Hello fellow BLer's, it's that time of year again!
For those of you, who don't know or are new here, my name is Milbunk and last year I hosted a fanfic contest all about Type-Moon, and though there were a few bugs in the system, it was pretty successful in the long run, and because of that I would like to host it yet again!
For the most part the rules and regulations will be the same as those seemed to work pretty well, they are as follows:
Rules: (Last Updated: Jan 13, 2013)
- You cannot enter an already posted piece of work. (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.)
Instead of having a minimum limit this time, I've decided to have a softer maximum limit to keep stories from overshadowing the smaller ones. The soft limit for this contest will be 10,000 words but if you wanna go a little longer I won't just kick you out. (They key is to tell a good story while also not stretching too far to make it a 50,000 word epic.)- 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!
Being a Type-Moon contest, the story must be about Type-Moon of course, you guys can pick any stories or even something new altogether, just as long as it stays somewhere within the Nasuverse.
There willthreefive categories:
- Humor (Crack fics or fics to make ya laugh.)
- Action (Fight scenes, fighting, and more fighting here.)
- Drama (Emotional scenes or tense scene with characters can sometimes mesh with the action category a bit and in that case pick which one you think would fit the best.)
- Romance (A very close relationship building between two or more characters.)
- Lemon (A story where, for some reason or another, characters decide to do the dirtiest of dances.)
You may include lemon content in the other genres as well, but it's not required in any of them (except in the Lemon category, of course). Just make sure that the lemon also has a decent plot to go with it, as all genres are scored according to the below rubric, including the entries in the Lemons category.
Judges and Judging:
As of now we have four judges, with the fifth slot pending to be filled. Feel free to apply to be a replacement judge, in case for some reason or another some of our judges are unable to do so. Keep in mind that if you decide to be a judge, you cannot enter the contest itself.
The judging rubric is as follows:
- Technical (30 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.
- 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 (20 Points): Faithfulness to the source material (accounting for 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?
- Consistency (10 Points): What kind of fic you did. Did you make sure to keep to your category? How generic was the fic? Was it a simple talk between lovers or an exciting battle between rivals? (Note that there won't be points off for doing a plain idea, but they're also not as likely to get a maximum score here.)
- 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?
Each judge, according to the above rubric, will assign the story a score that will total to between 0 and 100 points. Since there are five judges, an absolutely flawless fic would have a maximium overall score of 500.
At the moment we have three prizes:
- There will be a cash prize of 30 dollars per category for any first prize winner, they either have a choice of the cash or the option below.
- Dark Pulse has decided to offer five short-ish fics (about 7500 words) to the winner of each category (contents are up to the winner) as well as the grand prize winner, with the grand prize winner possibly getting an extra bonus.
- Arashi has decided to add in a Figma figurine of Phantasmoon.
If anyone wants to donate a prize or offer a picture or the like that would be much appreciated!
The deadline for the contest will be 11:59 PM Eastern US Time on April 1st. Late entries may not be accepted after this cutoff, and if they are, they likely will have a lateness penalty applied to their score. Judging will take place over the next two weeks after that. If you guys have any questions about anything at all feel free to ask, and once again the most important thing you should remember about the contest is to have fun!
- Judges:
- Milbunk
- Dark Pulse
- Alf
- Elf
- Black Sword
- Humor:
- Desu_Cake (Good)
- Bloble (Good)
- Frantic Author (Good)
- legoguydude (Good)
- Moczo (Good)
- Tangerang (Good)
- 1x Anon (Good)
- Action:
- Arch-Magos Winter (Good)
- NamesAreHardToComeUpWith (Good)
- hatori (Possibly withdrawn?)
- Gaterjhonz (Good)
- RanmaBushiko (Withdraw)
- ItsaRandomUsername (Withdraw)
- Arashi_Leonhart (Withdraw)
- KAIZA (Withdraw)
- Soldat der Trauer (Withdraw)
- Virtue (Good)
- Drama:
- I3uster (Good)
- Santo (Good)
- captain_n00b
- ZidanReign (Withdraw)
- Vanilla
- Epiren (Withdraw)
- dminion
- RacingeR (Withdraw)
- Reekwind (Good)
- 2x Anon (2x Good)
- Romance:
- Laith (Withdraw)
- Lemon:
- Kiiam (Good)
- Xamusel (Withdraw)
- DezoPenguin (Good)
- Undecided:
- ReverseLogic
- Break (Possible entry?)
Good luck to all the contestants! We can't wait to see what you guys come up with this year!
Also you can send then in via pm to me or email at [email protected]