The 2011 Rules and Sign-ups Post: "This guy has got the weirdest tastes of any cop I've ever known."
Sign-ups for the 2011 fkficfest/
fkficfest ficathon are open! Our mission: fantastic, fresh Forever Knight fanfiction and fun! Please read the rules in this post and think over your prompts. To sign-up, comment on this post by May 20 (11:59 PM Pacific Time).
(Comments are screened. We will unscreen and answer questions. Sign-ups will stay screened. Prompts are final when submitted; please don't edit.)
What's new for 2011? (1) We are on Dreamwidth as well as LiveJournal. (2) We have a maximum story length of five LJ or two DW posts. (3) Stories will not necessarily release in the order submitted.
Timeline
No stories will be released until all stories are in. Stories will release one per day up to ten players, and two per day above ten. If all stories come in early, we'll begin releasing early.
Stories will release in an order determined by the mods to help maximize readability and share the fun for all. (For example, very long stories will be released singularly on weekend days, and stories released on the same day will be of different types/ratings when possible.) Release order may or may not reflect submission order.
Meet Your Mods
Your mods are brightknightie (Knightie Amy) and amilyn (Natpacker Amy). You may know us from the PSU email lists in days gone by, or from LJ and DW more recently. All official ficathon communications come from and go to fkficfestmod (email address: fkficfestmod (at) rittenhurst (dot) com). Anything addressed to the individual mods at their personal blogs or email addresses is considered personal correspondence, not ficathon business.
The Rules
Game Play Summary: Each player (1) submits a slate of three prompts, (2) receives in return a slate of three prompts submitted by someone else, (3) writes one story of at least 1,000 words to fulfill any one of the three prompts received, (4) receives one story that fulfills one of the three prompts submitted, and (5) FK is celebrated and a grand time is had by all!
Posting
The community is set to moderated posting. When you finish your story, please post it to the community. (This ficathon is not anonymous, like some. Posting as yourself lets you keep editing control of your own story post, in case of last-minute typos or future concerns that we can't imagine today.)
Stories will be released from the moderation queue at one or two per day -- depending on the number of players -- as soon as all entries have been turned in. (Yes, this is the incentive for getting all stories in as soon as possible!) Many ficathons release all stories at once in a great waterfall of fiction, but since we're all-FK here, we choose a steady stream of stories in hopes that this will help everyone find time to read and comment on many of them.
If your story is too big for one post, you may submit multiple posts, but no more than five on LJ and two on DW.
We prefer to have your story actually on the community, rather than only a link to it elsewhere. If you'd like to add a link in your story post to your story in an archive elsewhere after the ficathon, that's great.
Tip: You can post your story to your own journal -- set “private,” so no one else can see it! -- before posting it to the community. This lets you check the formatting/appearance.
Steps:
Understand that the community is set to moderated posting. Your story post will go into the queue, and will stay there, invisible and unreachable, until released by the mods. The mods can also delete posts from the queue as needed.
Example Headers
If Natalie were playing in this ficathon, her story subject line and header might look like this:If Janette were playing in this ficathon, her story subject line and header might look like this:"Cause of Life" by Natlamb (PG, Gen)
Title: "Cause of Life"
Author: Natlamb
Beta-Reader: Raven2U
Recipient: Plantsaretheanswer
Prompt: Nick & Natalie. "It ain't no sin to be glad you're alive" -- Springsteen, "Badlands"
Length: 1,300 words
Rating/Warnings: PG-13. Highlight to view: * No Warnings *
Summary: The case of a murdered baseball player gives Nick hope, Natalie an idea, and Schanke indigestion.
"A High-Walled Garden" by Raven2U (NC-17, M/F)
Title: "A High-Walled Garden"
Author: Raven2U
Beta-Reader: Littlebear
Recipient: DarkButton
Prompt: Tracy/Vachon. Tracy's interest in past lives surprises Vachon.
Length: 3,481 words
Characters: Tracy, Vachon, Nick, Urs, Reese, Natalie, Others
Rating/Warnings: NC-17. Highlight to view: * explicit sex, explicit violence, character death *
Signing Up
Please list a reasonable number of characters for your writer, and remember that your writer may also include any other character(s) he or she wishes to write.
(In your sign-up, there's space to state what you'd rather not read or write. Please do not bash other characters, pairings or factions; just say they're not your cup of Ribena.)
