Nightlock Prompt Challenge Winner: Eirenewrites

Congratulations to fanfiction author eirenewrites, who is the winner of our writing challenge! The staff at Nightlock (Little Miss Mionie, Owl, Titania and Cindella204) have written a review of this fic. To remind you, the prompt was:

"She heard the music, first. It was the music that made her realise she was truly home."

Eirenewrites wins this shiny new banner (along with some others): 

As well as our review! Without further ado....

Convince Me by eirenewrites

“You’ve subdued the districts, but nothing has changed. You are entertainment. Show up when they say show up. Sing when they say sing. Marry when they say marry.”

Convince Me is an interesting story that had us right from the get-go. It is essentially a rewrite of Catching Fire, with author eirenewrites teasing out or including scenes shippers wish they got to see in the original series. The story feels very canon, and all of us had no problem diving right in to read it. This idea has been done before, but eirenewrites' plot, along with her effective employment of dialogue, reenergises what could have been quite a generic fic.

Eirenewrites' writing style is clearly that of an accomplished writer who knows how to write well.  The author captured Katniss' narrator voice perfectly. The chemistry between Katniss, Peeta and Gale feels very canon. The fanfic as a whole reads very solidly, in that there is enough plot and fandom knowledge to support the main focus of the story, aka Katniss' romantic relationships. A lack of convincing, interesting and dynamic storyworlds are often what let novella fic writers down in this fandom - this is a problem Convince Me definitely does't have!

We all really like how Eirenewrites has included our prompt. It both inspires a scene in the third chapter, and seems to be inspiring further events as the story continues.

Convince Me is currently WIP, with 4 chapters. You can also find it on ff.net.

Happy reading,
The Nightlock Team

Affiliate Fic Challenge: Starvation Forum's 'The Holiday Games'!

Our affiliate Starvation, a fanfiction.net forum run by our good old bestie Lavender Flame has a holiday season two-shot fic challenge for anyone who is interested! Here are the guidelines:


1. The story must be holiday-themed. It can be any holiday that occurs around this time of year. New Year's, Hanukah, Kwanza, Christmas, and any others you can think of -- all open, so long as it's a holiday. It doesn't have to even be one you personally celebrate.

2. Fics must stand on their own. They do not have to be canon or canon-compliant. They can even be part of your established fanon, so long as they make sense by themselves.

3. ALL pairings, characters, ratings, etc. are open. Combinations with other any other competitions are allowed.

4. However, please do not submit pre-written entries. Also, it's recommended that you mention somewhere that it was written for this competition, so I'm sure that I'm looking at the right fic.

5. This competition has two parts. You will write/publish your holiday-themed, stand-alone one-shot (and send the link/title to me) before December 30th. Entries should be at least five-hundred words long, and they can be in any format you want, so long as they fit the rules of the site you post on. (You do not have to post on FF.net, but entries must be public.) During the New Year's Eve party the day after (details on this to come), I will announce the twist-prompt for the second part of the to-be two-shot. Your second chapter will be due by January 31st.

You can find out all the details about how to enter and what prizes are to be won here.

Happy writing,
Little Miss Mionie

Nightlock Reviews: entries to our first ever Fic Prompt Challenge!

A few months ago, we here at Nightlock Recs decided to host our first ever fic prompt challenge!

While it only generated two fics, we're really pleased with how the idea of a fic prompt challenge was received, and hopefully we'll host another in 2013. Because there's only two entries, myself, Lavender Flame and PolkaPop decided to each give a review of JustAFantasyGirl's Ice and Fire and Alexandrite Inferno's Red Red Red. And now, we present to you the wonderful entries and our reviews!

Title: Ice and Fire

Author: JustAFantasyGirl
Summary: Clove watched over Katniss in death, reflecting on their short time together in life.
Prompt used: 

LMM: I am not a Clove fan by any means, but I absolutely loved Ice and Fire. This author is so great and making Clove's voice become real; Clove's characterisation is spot-on, right down to her confidence. The plot of this one-shot is quite original and I personally really enjoyed the freshness of Clove as a first-person, omniscient narrator.

LF: A very interesting fic with a haunting (and unique) voice that gets the point across well. The idea of the Careers' thoughts on Katniss is to be admired; it shows just how insane the Careers and the world they live in are -- and how they want to tell others all about that.  "Ice and Fire" is a must-read for fans of the Careers.

PP:  I was always curious about how the other Tributes in the Games interpreted the Girl on Fire - we get a lot from the Capitol and the rest of Panem, but we never really see inside what a Tribute was thinking coming up against this girl who sacrificed herself for her sister, or, to go home to her as was so aptly suggested here. I loved this little bit, Clove-centric and a refreshing and effective take on the prompt. Well done!

Title: Red Red Red

Author: Alexandrite Inferno
Summary: Very, VERY dark. Written for Forthegenuine's prompt "The colour red" on Nightlock Recs.
Prompt used: "The colour red".
LMM: I'm gonna be honest: I cringed when reading this fic from the graphic descriptions. Alexandrite Inferno took "the colour red" to the extreme! Red Red Red has a very haunting tone towards the end, as though the fic builds up in it's emotion, horror and creepiness and then plateaus into this realised horror with the final lines. It was almost too dark for my tastes, that's how dark/good it was.

