Hey everyone! It's a new year and a new beginning and with that new beginning comes a brand new contest! And with so much Type Moon content being announced why not get those minds moving with some old fashioned fanfiction.
Due to popular demand the contest is going to be freeform once again this year. Basically contestants can write whatever their hearts desire so long as it relates to Type-Moon! If this kind of freedom seems a little overwhelming then I will also provide some prompts below that contestants may use to get an idea of what to write.
Rules for 2017:
- You cannot enter something that is already released to the public. (Anything you submit must be new to us BLer's and no posting pieces that have been posted on sites like the fanfic forum, if you've been working on something but haven't shared it with the public you can enter it if you want.)
- We have no official word count limit per se. Obviously, however, we do not want a 100 word fanfic, nor do we want a 100,000 word behemoth (unless it's really, really good). We will recommend that authors, in general, stick to a limit of 10,000 words, but again, this is not a hard-and-fast rule. You can go under this limit or over it, but please keep in mind the judges might have to read dozens of fics, so if yours must be longer, then that is fine, but make it worth their while!
- While there is no limit please keep in mind that you can't just put one word down and throw it out as a oneshot, entries that attempt to do so will be ignored altogether. I will be cracking down on this a lot more this year so beware!
Other important things to know:
- Since this is a Type Moon contest fanfics must take place in the Nasuverse or any related materials. (So, Extra, Mahoyo, DDD, Notes, GO, even the Anime are all fine.) There will also be no crossovers outside of the Nasuverse as that would complicate things and it's just overall simpler to not do them, Crossovers between Nasuverse works are fine.
- If you want to enter the contest but don't want to show people that you are entering, you can choose to enter anon therefore keeping who you are private to only myself and the judges. After that if you choose to reveal yourself then you are perfectly free to do so.
- You can enter the contest at any time even 5 minutes before the deadline, just make sure you provide your entry in time before the deadline. I'll accept entries past the deadline if there is a good reason for them being late otherwise there will be some sort of small penalty for late entries.
Contest Prompts:
As the contest is now freeform there are no limitations to what people may write so long as it is related to Type-Moon. However if you are unsure of what to write then here are a few prompts that may serve to give you an idea of what may be interesting to see.
Ancient Past: The Nasuverse has gotten quite large as of late so why not look into a character's past? Maybe you want to explore the ancient past of a Servant's legend to see what makes them tick or maybe you just want to talk about young Zolgen, but whatever it is stick to what is already said and done.
Grail War: Use this fancy little tool here to create unexpected pairings for Masters and Servants: http://hgwsim.tumblr.com/ By randomly generating your own unique Grail War the possibilities are nearly limitless!
Knk/Tsukihime: Back in the old days Knk and Tsukihime were considered to be on a similar pedastal to Fate. Though those days may have waned somewhat perhaps it is time to return to those days? Do a story on either Knk or Tsukihime and give those characters the spotlight they deserve.
Magi Adventures: Magi are often seen either in their workshops, classrooms, or involved in a Grail War but perhaps it may be more interesting to see Magi in another situation? Whether it is on a mission to find an ancient artifact or to perform a Sealing Designation anything is possible so long as the magus has the guts.
Vampires: There is a lot of information regarding Servants but less so for another important side of the Nasuverse, the vampires. Does not necessarily mean a Dead Apostle Ancestor but simply may be a vampire with a unique or odd trait that you want to see expanded upon in a oneshot.
In Another's Shoes: One of the easiest ways to mess with fiction is to simply take a situation and change around the characters in some way, shape, or form in order to create an entire new story so why not take advantage of that? Whether it be Shiki summoning a Servant or Shinji being forced to deal with his newfound Tohno sister the sky is the limit.
Judges and Judging:
There are 3 judges, since the idea for this contest is to go with a smaller idea I am using less judges as well:
- Alf
- IRUN
- Dark Pulse
The judging itself is as follows:
Artistry (30 Points): Everything that contributes to the enjoyment of the story. How did a fic make a judge feel? Emotional impact. Flow. Beautiful language. Engagement. In the case of lemons, how hot the pairing and events are. Does the fic connect with readers? Remember, a story is more than just a piece of technical writing!
Characterization (25 Points): Faithfulness to the source material (accounting for OCs/AUs). Accuracy in character mannerisms, thoughts, and speech. Realistic reactions to a given situation. Essentially, is this really a Type-Moon fanfic, or just a story with characters named the same? Would the characters have plausibly acted as they did in these circumstances? Do the rules of the world actually work? For Original Characters and AUs, do they make sense? Do they blend in seamlessly with regular Nasuverse characters/concepts?
Setting (20 Points): Are you going to set it in tried-and-true Nasuverse places, or are you going to put it somewhere new? How believable is your depiction? How well does the location feel like it fits into the Nasuverse? Does it feel like it's connected to his world, or does it feel like it's just existing?
Technical (15 Points): This is basically how good your grammar and punctuation are, and if you can follow the rules of the language. Clean (understandable!) sentences, well-structured paragraphs, and clear writing will all help your score here. Most people should get a pretty high score in this as long as you make sure to have your fics read through and checked for errors.
Uniqueness (10 Points): What sets your fic apart from the rest of the pack (or general TM fanfiction)? Plot, character focus, a future world, a certain je ne sais quoi... what did you dare to attempt? Did it make the fic better... or worse?
The maximum score a writer can attain is 300 but to reach that with such harsh judges is no easy task.
Prizes:
The prize this year is going to be a simple reward of quartz, in particular the reward will be the bundle of 65 quartz for Grand Order which is just enough for two ten rolls.
Deadline:
The deadline for the contest will be April 8th Saturday at 12:00 a.m. Central Standard Time
And of course if you folks have any questions on anything feel free to ask or pm me.
Contestants:
- Milbunk
- Nacho the Doritosedge
- Sir Jackets Off
- SpoonyViking
- You
- Imperial
- TwilightsCall