Certain members of the fandom believe there is no element of quality in fanfiction. I ask them, "What makes quality?" Is it the diction used? The plot? The characters?

Or is it something more? What if it's not as concrete as a plot but more abstract like the will driving the story?

So many various elements go into the creation of a piece of literature but finding which contribute to quality can elude an author to madness. Maybe there aren't guidelines. Perhaps the theories detailing how to produce quality are just that - theories - and nothing more.

And perhaps the people who say fanfiction cannot contain quality don't know where to look.

Fanfiction is indeed only a bunch of authors writing stories in a universe not their own. But strip away fanfiction and immerse yourself in their writings and you will see quality comes not from mechanics or action or plot or originality.

It comes from within the author.

And so because these writers of fanfiction have passion, love and respect for their work and the universe they delve in, their stories too - standing alongside with the many artistic avenues in our world - can hold quality.

This contest is for them: The Summer Challenge, 2006....

Starting July 16th, 2006, authors will be able to enter a single story into the Summer Challenge, 2006, a contest sponsored by DarkLordPotter.net. The contest will run for fifty days and will end on September 3rd, 2006, with the announcement of winners occurring on September 23rd.

Basic Information on the Summer Challenge

Beginning of Contest:
12:00AM GMT July 16th, 2006
End of Contest:
11:59PM September 3rd, 2006 (Winners announced September 23rd, 2006)
Theme and Challenge:
Will be a Post-HBP themed challenge. Full details TBA July 4th.
How Winners will be Selected:
Five judges will each assign a score of 0.0 to 10.0 to every story that is entered. The average will be taken to determine final score and the story with the highest score will receive first place and the first place prize; same for second and third.
Prizes:
Prize worth $100.00USD
Prize worth $50.00USD
Prize worth $25.00USD
Judges:
BioPlague/Lord Merrill
ip82
Master Slytherin
nonjon
Sree

 

So...you just write a random Post-HBP story?

EDIT: *Smacks own face with shovel* Fucking idiot...

 

No Fuegodfuerza, I'm pretty sure they will announce the challenge at the start of the competition.

This contest is a great idea, hopefully we'll see some worthwhile fics come out of it. Props to all of those who volunteered to judge, I'll be glad I'm not in your shoes when it come time to read them all .

 

The theme is basically post-Half-Blood Prince with encouragement towards participants to maintain the dark atmosphere the HP universe is currently. The full details will be released July 4th when we begin advertising for the contest on Yahoo!Groups and various story-writing sites.

This contest will try to appeal to more than just the members of the DLP.net community.

 

Will you have a league table of all who enter, aswell as the winners.

I haven't written anything in over a year, and this sounds very interesting. Or would it be possible to have professional and amateur categories.

Litha

 

I'm already curious as to what the details of the challenge will be. I might have a crack at this, if I have the time.

 

Well this looks interesting. I may take a crack at it, if I get bored with writing Naruto.

 

Portkey did a contest with prizes and I didn't see one mention of problems.

 

The point is, offering cash prizes for fanfiction is tantamount to selling it.

Considering your example is like JKR's favorite HP site, I doubt she would of taken action against them.

Was it cash, or was it gift certificates?

 

Who's paying for the awards?

 

Portkey (15,000 Members) is a Harry/Hermione shipping site and is the bane of MuggleNet and J.K. Rowling's existance (if her interviews are any clues to her feelings towards them). If there was a single site that could warrant attack from people who loathed them and sought any opportunity to have them shutdown, it was this one. They stand today and intend to have additonal contests.

Their prizes were gift certificates and teddybears, which, last I checked, were "payment" for fanfiction, no matter which way you slice it. Payment can't be cut two different ways in legal matters. Either you're "paying" - giving items of monetary value for work done or you're not. I believe not, as this is a prize contest and enough evidence has shown there have been no legal reprecussions for those who do them.

If you would prefer a rewording to make it look better, such as "Prize worth $100USD", fine - but it's just bullshit.

 

I'm afraid there can't be. We can't just brand a fic 'amateur' and tbh, no fanfiction is 'professional'. Even if the author themselves were to decide, they'd all put ther fics in 'amateur' so that they'd have more chance of winning.

I'm sure you'd do well though, Litha.

Will we have a league table of all who entered? I doubt it. Maybe the top 10 at a stretch.

 

Of course, details like this are still being deliberated. If you have any comment, advice or idea regarding the contest, feel free to post it here.

 

If as many people enter as I think will, you're gonna need more judges.

Presumably the judges can't enter the challenge themselves?

 

Indeed. But there are enough judges.

 

While judges cannot enter the contest, some of us will each write a story following the challenge and all the guidelines we come up with. They will run alongside the contest to show that we too are up for the spirit of the contest and that we are also working towards another goal of ours: helping populate the HBP pool with more enjoyable stories.

 

I think it's a great idea. But there will be many stories to judge and maybe you can take the 50 or so best stories and judge them with points and the rest you take out. So if you see that a story isn't well written at all, you just take it out.

 

Well 50 stories might be just a bit too optimistic. IMHO, 10-15 should be the upper limit, 20 if we're lucky. But of course, since there aren't that many precedents in this area, we can never be too sure.