Rules & Guidelines hp_didi_fest - A Harry Potter slash festival where fan-writers and fan-artists can come together and share their love of fics and art featuring characters suffering from, recovering from, dealing with, or simply living with Disfigurement, Injury, Disability, and/or Illness.
Rules/Guidelines
~Please read these rules and guidelines thoroughly. ~If you are considering being a participant of this fest, please make sure to join the fest, or at the very least watch it.
{1} Timeline:
o Prompting Opens: January 10th o Prompting Closes: January 25th o Claiming Opens: February 1st o Claiming Closes: February 15th o Assignments Due: June 10th o Posting Begins: June 17th
Remember it. You have approx. 4 months to work on your fic/art. Plenty of time, we think. :)
{2} Fiction:
All Fics must be at a minimum of 1,500 words. There is no maximum.
All Fics longer than 10,000 words should have some indication of where you’d like us break the story up.
All Fics should be beta read and carefully checked for proper spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Fics full of SPaG errors will be returned to the author for editing.
All Fics rated R or higher will be restricted to those of legal age in their country.
All Fics should be new. In other words, the Fic should not have ever been posted elsewhere. They should not be the sequels, prequels, or side stories to any other Fics. They should not be “incomplete”; your story should have a beginning, middle, and end.
All Fics should be formatted with proper HTML. Please make sure that the HTML is done correctly. Not sure how to use HTML? See phoenixacid 's A N00bs's Guide to HTML. Still not sure? Contact a Mod.
All Fics should be sent to hpdidimod@gmail.com as a .txt, .rtf, or .doc file.
{3} Artwork:
Artworks may come as a single piece or a multiple pieces (ex: comics, series, etc.). We are not accepting digital manipulations, mixes, or videos.
All artwork should look as if actual effort was put into it. So basically, don’t send us sketches or stick figures; we’ll send them right back.
All artwork rated R or higher will be restricted to those of legal age in their country.
All artwork should be new. It should not have been previously published, and may not refer to any other existing (and published) artwork or story.
Multiple pieces of artwork should be properly labeled (in the file name, if not the artwork itself). For example, an artist submitting a comic should label each piece “page 1”, “page 2”, “page 7”… and so on.
All artwork should be sent to hpdidimod@gmail.com as a .jpg or .gif file.
{4} Content:
DIDI is an acronym for Disability, Injury, Disfigurement, and Illness. Your main character(s), or someone extremely close to them, should be suffering from either of those. If you choose “someone close to them”, then be aware that your main characters should be affected by that person’s DIDI. Here’s an example: Scorpius Malfoy becoming injured in a Harry/Draco fic. Draco, as Scorpius’ father, will obviously be affected by it. Harry, as Draco’s established or to-be partner, will eventually (if not initially) be affected as well. Another example would be Scorpius becoming blind and Draco taking an active interest in the blind community, or Scorpius catching pneumonia and Healer!Harry being ordered to stick around and take care of him. Keep in mind that while the DIDI should be an important focus of the story/art, it need not be the only focus, or even the most important. But it should be a prominent aspect of it. DIDI is, after all, the theme of the fest.
This is so important, so please read carefully and brand it into your brain: Serious DIDIs are serious business. We are not a mental health fest, but usually such things affect a person’s mental wellbeing just as much as it affects their physical well being. Be mature about your subject, research well, and portray this theme with both finesse and sensitivity, even if you do choose to approach it lightly. We’re not a fest to ‘raise awareness’, but to delve into things that many people are genuinely interested in reading about and seeing. Just keep that in mind.
The DIDI can be something your character has already learned to cope with at the beginning of the fic. See the F.A.Q for more information about this.
This is a Slash fest, so your pairing must include any two or three canon male characters (CMC). OC's are allowed only if the end pairing (the pairing at the end of the fic) is CMC/CMC. OMCs are allowed in a threesome pairing as long as two members of the threesome are CMCs.
Pre-slash is allowed, but there had better be some underlying slashy tones in your fic/art! Even if your characters don’t get together in the fic/art, the viewers should know without a doubt that it will eventually happen.
DIDI is a pretty serious theme, is it not? I’m sure that most of you, when you consider, can only see seriously angsty fics. We’re going to remind you that that’s not entirely the case. We will accept fics where Harry is diagnosed with a terminal illness just as we will accept fics where catches chicken pox. We want a variety, and we’re sure most of you do, as well.
