Sweet Drabblethon - Prompt Collection Post
EDIT: As of 12:50am October 10th, the Prompt Request Post is CLOSED. Further prompt comments will be deleted, sorry.
About a handful of people expressed direct interest in this when I asked about it, so I'm choosing to interpret this positively and run with it, and honestly, I'm just curious and hopeful to see how this plays out :)
Ladies and gentlemen, for your prospective enjoyment, I present to you,
The Sweet Drabblethon
In October of 1922, a man named Herbert Birch Kingston invented Sweetest Day as an opportunity to do philanthropic acts toward local Cleveland shut-ins, orphans, and other poor and needy. Celebrated primarily in the Great Lakes region of the US, Sweetest Day was started not, as many treat it today, as an attempt by candy companies to drum up a "second Valentine's Day", but as a day for performing random acts of kindness toward both loved ones and complete strangers.
In celebration of that original spirit, this year I'd like to attempt a little drabblethon, toward the goal of spreading love, giving and happiness throughout the intercollected realm of fandom.
From today, October 3, through midnight October 9, I'll be collecting drabble prompts from anyone who'd like to give one on this post. Any fandom is welcome, one (1) prompt per signed-in commentor (no anon prompts, please: we want to make sure everyone is playing fair).
On October 10, I'll make a post collecting all of the prompts in one long masterlist. Willing writers will then leave comments on the list claiming which prompt they'd like to write. Comments will be screened and I'll edit the post as claims are made, so that no one will get a drabble written for them twice but it'll get to remain a surprise who's writing for who!
Everyone will have a week to write a drabble for their claims - or more, if they feel inspired, so long as they have at least 100 words (a true drabble). On October 17, Sweetest Day, hopefully everyone will be ready to post their completed drabbles in their journals, and then they'll send the links to me so I can make one final post, where everyone's completed drabbles are linked for the reading. People will get to find out if/who wrote for them, be it a close personal friend or some random good samaritan.
There'll be no pressure or expectations: you don't have to prompt to write, you don't have to write to prompt. If something comes up and you can't turn in your drabble, nothing will come of it. The entire spirit is meant to be relaxed, easy and enjoyable. You don't have to do anything. It's only about what you want to do.
The goal is to hopefully result in a tiny wave of goodwill and kindness for kindess' sake. And to have a little bit of fun while doing it! And it all begins, right here.
Prompt Collection Post:
♥ What do I do?
It's easy! Just leave a prompt for a drabble as a comment to this post; any fandom, pairing, and/or character of your choice. By submitting a prompt, that means you're putting it out there as a little wish that hopefully some kind soul on the internet will be willing to fulfill for you. Once your prompt is in, put a smile on your face and keep your fingers crossed!
Be careful in choosing your prompt, though. Remember: you only get one!
♥ What should my prompt look like?
Standard drabble/ficathon formatting rules apply. It can be as potentially cracky, smutty or even just plain random as you like but all prompts should be relatively simple and resemble as follows:
Fandom - Character(s)/Pairing - a phrase or set of words to inspire
For example:
House - Thirteen - a day in the life
PotC - Jack/Will - rum, sand, sweat, feathers
Firefly - River, Inara, Zoe - absinthe, tic tac toe, girls' night in
No leaving prompts anonymously or deviating from format, please; it just makes things harder for everybody. If you comment without following the rules, when I list them all out your prompt may not end up being included.
♥ I don't think I'm going to be able to write for someone else's prompt. Can I still leave one anyway?
Absolutely! This drabblethon is intended in the spirit of open-ended giving: you should be able to participate without feeling like anything's expected of you in return. It's all in the sake of fun. I see no reason why non-writers shouldn't be allowed to play, too.
♥ I can't think of a good prompt. Will I still be allowed to claim and write a drabble?
Yes. As with prompting, participating by writing is a uniquely one-way street. There's a lot of love and fun to go around, after all. No reason to limit who can be involved just because they missed an earlier part of the drabblethon.
♥ I have two great ideas for drabble prompts! I can submit them both, right?
Sorry, but no. Remember, we're operating on the small-scale here. It wouldn't be fair to others if you left five prompts and got five drabbles, and they only left one prompt and got one. By invoking a one to a person limit, the hope is everyone gets an equal amount of enjoyment out of it. Plus, by getting more people to leave prompts, we should get a greater variety to choose from.
♥ Can I leave a prompt for any fandom I want?
Any fandom you choose, whatever you'd like to make it for. It's your prompt, it should be about what you want. Though it is recommended you pick a larger fandom, to greater increase your chances there'll be a writer who is familiar with it. (Hint: if you really want to see your particular fandom making a strong showing in the drabblethon, pimping it to the right comms is probably a good idea.)
♥ Can my prompt be a crossover?
For the sake of simplicity, I'm going to have to say no. If you make a crossover prompt you take the gamble that there may not be a willing writer familiar with both fandoms. And remember, these have to be prompts that can hopefully work as drabbles; not that a good crossover can't be written in a hundred words, but the point of this drabblethon shouldn't have to be to make anyone take up the challenge.
♥ I've submitted my prompt already, or don't plan on prompting. What else can I do?
