A challenging topic
Since there haven’t been any major complaints, we’re moving forward with plans for the combined Housefic_Meta and The Clinic community. We’ll be locating the Clinic’s resources here bit by bit. So welcome. We’ve put our heads together on some ideas for writing exercises and discussions, so look out for those.
First, one brief announcement: topaz_eyes is joining in the modding here at the combined Clinic/Meta.
And to launch the discussions, how about something that involves both writing and reading -- challenges.
There are a lot of them out there, some long, like the 20,000-word challenge of house_bigbang, some short and fun like the recent ficwriters_anon challenge. For writers, they give you a chance to try something new. For readers, it’s a shot at getting some fic for characters that don’t get much love -- like in foreman_fest -- or explore different aspects of characters like the multi-fandom Jewish-themed daysofawesome. There’s Wilson_Fest and Cuddy_Fest and the Secret Santa fic giving challenge through house_cameron. And obviously, those don’t even begin to cover the range of challenges going on out there.
And of course today is the start of the NaNoWriMo -- or National Novel Writing Month, in which participants attempt to write a 50,000-page novel in a month. I’ve never signed up for that, but 80,000 people did last year.
Obviously challenges aren’t always easy to write. You may sign up for a prompt, then get stumped when it comes time to actually write it. You may find that you simply don’t have 20,000 words in you for one story. But challenges also have built-in writing support. There’s the moral support of knowing other people are making the same attempt. House Big Bang has had people volunteer to beta either overall stories or for medical information. Days of Awesome had volunteers for cultural help.
So what kind of problems or breakthroughs have some of you had through writing for challenges? What’s worked for you in terms of writing on deadline or to a specific prompt? What didn’t? What kind of advice do you have for someone considering their first challenge? What kind of advice do you need?
And for readers, what kind of challenges do you like to read? What stories or characters or writers have you discovered through challenges?
And finally, do you think there are other potential challenges out there that you’d like to see? Maybe something from another fandom that could be adopted? Any other ideas or thoughts on challenges out there?
First, one brief announcement: topaz_eyes is joining in the modding here at the combined Clinic/Meta.
And to launch the discussions, how about something that involves both writing and reading -- challenges.
There are a lot of them out there, some long, like the 20,000-word challenge of house_bigbang, some short and fun like the recent ficwriters_anon challenge. For writers, they give you a chance to try something new. For readers, it’s a shot at getting some fic for characters that don’t get much love -- like in foreman_fest -- or explore different aspects of characters like the multi-fandom Jewish-themed daysofawesome. There’s Wilson_Fest and Cuddy_Fest and the Secret Santa fic giving challenge through house_cameron. And obviously, those don’t even begin to cover the range of challenges going on out there.
And of course today is the start of the NaNoWriMo -- or National Novel Writing Month, in which participants attempt to write a 50,000-page novel in a month. I’ve never signed up for that, but 80,000 people did last year.
Obviously challenges aren’t always easy to write. You may sign up for a prompt, then get stumped when it comes time to actually write it. You may find that you simply don’t have 20,000 words in you for one story. But challenges also have built-in writing support. There’s the moral support of knowing other people are making the same attempt. House Big Bang has had people volunteer to beta either overall stories or for medical information. Days of Awesome had volunteers for cultural help.
So what kind of problems or breakthroughs have some of you had through writing for challenges? What’s worked for you in terms of writing on deadline or to a specific prompt? What didn’t? What kind of advice do you have for someone considering their first challenge? What kind of advice do you need?
And for readers, what kind of challenges do you like to read? What stories or characters or writers have you discovered through challenges?
And finally, do you think there are other potential challenges out there that you’d like to see? Maybe something from another fandom that could be adopted? Any other ideas or thoughts on challenges out there?