The challenge

[mangojunkie.livejournal.com]

Hello everyone.

This post marks the official beginning of nickngreg’s new monthly
feature “The Challenge“.

The prompt for March’s challenge will be -

THE FAIRYTALE CHALLENGE

Re-write a known fairytale, make the most romantic fic known to mankind, their fairytale wedding, or their fairytale-like life after being which each other or whatever you come up with… it’s up to you how you use the prompt. It can be crackfic, angst, romance… anything you want.

The rules of the challenge are as follows:

All ratings, from G to NC-17 are allowed

There are no length restrictions to your fics

Each prompt can be used in any way the author sees fit

You must make the usual explanations for your fic, Title, rating, warnings, summary etc, and in the header of the post you must write “The Challenge - ******” (****** = the current month).

There can be up to three submissions from each writer for each prompt. This can be three separate fics or three chapters of one fic. If you find that your fic has exceeded 3 chapters you can still use it, but please submit the multiple chapters as one post.

If there are any questions about the challenge, please contact the mods and we will be happy to help. If you have any more ideas for the next challenge, send us an email and we will take it into consideration.

Thanks for your time, and we look forward to reading all the challenge fics

The mod team

Comments

[geekwriter143.livejournal.com]

Voting? What voting? When you said challenge, you never said that they would be voted on. I wouldn't have supported the idea if you had. We have enough trouble here with people thinking that others are playing favorites without the ridiculousness of voting on which fic is best.

[serenity151979.livejournal.com]

Kay sent you and Kennedy emails about all of this, didn't she? I'm sorry, I just thought voting would be a cute idea and something to make this challenge stand apart from the other challenge comms.

I've seen the same thing done on other (none N/G) comms and it works very well. But I suppose if everyone feels this way then we'll have to rethink the voting aspect.

[mangojunkie.livejournal.com]

I took it out and have to say I'm sorry. It ws my bad. I wrote mails to you and kennedy about it but apparently forgot to mention in your mail the voting. I'm sorry. We thought it was a nice idea and that would maybe be something different.

[geekwriter143.livejournal.com]

I didn't mean to snap at you. I'm sorry that came out so bitchy. I was cranky yeaterday and handled this poorly. I think voting could be a good idea once the challenges get going and we have a lot of people participating, I just don't want anyone to feel intimidated by being judged and competing against other authors.

[serenity151979.livejournal.com]

It was never intended to be 'pitting one author against another' or anything like that, it didn't even occur to me. It must be my naivety! =) I just didn't think of it like that. But thanks for coming back and posting again, I appreciate that.

Yes, we can always take another look at the voting thing in the future, if people want that. But I hope the challenge itself takes off, it would be nice to get a regular posting of fics.

[r-sambora-luvr.livejournal.com]

i had a question...

when you say re write the fairy tale???? ca you use the fairy tale as a guideline but not necessarily rewrite it?

[serenity151979.livejournal.com]

You can use the prompt in any way you choose, anything you want. Those were just ideas.

[it-glitters.livejournal.com]

I have to say that I'm really uncomfortable with the idea of voting for the "best" fic. I mean, there are yearly awards for that and what not, but a monthly challenge just seems weird. Especially with this topic. I mean, how many people in this fandom write AU? I can think of maybe half a dozen? I mean, I suppose you could do one of those modern twist type ideas?

More likely than not, there won't be enough submissions to really have any competition. And what happens if the same person wins every single month? Then why would people even want to bother? And maybe I wasn't correct on the why this challenge was starting, but I thought it had something to do with the fact that there weren't as many fics as there used to be? Now to write fics we have to compete against each other? This community has had enough problems. Adding competition to it is only going to make it worse.

[serenity151979.livejournal.com]

As I said in an earlier comment there, we just thought it would make the challenge a bit different, something new. I never expected people would feel this way about it. If people really don't want voting, then we can sort that out, doesn't mean we have to scrap the whole challenge idea, just that bit of it.

I just wanted to do something to excite the writers again. I apologise if I got that wrong. Obviously I didn't think that it would stir up unhealthy competitiveness, I thought it would drive people to write something great. If I was wrong, I can hold my hands up and say OK.

And the fic prompt doesn't have to mean AU, it can be adapted in any way.

[it-glitters.livejournal.com]

And I agree with you that it might in the future, but I wouldn't start with voting. I think that voting will make people shy away from writing it because there can be Granted, not all authors feel that way and they'll write because they want to, but there are enough out there that would get hurt or upset by this extra competition. So, you've got people who are afraid to show their work to begin with, and then you're asking them to compete?

Maybe you should make enterance into the voting the choice of the author. Then you can have it both ways - the authors who want to do it can, and the people who don't want to can just write for the sake of writing. Because I'm getting the feeling that this voting idea wasn't really thought through, even in the mod team, so maybe a simple compromise will work best here. At least for this month. If you find out that everyone says that they don't want to be entered, then you don't do it. If not, leave it up to the authors. Maybe I'm the only one that feels this way, but I wouldn't ever enter a challenge that forced me into competition with my fellow writers. Though, if I could chose to opt-out of the voting, I would consider it.

