SPEW Spooky Swap Trick-Or-Treat Fest IV

Watch me copy/paste!

The SPEW Spooky Swap Trick-or-Treat Fest IV

:D

Sign-ups run from now through August 11th. Assignments sent out August 12th.
Stories due October 28th. Stories posted beginning October 29th.

For those of you who have not participated in a SpookySwap before, and as a refresher for those who have, this story exchange is set apart by its Halloween theme, which all stories will reflect. The five trick-or-treat themes for SpookySwap stories are:

Ghost Stories - stories that involve with the paranormal, by way of Being (ghosts, poltergeists, other transient apparitions) or Situation (strange, unexplainable circumstances or phenomena).
Spooky Treat - Classic Halloween tone - fog, mist, graveyards, black cats, jack-o-lanterns. A bewitching atmosphere, but fairly light at heart.
Witching Hour - More ominous and/or sinister; stories with dark themes to accompany the dark tone.
Trickster's Prank - Halloween-themed humour.
Masquerade Ball - Stories about deceptions or façades.

Sign-up Guidelines / Rules

• Post your request in this thread by Wednesday, August 11th (11:59 PST).
• Requests should not contain anything inappropriate for MNFF.
• Requests should be somewhat flexible; please list at least two options for both Character/Pairing and Trick-Or-Treat Theme. (You may indicate a first-choice preference, but provide at least one other option).
• Do not request a fic if you are not absolutely sure you will be able to take the time to write one for someone else.
• I will send out assignments by Thursday, August 12th.
• Use this format for your request post:
  
  
  Quote:

  ---

  Character/Pairing(s):
  Prompt(s):
  Trick-or-Treat Theme:
  
  Limitations: (On what you can write; limitations on ratings, and any of your character/pairing or genre blind-spots go here.)
  Trick-Or-Treat Themes I'll Write: (please list 2-5).

  ---

• If there is any problem with your request post, I will PM you prior to the closing of the thread and ask that such problem be remedied. This is a rare occurence, but should someone happen to write out an entire plotline for a prompt, or provide limitations that states they won't write any pairing other than the ones they actively ship, they might have to make a change ;)

Submission Guidelines / Rules

• The story must be beta'd. There are no exceptions. Don't PM to ask if it's really mandatory; I'll say that it is.
• When writing your story, please consider rating and content (such as language, sexual situations, etc) with regards to the taste of your recipient.
• When submitting your story, please include this header:
  
  
  Quote:

  ---

  <b>Title:</b>
  <b>For:</b>
  <b>Characters/Pairings:</b>
  <b>Rating:</b>
  <b>Warnings (if any):</b>
  <b>A/N:</b>

  ---

• If desired, please also include a note from you to your recipient.
• Stories should include all HTML tags [<i>italics</i>, <b>bold</b>, etc;]
• Stories should be PM'd or emailed to me [Jennifer/jenny b] by the due-date.
• If your story contains any words that may be editted by the forum censor, you must email it to me, or else make a very obvious note to me at the top of your PM, so that I can edit before posting.
• If you email it to me, please send it as an attachment. Do not put the text in the body of the e-mail. (If you need my e-mail address, just PM me.)

All stories due October 28th

Character/Pairing(s): Harry/Hermione please. That would make my year. If you're too stodgy for that, I'll take Albus/Scorpius.
Prompt(s): Harry/Hermione: Ron is dead, Ginny and Harry no longer speak to one another. I really just don't want to see either of them. Albus/Scorpius: please, no Quidditch. Other than that, go nuts.
Trick-or-Treat Theme: Don't care, really, but I'd prefer no humour unless absolutely necessary.

Limitations: I'm terrible at writing either Snape or Voldemort. I dislike Marauders, especially ridiculous, cliche Marauder, such as James and Lily always fighting, Sirius Black's foreign exchange girlfriend, or the very idea of Sev/Lily in a non-requited fashion. Request any of these, and you'd better sleep with one eye open. I'm not even close to joking.
Trick-Or-Treat Themes I'll Write: Spooky treat, Witching Hour, but Masquerade or Ghost is okay if I really have to.

Character/Pairing(s): Next-gen. Any of them, although as you all know, I do have a particular love for Scorpius. And I wouldn't mind if they were written as children and Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione make an appearance.
Prompt(s): Oh, I'm terrible with prompts. I might edit in later with some, but if I don't, then just let your imagination run wild (or, you know, ask me. Since I will obviously know who is writing my fic).
Trick-or-Treat Theme: Spooky Treat or Masquerade Ball. I'm fairly sure I request the same themes every year.

