Welcome to the First Tv Tropes Fan fiction Writing Contest!

This contest is designed to be more casual and less formal than the other contest. As such you will have the freedom (and the obligation) to use characters from other authors and create a good story. This in the hopes of giving newbie writers more confidence on their work and fun to experienced and amateur writers alike.

This time around, we have six themes. You will be asked to combine two or more in your entry.

Themes:

• Redemption
• Freedom
• Love
• Faith
• Death
• Deconstruction

Rules are:

• One entry per troper.
• You can only use new fan fiction (you must start from zero)
• Must be FANFICTION.No original works. But you are allowed to use original characters or elements.
• 2000-6000 words. For the sake of consistency, please use this to verify your word count.
• Use at least a paragraph to give a brief introduction to the judges about the work you are writing fan-fiction from (rules characters etc). It’s optional, but remember judges are in no way obligated to have prior knowlegdge of the work your are writting fan fiction from. (no matter how popular it may be). Your story must be meaningful to someone that isn't a fan.
• Due to the world limit increase. Judges get more time to judge the entries.

Deadline: January 15 2012 midnight Pacific time. If we don't have seven entries by this time (or at least 3 judges), it will be extended in increments of three days until we do . When your story is complete, upload it to FreeTextHost or google docs (Just don’t forget to make it public.) Do not include your name or list the themes you combined anywhere on the document, as judging is anonymous. PM the URL to me and tell me your themes. When I pass on the entries to the judges, they will get the themes in spoiler text.

Stories will be judged thusly, total of 30 points:

• 5 points: Conventions (spelling and grammar)
• 5 points. Independency (How conveying your work is for someone that isn’t a fan). Guaranteed points if a judge that isn’t a fan of the work feels “touched” by it. Too long explanations will lose all points.
• 5 points: Theme (how well you combined the themes into a good story; whether or not your entry is within the required word count of 2000-6000).
• 15 points: The piece as a whole

Judges:

You can apply to be a judge!

• Fallen Legend (substitute judge)
• Alethiophile
• nrjxll
• animemetalhead,

Entrants:

1. Pacific Mackerel
2. Specialist 290
3. Mild Guy,
4. Night
5. Away Laughing
6. Leradny
7. Misuki
8. feotakahari
9. Freezair For A Limited Time
10. Commandeer Obvious

FAQ

From which works I can write fanfiction from?.

Any work, there is no limit. We are judging story quality not fandoms. Have fun!

What if my fic is about a work that needs some explaining?

This contest has 1000 extra words in comparison to the other contest. You can use some of these extra words to explain certain things (character background, universe rules, setting etc.). Be brief and only explain what's absolutely necessary for your story.

Explanations count towards the word count?

Yes, they are part of the 2000-6000 word limits. But they don’t count towards your “Story word count”

What if my fic uses elements that only a diehard fan would know?

Consider rethinking your story. Stories must have a meaning without being too knwoledgable of the work.Judges are not obligated to have prior knowledge of it. In fact they are encouraged to take away points If they don’t understand your story.

What if I am writing a fic from a very popular work like harry potter? Do I need to write a brief introduction as well?

No, But it is a risk. If the judge isn’t familiar with your work and doesn’t understand what’s going on. You will lose points.

Could you show me an example of a fanfic that "stands on it's own"?

Sure. Admittedly it's more meaningful if you are a fan.

Can I use OC characters? or original stuff?

Sure. But your story must remain being fanfiction.

Can I use more than one work as a basis?

Sure.Just be careful of not making your story too confusing.

edited 11th Dec '11 10:58:20 AM by FallenLegend

Make your hearth shine through the darkest night; let it transform hate into kindness, evil into justice, and loneliness into love.

I'm reasonably certain that this is, in fact, the second TV Tropes fanfiction writing contest - I seem to recall seeing one mentioned before.

I proposed the idea before. But if it is the second I will ask a mod to chnage the title .

Make your hearth shine through the darkest night; let it transform hate into kindness, evil into justice, and loneliness into love.

First, second or third, I'll volunteer to judge. I would enter this, but all my fanfic energy is going to a project that is preexisting and going for some 300k words or more in eventual length, and I don't feel like thinking up a oneshot right now.

Shinigan (Naruto fanfic)

Do RPG worlds count as "works"? Because if they do I might be persuaded to join.

If I were to write some of the strange things that come under my eyes they would not be believed. ~Cora M. Strayer~

Thanks I will add you

Yes they do!.You can write a fic from those

edited 7th Oct '11 10:39:35 PM by FallenLegend

Make your hearth shine through the darkest night; let it transform hate into kindness, evil into justice, and loneliness into love.

Mmm...

Na No darkens the distant horizon and that needs preparing for, plus my other stuff crowding my plate. But then I love fan fic.