The Sign-Up Template:
Username:
E-mail:
~~~~~~~~~~
FOR YOUR WRITER TO SEE
Gen Request
Characters:
Prompt:
Pairing Request
Characters:
Prompt:
Wildcard Request
Characters:
Prompt:
Faction/Affiliation or Favorite Character:
Maximum Rating Enjoyed (G/PG/PG13/R/NC17):
Five Things You Love To Read:
Five Things You Prefer to Avoid Reading:
~~~~~~~~~~
FOR YOUR MODS TO USE
Three Things You Will Not Write:
Three Things You Love To Write:
Are You Willing To Be A Back-Up Writer?
~~~~~~~~~~
Example Sign-Ups
If Nick were playing in this ficathon, his sign-up might look like this:If Lacroix were playing in this ficathon, his sign-up might look like this:Username: NBK
E-mail: nknight@metropd.gov.ca
~~~~~~~~~~
FOR YOUR WRITER TO SEE
Gen Request
Characters: Natalie, Schanke, Nick
Prompt: “True is it that we have seen better days …therefore sit you down in gentleness” -- Shakespeare
Pairing Request
Characters: Marian/Nick
Prompt: What if Marian (from “Blackwing”) had lived?
Wildcard Request
Characters: Natalie
Prompt: medical school
Faction/Affiliation or Favorite Character: Die-Hard (Refuse to Choose)
Maximum Rating Enjoyed: No higher than PG-13, please.
Five Things You Love To Read: angst with hope, Nick regaining mortality, historical fiction, spiritual struggles, automotive trivia
Five Things You Prefer to Avoid Reading: non-con, evil triumphant, Nick embracing vampirism, Valentine (Lacroix/Natalie), Lacroix inside Nick's mind
~~~~~~~~~~
FOR YOUR MODS TO USE
Three Things You Will Not Write: non-con, humor, Nick killing people he loves
Three Things You Love To Write: Angsty introspection, baseball, characters who are musicians or artists like Nick
Are You Willing To Be A Back-Up Writer? No.
~~~~~~~~~~Username: Rosebud
E-mail: rosebud@freenet.to.ca
~~~~~~~~~~
FOR YOUR WRITER TO SEE
Gen Request
Characters: Lacroix & Nick
Prompt: The Nightcrawler wins a major broadcasting award. Nicholas is impressed. The Enforcers are not.
Pairing Request
Characters: Lacroix/Selene
Prompt: before Divia was born
Wildcard Request
Characters: Nick/Janette & Lacroix -or- Lacroix/Nick & Janette -or Lacroix/Nick/Janette
Prompt: carved in stone
Faction/Affiliation or Favorite Character: Cousin, UF, Valentine, Faithful, Seducer…
Maximum Rating Enjoyed: No preference
Five Things You Love To Read: plot, metaphor, Nicholas embracing vampirism, Lacroix winning, vampire eroticism
Five Things You Prefer to Avoid Reading: fluff, Nicholas regaining mortality, Lacroix stymied, Nicholas/Natalie, mpreg
~~~~~~~~~~
FOR YOUR MODS TO USE
Three Things You Will Not Write: Nicholas regaining humanity, Nicholas romancing a mortal successfully, "Lite" Lacroix
Three Things You Love To Write: Nicholas/Janette, Nicholas embracing vampirism, historical fiction
Are You Willing To Be A Back-Up Writer? Yes.
~~~~~~~~~~
In Conclusion
Want to know more about your recipient's preferences? Check out your recipient's blog or fanfic! If you have friends in common, you might try asking them. But please keep secret from your recipient that you're the one. Your story will be a surprise gift to your specific recipient, and a treat for all FK fanfic readers.
Thanks for playing! Have fun! Love FK!
Don't forget to join the community, and to watch our posts! All reminders will be posted here.
Crossposted on DW
fkficfest ficathon are open! Our mission: fantastic, fresh Forever Knight fanfiction and fun! Please read the rules in this post and think over your prompts. To sign-up, comment on this post by May 20 (11:59 PM Pacific Time).
(Comments are screened. We will unscreen and answer questions. Sign-ups will stay screened. Prompts are final when submitted; please don't edit.)
What's new for 2011? (1) We are on Dreamwidth as well as LiveJournal. (2) We have a maximum story length of five LJ or two DW posts. (3) Stories will not necessarily release in the order submitted.
Timeline
- 04/20: Sign-ups open.
- 05/20: Sign-ups close.
- 05/22: Prompt assignments sent.
- 06/20: Deadline to drop out in good grace.
- 07/16: Stories due.
- 07/17: Pinch-hitter assignments sent.
- 07/18: Stories begin releasing.
