Yay! Unconventional Courtship!
The Unconventional Courtship fic challenge is about a million times more fun than it should be ;) If you've never tried it, I would urge you to sign up now for a posting date in late August/September.
It's a panfandom challenge, because you're not assigned a recipient, so you don't have to worry about pleasing a specific recipient and you can pick absolutely whatever fandom you happen to be obsessed with at the moment and you can change your mind about what fandom you choose at any point :)
The gimmick is that you scroll through romance novel teasers from Harlequin or Mills & Boone until you find one that tickles your fancy. Then you replace the characters with the characters of your choice and write a story (probably AU but it doesn't have to be!) around that summary. You can, of course, change the genders of the characters if you feel like writing non-het fic.
I will repeat: This is SO MUCH FUN.
Last year I wrote Most Shy and Ladylike, an Ultraman Mebius AU, and in 2014 I wrote The Black Sheep's Inheritance, a Power Rangers Jungle Fury AU.
You can take the prompt seriously or you can be ridiculous (or you can be me and do both at the same time). You'll be surprised how easy it is to find a prompt that works for your fave ship. In fact, in my experience, the problem is choosing just one. I have an entire Word doc of prompts and pairing ideas.
Here are a few prompts that I love for various pairings (and if any of them work for you, please feel free to use them, because no two Unconventional Courtship fics is going to be the same):
Lying in Bed -Jo Leigh
To find a blackmailer, FBI agent Ryan Vail is going undercover as part of a “couple” at an intimacy retreat. But when Ryan meets his “wife” he knows he's in big trouble - this investigation looks set to be one irresistible temptation!
Emergency: Wife Lost and Found - Carol Marinelli
Marriage reunited - in A&E!
Every emergency doctor dreaded recognising someone in Casualty - even cool-headed consultant James Morrell. But he was doubly shocked when the unconscious patient he was asked to treat was instantly familiar. It was his ex-wife!
Dr Lorna McClelland hated being ill, hated being stuck in a hospital bed, but above all she hated having to rely on James. Then, as she recovered, all the wonderful things about their marriage came flooding back…
The Virgin's Proposal - Shirley Jump
HOW COULD HE TURN DOWN A BANANA IN DISTRESS?
Successful rebel Matt Webster came to make peace with his past and his family. But he'd never thought that to appear "respectable," he'd become the pretend fiancé of a banana-wearing storeowner! Yet how could he refuse spunky Katie Dole, the woman under the costume, when she kissed him so sweetly- and so thoroughly-in the spaghetti aisle of the supermarket?
Her blue-green gaze implored him to play the role of lover to show up her ex-fiancé. But remembering the kisses they shared were supposed to be pretend became more difficult, when all Matt wanted to do was to make love to the appealing Katie! Was the virgin's proposal turning into something…real?
This entry was originally posted at http://mara.dreamwidth.org/292115.html, where there are
comments. Please feel free to comment either here or there.
It's a panfandom challenge, because you're not assigned a recipient, so you don't have to worry about pleasing a specific recipient and you can pick absolutely whatever fandom you happen to be obsessed with at the moment and you can change your mind about what fandom you choose at any point :)
The gimmick is that you scroll through romance novel teasers from Harlequin or Mills & Boone until you find one that tickles your fancy. Then you replace the characters with the characters of your choice and write a story (probably AU but it doesn't have to be!) around that summary. You can, of course, change the genders of the characters if you feel like writing non-het fic.
I will repeat: This is SO MUCH FUN.
Last year I wrote Most Shy and Ladylike, an Ultraman Mebius AU, and in 2014 I wrote The Black Sheep's Inheritance, a Power Rangers Jungle Fury AU.
You can take the prompt seriously or you can be ridiculous (or you can be me and do both at the same time). You'll be surprised how easy it is to find a prompt that works for your fave ship. In fact, in my experience, the problem is choosing just one. I have an entire Word doc of prompts and pairing ideas.
Here are a few prompts that I love for various pairings (and if any of them work for you, please feel free to use them, because no two Unconventional Courtship fics is going to be the same):
Lying in Bed -Jo Leigh
To find a blackmailer, FBI agent Ryan Vail is going undercover as part of a “couple” at an intimacy retreat. But when Ryan meets his “wife” he knows he's in big trouble - this investigation looks set to be one irresistible temptation!
Emergency: Wife Lost and Found - Carol Marinelli
Marriage reunited - in A&E!
Every emergency doctor dreaded recognising someone in Casualty - even cool-headed consultant James Morrell. But he was doubly shocked when the unconscious patient he was asked to treat was instantly familiar. It was his ex-wife!
Dr Lorna McClelland hated being ill, hated being stuck in a hospital bed, but above all she hated having to rely on James. Then, as she recovered, all the wonderful things about their marriage came flooding back…
The Virgin's Proposal - Shirley Jump
HOW COULD HE TURN DOWN A BANANA IN DISTRESS?
Successful rebel Matt Webster came to make peace with his past and his family. But he'd never thought that to appear "respectable," he'd become the pretend fiancé of a banana-wearing storeowner! Yet how could he refuse spunky Katie Dole, the woman under the costume, when she kissed him so sweetly- and so thoroughly-in the spaghetti aisle of the supermarket?
Her blue-green gaze implored him to play the role of lover to show up her ex-fiancé. But remembering the kisses they shared were supposed to be pretend became more difficult, when all Matt wanted to do was to make love to the appealing Katie! Was the virgin's proposal turning into something…real?
This entry was originally posted at http://mara.dreamwidth.org/292115.html, where there are
comments. Please feel free to comment either here or there.