Q: Is this an angst or hurt/comfort fest? ~A: No, this is not an angst fest. Works of all genres are welcomed. You can go about your fic/art in whatever way you’d like. All we ask of you is that you make sure that whatever DIDI your character(s) is dealing with be handled maturely and knowledgeably.
Q: Just to make sure, I can write a fic where Harry catches a cold and Draco nurses him back to health? ~A: You bet! Just make that cold damn believable. ;)
Q. Can we write AU, EWE, Non-Magic, and Parallel Universe Fics? ~A: Yes, of course.
Q. What about Crossovers? ~A: We will accept crossovers as long as the main focus is on the HP characters, including the main ship.
Q. What counts as a DIDI? ~A: DIDI stands for Disability, Injury, Disfigurement, and Illness. Works dealing with the entire range of these classifications will be welcomed. For example, works addressing illness can range from the common cold to a life-threatening or life-changing disease like cancer. The only DIDIs not accepted are mental health issues. (see next question)
Q: Why can’t we write/draw about mental heath issues? They are DIDIs, too. ~A: There’s already a mental health fest (hp_mhealthfest ), and we are trying not to step on its toes. It’s a fabulous festival with lots of inspiring work, so if mental health is what you’re looking for, you should head over there and check it out.
Q: Can we write/draw about a character with a mental illness if he has a physical illness, too? ~A: Yes. We understand that a person’s physical health can affect their mental health, so issues such as depression, substance abuse, or eating disorders dealt with in conjunction with physical ailments will be accepted. If anyone chooses to go in that direction, we only ask that you handle it just as maturely, carefully, and knowledgeably as we’re asking you to handle the physical DIDI.
Q: (Regarding DIDIs where recovery is possible) Can we write/draw about characters with long-term DIDI that are already in the recovery stages at the start of the Fic/Art? ~A: Yes. We are looking for realistic portrayals of DIDI above anything else. If, by the start of your fic, the DIDI is something your character has already learned to cope with, make sure that you take care to not let it go unnoticed. We will not be accepting anything where the person’s DIDI is something of little mention or notice. DIDI is the theme of this fest, and even when your fic/art has other plot points, the DIDI should remain as an important part. “Important" doesn't necessarily mean "detrimental", "negative", or "bad", either. It also does not mean it needs to be the only focus of your story.
Q: If my character has a permanent DIDI, do I have to write about him suffering and struggling to cope with it? ~A: No. As we stated above, what we’re really looking for is realistic portrayals of DIDI. A character who has just been blinded recently as a result of an accident or battle will very likely struggle to cope and re-analyze his life, whereas a character who was blind from birth or for a very long time, may not even be “disabled” and have no problems at all with their blindness in everyday life. “Interpreting Draconis” by Dacro is an excellent example of a fic in which Draco is deaf, but very clearly not “disabled”.
Q: Can I write pre-slash? ~A: Sure, as long as it really is pre-slash and not Gen. This is a Harry Potter Slash fest, so please make sure all pre-slash fic/art still has slashy undertones. In other words, even if your pairing doesn’t get together in the span of your fic/art, it should be completely obvious that it’s going to happen sometime or other.
Q: What kind of fest is this, exactly? A: This round is going to be a Semi-Anonymous Prompt fest. The process will go as follows:
Participants will use a submission and prompt claiming form to submit prompts to a public post when the time comes.
The mods will sort through the prompt submissions and post them to the community without mention of who submitted what.
Artists and authors will then claim the prompt(s) they are interested in by commenting to the claiming post and leaving (via comment) a claiming form. It’s first-come first-served, so the first person to claim a prompt when the claiming post goes up will get that one.
If someone else claimed your first choice prompt before you, you will be given your second choice prompt. And so on.
Once prompt claiming is complete, the mods will then send everyone who signed up and claimed a prompt an email confirming what prompt you were given (first choice, second choice, etc.) You’ll be asked, then, to reply back and let us know that you received your prompt and accept it.
Q: Why is this fest so long? ~A: A lot of authors and artists are short on time and need a bit of a break after the rush of the holidays. We’re also trying to take into account the number of fests running in the spring/summer, and any participants intending to complete a lengthy submission. We want everyone to have plenty of time to get things done.
Q: Don’t you think that the theme of this fest is insensitive? Especially as it’s not a fest to raise awareness? ~A: No, we don’t think so. To think so would be believing that anyone who signs up to the fest will be doing so with the intention of making the theme into a joke, and we mods aren’t inclined to believe that for a moment. We trust that everyone who claims a prompt will be empathetic enough to not mock or belittle something as serious as DIDI, even if they choose to approach the theme lightly. We trust that of our readers and viewers, as well. Anyone who we do find to be insulting will find themselves banned from the community, we assure you.
Q: Why did you change this from a limited-slash fest (where Harry Potter had to be one of the characters in the two/threesome ship) to an open slash fest? ~A: We wanted to give our participants more options. Though one of the mods still believes that the limited-slash idea was utterly brilliant, we want to give more people chances to write/draw for this fest.
Q: What if I can’t find any interesting prompts? What if I want to write/draw a fic/art based on my own original idea? ~A: If you cannot, for the life of you, find any prompts that you would be willing to write/draw for, the mods are giving the participants the option of creating their own fic/art based on their own ideas. We do implore that you read all of the prompts and see whether or not you find something that interests you first, however.
Q: Can I claim more than one prompt? ~A: Sure! As long as you’ve completed and sent in your first assignment.