Something I've been thinking about

[covenmouse]

So for the past few weeks, during the wonderful world of hell-week stress I was experiencing, I've also been taking part of a lot of activity going up from my other major fandom--sailor moon.  Summer time is always an active time for us, especially when it comes to massive group projects, and I got the strange notion that I wouldn't mind seeing

Comments

[monalisaofpasta]

I have questions concerning your ficathon idea because most of the ficathons I have seen have had people submit prompts and then the prompts were claimed by people who then wrote according to the prompt that they chose, some would also offer up posting dates so that people will have a say over deadlines and what not.

One theme for everybody seems very confining and you can't guarantee that everyone who wants to participate would like that particular theme.

Also, to me the zip file thing seems like a lot of work for you, when most people would probably just be interested in posting their fics publicly on their own anyway.

[covenmouse]

Ahh, the only ficathon I'm very familiar with has a simple theme that everyone uses--this is to keep things as a "body" of fanfiction, rather than ... well. Random bits of fanfic. XD They have something, other than their fandom, to tie them together. The typical type of theme chosen is something fairly general, though, like "Season" or "emotion" or, this years, "song." The way I'd figured the theme would be chosen is by having people nominate themes and then we'd vote for the most popular one. Either way, you'd be free to choose whatever aspect, subtle or not, you'd want to use in the fic.

And no, you can't guarantee it, but you can't guarantee anything when you're talking about a large group of people.

Maybe it is a lot of work, but it also keeps things organized and ensures that no one gets over looked on the basis of "someone posted right after I did and shoved me off the page." I've seen those kind of arguments happen, they're not fun.

[monalisaofpasta]

I have problems writing for general themes to be honest. Like they are way too vague, and I end up writing, and by the end my fic doesn't have anything to do with the theme at all. But that could just be me, if you left it open for that.

I have honestly never seen that problem, and if you section it out so that only a certain number of fics are posted each day then it kind of solves that problem.

But then again, I think complaining about that is a statement to immaturity, since in a ficathon you would have a reason to go back an dlook at all that is being posted because you have an idea of how many fics there should be.

I would note that gift exchanges tend to put more of an impetus for people to complete their fic, because if you know you are doing something for someone specifically there is more of a push, whereas a ficathon doesn't have that motivation, however it is much more binding, so if you are thinking of doing the exchange you would probably need to put in for some sort of pinch hit system.

[covenmouse]

*nods* Nah, I hear you about fics getting away from themselves. The reason I did lean more towards a ficathon is just that I knew I felt less hemmed in with them, while still enjoying the community feel of "We're all doing this together" but there are limits with the ficathon as well, of course.

And yeah, it is. X3 I really can't argue with you there. I don't like seeing those things happen, and don't participate then when I do but... the sad part is that it happens at all.

Pinch Hitting would be definitely needed, I agree. Again, it all depends on just how much interest there is in this at all. I'd honestly enjoy either, but it's hard to tell how much of an active community GW actually has.

[monalisaofpasta]

Yeah activity is the real kicker, this fandom tends to vary though it is more active then some other fandoms of its age.

If you do the ficathon under your way, you wouldn't need to solicit people's likes and dislikes since they would be choosing on their own, they would just need to sign up, although you mention you would ask for your own reasons, can I ask what those purposes are? Is it a curiosity thing?

And with a fandom this size, an exchange probably wouldn't be a good idea for the fact of the difficulty of matching, as someone whose tastes have always been in the minority in this fandom, it could get difficult.

[covenmouse]

Well no, the initial rounds of reviews, also known as the "Secret Santa" stage. It was implemented by the ficathon that I try to take part in every year as a way of making sure that everyone gets at least some feedback--especially as we use it as a method of improving our work in general. The owner sends out the fics individually, matched up based on who likes what so far as pairings go. The questions for the ficathon would be far far less, though, just limited to maybe a simple "Which pairing do you like the most."

*shrugs* I always thought of it as an interesting way to do things, but this is a feeler after all. I'm more than willing to change ideas depending on what people like or don't want.

[monalisaofpasta]

May I ask where that would leave non-pairing fic. Like if someone wanted to say write gen or character relationships that weren't romantic, although that wouldn't be an issue since people tend to be only snipey about pairings. Although you might want to ask about character preferences too.

I don't mean to be buggy, just trying to figure out whether this is something I would be willing to do, because I would love something like this for the fandom.

[covenmouse]

*nods* non-pairing fic would probably be done by persons stating what their favorite (or, alternatively, least favorite) character would be. I really don't think it would be an issue since, as you pointed out, most people arn't terribly snippy (except in a certain case which is now the pink elephant in the room) when it's just a gen fic.

And you're not buggy at all! The more questions asked the better ironed out the game plan shall be.

[monalisaofpasta]

Either way, I am definitely interested in what you are trying to do, so I will keep watch to see how it goes.