[serenity151979.livejournal.com]

Good idea for a compromise, but it might make things a little confusing for some. I think it's probably best to leave it as is for now, and see how popular the challenge itself gets.

[it-glitters.livejournal.com]

Alrighty. I just didn't want you to cancel plans because a few people might be uncomfortable. But, you're right about the possible confusion.

Either way, hopefully it'll spur more fic.

[mangojunkie.livejournal.com]

In the post it does't say you have to write AU. You can re-write an alreadyy known fairytale, but don't have to. YOu can write about... their fairytale wedding, or their fairytale-like life after being which each other or whatever you come up with. Just because it is called 'Fairytale challenge' doesn't mean you have to write a fairlytale.

As for the vote, it has been taken out of the post. SO you don't need to worry about that any longer.

[saebuffyboy.livejournal.com]

"Re-write a known fairytale, make the most romantic fic known to mankind… it’s up to you how you use the prompt. It can be crackfic, angst, romance… anything you want."

As I read this, it NEEDS to be a reworked fairy tail. at lest to me. could you go back and add the part about how it can be fairytail wedding etc. 'cause when i read the prompt it came across as au to me as well.

[serenity151979.livejournal.com]

Those were just supposed to be some ideas, not a rule. It can even be the opposite, write about how their lives are anything but a fairytale. It's up to each individual author how they interpret the prompt.

[rabidfan.livejournal.com]

I don't have a problem with competition. I don't have a problem with reworked fairy tales, AU or otherwise. I guess the only problem I have is one of general confusion. Are we going ahead as originally stated? As it is spelled out above it seems fine to me. Let me know?

[mangojunkie.livejournal.com]

Well for now we have decided that it will be just the challenge, there won't be any votings. And I'm not so sure if there ever will be any voting since this seems to cause different opinions. So we will see. So now it is just the prompt and you writing whatever comes to your mind =)

[animefanboy0110.livejournal.com]

I think I should try this out, what fairytales can we use? Do they have to be known? Like Snow White and stuff?

[mangojunkie.livejournal.com]

Well you don't have to use a fairytale if you don't want to. But you can. =)
And concerning when you wat to use one we leave it up to you which one =) In the end you can invent your totally own fairytale if you like. Although I think they somehow are all quite similar. But you don't have to re-write a fairytale. I mean that was just the first thought. You can as well see the topic completely different and maybe write about something 'fairytale'-like in their life =)

[animefanboy0110.livejournal.com]

It can be a crack fic right?

[mangojunkie.livejournal.com]

Anything you want. Crackfic, Romance, AU, Drama, Case file, post ep, pre-ep, PWP, action....whatever you need or feel like writing. =)There are no restrictions what so ever regarding this. *You got me curious now =)*

[animefanboy0110.livejournal.com]

Oh? Well, prepare for random hilarity because randomness is my specialty :D

[piratekitten.livejournal.com]

Even with the changes, I? am staying out of this challenge. Even with the fact that I've got a half written fairy tale AU fic sitting on my hard drive, waiting for revisions and rewrites that I've been planning to do since last year.

Ignoring the issues already had with this challenge, I still have claims tables to mull through and other things to write before I could even consider writing for this.

But that's me and for personal reasons, I am sitting out on this one.

[mangojunkie.livejournal.com]

Well it is not like you have to participate. It is more meant to be maybe a help, inspire people to write more. Give them maybe ideas they might not get the first place. And you don't particulary have to write them now. YOu can also post them in lets say two months time or three. =) It's up to you, but we don't expect from members to write. As said... just a help, to inspire them =)

[bflyw.livejournal.com]

I can see that people might feel uncomfortable about the voting (when I think about it), but still I think it could be fun. Either way - if works fine with me.

If you decide to go forward with voting later, I'll be happy to make scrips for you and provide a server where the actual vote and the actual voting result is hidden (except for who is the winner).
This was no one has to experiance that no one vote for your story and anyone can see it.... No one feel obligated to vote on their friends story etc. ...Just as it was on the WMTDB awards - I made those scripts and are happy to adjust them for you!

I Think voting could be fun, so I'm happy to help you make this happen in a way where people won't feel it intimidating.
Let me know...

[mangojunkie.livejournal.com]

Well if we should have a voting later *like in months time=)* we will let you know and I am pretty sure that the other mods might support the idea of using your server. Thank you =)

And we will let you know once we made a decision. Thanks again.

[serenity151979.livejournal.com]

That does sound like a great idea, if we do decide to go with votes eventually. =)

[animefanboy0110.livejournal.com]

Ummm how do I post a fic with a link? I feel all confuzzled...

[mangojunkie.livejournal.com]

YOu mean a cut? Like seeing a line and then you have to click on it to see the whole fic?
That isn't hard. Basically you write <*lj-cut text="whatever you want to say in that one line> YOUR STORY just without the *. And since I know my explanations can be a bit... difficult at times FAQ post on How to do them" (http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=75&q=lj-cut) Hope that helps.
If you mean something different, tell me =)