Anyone up for a ficathon? I've never done one, but I think it would be fun. I've noticed people mentioning doing them here and there in the past, and it seems it's been awhile since we did one. Plus I saw Michael mentioned he was working on a short with the Feb 14th theme, which got me to thinking... Any takers?

(Realized this may fit better under the 'challenges' section--Admins, feel free to move this!)

Hey! I just mentioned a week-day and a theme-idea. I never expected anyone to do the math and come up with a date

In all seriousness, though, I think the timing's too tight for a Valentine's ficathon. You need to get a list of participants, including their story requests and story-writing-offers, redistribute the requests between them and then everyone needs time for writing. So t would be more of a general "Valantine's Story Rush". And I'm up for anything that helps Labby fill the queue.

Michael

He he, I figured you out!
Wow, I had no idea it would take that much to do a ficathon! I do think we should do one sometime in the coming months, though... it would be fun and I think get some people's creative juices flowing again.

I think Michael's right about it being too late to set up a ficathon in time for Valentine's Day, and we've got the Kerths coming up so a lot of people will be busy reading and re-reading the eligible/nominated stories ready for voting. However it has been a while since we last had one (a quick search seems to indicate that the last one was for Christmas 2009), and personally I could really do with something to try and drag my muse out of hiding, so I think having a ficathon sometime in the not-too-distant future would be a good idea. What do other people think?

- Alisha (who likewise read Michael's hints and came up with 'Valentine Fic'!)

I came on board almost exactly a year ago, and there have been no ficathons in that time.

I'd love to have a ficathon. I'm not sure precisely how one works and am consequently not sure whether I would participate. Specifically, what happens if one is supposed to write a story and the muse just doesn't cooperate? I'd hate to be assigned a story, come up completely dry, and consequently disappoint someone. But if there is a "Plan B" contingency for such an event, I would *love* to participate. It sounds like lots of fun.

Joy,
Lynn

Lynn - in the past one of the things that has been on the 'forms' is whether an author would be willing to pick up someone else's fic if they couldn't complete it for some reason. I'm not sure how often that has actually happened, but if you started a story and felt that you really couldn't finish it, or had to pull out without even getting started on your story, you could inform the organisers and they would try and find another author (probably one who has already posted their fic)to complete it.

Alisha,

Cool! Thanks for the rapid and informative reply.

With that "safety net" in place, I would *definitely* be willing to participate. I would try my best not to need to fall back on it, but my muse can be capricious.

Thanks,
Lynn

Exactly.

Regarding signing up, we usually have a form with three things you want in the story that will be written for you, three things you don't want and what you'd be willing to write. (Like, you can choose three things, people, topics, (rough) scenes or styles you want/don't want in your story. Plus, give the organizers an idea of what you feel you can write so they can assign you a story that works for you. (Like, if you prefer to write romance or fluff, let the organizers know!)

Hmm, I think we also had something about preferred seasons (both for writing and the story you receive). Anything else I forgot?

Anyway, we could do a general ficathon. Or do you want to try for a certain topic? How about April Fools' Day?

Hi Lara,

Thanks for the additional info. I knew about the recipients' requests from reading previous ficathon pieces, but I hadn't known about the authors' requests.

I like the April Fools' Day idea! I've already written one April Fools' Day piece, but its punchline relied on the reader not picking up on the subtle hints in the piece that the story took place on April 1st. Having the reader know that a prank of some sort is likely to be coming will make the writing more challenging, but it still sounds like fun.

My only concern is whether some FoLCs who would otherwise participate might be too busy preparing for the upcoming Kerth award ceremony to take part in the ficathon.

Joy,
Lynn

I would be interested in participating in a ficathon but would probably need more time than an April 1st deadline would give.

I would love to participate, but my muse has been chained to a chair in the corner until the end of the school year. Maybe we can do another one during the summer school break?

I love the ficathons because the prompts really do help focus the story ideas. Twice I've taken ideas that were languishing on my hard drive and used the prompts to morph them into something better.

B

Yes, I'd like to have one, too. How about this kind of deadline:
signing on: until Friday next week (giving everybody 13 days to do so);
Organising: Handing out the various assignments can be done over a weekend. I'd even be willing to do that. (That would be the Sunday after that - Feb 20th, right?)
Writing: 4 weeks? (Apr 20th?) 6 weeks? (May 3rd?)

How about it?

Yay, yay! We're going to give it a go!! Woo hoo! Sign me up! Should we create another thread to make it more organized? How is this best handled?

Sounds... tempting.

Definitely a different thread for announcing it. These things need to be displayed most prominently.

Michael