LF:  Just as dark as the author promises, "Red, Red, Red" captures the insane emotion of a nightmarish reality quite well.  It wasn't what I was expecting, and that turned out to be a nice, diverting twist.  A refreshing vocabulary is scattered throughout the story as well, to really bring it to life.  A lovely horror story. ...Can I say 'lovely' if it's horror?

PP: Personally, I try not to find myself in rooms full of bodies. I try not to envision it too. This drabble was okay for me - not my cup of tea - but it was effective in the images it was trying to paint. 

Happy reading!
~ Little Miss Mionie

PS. What would you like to see from us next? An author interview, a podcast, a fic challenge, prompts? Let us know in the comments!

Ten Days Left!

Hey Panem citizens!

There's only ten more days left to enter our fabulous fic prompt challenge.

Short, long, dark, funny, Katniss/Peeta or Cato/Snow, we'll review it as long as it links somehow to one of our prompts!

Please tweet us a link to your fanfic to @nightlockrecs, or email it to nightlockrecs@hotmail.com.

Happy writing!

~ Little Miss Mionie

Our Fic Prompt Challenge has been extended!

Good morning fellow tributes! We bring you excellent news: we've extended our fic prompt challenge until the 16th of December! That means you have almost another month to get your creative juices flowing.

Here's the challenge rules again:

Each staff member has a prompt listed below that you can choose from to include in or draw inspiration on for a new Hunger Games fic. Any length, style, genre or pairing will be accepted. Fics can by housed anywhere on the internet, as long as they are accessible to all without permissions or passwords. Please send us a link to your fic once you’ve written it and once the deadline closes each staff member will review and recommend each fic under their prompt. 



Challenges are a great way to make new friends, find new fics to read and get your name out there when we recommend your fic! There aren’t any winners or losers in this challenge; everyone will get a recommendation! Send your fanfiction’s link to nightlockrecs@hotmail.com or tweet us the link at @nightlockrecs, along with mentioning somewhere what prompt you used.

THE PROMPTS:

1.    Little Miss Mionie:

Peeta never returns at the end of Mockingjay. Katniss has to learn to fight her inner demons without him and live her life to the fullest. She stumbles across an old face at her new job in District 12, two years after it all ended…

2.    Lavender Flame:

Before the seventy-fourth Games, most of Panem was oblivious to the spark of rebellion engulfing the nation; but, not the coal-mining district. Long before there was a Mockingjay, District Twelve struck a match...

3.    Polkapop:
“Now the only regret that I've ever had / Is that I didn't give you the shirt off my back.” – Blades of Grass, Birdlips

4.    Forthegenuine:

 The colour red.

5.    Cindella204:

You are not the hero: Katniss makes it safely to District 13 but watches someone else take the role of the Mockingjay. It can be any past victor that you chose to lead the rebellion!

Break a leg!

~ The Nightlock Recs Team

Nightlock Prompt Challenge - Three Days To Go!

Hey fellow Capitol citizens! You - yes, you - your green eyeliner is fantastic.

Just a reminder:

There's only three days left for the Nightlock Prompt Challenge! Find out the details here, and write something at the last minute like nobody's business. Send your fics to nightlockrecs@hotmail.com.

Thanks!

~ LMM

Nightlock Fic Prompt Challeeeeeeenge!

Nightlock Fic Prompt Challenge!

What is this madness?
Yeeees, that’s right! Nightlock Recs is hosting a fic prompt to challenge you all with! Each staff member has a prompt listed below that you can choose from to include in or draw inspiration on for a new Hunger Games fic. This writing challenge will last for a month.

Send us a link to your fic once you’ve written it (any online fanfic publishing system will do, we don’t care if it’s ff.net or AO3!) and once the deadline closes each staff member will review and recommend each fic under their prompt. 

Challenges are a great way to make new friends, find new fics to read and get your name out there when we recommend your fic! There aren’t any winners or losers in this challenge; everyone will get a recommendation!

Challenge Opens: 16^th of October, 2012

Challenge Closes: 16^th of November, 2012

Fics can by housed anywhere on the internet, as long as they are accessible to all without permissions or passwords. Fics can be drabbles, one-shots, multiple-chapter fics, any genre…just as long as they are Hunger Games!

Send your fanfiction’s link to nightlockrecs@hotmail.com or tweet us the link at @nightlockrecs, along with mentioning somewhere what prompt you used.

Break a leg!

~ The Nightlock Team

THE PROMPTS:

1.    Little Miss Mionie:

Peeta never returns at the end of Mockingjay. Katniss has to learn to fight her inner demons without him and live her life to the fullest. She stumbles across an old face at her new job in District 12, two years after it all ended…

2.    Lavender Flame:

Before the seventy-fourth Games, most of Panem was oblivious to the spark of rebellion engulfing the nation; but, not the coal-mining district. Long before there was a Mockingjay, District Twelve struck a match...

3.    Polkapop:
“Now the only regret that I've ever had / Is that I didn't give you the shirt off my back.” – Blades of Grass, Birdlips

4.    Forthegenuine:

 The colour red.

5.    Cindella204:

You are not the hero: Katniss makes it safely to District 13 but watches someone else take the role of the Mockingjay. It can be any past victor that you chose to lead the rebellion!