QuickFic Session #9: Turning Things Around
Oh, hey, it's the last week of the month! Guess what time it is: prompt call time!
The premise is this: Comment here with a prompt - a sentence or two about a theme to base the writing around - or, ideally, several. I will (pick one, and) write flash fiction in response to that prompt, where “flash fiction” is in the neighbourhood of 500 words, erring more on the generous side. (I will refer to this below as a “block” of words: 500, within 5% low and 20% high. That is, each block will get you 475-600 words, and the margins add up with further blocks put toward any particular prompt.) For the benefit of those coming from other sites, you don't need to have a LiveJournal account to prompt - I am opening and unscreening anonymous comments on this post. The only comments that will be left screened are pingbacks (ungrateful as that may seem to the pingback bot).
This month's theme: Turning things around. I can see two major forks for this one. On the one hand, there's the sense of "what goes around comes around" - turnabout is fair play, and such. On the other, "there's two sides to every story" - taking things from a different perspective, either from the usual or from something already told. (The latter may lend itself to some of my pre-existing writings.)
At its root, it’s that simple. I will fulfil at least one prompt for everyone who comments, and do so in as timely a fashion as I can. As I get them completed, the fics will be on my storyblog and linked here for all to see and (hopefully) enjoy.
As usual, I will be taking donations. Donations are not mandatory. I will still do ~500 words for everybody as I can. Donations do have rewards, though, as follows:
What I Won’t Do
What I Will Do
Prompts open immediately, and run for a week unless I get swamped. I will complete the writing as I can. Illustrations for any piece due to get them may take longer, as quoting_mungo is not me and I can’t speak for her time, but we’ll still try to get those done in a timely fashion as well.
Comment to this post with your prompts, please! You may submit a number of them (please do, in fact), and I will select at least one among them to complete (unless I’m completely stuck, at which point I’ll ask for reprompts). And, as said above, if you donate and don't specify how you want things arranged, I will pick up to three that I can work with, plus more depending on how much you toss in the jar.
When donating, do not refer to your specific prompts. Say only that you are donating for QuickFic session 9, or (since PayPal should tag THAT detail at least in its notification email) your LJ name or similar; or just leave the default stuff there. All details about what you want written should be in prompts here, not in PayPal, and all details of what prompts you want your donations to go to (if you have a preference) should similarly be put in comments here. If you do donate, A) thank you, B) be sure to include something that will tie your donation to your prompt comment, such as commenting with / editing your comment to include the transaction ID or sending me a message on LJ (I will try to remember to check the message centre regularly, especially if I can't readily link your donation to your prompts) or, as mentioned above, including your LJ ID with the donation on PayPal's end. If it's trivially easy this won't be necessary (either I know you or your email is obviously in line with your LJ login or some signature in your comment), though it's best to at least say you tossed something in the jar; that way if I can't link the donation to you I can ask for more detail.
Again, anonymous comments will be open.
Work will be done more or less in sequence: each prompter in turn, along with their donation rewards (if they donated when they first prompted), with after-prompting donations woven in according to when they arrived. Overall rewards (extra prompts for everybody) will get done in sequence for prompts I haven't got to at all yet; for ones I've already addressed by the time the totals get high enough, they'll be added to the end of the queue, and then will be done in prompt order, more or less. If I get blocked on a prompt for more than a day, I'll try to make myself ask for a reprompt and move on to others in the meantime.
Thank you in advance for your interest, and please spread the word!
-BB
The premise is this: Comment here with a prompt - a sentence or two about a theme to base the writing around - or, ideally, several. I will (pick one, and) write flash fiction in response to that prompt, where “flash fiction” is in the neighbourhood of 500 words, erring more on the generous side. (I will refer to this below as a “block” of words: 500, within 5% low and 20% high. That is, each block will get you 475-600 words, and the margins add up with further blocks put toward any particular prompt.) For the benefit of those coming from other sites, you don't need to have a LiveJournal account to prompt - I am opening and unscreening anonymous comments on this post. The only comments that will be left screened are pingbacks (ungrateful as that may seem to the pingback bot).
This month's theme: Turning things around. I can see two major forks for this one. On the one hand, there's the sense of "what goes around comes around" - turnabout is fair play, and such. On the other, "there's two sides to every story" - taking things from a different perspective, either from the usual or from something already told. (The latter may lend itself to some of my pre-existing writings.)
At its root, it’s that simple. I will fulfil at least one prompt for everyone who comments, and do so in as timely a fashion as I can. As I get them completed, the fics will be on my storyblog and linked here for all to see and (hopefully) enjoy.
As usual, I will be taking donations. Donations are not mandatory. I will still do ~500 words for everybody as I can. Donations do have rewards, though, as follows:
- If you donate any amount, you get two additional blocks of words to allocate as you see fit. If you gave several prompts to begin with (as I would prefer for several reasons), I might wind up choosing one and writing it out long, or I might split your portion among several - depending on which of them grab me. If you really want a particular prompt as a priority, I can try to work with that, but it may risk a reprompt request if I get stuck. Extending an existing work (if you donate after your first prompt is answered, for instance, or opt to extend someone else's) is generally a little more likely to work out than picking a prompt that hasn't been written on yet, just in case I can't make progress on it.
- For every $5 (Canadian dollars) you donate, I will add another such package of words.
