Summer Doldrums
As I'm sure everyone is fully aware, it has been silent as the grave around here for the past few months. Since it's not as if we're inundated with exciting news about the series on a regular basis, I think we're mostly bemoaning the lack of fic, and I've been scratching my head as to what to do about it.
I've thought about suggesting a meme before, but there's so few of us it would be pretty easy to tell who's who; still, they can be a lot of fun, so it might be worth trying. Fic memes generally come in three basic flavors:
Request memes are exactly what they sound like. People respond with ideas for stories they'd like to read; they can also serve as plotbunny dumping grounds ("I've been thinking about writing a story about X, Y, and Z, but don't think I'll have time to get to it; anyone interested?"). Other people are then welcome to pick the requests and write stories based on them.
Kink memes are strictly for teh pr0nz. These are typically done anonymously--you log out of your account and respond to a post that's been made specifically for the purpose with IP logging turned off, so there's no way you can ever be conclusively identified; then you simply request whatever it is that your little heart desires. Responses are typically also made anonymously via comments to the original request (though of course both requests and responses can be made under your own name, if you so choose), so it can be a good opportunity to stretch your muscles and try writing something you're not sure you'd necessarily want your name associated with. :)
Fic exchanges are simply more formalized versions of request memes. A certain number of people sign up beforehand, and commit to write a story based on the prompt they receive within some sort of timeframe (usually a month); in exchange, they get to make a request that their writer will do their best to honor. These are fun as, ideally, they're a form of gift-giving; you try your hardest to give your recipient exactly the perfect story you think they'd love. This is also the form I think would suffer most seriously from our lack of numbers, though.
So, do any of these sound like fun to you guys? Any other ideas you think might make things more entertaining? With the level of traffic we see here, I'm sure some kind of generalized fic-a-thon would be no problem to keep on top of. :)
I've thought about suggesting a meme before, but there's so few of us it would be pretty easy to tell who's who; still, they can be a lot of fun, so it might be worth trying. Fic memes generally come in three basic flavors:
Request memes are exactly what they sound like. People respond with ideas for stories they'd like to read; they can also serve as plotbunny dumping grounds ("I've been thinking about writing a story about X, Y, and Z, but don't think I'll have time to get to it; anyone interested?"). Other people are then welcome to pick the requests and write stories based on them.
Kink memes are strictly for teh pr0nz. These are typically done anonymously--you log out of your account and respond to a post that's been made specifically for the purpose with IP logging turned off, so there's no way you can ever be conclusively identified; then you simply request whatever it is that your little heart desires. Responses are typically also made anonymously via comments to the original request (though of course both requests and responses can be made under your own name, if you so choose), so it can be a good opportunity to stretch your muscles and try writing something you're not sure you'd necessarily want your name associated with. :)
Fic exchanges are simply more formalized versions of request memes. A certain number of people sign up beforehand, and commit to write a story based on the prompt they receive within some sort of timeframe (usually a month); in exchange, they get to make a request that their writer will do their best to honor. These are fun as, ideally, they're a form of gift-giving; you try your hardest to give your recipient exactly the perfect story you think they'd love. This is also the form I think would suffer most seriously from our lack of numbers, though.
So, do any of these sound like fun to you guys? Any other ideas you think might make things more entertaining? With the level of traffic we see here, I'm sure some kind of generalized fic-a-thon would be no problem to keep on top of. :)