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Gen ficathon - Discuss!
The response to the gen ficathon poll was fantastic -- it looks like there is *definitely* interest in having such a thing.
The big, multi-part question now is how to set it up.
I'm quite happy to run it; I don't foresee the logistics or the amount of work being too difficult, although I might want to bring in another moderator or two just to make it look less like I'm trying to make it all about me, which is not the intent.
As far as timing goes, January or February seems like it would work beautifully; the crush of holiday-season ficathons would be over, the new season would be well underway, and midwinter tends to be a not-so-busy time in a lot of people's lives. The stories could be due by April or May, perhaps to coincide with the season finale (whenever it is).
I really like the idea of posting the stories anonymously and then revealing the authors at the end, and from the poll results, it seems like a lot of other people do too. Anonymous posting puts new writers on the same footing as established ones; it lets the stories stand on their own merits rather than relying on the author's own reputation in the fandom. (As the person who would probably be posting them, I suppose I'm going to need to work out some details, though.) If anybody thinks this is a terrible idea, though, or if you've had bad experiences with this sort of thing in the past, please say something!
We should probably have some kind of prompts or themes, rather than just being a fic free-for-all. The tricky thing here is to ensure that everyone gets something they can work with. I've seen several recent ficathons that have people suggest a list of prompts, from which writers can then pick the prompt they want to write. Another possibility (which I'm totally stealing from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
mcshep_match, a recent slash ficathon) is to use genres ... in that one, they had only two ("romance" and "angst") but for a gen ficathon, there could be several -- some people would be writing humor, others would get action, some people would get friendship or angst or team, etc.
And then there's the question of how long the stories ought to be. Personally, I love the idea of setting a fairly high minimum word count (4000 words or so) to get good, solid, meaty stories, but I don't want to scare off half the participants by making it unreasonably difficult. I do want to set *some* kind of bar for length, though. 1000 words? 2000? Thoughts?
And then there's the tricky question of how to define "gen". Based on the poll results, I'm leaning towards a fairly narrow definition, either "no pairings" or "canon pairings allowed, but only if not the focus of the story". Obviously, this is not to slam anybody's preferences, but since it's meant to be a gen ficathon, I'd like to stick as close as possible to the closest thing there is to a widely understood definition of "gen" in the fandom.
Thoughts? Opinions? Snark? I'm totally open to all input -- mainly, I want this to be *fun*, and as inclusive as possible to the diverse body of gen fic writers (and for that matter, I'd *love* to get some slash/het writers who would like to try their hand at writing gen, too). The absolute last thing I want is for this ficathon to be seen as a slam against the pairing-based ficathons, or to write the rules so narrowly that a lot of fans feel excluded.
The big, multi-part question now is how to set it up.
I'm quite happy to run it; I don't foresee the logistics or the amount of work being too difficult, although I might want to bring in another moderator or two just to make it look less like I'm trying to make it all about me, which is not the intent.
As far as timing goes, January or February seems like it would work beautifully; the crush of holiday-season ficathons would be over, the new season would be well underway, and midwinter tends to be a not-so-busy time in a lot of people's lives. The stories could be due by April or May, perhaps to coincide with the season finale (whenever it is).
I really like the idea of posting the stories anonymously and then revealing the authors at the end, and from the poll results, it seems like a lot of other people do too. Anonymous posting puts new writers on the same footing as established ones; it lets the stories stand on their own merits rather than relying on the author's own reputation in the fandom. (As the person who would probably be posting them, I suppose I'm going to need to work out some details, though.) If anybody thinks this is a terrible idea, though, or if you've had bad experiences with this sort of thing in the past, please say something!
We should probably have some kind of prompts or themes, rather than just being a fic free-for-all. The tricky thing here is to ensure that everyone gets something they can work with. I've seen several recent ficathons that have people suggest a list of prompts, from which writers can then pick the prompt they want to write. Another possibility (which I'm totally stealing from
mcshep_match, a recent slash ficathon) is to use genres ... in that one, they had only two ("romance" and "angst") but for a gen ficathon, there could be several -- some people would be writing humor, others would get action, some people would get friendship or angst or team, etc.And then there's the question of how long the stories ought to be. Personally, I love the idea of setting a fairly high minimum word count (4000 words or so) to get good, solid, meaty stories, but I don't want to scare off half the participants by making it unreasonably difficult. I do want to set *some* kind of bar for length, though. 1000 words? 2000? Thoughts?
And then there's the tricky question of how to define "gen". Based on the poll results, I'm leaning towards a fairly narrow definition, either "no pairings" or "canon pairings allowed, but only if not the focus of the story". Obviously, this is not to slam anybody's preferences, but since it's meant to be a gen ficathon, I'd like to stick as close as possible to the closest thing there is to a widely understood definition of "gen" in the fandom.
Thoughts? Opinions? Snark? I'm totally open to all input -- mainly, I want this to be *fun*, and as inclusive as possible to the diverse body of gen fic writers (and for that matter, I'd *love* to get some slash/het writers who would like to try their hand at writing gen, too). The absolute last thing I want is for this ficathon to be seen as a slam against the pairing-based ficathons, or to write the rules so narrowly that a lot of fans feel excluded.
no subject
On regards to word count, if there is a month to six week's worth of notice, I think 4000 words is a reasonable min limit. If you think thats too long, than at least 3,000 words, heck that's the min I think a single chapter should be for any fic, but than that's just me.
I guess a narrow definition of gen as in "No pairings" with the allowance of canon ones if its not the focus, because honestly what true relationship exists in SGA except John and the city..I mean...yeah ignore that last part
:-D.
I like this idea.
no subject
I'm leaning right now towards genres plus a rather vague prompt.