Thinking way, way ahead to 2016 FKFicFest...

Winding down from this year's fkficfest/fkficfest (it's never too late to read! or to comment! please go look!), I've thought a little about the questions for next year's "Shall we play again?" survey.

Next year, 2016, will be the 20th anniversary of the end of FK canon and the beginning of our journey as an out-of-production fandom. If, when the time comes, people do wish to play again, I think it would be especially auspicious to hold a 2016 game, so I'll do my best to make it possible on my side (although of course one never knows). It would be our 7th game.

When the time comes, we'll ask again the questions that we always ask, of course: who wants to play? when? how? I've been musing particularly on two specifics:

• Exchange-style or challenge-style?
• Minimum and maximum word counts?

There's much good to be said for both exchange-style and challenge-style games. The goal of both is to have fun together writing and reading and discussing! In exchanges, more players tend to finish writing stories, but I'm afraid that someone always feels disappointed (sometimes even hurt) by a match. In challenges, more players tend to drop out, but no one ever feels hurt by everyone writing to the beat of a different drum. Our smallness as a fandom at this end of history may emphasize both the advantages and disadvantages of both game styles, in a way that the sheer numbers of a large fandom might mitigate. We can't afford to lose any of our few players in a challenge; we don't have enough players to ensure strong sympathy across matches in an exchange. (Not that even the very biggest player base, with the very best intentions, would be guaranteed to avoid misunderstandings! We can't read each others' minds, obviously.)

We've always had a 1,000-word minimum. ("A picture is worth a thousand words.") It was the most common baseline in fanfiction games when we began. We've never had a maximum word count, except where enforced by technical limitations (e.g. the maximum length of LJ posts, the maximum posts in LJ queues). Should we modify our minimum count? Should we create a maximum count? We want story sizes that fit both writers and readers, to maximize everyone's enjoyment. What are the norms these days out in the large, still-in-production fandoms? How do other games get everyone to finish on time, and encourage players to read and comment on other players' work?

Just some very, very, very early thoughts. :-) What do you think?

Months ago, I mentioned a LesMis story idea

As my hopes rise that the season of "crunching" through 16-hour workdays may be ending for at least a little while, I've begun thinking again of that Nick/Urs story idea that occurred to me shortly before the FKFicFest matching.

It would be a "just because" story in the old-fashioned way, written not for any fest, ficathon or game, but just because it appeals to me, and apparently I appeal to it, as it seems to have hung on in my imagination this long, gently suggesting that I write it after all. I have no idea how long it will take with no deadline pressure on — I don't even have a proper plot outline yet, just two indelible scenes in my mind — so it could be years. And I have no idea whether anyone but me will even be willing to read a Nick/Urs story these days. Would you?

(I know of only a handful of Nick/Urs stories ever written. I despise the incident in Ophelia5's famous "With Flowers" series, as much as I admire Ophelia5. I adore Leela_cat's "Theory of Lost Things," which she wrote for me in the first FKFicFest. And Hearts_blood wrote "Warmth" for me! I wrote "Chante à Nouveau" and "Kindred Spirits," myself, although they're so unrequited they don't really count.)

For me, personally, anyway, the unrealized, unexplored possibilities of Nick/Urs appeal massively. I hope that the characters could be stronger together, each giving the other something missing while also having much in common, that Nick's instincts engaged on Urs's behalf could manifest healthily instead of unhealthily, that Urs's longings drawing on Nick's instincts could become growth instead of diminishment. I hope that their coming together could re-route third season — or any earlier time one wanted to set a story — restoring the brilliance of first season in themes, striving and hope, and avoiding the end we received.