Hunger Games Fanfic Rec: Tribute's Guidebook

SYOT

What is a SYOT?

SYOT stands for Submit Your Own Tribute.

People write what is called SYOT fanfiction, where they'll open up spots for people to create their own characters. Then, once you've filled out a form and the spots have all been taken, the person proceeds to write their fanfiction with your characters, choosing the outcomes of each character.

A great user on here who has written multiple SYOT fanfictions is 33AndOut (who I will dedicate this chapter to) if you want an idea as to how SYOT fanfictions end up looking.

A form for a SYOT usually has the following catergories for someone to fill out (detailed, not basic descriptions).

Name:

Pronunciation (if needed):

Age:

Gender:

District:

Appearance:

Personality:

Background:

Family:

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

Token:

Other:

Not all forms have these catergories, depending on where the event is set, what's important to the story line and what the author wants to make up themselves. However, this is a rough guide. Below is a draft tribute I used for a real life SYOT (not taking place in Panem).

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Name: Khronos Manson

Gender: Male

Age: Twenty five

Appearance: Khronos isn't what you would define as super attractive, but in no way is he ugly. At birth, his eyes were his distinct feature - bright silver and shining. They've remained this way, standing out amongst the dark brown eyes of his family. His hair, brunette; at the sides, the hair is short, but it sticks up in a stylish manor at the top. He stands at about 5"9, not too tall, not too small. His build is muscular but not too bulky, giving him an attractive edge.

Personality: Khronos is really girly outside of his work life, no doubt about it. Whereas girls are expected to fiddle with their hair, panic over broken nails and squeal when they're excited, Khronos shows the girls how to do it properly. He's super friendly, caring about the protection of his family and friends. During training though, he is devious. Nothing escapes him, no matter how quiet, how meagre the thing is. Bravery and intelligence radiates from him when he's fighting. He makes himself look like an easy target when he's being himself, but you wouldn't want to mess with him once the adrenaline has kicked in.

Family: He has a mother and a father, both extremely rich. Since leaving home at nineteen, he doesn't see them very much. They do stay in touch via phone and email though.

Background: Khronos was born into a rich and wealthy family. Always able to get what he want, he took advantage of this as a child, always pestering his father, the head of the local police station, to buy him the required item that would satisfy Khronos's needs for a week or two. After a major problem with Peacekeeping, Khronos's dad was deployed to a town five hours away for five years, leaving him alone with his mother, one of the biggest fashion designers in the country. Yet, with his father not around, Khronos decided to learn how to become successful in business the way his parents had. It didn't take long for him to choose where he wanted to become: a martial arts teacher. Nearly every day he works there, teaching the up-and-coming stars of his town to fight nobly and viciously. This helped him put his snooty ways aside for the most part. This year, his dad came home.

Reason for Travelling: he'd just come back from a championship, where he'd won the title for his weight group. The martial art was Judo.

Strengths: Khronos is super strong, as suggested by his job. He can hide well, and he's extremely fast. He's also intelligent, and he isn't afraid of very musch.

Weaknesses: Khronos can't deal with his fear of burning alive - that is the one thing he worries about. Fire is his biggest weakness by a long shot. He also isn't the most loyal; he'd happily leave someone behind to save himself.