Are you tired of the smell of roses and chocolate smudges on your favourite skirt? Do you feel nauseated by the sickly sweet declarations of love and lurid heart-shaped balloons? Then Severus Sighs has the antidote.
To counter the excess of fluff that will no-doubt drench the next month or so up to Valentine’s Day, the Webmistresses would like to announce the Severus Sighs Anti-Valentine’s writing and drawing mini-fest.
If you long for a bit of throw-him-onto-the-bed action, old-fashioned slap-his-thigh masculinity; a smidgen of angst and heartbreak, or just plain things going not as planned, then test your Slytherin mettle by joining in.
The rules are very simple:
1. Select from the following list of prompts (these do not need to be inserted verbatim into your story or art, but should be used as your theme) and then fingers to the keyboard to write a story with an unromantic, dark, or farcical theme, or fingers to the crayons to draw the same.
2. All members are asked to notify the Webmistress of their intention to participate by 9th February so that a posting schedule may be arranged.
3. For the writers, your word count should be a minimum of 500 words.
4. All works should use the header included on the site’s User Info page.
5. Remember to Friends Lock all posts rated NC-17.
6. All work should include appropriate warnings. These are listed on the site’s User Info page.
7. Writers are encouraged to use a beta. For those who have not written before or require assistance, help will be provided by the Webmistresses or by the kind site elves. Just whistle and they come stumbling.
8. Participants should submit their work to the Webmistresses (Severus [dot] sighs [at] gmail [dot] com) by 11th February, for posting during the weekend ending 14th February.
9. Participants are requested to delay posting to personal journals until the evening of 14th February.
10. If you so wish, you may write your first death!fic or dub-con under a nom de plume.
11. Multiple submissions are permitted.
Prompts:
1. News like this was not what he wanted to hear, particularly on Valentine’s Day.
2. Severus’ actions on Valentine’s Day were surprising, but not as much as the reasons behind them.
3. Severus was going to get his Valentine ... one way or another.
4. Severus took a deep breath and closed his eyes, his heart breaking.
5. Roses, bows and love letters, and other such delusions.
6. Valentine’s Day started out not so terrible, but was quickly heading towards disaster.
7. Valentine's Day was supposed to be of red posies and heart-shaped offerings, kisses and love-filled promises. It was not supposed to be like this.
If you are unsure what is meant by ‘Anti-Valentine’s Day’, the following drabble should give you an idea:
Title: In Hindsight Author: WhiteCotton Pairing: Severus/Harry Rating: PG Word Count: 200 Warning(s): None Summary: In hindsight, being honest was not always the best policy. A/N: Written for the Severus Sighs Anti-Valentine’s Day Mini Fest. I do not own or make any money from the characters or situations belonging, in all rights, to JK Rowling.
In Hindsight
Severus really hated St Valentine. In fact, if the bastard had still been alive, he would have Severus’ bony fingers as a necklace for certain.
He grimaced, then slowly drew a hand up to clear his eyes of tiramisu, smearing the mascarpone and dropping globs of sodden biscuit into his lap. What a fucking mess. And it wasn’t as though he had deserved it, which was the real buggeration factor.
Okay, so perhaps he should have given more thought to Harry’s needs. He should have engaged his brain more thoroughly, recognised the plaintive note, and paid more attention to the underlying question.
Tilting his head to the side, he amended that the difficulty had been with his answer.
All right, so perhaps some of the fault was his. He licked the coffee cream off his fingers and mused on that thought. In hindsight, Harry’s question had deserved more, a romantic affirmation probably. Severus, however, preferred clarity, and so he had thought answering Harry’s ‘do I please you?’ with a truth and specifics would have been acceptable.
It was the ‘seven out of ten’ that had launched the dessert.
The End
We do hope this mini-fest will attract hearty and light-hearted support, and encourage everyone – from regular posters and known contributors to lurkers – to join in the fun.
Please feel free to use the very pretty icon, courtesy of lemondropseven, to pimp the fest around the bazaars.
Kind regards,
The Webmistresses
Enjoy the darkness and sweet sensual pleasure that is Severus Sighs
The Webmistresses of Severus Sighs Site Owner – WhiteCotton Site Moderators – atypicalsnowman, thesewarmstars, and Torina Archelda severussighs-owner@yahoogroups.com http://asylums.insanejournal.com/severus_sighs/ email: Severus.sighs@gmail.com Art by Cluegirl