YW fic challenge overview- read this first!

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Dai Stiho, everybody…

Now as many, many of you are aware, I desperately yearn for more fic of the Young Wizards variety. The dearth of fic- especially fic based outside fanfiction.net- in this fandom is often-lamented and debated, so I won’t go into it here.

However, several people have recently told me that if I want something done I’d better do it myself. Accurate as this indubitably is, after careful consideration I have concluded that “If you want something done, do it yourself and drag everyone along with you” is a better maxim, and after some extensive late-night babbling I’ve decided that the way to do it in this case might just be to have a fic challenge. Maybe just to get us started, maybe it would become a regular thing: who knows? The idea is, though, to get people (myself included) writing who wouldn’t otherwise write (or draw: fanartists welcome), either in this fandom or elsewhere; to help bunny people who would write or draw if they only had an idea; and generally to provide impetus for ficcing and drawing in a more interactive environment than fanfiction.net.

So where do you come in? Well, right here, because this is where I’m recruiting my writers. YOU CAN ENTER EVEN IF YOU HAVEN’T WRITTEN FIC OR DRAWN ART BEFORE. That’s the whole point of this challenge, to get people writing/drawing. I plan on shoehorning friends, family and total strangers who have also never written before into signing up; that means you should too, because your fandom needs YOU.

If you would like to enter, or you’re interested, or you’re not, or, really, if you read this at all, please take my poll on the subject. This IS going to happen if I can get even ten people and I’m almost half-way there, so what I also want from you, even if you don’t want to enter (BUT YOU SHOULD), is your input. Would you do it? Would you read the fic? Would you _beta_ the fic? What kind of challenge? And so forth.

It takes five seconds to take a poll, so… please, I’m askin’. :D Any other questions, comments or concerns? Comment or get me by email at labellementeuse(at)gmail(dot)com.

Comments

[chadric.livejournal.com]

Hello! I'm new to the community and the books, but the books grabbed me so hard and screamed "GO LOOK FOR AN LJ COMMUNITY!" that I did that as soon as I could. I haven't read all of them that are out I'm afraid, couldn't afford to buy them at once. But I'm sure I'll have them all soon enough.
Anyway, to the point! I'd love to participate in this as much as I could. I'm not much up for writing fanfiction, but I could be a beta easily. Also, I do draw fanart. It might not be very good fanart, but it's fanart nonetheless. As for the kind of art, I do simple pencil and paper best, and I'm not really one for color, but I can do most anything really. I only have one Young Wizard related piece, and it's not even finished yet, so I can't very well at the moment give you an example of my work for this. So, in short, I'll pretty much do whatever is needed the best that I can! This sounds like good fun and I'd enjoy being part of it.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

XD Hey, I haven't got them all and I've been in the fandom for three years, or something. They're impossible to get where I live, you see, so I wouldn't worry about it. :P

Thank you so much for wanting to participate! It's something I've been wanting to do for a while, so you know, every word of encouragement I get... also, offering to beta is just the nicest thing. :D And fanart would be fantastic as well! So, you know... hooray. I really hope it goes well for all!

[seraphim-12.livejournal.com]

i may or may not write, i feel that i don't have a good handle on the characters yet, but . . . we will see, i'll also volunteer to be beta if anyone is in need!

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

:) I hope you'll sign up nevertheless, of course, but I really appreciate you saying why anyway. And another offer to beta! This is great!

[hammerxsword.livejournal.com]

I do write fic occassionally, and can beta. And I would like to write in this fandom - my only concern is if slash would be acceptable. Or if there are going to be rating limits on fics of any genre.

[seraphim-12.livejournal.com]

wow u see a slash pairing? i so don't! pray tell who and why? ^^

[hammerxsword.livejournal.com]

Tom and Carl. Am somewhat influenced in that I first heard of the YW series on a rare slash mailing list, and people were talking about it as if it were practically cannon. Having read the first three now, while there's nothing really obvious and overt, it seems a perfectly valid interpretation. ;-)

[seraphim-12.livejournal.com]

*hits self on the head* i knew that! why didn't i think of it when i wrote that post!^^ I must have had a brain freeze, no i can totally see why why ppl would think that, but personally i thinks they are just really good friends.

But hey if you write something you may make a convert of me!

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

otpotpotp

In the immortal words of conuly: "Oh for god's sake... they're written gay."

So. you know. I may just have to have your babies if you write T/C. :D

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

OMG YES slash slash slashAHEM. I think I can safely say that we will be accepting slash.

No, more seriously: We will accept any fic, any genere, any rating. The point of this challenge is not to get once specific type of fic; if we had a big enough fandom, maybe it would be, but we don't, at all. Instead it's just to generate more fic, especially livejournal-based (as opposed to ffn.net based); and more adventurous, pairing or theme wise, fic would be doubly welcome. :D

There'll be a warning system, and so forth, but I am not planning on excluding anything; that'd sort of make the whole thing pointless.

[hammerxsword.livejournal.com]

Excellent. :-D

Will watch this space. Now, must go and read more of the series...

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

:D eeexcellent.

[fair-janet.livejournal.com]

So, for the challenge, for my purposes, I would think it cool if the challenge were to write about the difficulties of wizardry- like, dealing with what it means to be a wiz. But that is just be since my FF is called "A Wizard in Mourning".

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

*grins* Um, so you want a really specific thematic challenge? I don't know, I don't think we'll be going into that much detail- at the poll at the moment it's looking like "pick a challenge" is going to win, where everyone submits lots of challenges, I post a big list somewhere and people claim one. The idea is that we get way more challenges than participants so there's lots of choice; I would sometime later on like to try a single-challenge challenge but pick-a-challenge is winnong at the moment, and I'm going with the flow.

So really, it depends on what challenge you pick- um, people won't be able to pick their own challenges though, because the idea is that you're, you know, challenged. :P I am still thinking really hard about what kind of format the challenges will need to be in; I think I will ask around a bit.

Possibly it will take the form of people suggesting one of:
-a scenario
-a theme (quotes can come under this, if you want)
-one other, maybe...

with the option of also including
-a character
-a pairing
-um, something else again!

I'm a bit iffy about putting in pairing, though, so it will depend on the challenges we get- if I get five thousand challenges that go like "scenario: kit's crushing on Nita and nita doesn't know what to do! pairing: nita/kit" well, I may sort of have to rid myself of the pairing option because, well,
-there's a lot of that sort of fic out there
-more importantly, we can't have ten or twelve identical fics; plus, I need to give my authors some leeway, because so far about ten people have said they'd participate only if there was a challenge they felt they could write to.

So, yeah, basically I still have to think a lot about what the challenge format is going to be. :D Input appreciated from all!