Limitations: I'm not fantastic with Dumbledore or McGonagall. I'm okay with Snape, although I'd prefer not to write him.
Trick-Or-Treat Themes I'll Write: Any and all of them.

Character/Pairing(s): I'd love someone for ever if they wrote me Lavender/Pansy. I'm also in the mood at the moment for Katie/Charlie, Percy/Cho, Lily/Regulus or anything involving the Ravenclaws from Harry's year (especially Michael Corner, Terry Boot, Anthony Goldstein and Lisa Turpin). I prefer post-Hogwarts rather than school age. If those are all just too rare, I always love Severus-based stories, either paired with Narcissa, Lily, Charity Burbage, Marlene McKinnon or just gen fic.

Prompt(s): Hmmm, perhaps something with an edge of psychological thriller, exploring the darker attributes of human nature; a deadly game that is more than it first seems; aesthetic beauty as a thin mask for darkness – a beautiful city like Florence or Barcelona with evil simmering below the surface; brooding atmosphere; decay; betrayal; obsession; supplication.

A few quotes for inspiration too:

“Stilettos in a shadowed doorway.” (from Daphne Du Maurier's My Cousin Rachel)

“You'll make us want to die.
I'd cut your name in my heart.
We'll destroy this world for you.
I know you want me to feel your pain.” (Muse, Space Dementia)

“I never knew the taste of blood till now.
It's clear I never should have known.
Breathing fire was never this much fun,
So there's a dark side in us all.” (Snow Patrol, Ways and Means)

"Unsettled hearts
Promise what they can't deliver
Bring me the wine
And the cold night air to clear my head" (Tracy Chapman, Speak the Word)

Trick-or-Treat Theme: In order of preference: Witching Hour, Spooky Treat, Masquerade Ball, Ghost Story.



Limitations: I can write any rating (and can write smut if necessary). I'm useless with writing humour. I can't write Luna at all. I also can't write Dumbledore, Voldemort, Hagrid, Umbridge, Filch, Fred or Crabbe & Goyle (junior or senior). I'm no use with Hermione/Draco or James/Lily, and I'm not much use with Harry/Ginny or Ron/Hermione (unless they are in the background in a next-gen story). I've not really written slash, so I wouldn't necessarily be much good at it, but I can have a go if needed (although I wouldn't be able to write Harry or Severus-based slash).

Trick-Or-Treat Themes I'll Write: Spooky treat, Witching Hour, but Masquerade or Ghost is okay if I really have to. /steals Jess' answer


I swear I always make my fic exchange sign-ups far more complicated than needs be – it's a talent! :o

Character/Pairing(s): In no order: Sirius/Lily, Remus/Lily, Regulus/Lily, Regulus, Sirius/OC [please no cliches if you choose that], Bellatrix/Rodolphus, Andromeda/Ted, Dora Tonks, Oliver/Ginny. Any characters unpaired feel free to pair up, though I'd prefer it if Harry and James Potter made no appearances, or else limited appearances :)

Prompt(s): Forbidden love, lost, stolen, delicate, thunder and lightening, faded.

The mood of Hallelujah/Jeff Buckley and/or Set the Fire to the Third Bar/Snow Patrol

I always like to be scared or spooked, so if you did that I wouldn't object :rolleyes: Honestly, though, I'd probably be happy with anything you give me, so yeah.

Trick-or-Treat Theme: I would love a Witching Hour, but as long as you don't write Trickster's Prank I'll love you ;)

Limitations: I don't like writing Harry or James Potter. Sorry, I just don't like fanfic on those two, so I'd prefer not to try and write it, LOL, since I suck at writing them anyhow. Otherwise, I'd like to give anything you throw at me a go :)

Trick-Or-Treat Themes I'll Write: Any but Trickster's Prank.

Character/Pairing(s): Ron/Cho, Ginny/Draco, Hermione/Draco, Snape/Hermione, Lee/Angelina Any non-marauder slash.

