FYLabyrinth fanfiction Challenge Guidelines - Reposting for those who missed it the first time around

Things your story MUST include, in some way, shape, or form:

  1. loss of a memory(s)
  2. a club (what I mean precisely by that is up for you to decide)
  3. a sudden surprise (that isn’t related to Jareth reappearing in Sarah’s life)
  4. a spell gone wrong
  5. OPTIONAL:  Someone new (and unexpected!) having to run the Labyrinth, and the obstacles involved with that.  Try to avoid doing a rewrite of Sarah’s journey.
  6. OPTIONAL:  A kidnapping,
  7. OPTIONAL:  A jealous rival lover (this can apply to any character)

They are relatively common themes for a fic, I know, but I wanted to choose something that would be fairly easy for you guys to write about, and fun at the same time n_n.  Your story can have any plotline you want, so long as it includes the above elements.

We will decide who wins by choosing our top 3 favorite fics, and then posting the links to allow you guys to vote on which one you like the best n_n.  First prize will get a $10 Amazon.com giftcard! (I would offer more, but I’m dirt poor, sorry guys lol).

And here are the rules for the challenge:

  1. Stories of all lengths will be accepted, whether it’s a simple one-shot or something that develops into a longer fic.  However, your fic MUST eventually be finished- no fair starting it and leaving it in-progress!  So don’t make it longer than you can handle in a reasonable amount of time.
  2. All ratings will be accepted as well, so whether you prefer to keep your stories G-rated or you’re more intrigued by adult content, you’ll stand an equal chance of winning.  We’re looking at the quality of the writing and the story development, after all.
  3. NO BASHING OF OTHER PEOPLE’S STORIES IS ALLOWED.  Anyone who is seen to be running a smear campaign or engaging in poor sportsmanship will be disqualified.
  4. All submitted stories must be uploaded onto fanfiction.net- to submit you can just send us the link to the story in our askbox.  And remember… if you aren’t comfortable with tons of people reading your story, you shouldn’t submit it to us, because if we like it we’ll definitely promote the hell out of it.
  5. NO PLAGIARISM OR STEALING OTHER PEOPLE’S IDEAS IS ALLOWED.  That is grounds for instant disqualification.  Keep it original guys.  However, it is perfectly acceptable to ask for critiques/ reviews from other people (besides us obviously) in order to improve the quality of your story.  Just make sure that it is still you doing the work, and not someone else.
  6. You do need to be following this blog in order to participate, simply because that will make things easier when we post the stories for you guys to vote on.  Not to mention you guys will be able to see any updates we post regarding the challenge.
  7. Stories submitted to us must be written in English, though if you want to translate your story into another language for your own amusement, by all means go ahead. n_n
  8. Please indicate in either your summary or in an author’s note on the first chapter of your fic that this is challenge given by us, and include a link to our blog.  We’d like people to know who started the challenge, and if people read your story and are interested in participating themselves, then we’d like for them to know how to find us.

The stories will be judged on the following qualities:

  1. Characterization.  The more in-character your Jareths, Sarahs, Hoggles, etc. are, the better you’re going to do.  So if you need to constantly watch the movie in order to get it right, then so be it! (lol not like any of us would complain about that anyway).
  2. Story development.  In other words, is there actually some sort of story going on, with a beginning, climax, and resolution?  Does the story keep the audience’s attention?  Do we want to keep reading more of it?  It’s important to remember to try and avoid any Mary-Sue traits and cliché story tendencies here.  Exercise your brains!
  3. Spelling/ grammar.  This may not seem like a big deal at first blush, but the level of your writing skill DOES affect how many people will want to read your story, and of those who read it, who will end up enjoying it and recommending it to others.  Spellcheck exists for a reason, so atrocious spelling or grammatical errors will reflect negatively on our decision.  However, we do accept the fact that minor errors occur from time to time on accident, so don’t worry if you notice something’s wrong after you submit the story.
  4. Staying true to your rating.  In other words, if you label your fic as a K+ (kids and up) fic, we expect that there’ll be no smut or vulgar language or anything of the sort.  If your fic has a M (mature) rating, then we’ll expect the opposite.  Your rating tells your readers what to expect, so make sure you don’t lead them astray and have them end up disappointed.
  5. Originality.  The more original and interesting your story is, the better.  But make sure to stay true to the film and its characters.  

I wager that the end of December is a decent amount of time for you all to finish your fics, yes?  That should give those of you who are planning on simultaneously doing this challenge and NaNoWriMo time to work on both stories, and time enough for those of you doing longer fics to finish as well.  If the majority of you end up needing more time as we come closer to the deadline, we’ll talk about extending it.  So for now, I’ll say that December 31st is our due date!

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6 months ago
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  1. fuckyeahlabyrinth posted this