Welcome to the 2024 Q1 Story Competition!

Topic(s): The Daily Prophet

Word count: 17.5k max (no minimum)
​

Last competition had a fantastic turnout and I'm ready for more. This time I picked four prompts from the prompt thread, as it's been awhile since we've used them. If you have no interest in even wanting to write, don't vote.

Deadline: May 19th at 11:59PM Eastern time. This means you get the entirety of the 15th to polish your story.​

Voting: May 20th - May 31st ​

Send your stories to @Lindsey once you're done. Authors will be kept anonymous between the two of us, and I will not know who you are until after the competition has ended. Feel free to claim credit for your story if you want it but we'll keep it confidential otherwise.

Feel free to use beta-readers but don't put your competition entry in WbA until after voting has ended. If you figure out who one of the entrants is then don't tell everyone else.

Voting Rules

• Read and review all entries, leaving at least 200 words of useful feedback.
  • Put the bulk of your review into a spoiler tag.
• After you have read and reviewed ALL entries, post in this thread with your top three stories ranked.
  • Please link to your reviews when you do this.

A guide on "how to review" in general is available here. We'd prefer that you not bias yourself by reading other reviews before making your own, but that choice is yours.

One of the rewards for authors participating in this competition is the feedback, critique, and overall useful commentary on their work. Don't dial it in. If you don't know how to leave useful feedback then comment on the plot, pacing, characters, prompt usage, and anything else that comes to mind. You'll find that 200 words flies by.

If you rank a story as #1 it will get 3 points, #2 will get 2 points, and #3 will get 1 point. Highest score wins. There will always be a winner. There may or may not be a runner up, depending on the number of entries and how close they are.

Got an idea for a future prompt? Put it in this thread!

 

Now this I can sink my teeth into. Already got a tired concept I think I can swing by April. We'll see how it plays out, assuming that prompt wins the vote.

 

The winning topic (by a fair amount) is:

The Daily Prophet ​

To help out our amazing writers, if you have any ideas for this topic that you won't be using, please share them. It might be the spark for our next winning entry!

For example, here are some ideas for this topic that I've come up with:
- The first paper.
- Rita Skeeter's backstory
- The Daily Prophet in the year of Voldemort's reign (and Rita's attempts to help the resistance)
- Pansy, the new writer for the gossip division.

(ps. i don't have the ability to modify my initial post. Once I do, I'll update the topic in the first post)

 

Less than 20 days remaining!​

Please let me know if you need more time. If there is a consensus, I may be inclined to push the due date to April 15th as the Q2 prompt will likely be a shorter competition.

 

ohh glad to see this starting up!! id put me 50/50 on this entry but if q2 is a shorter one ill definitely join that

 

I'd love a bit more time if it's still a possibility?

 

Time to start wrapping up your words and editing.

Submissions are due in less than 48 hours.

4/15 @ 11:59PM (eastern time)

(also, don't forget to update your word counts on DLP writing marathon spreadsheets: google spreadsheet for 2024)​

 

I am sad to say that no one submitted an entry this competition.

What should we do in this situation? I can extend this competition for another month (Due Date: May 20th), or we can start another competition all together?

Please let me know if you have already started something, and just need a bit more time. If no one has even started, we might as well cancel this round, and try something new.

 

I did submit one, but was there a tecnical glitch? I can see it in my sent messages to xipho. Feel free to roast that one on its own if you like, I'm sure it needs some work

(Happy to write something else for May 20th though). I love the comps here, hope they continue!

 

Had a concept that I really liked, but I’ve gotten really busy since. May is even worse for me, so extending the deadline won’t help. I’ll probably submit for the next comp tho. I have a ton of free time in June, July, and august.

 

If I get a month, I can probably submit an entry during that period. I have something half-finished, or well a third finished, I could shape into a Daily Prophet story.