- 07/25: Pinch-hitter stories due. (This date may shift.)
No stories will be released until all stories are in. Stories will release one per day up to ten players, and two per day above ten. If all stories come in early, we'll begin releasing early.
Stories will release in an order determined by the mods to help maximize readability and share the fun for all. (For example, very long stories will be released singularly on weekend days, and stories released on the same day will be of different types/ratings when possible.) Release order may or may not reflect submission order.
Meet Your Mods
Your mods are brightknightie (Knightie Amy) and amilyn (Natpacker Amy). You may know us from the PSU email lists in days gone by, or from LJ and DW more recently. All official ficathon communications come from and go to fkficfestmod (email address: fkficfestmod (at) rittenhurst (dot) com). Anything addressed to the individual mods at their personal blogs or email addresses is considered personal correspondence, not ficathon business.
The Rules
Game Play Summary: Each player (1) submits a slate of three prompts, (2) receives in return a slate of three prompts submitted by someone else, (3) writes one story of at least 1,000 words to fulfill any one of the three prompts received, (4) receives one story that fulfills one of the three prompts submitted, and (5) FK is celebrated and a grand time is had by all!
- So that's three prompts, but only one story?
Right. Each player submits and receives three prompts, but writes only one story. (Writing more than one story is allowed, but is not required (nor expected nor typical).) - What are the three kinds of prompts/stories?
Each player must submit one gen, one pairing, and one wildcard prompt. This gives the writer options. Here, we use these definitions:- A "gen" story is primarily about anything except romantic and/or sexual relationships or activities. So stories that are primarily about building a friendship, solving a crime, strengthening a family, finding a cure, saving a life, taking a life, getting a haircut . . . all these are "gen." (Yes, romance and sex may be mentioned in gen stories. But in a gen story, those must be minor elements.)
- A "pairing" story is primarily about romantic and/or sexual relationships or activities. So stories that are primarily about finding love, losing love, forbidding love, having sex, missing sex, adapting sex, getting married . . . all these count as "pairing." (Yes, by all means, mysteries may be solved, themes explored, and haircuts gotten in pairing stories. Pairing stories are not necessarily "plot, what plot?"! Although they may be, if you think your recipient would like that.) M/f, m/m and f/f pairings are all equally allowed, rated and respected.
- A "wildcard" prompt may be anything you like. You may list another gen prompt, or another pairing prompt, or something combining the two. (This would also be the place for a threesome or moresome request, rather than under "pairing.")
Please note that an ampersand ("&") designates a gen combination, and a slash ("/") designates a pairing combination. (For example, "Nick & Lacroix" is a gen, Cousin-of-the-Knight prompt, while "Nick/Lacroix" is a pairing, Unnamed Faction prompt.) - How long must/may the story be?
Stories must be a minimum of 1,000 words. Stories may reach a maximum length of five posts on LJ (which is the maximum permitted in a paid community's queue by a single poster) or two posts on DW (which is roughly equivalent in length to the LJ allowance).
LJ posts may be up to 65K bytes in size (roughly 65K characters), and DW 300K. Note that this includes formatting code as well as text. The more formatting you use, the fewer words you can fit. - What about beta-reading?
Please have your story beta-read before posting, and please revise and edit it as needed. There will be a post to help beta-readers and writers to find each other. (Your mods are not able to match beta readers with writers and are officially unavailable for beta-reading purposes -- although they may, or may not, individually volunteer when the time comes just like everyone else.) - CANS O' WORMS. What is forbidden?
- Underage Sex. No character who is, or who appears to be, under the age of eighteen may be depicted "on screen" in sexual activity with anyone. If a plot requires such activity to have happened, it must take place "off screen." (For example, sex scenes with Divia are prohibited.)
- Human Incest. No characters with human family consanguinity within the third degree may be depicted "on screen" in sexual activity with each other. If a plot requires such activity to have happened, it must take place "off screen." (For example, Richard/Natalie is prohibited.)
- Crossovers. No crossovers. However, you can bring in other works the way canon did, if needed. Emily Weiss of "Stranger Than Fiction" is analogous to Anne Rice. "Curiouser and Curiouser" is all over Alice in Wonderland. The Hound of the Baskervilles originates in "Blind Faith." Nick and Lacroix both quote classic literature, and Nick and Natalie watch old movies. (For example, meeting Major Nelson is prohibited, but Schanke watching I Dream of Jeannie is allowed.)