Spread the word! Post a link to this post in your journal, any relevant comms you want, any other place you can think of, and tell everyone on your friendslist all about it. Let's see how big we can make this baby be :)
About a handful of people expressed direct interest in this when I asked about it, so I'm choosing to interpret this positively and run with it, and honestly, I'm just curious and hopeful to see how this plays out :)
Ladies and gentlemen, for your prospective enjoyment, I present to you,
The Sweet Drabblethon
In October of 1922, a man named Herbert Birch Kingston invented Sweetest Day as an opportunity to do philanthropic acts toward local Cleveland shut-ins, orphans, and other poor and needy. Celebrated primarily in the Great Lakes region of the US, Sweetest Day was started not, as many treat it today, as an attempt by candy companies to drum up a "second Valentine's Day", but as a day for performing random acts of kindness toward both loved ones and complete strangers.
In celebration of that original spirit, this year I'd like to attempt a little drabblethon, toward the goal of spreading love, giving and happiness throughout the intercollected realm of fandom.
From today, October 3, through midnight October 9, I'll be collecting drabble prompts from anyone who'd like to give one on this post. Any fandom is welcome, one (1) prompt per signed-in commentor (no anon prompts, please: we want to make sure everyone is playing fair).
On October 10, I'll make a post collecting all of the prompts in one long masterlist. Willing writers will then leave comments on the list claiming which prompt they'd like to write. Comments will be screened and I'll edit the post as claims are made, so that no one will get a drabble written for them twice but it'll get to remain a surprise who's writing for who!
Everyone will have a week to write a drabble for their claims - or more, if they feel inspired, so long as they have at least 100 words (a true drabble). On October 17, Sweetest Day, hopefully everyone will be ready to post their completed drabbles in their journals, and then they'll send the links to me so I can make one final post, where everyone's completed drabbles are linked for the reading. People will get to find out if/who wrote for them, be it a close personal friend or some random good samaritan.
There'll be no pressure or expectations: you don't have to prompt to write, you don't have to write to prompt. If something comes up and you can't turn in your drabble, nothing will come of it. The entire spirit is meant to be relaxed, easy and enjoyable. You don't have to do anything. It's only about what you want to do.
The goal is to hopefully result in a tiny wave of goodwill and kindness for kindess' sake. And to have a little bit of fun while doing it! And it all begins, right here.
Prompt Collection Post:
♥ What do I do?
It's easy! Just leave a prompt for a drabble as a comment to this post; any fandom, pairing, and/or character of your choice. By submitting a prompt, that means you're putting it out there as a little wish that hopefully some kind soul on the internet will be willing to fulfill for you. Once your prompt is in, put a smile on your face and keep your fingers crossed!
Be careful in choosing your prompt, though. Remember: you only get one!
♥ What should my prompt look like?
Standard drabble/ficathon formatting rules apply. It can be as potentially cracky, smutty or even just plain random as you like but all prompts should be relatively simple and resemble as follows:
Fandom - Character(s)/Pairing - a phrase or set of words to inspire
For example:
House - Thirteen - a day in the life
PotC - Jack/Will - rum, sand, sweat, feathers
Firefly - River, Inara, Zoe - absinthe, tic tac toe, girls' night in
No leaving prompts anonymously or deviating from format, please; it just makes things harder for everybody. If you comment without following the rules, when I list them all out your prompt may not end up being included.
♥ I don't think I'm going to be able to write for someone else's prompt. Can I still leave one anyway?
Absolutely! This drabblethon is intended in the spirit of open-ended giving: you should be able to participate without feeling like anything's expected of you in return. It's all in the sake of fun. I see no reason why non-writers shouldn't be allowed to play, too.
♥ I can't think of a good prompt. Will I still be allowed to claim and write a drabble?
Yes. As with prompting, participating by writing is a uniquely one-way street. There's a lot of love and fun to go around, after all. No reason to limit who can be involved just because they missed an earlier part of the drabblethon.
♥ I have two great ideas for drabble prompts! I can submit them both, right?
Sorry, but no. Remember, we're operating on the small-scale here. It wouldn't be fair to others if you left five prompts and got five drabbles, and they only left one prompt and got one. By invoking a one to a person limit, the hope is everyone gets an equal amount of enjoyment out of it. Plus, by getting more people to leave prompts, we should get a greater variety to choose from.
♥ Can I leave a prompt for any fandom I want?
Any fandom you choose, whatever you'd like to make it for. It's your prompt, it should be about what you want. Though it is recommended you pick a larger fandom, to greater increase your chances there'll be a writer who is familiar with it. (Hint: if you really want to see your particular fandom making a strong showing in the drabblethon, pimping it to the right comms is probably a good idea.)
♥ Can my prompt be a crossover?
For the sake of simplicity, I'm going to have to say no. If you make a crossover prompt you take the gamble that there may not be a willing writer familiar with both fandoms. And remember, these have to be prompts that can hopefully work as drabbles; not that a good crossover can't be written in a hundred words, but the point of this drabblethon shouldn't have to be to make anyone take up the challenge.
♥ I've submitted my prompt already, or don't plan on prompting. What else can I do?
Spread the word! Post a link to this post in your journal, any relevant comms you want, any other place you can think of, and tell everyone on your friendslist all about it. Let's see how big we can make this baby be :)