EVENTS page now OPEN with Fan Fiction Contest & More!

alsplacebartender

Al's Place Bartender
Staff member
Announcing The Leap Back 2009 Fan Fiction Contest!

We’re happy to announce the opening of the LEAP BACK 2009 Fanfic Contest. As part of the festivities honoring the 20th anniversary of QL, we plan to produce a brand-new zine that will be available at the con. And obviously, we need stories to fill it.

The story that the judges select as being the best will appear not only in the zine, but in the official program book, a copy of which will be given to all our guests and special honorees, including Don Bellisario, Scott Bakula, Dean Stockwell and Deborah Pratt. The author of that story will also receive a framed certificate commemorating their selection as Grand Prize Winner and recognition during the onstage programming.

For more info and complete guidelines, please visit the website's EVENTS page!
http://www.leapback2009.com/events.htm

Post your questions and comments here!
 
alsplacebartender said:
The story that the judges select as being the best will appear not only in the zine, but in the official program book, a copy of which will be given to all our guests and special honorees, including Don Bellisario, Scott Bakula, Dean Stockwell and Deborah Pratt. The author of that story will also receive a framed certificate commemorating their selection as Grand Prize Winner and recognition during the onstage programming.

Ooooohhh, those are some high stakes, Brian! I mean, does it get any better for a fanfic writer?

A fanfic that's a crossover with another show probably wouldn't fit in very well, would it?

You mentioned "no graphic violence" in your guidelines. Maybe you should also mention limits on graphic... you know... relationships? ;)
 
Closing date?

How long do we have to get our submissions in?

Obviously you guys will need time to get the winning one printed up in the official program book, and need judging time before that.

So what is the deadline?
 
Snish said:
Ooooohhh, those are some high stakes, Brian! I mean, does it get any better for a fanfic writer?

A fanfic that's a crossover with another show probably wouldn't fit in very well, would it?

You mentioned "no graphic violence" in your guidelines. Maybe you should also mention limits on graphic... you know... relationships? ;)

Yeah, I have to agree with this. I'd suggest a no-smut guideline as well. ;) And...what Helen said...what IS the deadline? I won't be able to do any writing til after the wedding/honeymoon/getting our house set-up/Disney trip. (whew)
 
Unofficially the deadline is 3/27/08, a year before the con. But depending on how everything else is shaping up at that time, we might be able to push it forward a bit. I'd suggest not waiting until the last minute. :)

Crossovers are possible, since in a sense QL is itself a crossover with other universes (Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Lee Harvey Oswald, etc.). But the thing with crossovers is, most writers really put all their "oomph" into one 'verse and neglect the other. You've got to sell us on BOTH, and make them mesh together seamlessly, so that it's not a case of, "Ooooh, wouldn't it be COOL if Sam leaped into Buffy the Vampire Slayer???" (In other words, no stunt casting, please.)

And no smut of any kind. The book is going to be given out to all our attendees and guests, some of whom don't care for (and/or are mortally embarrassed by) graphic sex in their reading material. Make the story line up with the aired episodes. "Trilogy" was as smutty as they ever got.

So, give it your best shot, guys! Emma and I are really looking forward to seeing the submissions. If you've got any questions along the line, feel free to ask. And if you need a beta reader, we'll help you track one down.
 
bluedana said:
Another question: What is the word limit?

According to the rules, they'll accept a story of any length.

What about the rest of the stories? I remember that the committee was considering have a special fanzine for convention attendees, besides the official program. Is that still going to happen, or is it just the winning fic that's going to be published?
 
LadyKayoss said:
What about the rest of the stories? I remember that the committee was considering have a special fanzine for convention attendees, besides the official program. Is that still going to happen, or is it just the winning fic that's going to be published?

We're doing a special zine for many of the fan fic entries plus a separate convention booklet. The winning entry will appear in both books!
 
Yeah, I was asking generally about a word limit for 'zine stories. It's easier to come up with a plot if there's an upper limit in mind. E.g., are TVS episodes too long, or about what you're looking for?
 
There is no word limit. If you feel you can do novel-length, go for it.

The zine will have the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners, and the honorable mentions. If the winning stories are all very short, we'll probably include some others of high quality to make a decent-sized zine.
 
I just realised how awesome a fanzine would be... because even though the stories are likely to all be verrrrrry different in content... the fact that Sam leaps from life to life will make it flow anyway...
 
Different in content and in style, which is another interesting thing. You could give all the fanfic writers a specific assignment -- say "Sam leaps into a fireman" and come up with a whole spectrum of results.

We decided to leave the length limit completely open because short-short stories and novelette-length ones are both difficult in their own way. In a short-short you have to make every word meaningful, and in a long story you've got plot and character arcs, pacing, etc. to keep under control. I'm very curious to see what gets submitted. And I know Emma will be squeeing all over the place, because she's always looking for new QL fic (and not finding too much).

