Early reflections on challenge-style in FKFicFest

[brightknightie]

This year's fkficfest was our first try at playing challenge-style, with everyone sharing the common prompt "10 years" (or "10" & "years," but no one opted for the 2-prompt option). Our uses of the prompt cover a lot of diverse territory, but seem perhaps to gather in identifiable genres. Of our stories:

• 2 are set 10 years after "Last Knight" ("a reminiscence sing" by Abby82 and "A Worthwhile Diversion" by Dlyt).
• 2 slip "10 years" into conversation or narration, with all weight from the context ("Know Why I Cry" by Greerwatson and "Knight Shift" by Dlyt).
• 3 make "10 years" a plot element ("How To Spend The Next Ten Years" by Nicholas_Lucien, "Unexpected Alliance" by PJ1228, and "Fill in the Blanks" by me).

Removing the matching did make things easier for me as the moderator. Most of all, it's been increasingly difficult to successfully match-make across preferences.

Yet some players found either the challenge style itself, or this particular prompt, or both, uninspiring. We had our smallest turn-out to date.

Lots to think about! If we play challenge-style again, I'm highly inclined to some mechanism of nomination and election (probably ranked choice).

What do you think?