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Five recommendations from the first fanfiction challenge thread
The new fanfiction forum is in full swing and filling daily with stories from the avid fan-writers of WoW. Nethaera has been helping things along by adding new writing challenge threads about once every two weeks or so. The first of these asked the readers to imagine they were an attendee at the trial of Garrosh Hellscream and to describe what they saw. It's not a competition, but Nethaera did outline a few rules, notably, the writers could not exonerate Garrosh. It's been fascinating to read the responses. Many feature similar themes and ideas, but there is endless variation on the theme. As I did a few weeks ago with the forum at large, I've picked five of my favorite stories from the thread and listed them below. There are many more than these that deserve attention, but time is short and I am but one person. Please feel free to comment with some of your own favorites, as well!
Five of my favorite stories from the fanfiction forum
The new official WoW fanfiction forum has been live for a little while now, and it's starting to fill up with a variety of stories for the interested reader. There you can find tragic tales of fallen heroes, tongue-in-cheek vignettes, and even some chronicles devoted to filling in the gaps of Azerothian history. Really, even after only a few days of existence, there are more than enough stories to keep a fanfiction enthusiast busy for quite some time. In the spirit of drawing some attention to the forum as a whole, I've spent some time reading through a number of the threads there and picked out a few of my favorites. Mind you, this isn't necessarily a comprehensive list, because I simply don't have the time to give every single posted tale the attention that it deserves. The ones I've chosen caught my fancy for any number of reasons--the originality of the concept, some aspect of the writing, or the effect of the story. They are listed below in no particular order. Do click on over to check them out, and feel free to add favorites of your own in the comments!
Blizzard challenges you to put Garrosh on trial
Blizzard Community Manager Nethaera has thrown down a gauntlet to writers everywhere. As she rightly says, we probably knew it was coming when the fan-fiction forums were first set up, but already, there's impetus to share your imagination with others. As Nethaera informs us, Christy Golden's War Crimes is not yet out, so we do not know how Garrosh's fate will unfurl, but we can certainly put our imaginations to work. You can hit the break for Neth's full post, but the rules are pretty interesting. You can't exonerate Garrosh. He has to be made to pay for what he did, at least to some extent, even if the upcoming expansion implies pretty strongly that he doesn't really serve any time meted out to him. You also can't place too much of your story outside the courtroom, save a few flashbacks and memories. And you've got to keep it to one post. Before you complain, the word limits and specific criteria are a writer's bread and butter. You can read all about our very own Sarah Pine's experience doing just that for Blizzard. So hit the break, check the rules, and let your creativity flow! Given the comment threads we see here, we're expecting WoW Insider community greatness!
New WoW forum: Seat of Knowledge: Fanfiction
Yes, you read that title right, folks. A day many WoW fans and roleplayers have doubtless longed for has arrived: Blizzard has launched an official forum for posting fanfiction. I can honestly say that this is a day I never thought I'd see, yet here we are, and there are already some stories posted! Nethaera has opened the forum with two introductory posts, one with what seems to be the typical forum behavior guidelines and rules, and one specifically tailored for the new forum. Interestingly enough, there don't yet seem to be any rules regarding story content. Now, if you're at all familiar with the world of fanfiction, you've probably at least had a few run-ins with content that's sketchy at best, and I don't necessarily mean quality of writing, if you get my drift. So I sincerely hope that the lack of stated guidelines for what constitutes an appropriate story for the fanfiction forum is just because Blizzard hasn't gotten around to typing them up yet, but I suppose that remains to be seen. Still, use discretion when choosing which of your stories to post. I think it's safe to say that graphic sex, violence, and excessive swearing will be frowned upon. Rated T for teen, after all! Anyway, concerns aside, this new forum will certainly be a wonderful resource for WoW story enthusiasts and writers everywhere. Head on over if you like to read fan stories, and check out what's already been posted!