- Real People. No real private individuals. But public figures may play roles in your story consistent with their accepted roles in history and the example of canon (for example, Saint Joan in "For I Have Sinned," Rasputin in "Strings," Hitler in "Jane Doe," Jack the Ripper in "Bad Blood," and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in "Blind Faith").
- Trolling or Flaming or Offensive Prompts. If the two mods agree that you have trolled or flamed, you will be banned. We are pro-Forever Knight, diversity, tolerance, kindness, respect, truth, justice, and the Canadian Way . . . okay, yes, that's just the Knightie Creed. But you know what we mean! Constructive criticism is fine. Bashing is not.
- What if I have to drop out?
We understand that sometimes Real Life problems get in the way of fannish commitments. However, dropping out means that we have to scramble for a back-up writer. That's not fair to your recipient or the back-up. If you are going to drop out, please do so by one month before the due date. The deadline to drop out in good grace is June 20, 2011. Anyone defaulting after that date will not be allowed to participate in any future FKFicFest ficathons. - When can I post my story elsewhere?
Please wait until after the last story posts on the ficathon before also posting your story to fkfic-l, your blog, AO3 or elsewhere. We're hoping that people will come to the community to read your story, and stick around to read others' stories, too! (If you feel like it, please do point out and link to your story in your own blog when it posts here, so your friends can find your story and the ficathon.) - Should I post on LiveJournal or on Dreamwidth?
Your mods will mirror all admin posts. If one site is having a bad day, meet us on the other. For your story, please pick one site and post to the community queue on that site only. We will post a note with a link in the other community when your story releases; this should help everyone enjoy equally, consolidate feedback, and keep the community united across the sites. - What's with all the jargon? -or- Help! I don't know the factions!
Faction/affiliation names and other jargon from the PSU lists and the show itself are some of the joys the FK fandom! However, our special FK language has evolved through generations of fans. We may want to translate for each other, to define "Immortal Beloved" or "IB" as "Nick/Janette," for example. For more information on factions, check out the detailed "Factions" entry on the FK Wiki.
Posting
The community is set to moderated posting. When you finish your story, please post it to the community. (This ficathon is not anonymous, like some. Posting as yourself lets you keep editing control of your own story post, in case of last-minute typos or future concerns that we can't imagine today.)
Stories will be released from the moderation queue at one or two per day -- depending on the number of players -- as soon as all entries have been turned in. (Yes, this is the incentive for getting all stories in as soon as possible!) Many ficathons release all stories at once in a great waterfall of fiction, but since we're all-FK here, we choose a steady stream of stories in hopes that this will help everyone find time to read and comment on many of them.
If your story is too big for one post, you may submit multiple posts, but no more than five on LJ and two on DW.
We prefer to have your story actually on the community, rather than only a link to it elsewhere. If you'd like to add a link in your story post to your story in an archive elsewhere after the ficathon, that's great.
Tip: You can post your story to your own journal -- set “private,” so no one else can see it! -- before posting it to the community. This lets you check the formatting/appearance.
Steps:
- Give your post a subject line with the title, rating and type (gen or pairing).
- Put everything except your header behind a cut-tag.
- Your header must include, at minimum, the title, author, recipient, beta-reader, rating, and any warnings. (Any more is up to you.) The template is below, so you can copy-and-paste, and fill it in. Please note that we use the "white on white" warnings format, so that people can choose to avoid spoilers.
- Select the applicable tags.
- Check that your story is not friends-locked, and that it has the appropriate “adult content” setting if applicable.
- Submit.
Title:
Author:
Beta-Reader:
Recipient:
Prompt:
Length:
Rating/Warnings: InsertRatingHere. Highlight to view: * InsertWarningHere *
Understand that the community is set to moderated posting. Your story post will go into the queue, and will stay there, invisible and unreachable, until released by the mods. The mods can also delete posts from the queue as needed.
Example Headers
If Natalie were playing in this ficathon, her story subject line and header might look like this:If Janette were playing in this ficathon, her story subject line and header might look like this:"Cause of Life" by Natlamb (PG, Gen)
Title: "Cause of Life"
Author: Natlamb
Beta-Reader: Raven2U
Recipient: Plantsaretheanswer
Prompt: Nick & Natalie. "It ain't no sin to be glad you're alive" -- Springsteen, "Badlands"
Length: 1,300 words
Rating/Warnings: PG-13. Highlight to view: * No Warnings *
Summary: The case of a murdered baseball player gives Nick hope, Natalie an idea, and Schanke indigestion.
