Brave New Worlds: 2009 Green Lion Fanfic Contest
new year - new season - new fans - new worlds
2009 Green Lion: Brave New Worlds AU Fanfic Contest
- introduction.
As many people no doubt have heard by now, a new season of the Fullmetal Alchemist anime is slated for production; and it will not be a direct sequel of the first anime. Together with the original series and the manga, that brings us to three distinct versions of canon, to say nothing of the many novels, games, OAVs, and other spin-offs.
We at scimitarsmile would like the 2009 Green Lion to celebrate the new series, and welcome the new fans who will certainly be drawn by it to the fandom, with an Alternate Universe fanfic contest. We encourage authors, both newbies and old hands, to try their hands at developing new universes and new settings, new plots and new rules, whole new playgrounds for your stories to run.
Alternate Universe stories get something of a bad rep in this fandom, widely associated with out-of-character, bad or immature writing. But they don't have to be that way. As good as the original canon universe of Fullmetal Alchemist was, its boundaries don't need to define the be-all and end-all of fanfiction. A well-executed alternate universe fic, which combines the indomitable spirit of the canon with a new level of control and innovation from the author's creativity, can be breathtaking.
The purpose of an alternate universe fic is not to ignore the original canon entirely, or to dismiss the personalities of the characters we know and love, but to capture the themes and messages of the original series while exploring whole new worlds of setting, history, and plot developments. The only limit is your imagination.
-categories.
There will be two submission categories for the Brave New Worlds contest; one for previously published stories and one for contest-original stories. They will have different criteria, different submission dates, and different prizes.
1. Published AUs
This category is for an AU story which has already been published in whole or in part prior to the contest start date. Publishing can include posting it in whole or in part on Livejournal, Journalfen, fanfiction.net, or any other story archive. Stories written at any time in the past can be submitted. A previously published story may be incomplete at the contest start date, but must be completed by the deadline.
The deadline for Published AUs will be March 1st, 2009. First prize for this category will be a customized artwork award. Second prize for this category will be a non-customized artwork award. Published AUs will be posted with the name credited.
2. Original AUs.
This category is for any story written for the contest which has NOT been published in any format prior to the contest start date. Publishing can include posting it in whole or in part on Livejournal, Journalfen, fanfiction.net, or any other story archive. Stories sent to a small number of people for the purpose of beta-reading by email, chat program, or privacy-locked journal does not count as publication and may still be submitted in this category.
The deadline for Original AUs will be April 20th, 2009. First prize for this category will be a customized artwork award and an Amazon.com gift certificate. Second prize for this category will be a non-customized artwork award and an Amazon.com gift certificate. Original AUs will be posted anonymously until the contest end.
- judging and prizes.
Contest winners will be chosen by a panel of volunteer judges. If you are interested in being one of the judges, please send me an email. You cannot be a judge for this contest if you have submitted a story for it.
Winners will be chosen by a simple majority vote of judges, unless there is an even split, in which case the tie will be broken by myself.
First prize for Original AUs will be an Amazon.com gift certificate in the amount of $20 (in other words, the price of one Fullmetal Alchemist DVD.) First prize winners will also receive an artwork award drawn for their story, customized to their choosing (within reason.) Artwork for this contest will be supplied by hikaru_9 of DeviantArt.
Second prize for Original AUs will be an Amazon.com gift certificate in the amount of $10 (in other words, the price of one Fullmetal Alchemist manga volume.) Second prize winners will receive a non-customized prize banner.
First prize for Published AUs will be an artwork award drawn for their story, customized to their choosing (within reason.) Artwork for this contest will be supplied by hikaru_9 of DeviantArt.
Second prize for Published AUs will be a non-customized prize banner.
-rules.
Limitations and guidelines. This section may be updated with clarifications, if people ask the right questions.
This contest is open to all comers, all pairings, all ratings and all genres. Your story can be a drabble or an epic, a tragic tale or a comedy; adventure or mystery or even romance, so long as it's an alternate universe setting.
1. Fic length. There are no restrictions, either minimum or maximum, on story length for this fic. Stories may be as little as five pages or as much as fifty thousand words.
2. Submission limits. Authors may submit one fic to each category; in other words, they may submit one fic to Published AUs and one fic to Original AUs. However, it is highly unlikely that a single author will place more than once.
