I support collective bargaining rights for all workers.  Surely everyone who knows the history does.  Of course, those rights, like any rights, can be misused and abused; that's reason for ongoing vigilance, prudence and reform in all human institutions, not for eliminating the institutions.

Many people are out in the winter cold across the US today, seizing this "teachable moment" of the Wisconsin drama to make that point in public gatherings.  I'm not doing that, but for what it's worth, I pledge to write a fanfiction with historical flashback content on what unions have done for us all and why collective bargaining rights matter.  I don't commit to a deadline, but I'll aim for within 2011.  The story might be either Forever Knight or Highlander, whichever yields the best story idea.

If you'd be interested in reading such a story by me, please feel free to let me know what story elements you might like to see!  If you'd like to chat calmly, reasonably and relatively briefly about how the existence of collective bargaining rights does or does not benefit the entire society, we can do that, too. ;-)

Today, Monday 08/16, is the final day for contributing prompts to the 2010 femme_fic / femme_fic game.  You may submit up to three prompts; submitting a prompt is not a commitment to play (though of course they hope that many will play).

At this time, I see 3 [ETA: now 4] FK prompts:  ( list with links )

There's also one HL prompt, and over 60 in other fandoms, including some crossovers.  Claiming of prompts will run 08/17-08/23.

senmut introduced me to the "Festibility" event currently underway on access_fandom, and I thought you might like to have it on your radar, too.  This multi-fandom festival is for all kinds of fanworks (fiction, art, vids, recommendations, etc.) about "canonically disabled characters or canonically able-bodied characters that you reimagine as disabled."  There are no length requirements and no commitments; the moderators do require labeling and warnings where applicable.  The timeline is 07/15 to 09/15, with prompting and posting both open for the full span.

• Announcement and Description
• Prompts
• Index of Posted Entries (updated as entries are added)
• AO3 Collection (updated as entries are added)

When I read through the prompts on Sunday, there were many fascinating and compelling prompts across a multitude of fandoms, but none yet for FK (and precious few for HL).  That makes sense for FK; in addition to being a small and sleepy fandom, we're short on canonically disabled characters (Nick's "allergy to the sun" isn't the target here, though it has its relevance), and we're also stuck with that "magical cure" canonical possibility in the way (so not the target).  Off the top of my head, the characters we do have with incontestable canonicity are:  ( Read more... )

(I'm not listing the many killer characters with mental illnesses; that's a wimpy pop culture shorthand that shortchanges us all by minimizing evil and demonizing illness.  It doesn't deserve support, especially not in the context of this fest.  But if someone would like to reimagine one of those characters as making better choices, that could be good, too.)

My apologies to anyone I confused with my previous post!  I do plan a "Ficathons 101" for fkficfest; please consider this an installment on that future orientation.

What is a ficathon?  A ficathon (or fest) is a game in which people write stories, usually with some common element (e.g. fandom).  ( common types )

What is a prompt?  A prompt is a seed for a story.  It is the request that the writer fulfills.  Four examples:  ( 2 by Me, 2 by You )

The prompts are not yet consolidated over at galpalficathon, but in case you're toying with the notion of playing in their no-pressure, no-claiming, barely-a-deadline celebration of female friendship, the Forever Knight prompts that I've spotted are:  ( ample list )

I've been spending almost all my hobby time lately researching my oldschoolfic Round II story, which of course means I have not yet begun writing it, and it will end up shorter than otherwise.  Poor Nick.  The first serious, substantive thing I promise to write from his perspective in five years -- the Doctor Who parody doesn't count -- and I twiddle away all my writing time boning up on the historical era.  Bad Knightie... Learning a lot, though!

Just a couple of quick community reminders:

• The prompts in the second oldschoolfic ficathon are available for claiming until tomorrow, Sunday, August 24th, according to the moderator's most recent post.  You're committing to a mere 500 words by September 30, if you decide to play.  (Come, do!)  Two of the 15 FK prompts have been claimed so far (by me and abby82).
  
  
• The forsaken_fandom awards project was put on temporary hold because of a tragedy in the moderators' family.  They're gearing back up now (FK nominees).

And now I'm off to the library for a book on McCarthyism, because the prompt I claimed references the "Spin Doctor" flashbacks.  Mmmmmmmmmm: research. ;-) 

oldschoolfic is holding a back-to-school ficathon.  All out-of-production fandoms that run a little quiet these days, including FK, are invited.  Now, this game is different from their last one: this time, the minimum length is 500 words (instead of 1000), the system is prompt/claim (instead of prompt/assignment), and there is a unifying theme of school (instead of no theme).

• Rules Post
• Prompt Submission Post

Their timeline is:  08/08-08/15 Submit prompts for others to write.  08/16-08/22 Claim a prompt to write yourself.  08/23-09/29 Claim another prompt if you've finished your previous one and want to do another.  09/30 All stories must be posted to the community.  10/07 Post your work elsewhere as well, if you like.

I'm a little concerned that between Worldcon this weekend and Vividcon next weekend, this may not be the ideal period to gear up high participation.  We'll see!  But it would be marvelous to have some new FK fiction.  I've submitted a few prompts (list below), but I'm sure you guys can think of much more provocative references, combinations and scenarios that will irresistibly seduce people into writing new FK! :-) Give it a try!

( Prompts I've Submitted )

Via havocthecat, I learned that medie is holding a week-long "About the Girls" comment fic festival -- like the femme_fic ficathon on a different scale -- beginning Saturday.  (In fact, she's calling it a "drabble-a-thon," which charmingly conveys the scale, but I'm old-school enough to define drabbles specifically as 100-word stories -- the haikus of fanfiction! -- so I thought you might get the idea better if I called it as I saw it.)

Two of you that I saw had already posted FK prompts there -- go abby82 and falcon_horus! -- and, encouraged by Havoc, I just joined you here.  Anyone else want to play?  I doubt I'm going to manage to participate -- timing, life, stuff -- but FK does have such magnificent characters to show off...

Medie is screening to hold her place as she compiles, so I thought I would also save mine here, for myself for reference.  ( Drabble-Sized Prompts )

Inserted 04/27/08: The official drabble-a-thon post is here.