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Scrivenshaft Challenge Cycle VI – April 2006 : "The Ties That Bind"

Cycle Dates: 1 April 2006 - 30 April 2006
Entries Submitted:

The Prompt

The Premise:

We all have allegiances, oaths we've sworn and guarantees we've given. For various reasons, we bind ourselves to each other, for better or worse, to our success and ruin. Not all of these allegiances are public, and not all will come to light, but each oath brings with it penalties of betrayal. Some are implicit and others deliberate, but we each move through the world on strings that bind us to each other.

The Challenge:

What are the ties that bind? What are the promises whispered in dark corners, the allegiances sworn in secret ceremonies? For this challenge, you must choose a character from each column and explore what kinds of promises each might make to the other. Are the ties of magic, blood, or merely breath? Will they be honored, and if they are not, what are the penalties? Are they made in jest or in deadly calm, by force or cooperation? How do the ties manifest in their daily lives?

You may write about their formation, their culmination, or the weight they impose on those foresworn (or a combination of each). You are encouraged to be creative, and to tie in canon events or canonical personality traits.

Choose a character from each column:

Your Limits

1. You are not limited to one pairing, but each pairing must include a character from each column.
2. While you are not limited to canonical events, you are encouraged to make use of extensive HP resources to keep characters and their choices true to their personalities. Also, please try to keep the timeline clean – only choose bindings between characters living at the same time.
3. You may submit as many entries as you like.
4. We encourage that all entries be of no higher rating than R.
5. Please stay with in the spirit of the prompt. Take advantage of its hints at personality, tone, and suspense. Exploit these to your advantage.
6. Before submitting your entry, proofread it for any spelling, punctuation or grammatical mistakes. If you like, you may have the use of a beta reader prior to submission of entry, provided that the substance of the entry is your own effort.
7. All entries must be received by 11:59 pm EST on 30 April 2006 to be included in the Masterlist for this cycle.

Entry Submission Rules

See general submission procedures on the main Scrivenshaft page.

1. Post your completed entry to a website of your choice. At the top, please include the following information (we encourage the use of this template):
   Title: (entry title)
   Author: (your penname)
   Rating: (if PG-13 or above, please include relevant warnings)
   Words:
   Characters: (characters used)
   Summary: (optional, but you must reference the Scrivenshaft Challenge and link to this prompt or the main Challenge page) Example: This story was submitted to the Scrivenshaft Challenge at UR.org for Cycle VI - April 2006. Thanks to my beta, bestbetaeva.
2. Send an email to the Scrivenshaft Administrator with information about your entry (including the above information is sufficient, along with your email and a link to your story). If your website requires registration or is protected from public view, please include information about how readers may access your story. We strongly encourage that you post your entry to a publicly-accessible website.
3. After you submit your entry, you should receive an email confirming the receipt. If you do not receive an email confirmation of your entry inside of 48 hours, please send an email of inquiry to scrivenshaft@unknowableroom.org.
4. A masterlist will be posted of all the entries submitted for the current cycle. Please ensure that all links and information are correct, and if changes need to be made, contact the Administrator with the corrections.

Any questions regarding the challenge? Send an email with our contact form or leave a message on the Scrivenshaft Forum.

The Challenge Entry Masterlist

The Masterlist for Cycle VI will be available after the cycle ends on 30 April 2006.

Back to the Scrivenshaft Challenge

Last updated by everblue3 the March 26th 2006, 3am.