I'd like to point everyone toward the Community Information page. I've just updated it today with information for the Grand Prix, as well as gave our rules and guidelines a good pruning. There are also the specific answers to some of the questions that have just come through in the registrations.

I'll highlight one of the guidelines here: "This is an all-inclusive community. All ships are welcome, all genres are welcome, and all subject matters are welcome. As long as it's based on Tin Man, it's all welcome. We even extend the invitation to crossovers." This includes slash ships, should your muses move you to write a slash piece off the prompts. We'll have this information in the prompt posts weekly. =D

Ok, some of the messages that I sent out last night have an error in them. The first prompt will be posted in 16 May, not 16 March. Oi... Sorry about that guys!

Announcing the First Annual Tin Man Fan Fiction Grand Prix! This will be a 10-week, rotational challenge which will combine text, dialogue, and image prompts. This is also a double-blind contest. Your identity as an author will be completely confidential until the very end of the Grand Prix. Also, no one will be able to see who has voted for which stories. This way, authors and writers who don't have large followings will be on level footing with those who do. Winners will be determined by how many points they earn from the weekly polls. (Read more about that below.)

Interested in participating? Please read through the following rules and requirements before registering for your author code. ( Read more... )

Ok, so you want to take the challenge and participate in the Grand Prix. Yay! Welcome aboard! First, we have to get you signed up and give you your author code and account password. Comment to this entry and I'll give them to you. Don't forget to read the rules first! All comments are screened. If you've got your security settings set up so that you can't receive messages from people not on your flist, then please give me your e-mail in your comment. Thanks!

Sorry this is a few days late... As always, vote for the one you think is the best. Please keep the Challenge Requirements in mind. By way of general warning, both of these stories contain character death. But, please, don't let that deter you from reading. These two stories are both shining examples of good writing.

Because there are only two entries to this challenge, voting will be open just shy of two weeks. The poll will close at 5:00 pm CDT on 17 May 2008. Good luck to the writers, and happy reading to the readers!

Poll #1183479 Challenge: Light Out Of Darkness
Open to: All, results viewable to: None

Vote for the story you think best fulfills the challenge requirements:

P.S. Stay tuned for the first posts regarding the summer challenge!

P.P.S. Sorry, koslorollo, I forgot to put the user code on your user name before I hit the submit button... =(

Title: A Cold Wind Rising
Author: Farine (koslorollo)
Summary: Two travel storms summoned at the same time is very tragic, indeed!
Characters & Pairings: The Tin Man Cast, Azkadellia/Airofday, Zero/Erdmyss, and some happy het at the end
Rating: R, very soft and pastel R
Warnings: Slash, femslash, character deaths... and it's long
Disclaimer: Tin Man and all related characters are property of RHI/Imagiquest Entertainment and Genius Products.
Challenge: Light From Dark (Spring 2008)
Word Count: 94,000

You really should start here, it'll tell you lots of things:
Story Details & Table of Contents

And then here:
Prologue
Length: 985 words
Summary: How to shove a mystic into a hole in one not-so-easy step.

Woohoo! I'm still grinning like an idiot because I actually finished this!

I've got an idea for a different type of challenge format and I wanted to take a quick opinion poll. The format I have in mind is a rumble with both team and individual scores. The new format will be a ten-week challenge with a new round of prompts each week. The entries will be entirely confidential until the end of the challenge and the results are posted on 2 August. I'm not going to hash out all of the details here, but I do want to know if everyone might be interested in doing something different for a bit. As always, comments and suggestions are welcome!

Poll #1181914
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Should we change it up?

OK, the final deadline (as in no more extensions!) is 4 May at 11:59 pm CDT. The story needs to be done by that time. As in, all of the chapters written and in their final form. I realize that posting the actual stories can take a bit of time, so I'm not going to be as anal about whether or not they're posted precisely at 11:59 pm, as long as I've got a link to the first part of it. If, as you're posting, you see spelling errors, typos, and grammatical mistakes, you are free to fix them as long as you don't change the content of the story. Happy Writing!

Just wondering... How many people are out there that would like an extension on the deadline for the "Light Out of Darkness" challenge?

The "Light Out Of Darkness Challenge" closes tomorrow night at 11:59 pm CDT! We currently have one great story, but we're looking for yours. Get your submissions in soon! We're looking forward to reading yours. =D

Regular rotational challenges will begin again next week. Happy writing!

Banners for First, Second, Third, and Mod Pick!

