Post by Darth Fingon on Sept 25, 2009 15:33:22 GMT -6
This is a contest I was interested in organising some time ago. I told a few people about it and there was some interest. Now, I think I'll go ahead and start things moving. If you're interested in the Probably AU Genfic Swap, read the rules below and sign on up. I guarantee it is unlike any other swap you've ever done. And hilarity will ensue.
Genfic Swap Challenge – because you can never be working on too many stories at once.
The core premise of this swap challenge is simple. In fact, it's the same as any other swap challenge out there. You make a request, which somebody writes, and receive a request, which you write for somebody. Everyone writes one story per another participant's specification. Stories are exchanged. Everyone gets a genfic gift at the end.
But here's the crazy part. You write one story… but receive two. Yes, two. WHOA! I hear you saying now. That's madness! That's insanity! That's mathematically impossible!
Improbable, yes. But not impossible. Remember that I'm a bookkeeper, master of numbers. I can bend them to my evil will. You're just going to have to trust me on this. You write one story, and receive two. I'll try to explain the logic later, but for now, here's an overview of the rules. And by overview, I mean detailed description.
General Rules
1) Anyone may participate in the swap, from long-time writers to newcomers. Whether you've written 50 fanfics or none, you're welcome to sign up. The only limiting factor is that participants MUST be at least familiar with both The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. You don't need to be a serious Silm scholar, but you do need to know basic facts like who Fingolfin is and what became of Doriath, because there's a chance you'll be writing a story with Silm elements.
2) This is a genfic swap, which means all fics must be gen. For swap purposes, gen is defined as neither slash nor het. Stories can be any rating from G to 14A, but must not focus on romance or sexual themes. A 14A-rated gen fic would be so rated for violence (ie, battle) or non-sexual dark subject matter.
If you have any doubts as to whether or not your story might be classified as slash or het rather than gen, ask before you start writing. For example, a story in which Celeborn and Galadriel happen to be married is fine. A story about them getting married is het. If you can assign a pairing to it, it's not gen.
3) This is a Tolkien universe Elf genfic swap. So all stories must be considered Tolkien fanfiction and must focus on Tolkien Elves. Tolkien fanfiction here is considered to be any story dealing primarily with his characters or geographical areas. An original character in Mirkwood is Tolkien fanfic, as is Elrond in modern China.
4) All stories must be written new and may not be sequels/prequels to anything you have already written. This is not to say that your story cannot fit in among your other works as part of a series (if you prefer to write everything in the same continuous universe), but it must be a standalone piece that can be understood without having to read anything else for backstory.
5) Your story should be a minimum of 1500 words, and must be completed by January 31st. January 31st is an absolute deadline, and there will be no extensions. If you're not finished on that date, send in what you have.
Why January 31st? Because the end of January is the most boring time of year, and people need a fanfiction swap to spread joy or at least frustration at having to finish a story on time.
How The Swap Works
Alright, here's the tricky part. And it works differently than other swaps, so pay close attention, class.
1) Each participant will make a request. But requests are not made in the usual 'I want to read about what Elrond was thinking after Isildur took the ring' way. Instead, each participant will request TWO of the THREE following:
Person
Place
Timeframe
For example, you might request 'Glorfindel' for person and 'Angband' for a place. The two requests do not need to make sense together. They can, but it won't make any difference, because they're not going into the same story. Instead, you will receive TWO stories: one about Glorfindel, and one about Angband.
Requests can be as vague or specific as possible. For person, you can request 'Noldor' or a specific name. Likewise, places can range from 'Valinor' to 'Elrond's balcony', and times can range from 'the Third Age' to 'fifteen minutes after Gil-galad's death'. But keep in mind that just because you request Gondolin doesn't mean your story has to take place in the First Age, and a story set fifteen minutes after Gil-galad's death might not be about Gil-galad at all, as long as it's understood exactly when the events are taking place. Authors need only stick to the very basic and literal aspects of requests.
While the person does need to be a Tolkien Elf (or Tolkien-based Elf OC), the place and timeframe do not need to correspond to any found in Tolkien's books. You can request a story set in England, or one set in the 19th century. But again, authors can choose to interpret those requests in any way, and might decide to set your story in 19th century Valinor.
2) Once everyone has sent in the requests, everything will be dumped into a hat. Or bowl. I'm not sure yet. Assignments will be done completely by random, and everyone will be given two requests to fulfill… within the same story. That is, you only write one story, containing both elements. You may receive a person and a timeframe, or a timeframe and a place, or two people (I'll try to avoid assigning two timeframes or two places). By luck, you might get two things that go together easily, like Elrohir and the Fourth Age. Or you might end up with Feanor and Thranduil's dining room. You never know.
