Ficathon progress

[brightknightie]

rarelywritten sign-ups seem still to be open on the AO3, so you may possibly yet slip in! But, officially, we've passed the deadline. To avoid the certainty of a single possible assignment for myself (because only Greer requested a story in any of my fandoms), I took a deep breath and also offered in two requested fandoms for which I've never even considered writing before. We shall see...

The fkficfest/fkficfest pre-game poll continues through this Friday. Do answer, if you're interested in whether, when and how we play. We're still at 4 "definitely yes" writers, but we have seen a rise to 4 "probably yes." (I'm not sure what the next steps will be if we don't have enough players for the exchange-style game that's still leading 6 to 5. This is the most votes challenge-style has ever earned, though!)

Comments

[argentum_ls]

Good luck with your dip into new fandoms!

[brightknightie]

Thank you! Fingers crossed that whatever the right match may be, it will be the one made. :-)

Must work harder next year on recruiting people to want to read as well as write in my fandoms...

[argentum_ls]

Recruiting is definitely a thing that needs to be done for all of our small and rare fandoms.

[pj1228]

I've posted a link to the poll on the UF list. Hope it helps to attract a few more players.

[brightknightie]

Thank you! That's very generous!

If it's just Cousin you, Knightie me, Die-Hard Greer and N&Ner Melissa... I don't see how an exchange could work very happily. We could do it, but it would be painful, all of us either struggling to write things we don't really enjoy, or disregarding our recipient's preferences. If it comes to that, I'll ask you all how you feel about perhaps going challenge-style, electing a prompt in common, and all four of us writing that same one prompt with our different preferences.

[pj1228]

Yes, I agree. I've never done a challenge before, but I'm curious and willing to try.

[brightknightie]

Think of challenge-style like a "call for papers" for a scholarly publication. :-)

I've totaled the poll replies across DW, LJ and a few emails I received. I've sliced the numbers between raw totals and "doctored" totals (omitting those less likely to play). But the numbers aren't clearly answering how to shape a game that will bring delight...

~thinking hard~

"Birth of a notion, kids."

[melissatreglia]

it comes to that, I'll ask you all how you feel about perhaps going challenge-style

We could always create a small pool of challenges--each participant submits one fic idea to the pool, and then each person grabs one they like. Kind of like a low-key small-scale "battle".

Re: "Birth of a notion, kids."

[brightknightie]

I played in a "prompt-claiming" game once, but in that case the moderator pre-selected all the prompts from the writings of famous historical women. I believe that you're the only one of us who often plays in "battles." May I ask you to explain a little more?

It sounds like such a scenario would be very much like an exchange game, except that (1) the matches would be public all along, and (2) the normal exchange expectation that a story should strive to please its prompter would be dropped. (That is, for example, PJ would claim your prompt, you would claim mine, Greer would therefore be obliged to take PJ's regardless, and I would be obliged to take Greer's regardless. Or would it be, say, that PJ, Greer and I would all choose yours, while you chose PJ's?)

I'd previously proposed to have every player to submit three prompts (confidentially), and then every player to vote on the full slate of submissions to elect three prompts in common from which to choose (forbidding voting for only your own). But with only four players, I'd think three prompts is too many for the spirit of a "challenge" game and too few for an "exchange." People wouldn't be playing with each other.

One prompt in common was the FKFic-L method (as in the "Forever Not" challenge and the MBIAV card challenge), and it was imported to the HL lists from there (as in the 15-minute challenge). But the single-prompt challenge, for all it bridged the zine and email list eras, never did seem to make the transition to the social journaling era. I wonder if it's because the single-prompt challenge is so much like the "call for papers" for a themed zine (for example, like Forever Cat Stories, Celeste's Sydney zine).

(I've tallied the poll, btw! I just don't yet know exactly what to say and do about the results.)