Prompt(s): I'd like something very AU, preferably with Voldy winning the war and Harry being dead. You can even re-write the final battle if you like and include the epically gruesome death of HP (not from his POV though preferably... perhaps from a goodie's POV though) or you can just have it in a post-war world filled with dementors and DEs. *happy happy :p *

Trick-or-Treat Theme:
Spooky Treat
Witching Hour
Masquerade Ball

Limitations: Marauders. I can't stand them, please don't make me write them >.> Also I really really really don't want to write Harry. or Luna is possible.
Trick-Or-Treat Themes I'll Write: (please list 2-5).
Ghost Stories
Spooky Treat
Witching Hour
Masquerade Ball < Preferred

Character/Pairing(s):Neville/Harry with Teddy/Lily and James/Mad-Eye
Prompt(s): I don't know. I'd like to stick in canon, since I'm trying to do that, and go both cute and dark/angsty. Self-Discovery/ Lost and Found/ Fear
Trick-or-Treat Theme:Spooky Treat /Witching Hour/Masquerade Ball

Limitations:No Limitations on Ratings/Warnings. However, I don't do Poetry, Historical or Next Generation.
Trick-Or-Treat Themes I'll Write: (please list 2-5).

Spooky Treat
Witching Hour - Preferred
Masquerade Ball - Preferred

Character/Pairing(s): Grindlewald (sp? :confused: ), Regulus, or the Lestranges. Or another DE if you don't want them, but I'd prefer them. If you can't do darker people, Albus/Scorpius will work.
Prompt(s): If you want to write any romance, I don't want any love; I'd want more of a lust thing. If you choose Regulus, I'd like Lily to be with him. If you write about the Lestranges (and Reg, too, I guess), it has to take place during the first war. If you do Albus/Scorpius, one of them has to not want to be with a guy, but secretly likes it. If you get what I'm saying.
Trick-or-Treat Theme: Masquerade Ball is my favorite, but anything but the humor one is fine with me.

Limitations: I can't write humor or mystery. Happy stories. :rolleyes: I can't do Draco/[insert someone here] unless its an OC.
Trick-Or-Treat Themes I'll Write: Spooky Treat, Witching Hour, and Masquerade Ball.

Character/Pairing(s): I would LOVE a minor character slash fic. But I know that's scarily specific and not to everyone's tastes, so just minor character pairings in general would be great. I'm talking seriously minor, like Padma Patil/Theodore Nott kind of thing. I love Neville, Oliver Wood, Blaise Zabini and the Weasley brothers, plus lots of other lovely minor characters - even if they're just names. I would really prefer for the fic not to include James, Ginny or Harry as the main characters x.x
Prompt(s): A dark/angsty lusty fic would be FAB. I have a strong penchant for second person narrative. Death as a major element could be interesting. Unrequited love. Forbidden love. Self-exploration. Deception. Lies. Tears. Betrayal. Addiction. Obsession. Rejection. Denial. Loss. Love. Tear jerkers. Tragedies. Poignancy. Damien Rice-ish <3
Trick-or-Treat Theme: Masquerade Ball. Witching Hour. Just not Trickster's Prank, please!

Limitations: I can't write humour at all. I'm not especially strong at writing characters with quick, snappy dialogue, like the Marauders and Fred and George. I can and will happily write all ratings/warnings. Slash is 'my thing'. I would really prefer not to write Harry or Ginny, especially together. Minor characters just work for me, far more so than the more major ones.
Trick-Or-Treat Themes I'll Write: Masquerade Ball. Witching Hour. Just not Tricker's Prank, please!

--Emma

Character/Pairing: I'm more of a fan of the plot woven around the character/pairing(and how well it fits), rather than the character chosen, to be very honest. I'd rather not that the person writing for me feel restricted by my choice of favourite characters; if you can find any character/pairing that inspires you to write good stuff, go for it. In case you're flailing, here are a few suggestions: Remus, Hermione, Draco, Tom Riddle, Sybil Trelawney, Bertha Jorkins, Neville.

Prompts: Choice. Decisions and their consequences. Determination and a never-say-die attitude.

Most gods throw dice, but Fate plays chess, and you don't find out til too late that he's been playing with two queens all along. ~Terry Pratchet

Tales and adventures are the shadow truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes and forgotten. ~Neil Gaiman

Everything has a meaning, if only we could read it. ~Phillip Pullman

Trick-or-Treat Theme: Any. :)

Limitations: I don't write good Snape, Luna, Fleur or Dumbledore. From experience, fluffy romance is a very weak point as well(which should be a moot point, but still.) I'm better at character-centric stories than pairing-centric ones(refer to above point on romance). I have never tried writing SSP yet, so that might not lead to desirable results.

Trick-Or-Treat Themes I'll Write: In the order of preference: Witching Hour, Masquerade Ball, Spooky Treat, Ghost Stories.