It is then up to you to make these things fit together into one story. How to reconcile two opposing elements? Well, you can always resort to flashbacks, dream sequences, story-within-a-story, time travel, or just plain old AU. Just make it make sense. And make sure that both elements are major aspects of the story, appearing at least 50% of the time. Which means Feanor has to be the main character for at least half the story, and at least half the story must be set in or revolve around Thranduil's dining room.
And no cheating by having a dog named Feanor or a restaurant in Tirion called Thranduil's Dining Room.
3) Your completed story will then be sent out to two people: the person who requested Feanor, and the person who requested Thranduil's dining room. Thus, everyone receives two stories, after only having written one.
More Specific Detail on the Request Rules
Any Tolkien Elf or place that appears in any published book is fair game (NOTE: movie-specific characters are not). You can also request original characters, ranging from 'original character' to 'original male Silvan Elf character with long brown hair and a scar on his left shoulder from where he was stabbed by an orc in a fight to save his younger sister from certain death'. What you cannot request are certain things that would influence the plot. That is, an original character can have any physical description and backstory you want, but he can't have a necklace that makes him fly, because that would of course have to come up and be used in the story.
Now, not every swap writer is going to know who Valwë is, or where Eldos is located. You're free to put in a request for CHARACTER: Valwë and PLACE: Eldos, or any other obscure thing you want, in the event that somebody will be able to write it. But if you do make an obscure request, please include a second choice for something easier to write. So you could say CHARACTER: Valwë OR Ecthelion, and PLACE: Eldos OR Doriath.
A character or place that appears only in HoME or Unfinished Tales is, for swap purposes, labelled as 'obscure' and should be accompanied by an 'OR' choice. Some very minor Silm characters can also be counted as 'obscure'. Use your own judgement here. In the event that a requested Silm character/place is too obscure, I will email and ask that an 'OR' be provided.
The 'OR' requests are understood to mean, 'I would prefer the first choice, but in the event that it cannot be done, the second is okay.' Writers should make every effort to fulfil the first choice.
Ready to sign up? Email il_perfido@yahoo.co.uk. Put something like 'genfic swap' in the subject line so I know what it is. List your requests for TWO of the following THREE:
Person:
Place:
Timeframe:
Signups must be received by October 23rd 2009. Assignments will be distributed a few days thereafter.
That's another funny thing about this swap. Since assignments are given out totally at random, you have no say in what you get. So be prepared for anything. If you hate what you receive, be comforted at least by the fact that you only have to follow the request in its barest and most literal interpretation, and won't have to worry about including anything more than character, time, or place. You can do that, right?
Any questions can be directed to me at the same email address. If you're not sure how something works or if your request fits into the contest rules, feel free to email me prior to signing up. Better to get everything sorted out first than run into snags later on.
Genfic Swap Challenge – because you can never be working on too many stories at once.
The core premise of this swap challenge is simple. In fact, it's the same as any other swap challenge out there. You make a request, which somebody writes, and receive a request, which you write for somebody. Everyone writes one story per another participant's specification. Stories are exchanged. Everyone gets a genfic gift at the end.
But here's the crazy part. You write one story… but receive two. Yes, two. WHOA! I hear you saying now. That's madness! That's insanity! That's mathematically impossible!
Improbable, yes. But not impossible. Remember that I'm a bookkeeper, master of numbers. I can bend them to my evil will. You're just going to have to trust me on this. You write one story, and receive two. I'll try to explain the logic later, but for now, here's an overview of the rules. And by overview, I mean detailed description.
General Rules
1) Anyone may participate in the swap, from long-time writers to newcomers. Whether you've written 50 fanfics or none, you're welcome to sign up. The only limiting factor is that participants MUST be at least familiar with both The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. You don't need to be a serious Silm scholar, but you do need to know basic facts like who Fingolfin is and what became of Doriath, because there's a chance you'll be writing a story with Silm elements.
2) This is a genfic swap, which means all fics must be gen. For swap purposes, gen is defined as neither slash nor het. Stories can be any rating from G to 14A, but must not focus on romance or sexual themes. A 14A-rated gen fic would be so rated for violence (ie, battle) or non-sexual dark subject matter.
If you have any doubts as to whether or not your story might be classified as slash or het rather than gen, ask before you start writing. For example, a story in which Celeborn and Galadriel happen to be married is fine. A story about them getting married is het. If you can assign a pairing to it, it's not gen.
3) This is a Tolkien universe Elf genfic swap. So all stories must be considered Tolkien fanfiction and must focus on Tolkien Elves. Tolkien fanfiction here is considered to be any story dealing primarily with his characters or geographical areas. An original character in Mirkwood is Tolkien fanfic, as is Elrond in modern China.
4) All stories must be written new and may not be sequels/prequels to anything you have already written. This is not to say that your story cannot fit in among your other works as part of a series (if you prefer to write everything in the same continuous universe), but it must be a standalone piece that can be understood without having to read anything else for backstory.