Thanks to everyone who entered, thanks to those who read the entries, thanks to those who voted! Way to go, everybody! *round of applause*

( Banners )

Voting for Color Challenge 02 RED will be closing Saturday at 11:59 PM EDT!

If you haven't done so, VOTE! Let your opinion be heard!

Vote here!

The "Light Out Of Darkness" Challenge will close at 11:59 pm CDT on 2 May 2008.  That's just a little less than two weeks!  O.O  If you're planning to enter, please be sure to have your completed pieces entered by the deadline.  Happy writing!

Thank you for voting in Color Challenge 02 - Red! Many thanks as well to all the fabulous participants!

RESULTS
First Place - Broken People by lattelady6
Second Place - Memory Lane Isn't Paved With Hay by erinm_4600
Third Place - Festival of Lights by cookie731
Third Place - An Apple A Day Keeps Mr. Cain Away by golden_goddess

Banners forthcoming...

Title: Of Apples and Freedom
Author: general_nothing 
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Zero with mentions of Az, DG, Cain, Jeb and the witch
Disclaimer: Still don’t own anything.
Warnings: Unless you’re freaked out by Zero being Zero, there are really no warnings.
Word Count: 1063
Summary: If worse comes to worse, he’ll be shot on his way out and that would save him the trouble of being tried, sentenced and killed at the hands of the O.Z.’s twisted version of a justice system.
A/N: Written for the Color Challenge at tm_challenge . Prompt: Red. Special thanks go to x_kennedy for late night im’s and Zero’s first name.



If he can die before they kill him, it will be like one last hurrah for him, one last way to beat them at their own game.

Title: Build Up to the Letdown
Author: general_nothing 
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Cain, DG, the Queen, Az some guards and mentions of an old boyfriend on DG’s part. And somehow Gulch made it in here as well. Yay, Gulch! Cain/DG - more of a friendship than a romance.
Disclaimer: Still here, not owning anything.
Warnings: None, really. The series obviously. Umm…angst. And a tiny, itty-bitty, miniscule bit o’ humor at the beginning-ish. 
Word Count:  4609 (o_O?)
Summary: She’d always been the one to give people the strength to heal. Now, she herself needed to be healed. No one can really step up to the job, but one man can try.
A/N: This story went somewhere completely different from where I wanted it to go which seems to happen to a lot of my fics. I, obviously, cannot write fluff. Written for the Color Challenge at tm_challenge . Prompt: Red.
Son of A/N: Not beta-ed because I require instant gratification. All mistakes are mine, please don’t take them. :) 
Grandson of A/N?: This fic kicked my ass. Please review - even if you hated it.



"You know what, Princess? You look good in red."

Story Title: If you Sprinkle When You Tinkle. . .
Characters: Cain, DG
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or the story of the Wizard of Oz nor Tin-Man.
Warnings: no warnings, just enjoy!
Summary: DG gets more than she expected when her new house guest isn't quite what she expected.
Word count: 912 (according to pages)



( “IThe slender piece of red plastic meant the merging of two separate lives, two lives that she wasn’t sure should ever merge at all.  )

Title: The Stem Trick
Author: greasers
Characters: DG, Azkadellia, Jeb (pre-Azkadellia/Jeb)
Rating: PG
Summary: In which DG teaches Azkadellia a silly game and attempts to play match-maker...
Disclaimer: No harm, no foul. :]
Note: Thanks to erinm_4600 for giving me the slight nudge that I needed to finish it. Linked to my writing journal.
Words: 2757

( The Stem Trick )

Hey all!

Just a reminder that entries for Color Challenge 2, RED, will be closing Saturday, April 19 at 11:59 PM!

Review the shiny prompts, rules and guidelines for the RED challenge.

You have until Saturday!

Title: Memory Lane Isn't Paved With Hay
Author: Erin (erinm_4600@yahoo.com)
Characters, Pairing: DG, Az, Cain, Glitch and Raw (mention of an OC)
Rating: PG (for some blood)
Summary: There are times when the past needs to stay in the past. This was one of those times.
Warning: post-series
Disclaimer: The original characters belong to L. Frank Baum and their respective actors. The current characters belong to Sci-Fi, the movie folks and their respective actors. The situation belongs to my grandmother. Well, without Cain. Because we'd bring new meaning to the term family feud. o.O
Word Count: 1844

( Ignoring the little voice in the back of her mind – the one that sounded like Wyatt Cain – that said this was a -really- bad idea, DG took a deep breath and reached for the hook. )