Contest Round 3: New Moon

New Moon Round

Important Dates for the New Moon Round

  • December 10th - January 27th, 11:59 p.m. CST: Participants may submit their entries via email at this time. (Remember to read the rules before submitting!)
  • January 28th: Anonymous entries posted on the FFn profile, in random order.
  • January 28th - February 7th: This round’s voting period. (Subject to change if there are lots of entries or any mishaps.)
  • February 8th: Winners announced on Twitter, the newsletter and here. All authors revealed.
  • February 8th/9th: Authors free to post their entries on their profiles after announcements and PM the FFn profile to have it added to favorites.

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Hey, you, read this!

As of this round, I’m adding a new placement slot for Best Use of Prompt! This will be a separate award placement from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd placements that will continue to operate the way they did in previous rounds. In the ballot, there will be a fourth voting option in which readers will vote on the best story out of those that used one of the Canon Tour’s round prompts. There will be textual, visual and musical prompts.

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Rules for the New Moon Round

What’s Allowed:

  • K through M ratings.
  • You can submit up to two entries.
  • Stories between 2,000 and 15,000 words. Unlike in previous rounds, I’ll not be splitting stories into chapters (sorry, it just takes too long!). If you need your 15k split up into “chapters,” give headings that will suit your needs accordingly.
  • Collaborations between two writers are welcome.
  • Canon and canon alternate universe (AU) fics. In general, anything that is canon or is an AU with strong canon elements will be accepted. Read more about what constitutes as canon and canon AU.
  • Stories about any of the canon characters; this includes the major characters, the minor ones and those who were just a name on a page. You may write original characters, provided they are closely related to one or more of the canon characters and/or canon world/timeline. Writing about canon, human characters in the canon world is just fine, too.
  • Stories that reflect the timeline/round that the Canon Tour is currently in. This is the New Moon round, so you’re able to submit fics that take place from the opening of New Moon, until the very end of the book. I will also accept post-New Moon / Pre-Eclipse stories. The Twilight Lexicon has a great timeline if you’re unsure of what dates this round encompasses.

What’s NOT Allowed:

  • All-human (AH), real people fic (RPF) or crossover fics. While writing about canon, human characters in the canon world is a-okay, CEOwards and the like will be automatically rejected.
  • Grammatically incorrect content. If you need a beta, I encourage you to get one through Project Team Beta or Sparkly Red Pen. If there are multiple errors within the first page of your entry, it will be returned to you for you to fix and resubmit. This will be done as many times as necessary.
  • While you’re welcome to tell people you’re participating in the contest, DO NOT post your entries on your profile before announcements or publicly (or privately!) announce to anyone which entry is yours (betas are the one exception, of course). If I find out you’re doing this, I will remove your entry—no second chances. Please know that I will be watching for this. Seriously, this is me:

    Watching You
  • Author’s notes that reveal who you or your beta(s) are. Keep A/Ns functional, not personal. I will edit A/Ns that reveal personal details and aren’t merely straightforward/factual.
  • Entries that are already posted or related to pre-existing twifics. No outtakes.
  • Plagiarism. Apparently I have to say this. If I find out you’ve plagiarized another’s work, you’ll be removed from the round entirely, and I will not accept entries from you again. Don’t even try it. It’s a waste of your time and mine.

More on What Is and Isn’t Canon / Canon AU:

  • Technical definition of canon: a list of writings, officially recognized as genuine; a list of the works of an author that are accepted as authentic; a body of principles, rules, standards, or norms. Fan fiction is, of course, not genuine/authentic, but it can be nearly so by adhering to canon rules and standards. One of the strongest examples of “canon” fan fiction is that of a POV adaptation of a scene from the original books (e.g., Edward’s POV in Eclipse). Missing moments usually come as a close second. Canon fan fics aim to preserve the rules of the fictional world, as well as major events, romantic pairings and characters’ personalities.
  • A canon AU (or “canon-like”) fan fic is one which deviates from one or more events, makes a character slightly “out of character” (OOC), changes the timeline, etc., but still attempts to keep a “canon feel” to the story in some or many ways. Examples of canon AU fan fics would be things like New Moon AUs, where Edward returns to Forks before Bella goes cliff diving; having a character die who didn’t in the original saga; or altering the timeline to have the Cullens move to Forks in Bella’s senior year; maybe Carlisle is more like Dr. Kevorkian than previously known. These small changes can yield significantly different storylines, but still feel true to canon.
  • A note about non-canon pairings: Because these contests aim to provide more canon and canon-like works in the fandom, it’s highly unlikely that I will accept non-canon pairings. This has somewhat to do with the word count limit. Bending the canon universe enough to logically allow for a non-canon pairing set after the events of Twilight is difficult and rarely done well; doing so in fewer than 15,000 words is even less likely to be logical (e.g., Jasper suddenly realizing he wants to sex Bella up, rather than bite her on her birthday has no place here). If you really want to write a non-canon pairing and think you’ve tweaked the canon universe and/or characters in a logical fashion, feel free to email or PM your idea, and I’ll tell you whether I’ll accept it; if I won’t, I’ll explain why, so you can decide if you want to change your idea somehow. Sorry for the inconvenience, but there are already a lot of contests and community efforts that promote non-canon pairings.

Where/How to Send Entries:

  • Send your entries in .doc or .docx format to thecanontour@gmail.com.
  • Make your email subject The Canon Tour, New Moon Round - YourStoryTitleHere.
  • In the body of your email, provide the following details: FFn profile website address, story prompt used (if you used one), story title, rating, pairing, summary and word count. If you have a Twitter account, tell me your @name, too.

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What do I get if I win?

  • Recognition through Twitter, the newsletter, the FFn profile and this website.
  • Winners will receive a mention on The Twilight Awards and Twific News.
  • Ongoing recognition. Unlike other participants, the first, second and third place winners of each round will have a permanent place on the FFn profile and in the newsletter’s signature.

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What do I get for participating?

  • Recognition through Twitter, the newsletter, the FFn profile and this website.
  • After a round ends, all authors are encouraged to post their entries to their own profiles. If you PM the FFn profile after posting your entry to your profile, it will be permanently added to the Canon Tour’s FFn favorites.

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Resources

As I hope to see some quality, canon twific come out of these contests, I want to share resources to help participating writers. I frequently encourage writers I work with to view these resources.

Grammatical/Technical Resources:

Creative Resources:

Twilight Resources:

  • December 1
  • , 2011
  1. thecanontour posted this