductions.

Once again, we ask school-aged children and adults to complete the story starts below and our very young readers to draw a picture to express their story idea.

The contest deadline is 5 p.m. on Wednesday Oct. 8. The results will be announced Saturday, Oct. 25 at the 17th annual Literacy Fall Festival. The festival will be 2 to 5 p.m. at the Civic Center of Anderson.

The carnival is sponsored by the Independent-Mail and the United Way of Anderson.