5) Your story should be a minimum of 1500 words, and must be completed by January 31st. January 31st is an absolute deadline, and there will be no extensions. If you're not finished on that date, send in what you have.
Why January 31st? Because the end of January is the most boring time of year, and people need a fanfiction swap to spread joy or at least frustration at having to finish a story on time.
How The Swap Works
Alright, here's the tricky part. And it works differently than other swaps, so pay close attention, class.
1) Each participant will make a request. But requests are not made in the usual 'I want to read about what Elrond was thinking after Isildur took the ring' way. Instead, each participant will request TWO of the THREE following:
Person
Place
Timeframe
For example, you might request 'Glorfindel' for person and 'Angband' for a place. The two requests do not need to make sense together. They can, but it won't make any difference, because they're not going into the same story. Instead, you will receive TWO stories: one about Glorfindel, and one about Angband.
Requests can be as vague or specific as possible. For person, you can request 'Noldor' or a specific name. Likewise, places can range from 'Valinor' to 'Elrond's balcony', and times can range from 'the Third Age' to 'fifteen minutes after Gil-galad's death'. But keep in mind that just because you request Gondolin doesn't mean your story has to take place in the First Age, and a story set fifteen minutes after Gil-galad's death might not be about Gil-galad at all, as long as it's understood exactly when the events are taking place. Authors need only stick to the very basic and literal aspects of requests.
While the person does need to be a Tolkien Elf (or Tolkien-based Elf OC), the place and timeframe do not need to correspond to any found in Tolkien's books. You can request a story set in England, or one set in the 19th century. But again, authors can choose to interpret those requests in any way, and might decide to set your story in 19th century Valinor.
2) Once everyone has sent in the requests, everything will be dumped into a hat. Or bowl. I'm not sure yet. Assignments will be done completely by random, and everyone will be given two requests to fulfill… within the same story. That is, you only write one story, containing both elements. You may receive a person and a timeframe, or a timeframe and a place, or two people (I'll try to avoid assigning two timeframes or two places). By luck, you might get two things that go together easily, like Elrohir and the Fourth Age. Or you might end up with Feanor and Thranduil's dining room. You never know.
It is then up to you to make these things fit together into one story. How to reconcile two opposing elements? Well, you can always resort to flashbacks, dream sequences, story-within-a-story, time travel, or just plain old AU. Just make it make sense. And make sure that both elements are major aspects of the story, appearing at least 50% of the time. Which means Feanor has to be the main character for at least half the story, and at least half the story must be set in or revolve around Thranduil's dining room.
And no cheating by having a dog named Feanor or a restaurant in Tirion called Thranduil's Dining Room.
3) Your completed story will then be sent out to two people: the person who requested Feanor, and the person who requested Thranduil's dining room. Thus, everyone receives two stories, after only having written one.
More Specific Detail on the Request Rules
Any Tolkien Elf or place that appears in any published book is fair game (NOTE: movie-specific characters are not). You can also request original characters, ranging from 'original character' to 'original male Silvan Elf character with long brown hair and a scar on his left shoulder from where he was stabbed by an orc in a fight to save his younger sister from certain death'. What you cannot request are certain things that would influence the plot. That is, an original character can have any physical description and backstory you want, but he can't have a necklace that makes him fly, because that would of course have to come up and be used in the story.
Now, not every swap writer is going to know who Valwë is, or where Eldos is located. You're free to put in a request for CHARACTER: Valwë and PLACE: Eldos, or any other obscure thing you want, in the event that somebody will be able to write it. But if you do make an obscure request, please include a second choice for something easier to write. So you could say CHARACTER: Valwë OR Ecthelion, and PLACE: Eldos OR Doriath.
A character or place that appears only in HoME or Unfinished Tales is, for swap purposes, labelled as 'obscure' and should be accompanied by an 'OR' choice. Some very minor Silm characters can also be counted as 'obscure'. Use your own judgement here. In the event that a requested Silm character/place is too obscure, I will email and ask that an 'OR' be provided.
The 'OR' requests are understood to mean, 'I would prefer the first choice, but in the event that it cannot be done, the second is okay.' Writers should make every effort to fulfil the first choice.
Ready to sign up? Email il_perfido@yahoo.co.uk. Put something like 'genfic swap' in the subject line so I know what it is. List your requests for TWO of the following THREE:
Person:
Place:
Timeframe:
Signups must be received by October 23rd 2009. Assignments will be distributed a few days thereafter.
That's another funny thing about this swap. Since assignments are given out totally at random, you have no say in what you get. So be prepared for anything. If you hate what you receive, be comforted at least by the fact that you only have to follow the request in its barest and most literal interpretation, and won't have to worry about including anything more than character, time, or place. You can do that, right?
Any questions can be directed to me at the same email address. If you're not sure how something works or if your request fits into the contest rules, feel free to email me prior to signing up. Better to get everything sorted out first than run into snags later on.