Don't mark me down for anything yet. I might judge and hope there's a second or third contest after Nov.

I'm sorry, but a lot of the rules are kind of nullifying the "fanfiction" part of it.

Why don't you at least have the judges state what fandoms they're part of/knowledgeable in, so there's some sort of guideline as to which series to write for?

Is it possible to be a judge without entering a work of your own? I'm not a fan of writing fanfiction, but I'm interested to try judging fanfiction from works that I'm not familiar with, which I suspect many of the entries will be.

Traditionally judges in these contests are not entrants, so yes.

In that case, chalk me up for a volunteer to judge.

I'll volunteer to entire. Fallout will be my media.

@Sharysa: you're allowed to write for any fandom. That's the whole point of the "take a paragraph or two to explain the work" rule.

And on a more general note, I think the rules are very sensible. Looks like this is going to be a very nice competition indeed.

edited 9th Oct '11 2:45:17 AM by DoktorvonEurotrash

It does not matter who I am. What matters is, who will you become? - motto of Omsk Bird

Looking at the possible themes, the only fanfic idea I've ever had actually fits two of them. Don't count me in for certain yet, but I'll think about this.

(Also, is this blind? I have a feeling people who've read my previous stories will be able to recognize this idea as a product of my style.)

Edit: Turns out it is blind. You might want to change your topic.

edited 9th Oct '11 2:57:59 AM by feotakahari

That's Feo . . . He's a disgusting, mysoginistic, paedophilic asshat who moonlights as a shitty writer—Something Awful

@Sharysa: One of the judging categories would appear to deny the usefulness of that.

Furthermore to my shame I've never watched Evangelion and yet quite enjoy every fresh madness that its fandom turns out. I became familiar with the original Bubblegum Crisis ex post facto to enjoying fanfiction written for it. I'm still slowly grinding my way through Babylon 5 but ages and ages ago (when I was too busy with Trek and Wars to spare the time and you could still see B5 on television) I ran across a B5 story that to this day I'd like to see visualized in some other medium.

So no. You don't have to be familiar at all.

Nous restons ici.

update

I will extend the dead line (we need more participants)

@nrjxll Thanks I added you as a judge

@paccific thanks I will add you!

@sharysa. This is the first contest. I don't know how many people will participate. But I made the paragrapah rule inorer to fix that .Furhermore I think will be cool to be able to have the freeedom of unlimited sources.

Totally agree!

Yeah judging is blind. We will need someone to give the entries to the judges that day. I will do it. If we get another judge.

edited 9th Oct '11 10:55:45 AM by FallenLegend

Make your hearth shine through the darkest night; let it transform hate into kindness, evil into justice, and loneliness into love.

Fallen Legend, just be aware that since November is Na No Wri Mo, extending the deadline into November probably won't garner you many more entries.

So if this one is rocky, it's not your fault—just inconvenient timing.

Thanks Jeweled. I guess I will need extend the deadline even more. or posone the ontest until that event is over

edited 9th Oct '11 1:51:46 PM by FallenLegend

Make your hearth shine through the darkest night; let it transform hate into kindness, evil into justice, and loneliness into love.

You might want to consider rewording it so it doesn't feel as contradictory, then—like, "knowledge of the fandom is great, but not necessary" rather than "THE STORY MUST BE ABLE TO STAND ON ITS OWN."

Short stories always need to stand on their own—you taking the time to state the obvious is what made me think it was Completely Missing The Point of a fanfic contest.

While I agree with the sentiment, I can't help but notice that it completely contradicts this post of yours.

That's Feo . . . He's a disgusting, mysoginistic, paedophilic asshat who moonlights as a shitty writer—Something Awful

First off: I found out about two days later that the fanfiction writers pretty much gave up on getting critiques, and since I don't go to Writer's Block very often, I missed whatever news there was. It was a stupid mistake, but I won't make it again.

Second: Hunting the Unicorn is not a short fanfic. It's a HUGE Deconstruction Fic. Plus, the whole "Pandering to the base" thing is only natural for something that's fifteen chapters long.

I'm all for a short fanfic to not require (extensive) fandom knowledge, because a lot of stuff needs to be conveyed through context anyway.

Alright, this time I'm actually going to write something.

Debating participation. Themes aren't really grabbing me.

Nous restons ici.

Update

Due to the Na No Wrimo the contest gets extended until december 1

Due to the lack of participants. You could suggest a theme you like. It won't hurt at all.

Thanks I will add you!

Sure I will reword it.

edited 10th Oct '11 2:00:13 PM by FallenLegend

Make your hearth shine through the darkest night; let it transform hate into kindness, evil into justice, and loneliness into love.

Holy crap, thanks for taking my suggestion AND not getting too offended by it!

edited 10th Oct '11 4:41:53 PM by Sharysa