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The Prompts
Each member who wishes to participate in the duel must select ONE of the following prompts around which to craft their story. Authors may only compete in ONE category, so select your prompt carefully.
Prompt 1: A Fresh Spin – We all know them. They just never seem to go away. The cliché plot line. Voldemort’s daughter befriending Harry, Hermione being a secret Pureblood, teen pregnancy at Hogwarts. Your challenge is to select one of these or another often used fanfic plot or theme and turn it on its head, writing it in a new, fresh, and (most importantly) realistic way.
Prompt 2: Changing Impressions – Do you think Percy is more than a know-it-all Ministry Man or that Pansy is more than Draco’s snobby girlfriend? Well, now is you chance to convince others of your beliefs. For this prompt, you need to write a story that shows readers a new perspective on a character – something that changes the way they are represented in the books or how they are usually portrayed in fanfiction. Make your readers love a character they normally hate, feel sympathy for someone they usually despise, or just generally think about a character in a way they never have before. This isn’t about ignoring canon, it’s about adding to it. What can you bring to a character that sheds new light on who they are?
Prompt 3: A New Kind of Love – Many of the stories posted on this site feature (to varying degrees) romantic relationships between characters, which is understandable, as romance is a big part of life. For this prompt, however, you’ll have to push the boundaries of what it means to be in a relationship. Instead of exploring the ups and downs of a dating or married couple, here you are being challenged to explore other types of relationships: a mother and child, two old friends, a boy and his dog, a student and her favorite teacher. The “couple” is up to you: just make sure the non-romantic relationship is the central focus of the story.
The Rules:
Stories that fail to meet the following guidelines will be automatically disqualified.
- Stories must be one-shots between 1800-4000 words
- Stories must properly reflect the prompt under which they are submitted
- Stories must be rated 15+ or lower. All warnings are accepted (as long they correspond with the correct rating).
- Unless specified in the prompt, all characters, genres, eras, etc., are acceptable.
- Stores must comply with the Site Rules/Terms of Service
- DO NOT publish your story on HPFF until the Duel is complete. Doing so will result in immediate disqualification.
- Banners and chapter images are not allowed.
Submissions and Voting:
The voting for this Writer’s Duel will take place in two parts. The first will be done by you the members. You will get to vote on your favorite entries under each category. The second round of voting will be done by the staff. The top entries in each category will be reviewed by the staff and a winner for each prompt will be selected.
In order to keep the voting as fair as possible, all submissions will remain anonymous until the duel has been completed. In order to achieve this, submissions must NOT be posted directly to the archives by the author. They must be submitted via email to the staff, who will then review and post them under a single story shell – one for each prompt.
In order to submit an entry, please follow these instructions:
1. Once you have written your story, please submit it to competition[at]harrypotterfanfiction.com with the subject line: Writer’s Duel
2. Your submission MUST contain your completed text, story title, a summary (if you have one), your archive penname, and the category your story is being submitted under.
3. Please make sure your story is complete when submitted. No changes will be accepted after the story has been received.
4. Do NOT tell any fellow members which submission is yours. Doing so will result in immediate disqualification if discovered.
IMPORTANT: All stories submitted for this duel are assumed to be willingly contributed to the site and will be posted on a site account where members can read, review and vote on them. This means authors cannot post these stories on their authors’ pages. Do not submit an entry unless you are willing to comply with this rule. At the end of the competition, pennames will be assigned to each submission so all authors are properly credited.
Submissions will be open between January 1 and January 14, 2012. Prizes Will Be Announced Soon!
Good luck to everyone. We can’t wait to see what you come up with!!
EDIT: PRIZES… Each category winner will get an HPFF fountain pen. The entry judged the overall best story from the 3 winning categories will also get an HPFF flash drive.