- If you donate $10 or more, the scene of your choice from any completed prompt in this call (not necessarily your own if something else catches your eye) will receive a penciled and perhaps lightly-shaded illustration courtesy of quoting_mungo. You don't need to decide right away what you want to see illustrated, if you'd rather wait and see the finished product - indeed, I'd prefer it that way.
- If you donate $35, bringing your base allotment to 10 blocks (1 free, 2 for donating, 7 at $5 ea), I will throw in another 10. This is enough for a short story of 10,000 words if they all get put to the same thing.
- However, I will be capping work at 25 blocks per person. A single donation of $55 will get to that threshold (counting the total incentive; see below). Donations beyond that are of course appreciated, but I want to keep this session's work reasonably self-contained.
- If total donations reach $50, everyone gets an additional free block of words.
- If the total meets or exceeds $100, everyone gets another free block, for a total of three (outside of individual donor rewards).
What I Won’t Do
- These are not commissions. If you donate, I will be grateful, and I will try to make a piece that you’ll enjoy, but the work will be done to my standards and the copyright will remain with me. If you want to point someone to a completed prompt, please link to it here or on my blog rather than reposting it yourself; the publicity is important to me.
- I will not write with someone else’s existing characters, your own or otherwise. I have enough trouble getting into someone else’s headspace at the best of times; for something like this I simply cannot afford the time and energy it would take, to say nothing of legal issues if they're not your own personal characters.
- I will not commit to hard kinks with which I am not already familiar. Kinks are hit-and-miss to begin with; I don’t want to promise something that I turn out to be unable to deliver.
What I Will Do
- The default for a given prompt will be standalone characters for that prompt, with no relation to any other writing. This may change if I see a good opportunity to fit it in somewhere else.
- I will do anthropomorphic animals (please stick to air-breathing vertebrates), humans, or standard fantasy races like elves, though they’re likely to get a personal slant. Default will probably be random furries, or humans. If you have a preference, say so in your prompt.
- I will work in settings in which I have previously written, in this journal or on my storyblog. If the pre-existing stories are incomplete, I may ask for a reprompt in the event that the prompt covers things I want to get to in my main writing. This also includes settings which I co-author, principally I.C.Q. (Any standalone fiction set in ICQverse will be illustrated by default.)
- With reservations (the “hesitation” kind, not the “book in advance” kind), I might work in existing settings which lend themselves to original characters, if I'm already familiar with the setting. This manner of writing doesn't really lend itself to the extensive research that would be required to fit into a new setting for me. If this happens, you're likely to get my own crazy head-canon, not necessarily a dead ringer for the official line - partly if not only because some authors sometimes seen to be downright crazy in the decisions they make regarding their own canons. Suggested tweaks to the canon may be a part of the prompt. (This might be best to avoid unless either you know me or you've seen me do work in that setting.)
- I will do clean or adult material. If your prompt can be completed without being naughty, I will assume you want it clean unless you specifically say naughty is okay, or have given me a "naughty is okay" signal in the past and not since revoked it. Even then, I'll generally only do it if it makes sense to do so; I won't put in adult material for its own sake.
- Your first block will always be from within your prompts. If you don't specify, that's also where I'll put any donor incentives. However, you're welcome to ask for an extension to another piece in this prompt call if it catches your eye.
- If I’m stuck on your prompts, either overall or those you've specified for some degree of work, I may ask for a reprompt in order to have something I can work with.
Prompts open immediately, and run for a week unless I get swamped. I will complete the writing as I can. Illustrations for any piece due to get them may take longer, as quoting_mungo is not me and I can’t speak for her time, but we’ll still try to get those done in a timely fashion as well.
Comment to this post with your prompts, please! You may submit a number of them (please do, in fact), and I will select at least one among them to complete (unless I’m completely stuck, at which point I’ll ask for reprompts). And, as said above, if you donate and don't specify how you want things arranged, I will pick up to three that I can work with, plus more depending on how much you toss in the jar.
When donating, do not refer to your specific prompts. Say only that you are donating for QuickFic session 9, or (since PayPal should tag THAT detail at least in its notification email) your LJ name or similar; or just leave the default stuff there. All details about what you want written should be in prompts here, not in PayPal, and all details of what prompts you want your donations to go to (if you have a preference) should similarly be put in comments here. If you do donate, A) thank you, B) be sure to include something that will tie your donation to your prompt comment, such as commenting with / editing your comment to include the transaction ID or sending me a message on LJ (I will try to remember to check the message centre regularly, especially if I can't readily link your donation to your prompts) or, as mentioned above, including your LJ ID with the donation on PayPal's end. If it's trivially easy this won't be necessary (either I know you or your email is obviously in line with your LJ login or some signature in your comment), though it's best to at least say you tossed something in the jar; that way if I can't link the donation to you I can ask for more detail.
Again, anonymous comments will be open.
Work will be done more or less in sequence: each prompter in turn, along with their donation rewards (if they donated when they first prompted), with after-prompting donations woven in according to when they arrived. Overall rewards (extra prompts for everybody) will get done in sequence for prompts I haven't got to at all yet; for ones I've already addressed by the time the totals get high enough, they'll be added to the end of the queue, and then will be done in prompt order, more or less. If I get blocked on a prompt for more than a day, I'll try to make myself ask for a reprompt and move on to others in the meantime.
Thank you in advance for your interest, and please spread the word!
-BB