If you want to participate in the contest but feel lacking on ideas, here are some brain-teasers to help get you going:
Canon
1) A witch-hunting story from the perspective of a Harbinger or a witch. You can make it romantic (maybe they fell in love) or tragic (maybe the Harbinger tried to save the witch, but she died anyway)
2) A prequel to Winds of Strife, showing how Glitter and Hainoch started their relationship. You can make it funny with Glitter’s sense of humor, or romantic, or give it whatever flavor you like.
3) A world-building exploration of the old civilizations that were drowned by The Mazriv. You can show sailors exploring old cities under the water, looking for ivoryn to mine. Or maybe go as far back as before The Mazriv, to explore how the world was back then.
Remember, U. G. Gutman is available for discussing canon facts in this email: fanficcontest2023@gmail.com
However, when sending questions about canon facts, please refrain from giving specifics about yourself to allow the judging to remain as impartial as possible.
For technical questions, please use the Question Form
What if
1) Urban Fantasy on Earth, with one of the characters of Winds of Strife, with access to their powers. Glitter can be a lonely hero, looking for a relationship and protecting innocent people. Nye can be a murderer who just finished serving his sentence, goes to a therapist and tries to be human in the real world (which may be even more harsh than the world of Huravoth, especially to rehabilitated prisoners).
2) Pick any pivotal moment in Winds of Strife and try to show what would have happened if things went in a different direction. What if Nye didn’t bring Lylin? What if Diane ran away and worked on her own to bring down the king? What if Hainoch and Glitter broke up? What if Ivy was caught using Senspirity in the palace?
3) Invent a new kind of Senspirity power. Maybe the emotion of ‘disgust’ can give the power to make things disappear (if you’re disgusted by them). Maybe ‘surprise’ can make the surprising item light up with a powerful beam. Try to think which emotions you know well from real life, find a magic power that makes sense to fit with these emotions, and tailor a story around it. If you decide to write a story like this, please contact us via fanficcontest2023@gmail.com to confirm it works with the lore.
The short story collection already has 4 canon stories:
A) Diane Prequel: the day she met Nye for the first time and her life before that
B) Cobald and Glitter Prequel: the day they were kicked out of home as teenagers
C) Lucin, Lylin’s sister, starting with the night that Nye kidnapped Lylin: what happened from Lucin’s point of view and what happened to her after. This story extends beyond the timeline of Winds of Strife, showing what happened in the kingdom after the end of the first book
D) Alliddar Prequel: The legendary battle of Scarlet Mountain, the preparations for it, involving Trezoss and Emittar as well
Good luck!!!