3. Format. Stories must be submitted in plain text or plain HTML format, to my address. They may be submitted as an attachment to email or in the body of the email. However, I will not be responsible for restoring formatting that is lost in transit.
You should include in the subject if your email your name, the title of the story, and whether it is an Original or a Published AU.
4. Headers. You must include the following header in the body of the email, not in the attachment.
-Author's name
-Author's LJ or email (if different)
-Word count of fic
-Author's notes that will NOT be included in the story.
-Fic title
-Fic rating (GA-MA)
-Pairings (if any)
-Warnings (if any)
-Authors notes that WILL be included in the story.
5. Posting. Fics will be posted on scimitarsmile, in the order in which they arrive. For Original AUs only, stories will be posted anonymously with the identifying information -- the first four lines of the header -- removed. Published AUs will be posted with the author's information included.
If you have a question about the rules, leave a reply to this post or send me a message and I will do my best to clarify.
-definitions.
Over the course of fandom history, there have been multiple common usages of the term "AU" to describe a number of different types of story. This section will define what types of stories will qualify for this contest. Please read the guidelines carefully if you are not sure if your story will qualify.
Story types that qualify:
1. Original settings
-This is an extremely broad category referring to any genre or setting which is a world created by the fic author, or, if based on an existing setting, modified out of easy recognition.
Examples: sword-and-sorcery fantasy settings, science fiction settings, Old Norse mythological settings, steampunk settings, Arthurian legendary settings, and so on without limit.
2. 'Realistic' settings
-A story set in the 'real' modern world or a close equivalent. (Obviously, stories are not required to conform to actual realistic events or physics.)
Examples: Roy and his men are soldiers in the NATO peacekeeping forces; Edward and Alphonse are attending a medical university in modern Munich, et cetera.
3. Fusion settings
- A fusion with another established canon setting, where the characters' backgrounds, histories, memories and identities have been transformed or made consistent with the new setting.
Examples: Edward is a Jedi knight; the Elric brothers and Winry are attending a Wizarding school based on the European continent; Roy is a serving officer on a Starfleet vessel; the cast of FMA are rabbits residing on Watership Down; et cetera.
Story types that do not qualify:
1. Alternate Timeline settings.
This is a category of story that, broadly defined, can describe a huge portion of fanfiction for a fandom. Alternate Timeline refers to fics that are set in the same world at the same time, with the same rules, the same history, and the same background, but with a different series of events from those described in canon evolving onto a different ending. Other names for this type of story are "What If?" fics, "Divergent Future" fics, or "Timeline What Timeline" fics.
Examples: Stories in which Trisha didn't die; in which Roy never came looking for the Elric children; in which Edward agreed to perform human sacrifices at the 5th lab; in which Scar did not create the Philosopher's Stone in Lior; in which Edward never went to Munich or Roy or Al had gone with him; et cetera.
2. Crossover settings.
This is a category of story that must be differentiated from Fusion Fics. In brief terms, a Crossover Fic is one where the universes, histories, backgrounds, and rules of two different fandoms are kept intact, but through some mechanism (time travel, magical portal, course of everyday business, et cetera) the main characters of the two different worlds meet and interact with each other for the first time.
Examples: Edward and Alphonse travel to Hogwarts in the course of their normal journeys in search of the Philosopher's Stone, and meet and interact with Harry, Ron, and Hermione; FMA characters are teleported into the modern day Pacific Northwest and have to fight Edward Cullen and other vampires.
If you have a story you would like to submit to the contest, but are not sure whether it qualifies under the guidelines, send me a summary or a chapter and I will let you know whether to submit it or not.
-deadlines.
The deadline for the Published AU category is March 1st, 2009, 11:59 Pacific Standard Time. Stories submitted to this category must be completed and submitted by this date. Unfinished stories will not be accepted.
The deadline for the Original AU category is April 20th, 2009, 11:59 Pacific Standard Time. Unfinished stories may be accepted, but will receive a score penalty in judging.
If you plan to participate in this contest, please feel free to embed one of the two banners for this contest on your journal!
Banner 1 (blue, Winry):
I'm writing for the 2009 Green Lion: Brave New Worlds AU contest! Be sure to check me out in the contest entries!
I'm writing for the 2009 Green Lion: Brave New Worlds AU contest! Be sure to check me out in the contest entries!
Good luck and good writing!