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GW Addiction Angst Contest: Rules
As the most astute among you have probably noticed, GW Addiction is rapidly approaching its first anniversary (since it was opened on February 15, 2000).
To celebrate this momentous event (er... well, I find it momentous, anyway) I made the unilateral decision of opening a fic contest and choosing a winner myself, thereby alienating everyone else... It's as gift, I tell you! :D
Here are the rules, which are liable to change slightly if necessary:
- This contest is open to all, though fics already archived at GW Addiction or elsewhere are excluded. Otherwise I'd have a pretty good idea regarding which ones I would choose, thereby negating all the fun and suspense... (see below) I am trying to generate new fics, here...
- This is an angst contest: only terribly, terribly angsty Gundam Wing fics need enter. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't have to include death or physical violence, it doesn't have to include lemon, yaoi or sap, but it should make the reader cry or at the very least extremely sad. And yes, I am a pretty sadistic person... :-)
- All entries should be posted before April 1st by their authors -or with their explicit permission- to the 'Angst Contest 2001' forum of the GWA Bulletin Board and/or to the GW Addiction Contest mailing list, check it out at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GWA_contest/
- All participants resolve to be good sports about this, as there can be only one -or more precisely three winners- and the important thing 'is not winning, but participating' (misquoted from the baron Pierre de Coubertin).
- There will also be a public vote, to choose the three most popular fics, so we can compare and contrast with my own choice: it should provide all of us with hours of good clean fun... Or maybe fun is not the word I am looking for, since these should be very, very angsty fics... What it means is that even if you do not participate for some weak reason -eg, you do not write- you are very welcome to both the board forum or the GW Addiction Contest ML in order to read and vote later on!
- I reserve the right to be totally unfair in my choices and to add or change some details of these rules -like deadlines and stuff-, how's that? :-)
Well, I hope you didn't expect fairness from me!
And just so we are quite clear on what to expect, if older fics were allowed, I would probably choose one of the following:
- 'After Life' by Erin Cayce,
- 'Angel On Vacation' by Yoiko
- 'Liebestod' by Fractal Forge
- 'Fumbling Towards Ecstasy' by Ashura no Miko
- 'Lunar Eclipse' by Joyce K. Wakabayashi (Gundam Wing on Acid)
- 'True Awakenings' by RavynFyre
There's lots of excellent others I can think of, but these are perfect examples of what I call real angst... Anyway, note that only 2 out of those 6 quoted above are deathfics... Angst is not necessarily the same as death, NCS or excessive torture of a major character... I see it more as emotional anguish and pain... lots of it! Regardless of whether the end makes up for it or not. :-)
Finally, let me remind you that the more in-character your fic is, the more impact it will have on your readership: excessive sap and tears tends to distance your readers from the drama!