Madam Pomfrey’s One-Shot Triathlon 2012 Questions

[Gmariam]

Okay, what if Charlie was in Romania but the story included a minor character who is arriving for the first time? They are the other protagonist, although I was planning on sticking with Charlie's POV...would there need to be some of the new arrival's POV as well? /sorry to keep going on about this, lol

[welshdevondragon]

It can be from Charlie's POV, but the emphasis has to be on the minor character--they are the centre of the story, not Charlie. You don't need to have the minor character's POV, as long as it's clear the story's about them. Does that make sense?

[BrokenPromise]

For the minor characters family prompt, does the minor character have to be the main character, or can their parent be? Also, can it be a step-parent?

BP

[welshdevondragon]

The focus of the story has to be on the minor character, so yes, the minor character has to be the main character. But, as long as it's obvious who that is, then you can write from another character's point of view. But yes, step-parents do count.

Feel free to PM me with the specifics if you're still unsure.

Alex

[Eleanor Lupin]

For the parent prompt. Does the parent have to be a fairly important character, or can it be any story where the parents show up at some point? Also, if I were to write a one-shot where part of the beginning is a scene from the characters childhood with one of their parents, that's not technically a flashback because it's a scene in of itself, but the aforementioned parent might never actually show up again. Is that okay?

[noblefate]

Is it possible to use the parent prompt if a minor character is one of the Next Gen kids? I ask because it seems the purpose of the parent prompt is to shed more light on the character through parents' history/involvement, and some of the Next Gen kids have parents who aren't at all unknown.

[Peppermint Toads]

Okay, my last supposed-to-be submission was completely off, so I want to make sure that everything is perfect this time. For the minor characters, I am doing the Parent Challenge. I have chosen Teddy Lupin. I was wondering if, since his parents are dead, I would be able to have him talking to Harry. Or would it have to be Andromeda since she is his closest relative?

[goldensnidget92]

This might be a slightly odd question - I have a plot bunny in mind for a certain Martin Miggs the Mad Muggle... as he is only mentioned once and is a fictional character even in the wizarding world, can he count as a minor character?

[welshdevondragon]

I don't think I've been very clear--for which I apologise, and please, do continue to ask questions or PM me with specifics should you wish to. I will try to be more clear

Eleanor Lupin-the idea of the parent prompt is for the relationship between your minor character and one or both parents to be important or explored in some way. Therefore while the parent/s do not have to be crucial or make a major appearance, that relationship should be developed. And I think, from your description, that it depends on your story. If it's a collection of scenes, then that would be fine. If that first scene is distinct, in order for that to count as your parent's one appearance, it would have to be obvious why that scene's attached to the story i.e it shouldn't seem tacked on in order to fit the prompt. Of course, if you want that scene, you could include the other parent in the rest of the story, which would work round it.

Noblefate-That completely slipped my mind. But yes, of course you can use the parent prompt for a Next-Gen child. We know about the parents, but fairly little about how they behave as mothers or fathers, so that definitely fits.

Peppermint Toads-I'm sorry, but if you are choosing Teddy Lupin, you cannot use the Parent Prompt. Unless you have some sort of afterlife thing, which would be interesting but difficult, then Andromeda Tonks, being his grandmother, does not count as his parent. You are free to use him for any of the other prompts, and choose a different character for the Parent Prompt.

I hope that's explained things--to reiterate, do feel free to PM me or ask more questions.

Alex

[Eleanor Lupin]

Does the character have to be named to be a minor character? The "I want to go home" girl being helped by Ginny during the battle of Hogwarts has absolutely no backstory, or even a name, but since she is mentioned, she's technically canon and I think writing the parent prompt would be interesting with her. Oh, and by the way, Goldensnidget's question never got answered, just so you know.