Coming in May June 2026: HP (i)magineventors fair!
Have you ever seen something in the Harry Potter Universe and thought "Wait. Why isn't there a solution to...?" or "But what if...?", and then gone on to create your own spell / potion / invention to fix it?
If yes, then this fest is for you!
What is the HP (i)magineventors fair?
The HP (i)magineventors fair is a prompt/claim fest open to all fanwork formats. Its goal is to showcase the creators' inventions that can make magic in the HP universe safer, more practical, more interesting and/or more fun.
The (virtual) fair format is implemented in the modified prompt/claim format as follows:
Prompts are standalone mini-fanworks of 200-500 words or equivalent effort that answer a certain pre-defined set of questions, These mini-fanworks, in turn, can be linked back to in AO3's "inspired by" function. (Think elevator pitch, or what the seller of your choice could say to their customer.)
Claims can either be based on existing mini-fanworks (as above), or can be "new" mini-fanworks plus at least one additional item with a minimum wordcount of 1000 words, or equivalent effort.
You are more than welcome to team up with fellow creators to create an immersive, multimedia expreience!
When is it happening?
Prompting: mid-May - late June
Claiming: early July - mid-September
Reveals: sometime between late September and mid-October
What kinds of fanworks or inventions are allowed?
Anything you can think of - there are no limits to your creativity!
Do you want to write fic / create art / or other fanworks featuring your invention in use? Do it! Do you want to craft/build/cook a prototype of your invention? Brilliant, go for it! Do you want to write a manual, or a paper about the results of a study featuring your invention? Absolutely! Do you want to dive deep into flowcharts of magical theory and why your invention makes sense in the HP universe? Heck yeah! Are you a journalist who wants to interview the creator of the breakthrough invention of the century? We can't wait to hear it! Are you a repesentative of the PR department of a company of your choice, and want to create a commercial for your product? Yes! Have you tried a new product and found it lacking? Here's your place to complain!
Any kinds of inventions are allowed as long as it doesn't already exist in HP canon - though inventions inspired by canonical elements are very welcome.
(We might move not-safe-for-work inventions to a separate showcase.)
Any character, whether minor, major, original character, canonical company (think Weasley's Wizard Wheezes) or original company, can be the creator of your invention in-universe --- as long as the idea is yours and/or you have permission to create/formalise the invention based on another's fanwork.
Is there anything else I need to know?
We're still looking for co-mods; for more details, check out this post: https://www.tumblr.com/hp-imagineventors-fair/805832240867180544?source=share
If you have any questions, feel free to hit the ask box on the @hp-imagineventors-fair tumblr, respond to this post, or DM @serenaew on tumblr or Discord.
We're very excited to meet you and your lovely lovely inventions!
Embrace your creativity, and see you soon!
Your Mods (Back_to_Fanfic and SerenaEW)
Credits
Many thanks to the contributors to this fest idea:
Nymphie_Wolf, Jocunda Sykes, Time Wizard Podfics, tenacious_minds, klari, Pensieve Podfics, digthewriter, trueliarose, Faithless_3105, whythehellnothavefun