Please make sure that your characters, if involved in sexual situations, are of legal age. So, 17, I believe. 18 if it makes you more comfortable.
{5} Submitting a Prompt:
You may submit no more than five prompts.
Please restrict yourself to one prompt per comment post. When you add another prompt, please do not make it in reply to your previous one. Make a new comment to the mod’s post.
Please use the following header for each prompt post: Prompt #1, 2 or 3 by [insert LJ name here].
Make sure your prompt is legible and easy to understand.
The prompt form goes as follows:
Pairing(s): What’s the main pairing you’d like to see? Era: What era would you like the fic/art to take place? Examples: Hogwarts years, post-hogwarts, post-war, Epilogue-What-Epilogue (EWE), Epilogue Compliant, “Eighth” year, Fourth year, etc. Setting: Examples: Hogwarts, St. Mungos, Malfoy Manor, The Burrow, Muggle hospital, America, etc. Main Prompt: What do you want to see happen in the fic/art? Five Mini Prompts: Just a few extra things (can be an object, quote, place, action, etc.) you’d also be interested in seeing. Three Squee Worthy Additions: What three things would you seriously like to see? Squicks: What do you not want to see? Maximum Rating: What’s the highest rating you’d like to receive in art/fic for this prompt? (Ex: if you put “PG-13”, then you’re asking for the artist/author to create something rated PG-13 or less).
*NOTE: Authors are not required to fill out each aspect of the prompter’s prompt. They should do their best to fulfill as much as they can, though, and not stray far from the prompter’s request.
{6} Claiming a Prompt:
Know your limits and claim only what you are able to fulfill. Say you’re an extremely slow writer with little time on your hands to write. If you select a prompt that you imagine may result in a seriously long fic, there’s a high chance that you’ll be unable to complete it, thus inconveniencing us. We decided to give authors and artists (almost) four months to get their stuff done in hopes that it’s enough time for anyone taking on a long project to get it in. Know your capabilities and limitations when deciding. And, of course, pick something you truly believe you’ll enjoy writing/drawing. Still not sure? Read r_becca 's Guide To Participating In Fic Exchanges.
Authors and artists are able to claim only one prompt at a time. When you submit a claiming form you will be asked to list three prompts—your first, second, and third choice—and will be given the prompt based on availability. If someone claimed your first choice prompt before you, you will be given the second prompt. If someone claimed that one, too, then you will be given the third.
Authors and artists may claim a second prompt only after they have completed and sent in their first prompt.
We will be sending you an email containing your prompt and a few extra instructions/reminders anytime between Feb 20th and Feb 25th. If you received your prompt then please send us a return message confirming we sent it. If we do not hear back from you within the next week we will assume you have dropped out and will give your prompt to the next “bidder”. On the other hand, if you have not heard from us by the 26th, check the SPAM and TRASH bins of the email address you gave us. If it’s not there, send us a message at hpdidimod@gmail.com. Either we forgot to send you a prompt or you simply were unable to receive a message from us. You should take care to add our email address to your contact list beforehand to prevent the latter problem.
The form you will be made to fill out goes as follows:
LJ Name: Age: Email Address: Will you be able to beta-read? Just to know, do you have a favorite fic featuring a DIDI theme?
First Choice Prompt #: Fic or Art?
Second Choice Prompt #: Fic or Art?
Third Choice Prompt #: Fic or Art?
Alternative: Own Idea Fic or Art?
{7} Submitting Your Fic/Art:
Assignments are due on June 10th @ Midnight EST. Use What Time Is It to convert time zones.
Send Your Fic/Art to hpdidimod@gmail.com. Your subject should look like: “TITLE by YOUR USERNAME.
Fic headers should be at the top of their fic. Fics should come as an attachment.
Art headers should be placed in a separate .RTF or .TXT file. Headers and art should come as an attachment.
We will get back to you within 24 hours to confirm that your entry was received. If you do not hear back from us after 48 hours, please re-send your submission or send us an email or private message.
{8} Fic/Art Entry Headers:
Title:
Author/Artist:(please include your name, this is not an anon fest)
Prompt: ### submitted by lj user name (unless using your own idea, see below)
Rating:
Pairing(s):
Summary:
Warnings:
Word Count:
Author's Notes:
Disclaimer:
for FIC with a claimed prompt:
for FIC with own idea used:
for ART:
If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to comment here or send us a PM/email us at hpdidimod@gmail.com. Also check out our F.A.Q sheet.