Sink Into Your Eyes :: Sink Into Your Eyes - A Harry/Ginny Fanfiction Archive

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And The Winners Areâ€¦.

Well, The Deathly Hallows seems to have been a bit of a real challenge. We had seven entries this time around with varied qualities. Some did quite well as they fought for first place in the different categories. Our fifteen judges found it difficult to judge and come out with complete nominations. However, they all did very well, didnâ€™t they, and the proof is to be revealed.

And now the resultsâ€¦

The award for Best Overall and Best Drama goes to:
â€Hallows and Pathosâ€ by Perspicacity

The award for Best Security goes to:
â€Itâ€™s Kind Of Fun Doing The Impossibleâ€ by Spenser Hemmingway

The award for Best Adventure goes to:
â€The Hallows Questersâ€ by sapphire200182

Honorable Mention is given to one story that had more votes than others but not in any one category to win:
â€A Dark Momentâ€ by JulietteFox16

The winning stories are now prominently listed in our Featured Stories section. Those of you that have multiple chapters or need to do some editing may continue at this time. The Challenge category is back open. If your story is completed, please ensure it is edited and YES, as completed.

The 2009-2 Challenge is coming very soon. Authors are going to have to be very creative.

I would like to thank my many judges who worked hard for this Challenge: BP, CM, CP, DL, DW, IW, JP, JS, KD, MG, NS, PM, RS, TP, & YC. You know who you are. Thank you very much for all that reading and judging. It wasnâ€™t easy this time around. The Challenge would not exist if nobody judged them.

Some authors have asked if I would tell them how well they did in the judging. If you wish, e-mail me and I will tell you your results.

P.S.: Stick, stone, cloth, royal, academy, magic, and start breaking out your investigative skills.

Sir Ollivander on 2009.03.15 - 11:59AM ()

Comments

jennyelf came out of the woodwork on 2009.03.15 - 01:09PM to say:

Mary Sue Who? Hmm... wasn't that a song? No, that's right, it was Peggy Sue. Well, Mary Sue would be something very different from Peggy Sue.

jennyelf came out of the woodwork on 2009.03.15 - 01:10PM to say:

Oh, and many congrats to the winners of the challenge! :) The stories were very interesting!

KMACKD came out of the woodwork on 2009.03.15 - 01:31PM to say:

I can't beleive you gave Hallows and Pathos an award. It didn't seem to me to even follow your guidelines for the challenge. It's whole purpose seems to be to turn Hermione into a sadistic lunatic who butchers Ginny and her daughter for no good reason. Does Harry win against Voldemort just to be betrayed by his closest friend. Et tu Hermione? I love this site, but this story just offends me. Sorry.

Taure came out of the woodwork on 2009.03.15 - 01:53PM to say:

Hallows and Pathos was an extremely well written story, able to conjure powerful responses from its readers (as your comments have shown). It is undoubtedly a powerful piece of writing, not to mention original. There was nothing in the rules that said the stories had to be sickeningly sweet stories with trivial conflict and no depth. There are plenty of cliche carbon copy stories like that around if you want to read that kind of unoriginal trash, but Hallows and Pathos is the kind of fan fiction that the fandom needs: fan fiction that aspires to be more than mere fan fiction. It's not comfort reading, for sure, but the best stories never are.

Spenser Hemmingway came out of the woodwork on 2009.03.15 - 02:04PM to say:

Oh boy. I was wondering if the Mary Sue idea would ever be put forward. The term refers to an original character in fan fiction utilized in order to allow the author to enter the story and live out their fantasies.

I've been accused a number of times of inventing Spenser for just this. Anyone who's ever met me chokes on their coffee/beer at the suggestion. I did write myself into one story. I was manning the SIYE table at a convention, was drinking beer from a coffee cup, scaring little children, stealing merchandise, and in my normal, grumpy mood. The teenagers Spenser is based on don't even read fan fiction.

I appreciate very much everyone's support with this last Challenge. It was a fun one to write, and even more fun to see people reading my work. I think the next one will be extremely popular, and yes, Spenser will be back (even though I've killed him in a later story). Thanks again--Eric

Perspicacity came out of the woodwork on 2009.03.15 - 02:34PM to say:

I wish to thank the judges for taking the time to read and ruminate, and I congratulate the winners and other writers. While this challenge did not have the highest participation in terms of number of stories, I suspect it was among the most difficult to judge, given the wide scope and overall high quality of stories submitted. I believe everyone was a winner in this challenge, reader and writer alike, since we now have seven excellent new pieces to read. Thanks and congratulations to Sir Ollivander for posing this challenge (and teasing us with the next).

M_And came out of the woodwork on 2009.03.15 - 02:53PM to say:

Spense - I know you say no to the idea of Spencer Hemmingway being a "Mary Sue Who?" type character, but I think if you take a broader view you will find that he still falls under that category (and thank God that he does, because look at all the stories he gennerated). The next challenge is already intriguing me. Hopefully I'll have the time to come up with something. - Mike

sapphire200182 came out of the woodwork on 2009.03.15 - 03:46PM to say:

Maybe SIYE wants us to come up with the most outrageous Mary Sue ever!*

Congrats to the other winners. I confess I thought JFox should've won.