"A High-Walled Garden" by Raven2U (NC-17, M/F)
Title: "A High-Walled Garden"
Author: Raven2U
Beta-Reader: Littlebear
Recipient: DarkButton
Prompt: Tracy/Vachon. Tracy's interest in past lives surprises Vachon.
Length: 3,481 words
Characters: Tracy, Vachon, Nick, Urs, Reese, Natalie, Others
Rating/Warnings: NC-17. Highlight to view: * explicit sex, explicit violence, character death *
Signing Up
Please list a reasonable number of characters for your writer, and remember that your writer may also include any other character(s) he or she wishes to write.
(In your sign-up, there's space to state what you'd rather not read or write. Please do not bash other characters, pairings or factions; just say they're not your cup of Ribena.)
The Sign-Up Template:
Username:
E-mail:
~~~~~~~~~~
FOR YOUR WRITER TO SEE
Gen Request
Characters:
Prompt:
Pairing Request
Characters:
Prompt:
Wildcard Request
Characters:
Prompt:
Faction/Affiliation or Favorite Character:
Maximum Rating Enjoyed (G/PG/PG13/R/NC17):
Five Things You Love To Read:
Five Things You Prefer to Avoid Reading:
~~~~~~~~~~
FOR YOUR MODS TO USE
Three Things You Will Not Write:
Three Things You Love To Write:
Are You Willing To Be A Back-Up Writer?
~~~~~~~~~~
Example Sign-Ups
If Nick were playing in this ficathon, his sign-up might look like this:If Lacroix were playing in this ficathon, his sign-up might look like this:Username: NBK
E-mail: nknight@metropd.gov.ca
~~~~~~~~~~
FOR YOUR WRITER TO SEE
Gen Request
Characters: Natalie, Schanke, Nick
Prompt: “True is it that we have seen better days …therefore sit you down in gentleness” -- Shakespeare
Pairing Request
Characters: Marian/Nick
Prompt: What if Marian (from “Blackwing”) had lived?
Wildcard Request
Characters: Natalie
Prompt: medical school
Faction/Affiliation or Favorite Character: Die-Hard (Refuse to Choose)
Maximum Rating Enjoyed: No higher than PG-13, please.
Five Things You Love To Read: angst with hope, Nick regaining mortality, historical fiction, spiritual struggles, automotive trivia
Five Things You Prefer to Avoid Reading: non-con, evil triumphant, Nick embracing vampirism, Valentine (Lacroix/Natalie), Lacroix inside Nick's mind
~~~~~~~~~~
FOR YOUR MODS TO USE
Three Things You Will Not Write: non-con, humor, Nick killing people he loves
Three Things You Love To Write: Angsty introspection, baseball, characters who are musicians or artists like Nick
Are You Willing To Be A Back-Up Writer? No.
~~~~~~~~~~Username: Rosebud
E-mail: rosebud@freenet.to.ca
~~~~~~~~~~
FOR YOUR WRITER TO SEE
Gen Request
Characters: Lacroix & Nick
Prompt: The Nightcrawler wins a major broadcasting award. Nicholas is impressed. The Enforcers are not.
Pairing Request
Characters: Lacroix/Selene
Prompt: before Divia was born
Wildcard Request
Characters: Nick/Janette & Lacroix -or- Lacroix/Nick & Janette -or Lacroix/Nick/Janette
Prompt: carved in stone
Faction/Affiliation or Favorite Character: Cousin, UF, Valentine, Faithful, Seducer…
Maximum Rating Enjoyed: No preference
Five Things You Love To Read: plot, metaphor, Nicholas embracing vampirism, Lacroix winning, vampire eroticism
Five Things You Prefer to Avoid Reading: fluff, Nicholas regaining mortality, Lacroix stymied, Nicholas/Natalie, mpreg
~~~~~~~~~~
FOR YOUR MODS TO USE
Three Things You Will Not Write: Nicholas regaining humanity, Nicholas romancing a mortal successfully, "Lite" Lacroix
Three Things You Love To Write: Nicholas/Janette, Nicholas embracing vampirism, historical fiction
Are You Willing To Be A Back-Up Writer? Yes.
~~~~~~~~~~
In Conclusion
Want to know more about your recipient's preferences? Check out your recipient's blog or fanfic! If you have friends in common, you might try asking them. But please keep secret from your recipient that you're the one. Your story will be a surprise gift to your specific recipient, and a treat for all FK fanfic readers.
Thanks for playing! Have fun! Love FK!
Don't forget to join the community, and to watch our posts! All reminders will be posted here.
Crossposted on DW