We're also going to be posting the announcements for our other contests shortly: artwork, music videos, and centerpieces for the tables at the con. Plus anything else we can cook up. :)

If you guys have an idea for a contest, let us know! We've got a lot of programming hours to fill, and we really want to make the con fun in an "everybody can participate" type of way.
 
Judging

Okay...I'm got some stories on the back burner that I'll get working on.

I do have a question. Who will the judges be? How is the objectiveness of the judging kept fair? I've read some really great works from rather talented people over the past 2 years (when I started reading QL fanfic) and I've written quite a bit that I think is pretty good (feel free to throw a tomato at me if you think my stuff is lousy...honestly...I'd like to know.) It would bother me if there was overt subjectiveness in the judging. I don't want to spend hours working on a story if the situation is that I really don't have a chance before I even begin.

I'm not trying to cause problems or dissention. I really like the idea. I'm just concerned about these potentialities and would like to see how they are addressed.
 
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Emma and I (with the aid of Brian, Maryse and Judy) will be doing the preliminary judging. We'll select the semi-finalists. Sometime between now and March 2008 we'll assemble a committee of judges who are familiar with fanfic and feel they can judge submissions according to the criteria we've given them (it's in the contest description). When we turn the stories over to them, we'll strip off the author's name and any identification so that they'll be judging the stories "blind."

Everything is going to be read, and judged, on an equal footing. I'd say, be sure it's your best work before you submit it. I'll warn you, I'm very particular about spelling and punctuation. Anyone who feels they're weak in those areas should give us a yell, and we'll find you a beta reader who can help you. Beyond that, keep your characters in-character, and tell us a kick-butt story.

If you have other concerns (or more specific concerns), please feel free to ask. The five of us have agreed a number of times that communication with everyone concerned with this con is very important to us.
 
Okay, I've got a story that I've had in pre-production for a few years now. My question is complicated concerning it....

The story has not been published online or elsewhere (it's still a WIP). However, I had been writing it to be included in the Starbright Project, but again, I've only written about 1/5 of it, so it's never been submitted. I have, however, posted what I've written and the outline on the private board we have for the authors of the different virtual series... I don't think anyone's read it, however... Brian would know if anyone's seen it.

I've had zero new ideas for a while now concerning fanfic, so I'm just hoping to find out if my unpublished, unfinished story would be eligible....

Joy
 
Joy, if it's the outline I think you're talking about, you SOOOOOOOOOO should write and submit it.
 
I think that's fine. Our concern is that if we're asking people to pay for the zine (basically, just what it costs to have it printed), it should be new material, not stories they've read in another zine or can find for free on the Internet. Going by those rules, I think your story is fine, Joy.

We on the committee are all excited to see the submissions for the various contests -- there's so much creativity out there in the fan world! At the con I just attended they screened the latest episode from "Star Trek: New Voyages," which was entirely fan-produced at zero profit, and it was every bit as good as one of the "real" episodes of classic Trek. My friend and I were in tears at the end.
 
McDuck said:
Joy, if it's the outline I think you're talking about, you SOOOOOOOOOO should write and submit it.

Yes, it is indeed the outline you're thinking of... ;)

And now that this extremely long and tiring, but ultimately satisfying weekend is over, I suddenly find myself inspired to start writing for all sorts of things in all different fandoms of mine....

Ah the power of inspirational authors.

Joy
 
I was wondering does the story have to pre or post MI? Or can it be either?

It can be post-MI, since Don established that (sob) Sam never got home. That leaves a lot of Leaps for us to explore.
 
Absentee writers?

It just occurred to me that I ought to check...

Is the fanfiction competition open to non-attendees, or would the winner(s) have to be present in person?

I've resigned myself to the fact that I won't be able to go to the Con, but it would be so cool to think that a part of me could be there if I were lucky enough to have a story selected. I have started work on one, but if it isn't eligible I guess I'd just have to work it up as an offering for MJ for the VS.
 
CarolD said:
It can be post-MI, since Don established that (sob) Sam never got home. That leaves a lot of Leaps for us to explore.

But stories can be set before Mirror Image too... right?

Just for super-double-overkill clarification. ;)
 
You can set it at any point in the timeline that you like. I wrote stories about Sam's childhood and teen years, about Al's life with Beth and Ruthie, and so on. So I'd say it wouldn't have to be a standard Leap. It just has to be a Quantum Leap story that tells us something (hopefully something new and enlightening) about the characters.
 
Another dumb question!

Just to be sure -

Is there any limit to the number of submissions each person can make?

Is it strictly one per author, or can we submit as many as we can get written (provided they are 'new' and not previously published of course) by the deadline?