Honestly speaking, however, Torak, KMAKD, I have to say that while it was a powerful piece of fiction and I admire the plot highly, Hallows and Pathos is not executed well enough to prevent the reader getting a sense of disturbing imagery bordering on tastelessness.

I'm sorry if this is being too blunt, but that's my own review. Even great authors fall prey to this. I also admire some of Chuck Palahniuk's works, but others really turn me off. In this case, the fic sadly belongs to the latter. Perhaps the author may consider rewriting it, now that the contest is over?

Spenser Hemmingway came out of the woodwork on 2009.03.15 - 04:48PM to say:

Hmm...if Spense was me, then why did I do all that to him in the preface of Mischief Managed...Amen. Arm, eye, internal organs ripped out...blow to pieces in a very painful, grizzly manner? I'd love to write a Sherlock Holmes story, but my writing style is American, not Conan Doyle, let alone JKR. Spenser allows me to produce another author's work for Harry/Ginny stories. My little girl Loony also loves Luna, so I have to make her happy as well. I still think that the next Challenge is going to be great fun.--Eric

Perspicacity came out of the woodwork on 2009.03.15 - 08:35PM to say:

This next challenge looks entertaining. Normally we try to avoid Mary Sues. In other words, Ginny is a pretty girl, not one whose radiance is the apotheosis of the sublime, a fiery goddess of beauty beyond poetry. Writing her as such could be a trip.

JulietteFox16 came out of the woodwork on 2009.03.15 - 09:06PM to say:

This challenge has already got me excited and it hasn't even begun yet. No! The plot bunnies are invading my mind! Also, congratulations to all of the winners of this challenge! And thank you sapphire200182, your comment made my day!

M_And came out of the woodwork on 2009.03.15 - 11:31PM to say:

First - for got to say congrats to all the winners...So Congratulations All! Okay then...Erik...Not all Mary Sue's (or in this case Gary Stu) have to be self insertion's. Also, I realize that Spencer lacks some of the qualities that would make him a true "Gary Stu". What I meant by a broader sense was that Spencer allows you the writer to get into the story and play around in it. Actually, the character Harry Potter comes closer to being a "Gary Stu" type of character even though he is the main character of the series. Sorry for not saying that more clearly. - Mike

Torak came out of the woodwork on 2009.03.16 - 03:45AM to say:

Sapphire, that was Taure's remark, not mine; can you really imagine me describing anything as a "powerful" story? That's critic talk. ;-)

FWIW, I haven't read any of this challenge's entries, but offhand I can't think of anything that would cause Hermione to "butcher Ginny", so I'd be sceptical of that story from the off. But in fairness, I shall read it at some point.

As for Spenser, no, he's not a Mary-Sue. He's an original character, yes, but that's the extent of it; he's by no means an author-insertion, he's nowhere near perfect, and he's plausibly drawn. There's more to a MS than "You made this character up". ;-)

tangle elfwand came out of the woodwork on 2009.03.16 - 07:29AM to say:

Congrats to all the winners and just to everyone involved. All those stories were pretty lnog and detailed, so everyone's effort was pretty extensive. If this involves making the characters absolutely flawless, count me in. Nothing more fun than over-the-top amazingness. Or creating some stunningly beautiful Quidditch player who ends up getting 120% on her Charms exam. About time I tried a challenge.

Kezzabear came out of the woodwork on 2009.03.16 - 09:30AM to say:

I didn't know Mary Sue's were supposed to be the author inserted into the story. I thoght they were just ... um ... stupid characters, ones that were sort of too perfect and just ... a bit ... white bread? Face it I have no idea what a Mary Sue is :D

Torak came out of the woodwork on 2009.03.16 - 11:19AM to say:

They don't need to be author insertions; most are, but they don't have to be.

It's not easy to define succinctly... it's probably easiest to direct you to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sue

FirePhoenix86 came out of the woodwork on 2009.03.20 - 02:53AM to say:

I would like to say, when it comes to Hallows and Pathos, Taure you said it perfectly. Not all the stories have to have happy smiles and cute little bunnies. Dramatic writing is difficult to bring across. Yes the story was a bit graphic, but it was also extremely well written. It definitely deserved it's award, if only for the fact that it was completely original, and created depth to the Deathly Hallows. I'm not one to read graphic stories, but I enjoyed it enough to favorite it.

AriesGirl came out of the woodwork on 2009.03.28 - 04:27PM to say:

Great job everyone! and (I thought a Mary Sue was a character who was totally based on cliche' the more grand the better)

Daedalus89 came out of the woodwork on 2009.03.29 - 09:11PM to say:

I enjoyed all of the stories, and can understand why Hallows and Pathos would be polarising. Personally, I enjoyed it, despite its somewhat grisly conclusion. Congrats to all of the pieces involved - they provided interesting, unusually fulfilling reads! PS: I agree with tangle elfwand! Mary Sues can be a lot of fun! Provided, of course, that we know of their existence :-) and don't make fools of our "literary" selves.