There are benefits for both types. I felt more inspired this time around because of how broad the topic actually is. The thing about a one word prompt is that, imo, it takes more skill to write it. You have to think up a whole story.

A line prompt by its very nature is almost like guidence. Depending on the phrasing, it can guide the whole tone of your story. Like the first story comp. "Why doesn't Dumbledore drink?"

He's possessed.
He's a recovering alcoholic
He's gotten into some shenanigans due to whatever.
etc.

Q1 Prompt, you're bleeding on my floor, smacked too much of humor.
There was a serious entry, but it was more in the line of a Dresden type setup.

Q2, everyone saw the outcomes of that.

With Azkaban, I've already thought up like 30 different ideas. With Vampires I've thought up not as many, but quite a few. I felt caged due to the nature of the earlier prompts. There is only a couple ways to go with them and actually win. Whereas here, you've got a concept, and you have to write to that. I feel like judging on these will be a lot harder simply because it's going to boil down to is the concept conveyed clearly.

You can't just have Vampires. You can't just be in Azkaban. What are they vampires, how do they fit into the world.

What is azkaban other than a jail cell surrounded by Dementors, etc.

I'm feeling better about these than I did in the past. As I said before. The purpose of these are to have fun. Who cares if you won, I certainly don't.

 

Well, I sort of have an idea for Vampires now...

I need to be writing a short story for a local writing group but I haven't had any ideas. Now I have an idea for a vampire story for that... and with tweaking and expanding it might work for this.

But then again it's not an idea for a story so much as it's an idea for an opening to a story.

...ramble.

 

Someone should writr about a vampire prisoner in azkaban whose cellmates with a time travellig Harry, whose goal is to retrieve the elder wand long buried in the dungeons of Azkaban.

 

Thanks for volunteering!

 

I have a prologue, a character, and no hint of an actual story to tell. FML

Edit: I has plot idea! Really excited for vampires now. I had good ideas for previous prompts too but I might actually write this one.

 

All this excitement is nice. I'll be interested to see how many people actually get a submission in this time around.

 

That's been the norm so far. Like I said I'll be interested to see final submission numbers.

 

I think in the case of there being more than 5/6 entries the review system might be adapted a little, after all people want reviews and that's quite a commitment to ask of people.

 

We'll play it by ear regarding reviews if we have numerous submissions, but honestly?

200 words is NOT a lot. Especially if you use the old method that lays it out for you. For example, the following is 200 words (and I swear if any of you just copy and paste this to be clever...)

Overall I enjoyed this story even though I'm not a Lockhart fan. I've never seen a story written before in the fandom where one character just runs around pretending to be other people for kicks. Neat.

Plot: Clearcut and easy to understand with a good twist at the end. I didn't see it coming that Lockhart was polyjuiced as Harry and had also cast a charm on himself to look like Lockhart again. The vampire seemed tacked on though, like it didn't really have a place in the plot that mattered.

Pacing: It was fast, maybe too fast. I felt like I wasn't getting enough description and was barreling through on dialogue alone. In a story that focuses on deceptive appearances it was an odd choice.

Characters: Everyone seemed in character except for Lockhart, but the point of the story had him as AU so that was fine.

Prompt: The vampire plot was clearly tacked on. It was there but it could have been a werewolf, a mermaid, even a student who wanted to play a prank. The story had nothing to do with vampires, but it was the vital disguise issue at one point, so... yeah. Decent prompt use?

Thanks for writing!
​

I guess for me it's easy to review and comment on things. I prefer NOT to use that formula, but short reviews isn't a typical problem of mine.

I can see going down to 150 words if it will encourage more people to review, but frankly... as a mediocre author myself, the value of knowing that I will get useful feedback is a draw to write and compete for this. It's not a given these days that you'll get varied comments in WbA. It is a given here and as such my hope is that it's acting as an incentive. Specific, useful commentary on ones work is gold (at least to me).

But it backfires if no one reviews (and therefore votes) at all, so it's a double edged sword.