goverment shutdown:soulmates-eagleton intro/prompt post + Artist Highlight and 10 facts challenge
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Hello Pawneeans! Welcome to Government Shutdown, leslie_ben 's summer hiatus activities. This week will be hosted by yours truly and covers Soulmates, Jerry's Painting, and Eagleton.
So I'm really excited about being in charge of these three episodes, because honestly I feel like this period in Leslie and Ben's relationship, when they both know there's an attraction there, but there's this period of denial and longing could have been almost an entire season in and of itself (and probably would have been on any other show). And in a lot of ways . . . this is where fic writers live this is were we thrive (all you have to do is go on the delicious archive an click on 'Jerry's Painting' and see how many fics came out of that to understand what I mean.
So as usual this is our prompt post a place to prompt ideas for fic/fanmixes/art/vids/picspam/podfic etc related to this week's episodes and theme. I thought I would go ahead and kick this off with a few fic prompts of my own (one for each ep) then please feel free to add your own.
Soulmates -- "But he seemed so into you!" -- So the jump from Fancy Party to Leslie asking Ben out in Soulmates was a pretty quick turnaround in the wide world of tv romances. Normally we would have gotten a few more episodes to build this transition. So your challenge -- Give that to us. Give us Leslie's conversation with Ann, her thought process, maybe a look back at little moments with Ben that make her realize yes I want to pursue this guy. Ask him out. Basically we've had a dozen fics about Ben's evolution of falling in love with Leslie. Give us the flipside maybe with a deleated scene or two.
Jerry's Painting -- "And Some Were Tricksters" -- Where did that painting go? Seriously, where did it go? I need fic about that painting, and more specifically Ben finding that painting again.
Eagleton -- "It's Ben" "It's not important. It won't come up again." -- When does it come up again? Leslie sort of looked like she was starting to rekindle her friendship with Lindsay. What if she does? Does LIndsay ever run into Ben again? What's that like? How does that go?
And because we had such success with it during Hiatus Fest -- six one word challenges pulled from two things from each ep. Write some or all, set within this period or sometime in the future relating back
wildflowersturkey-burgersmarshmallow gunDiaphenabaseballcupcakes
Finally one last prompt -- AU Prompt (this is pretty much obligatory for me by now)-- Shop Around the Corner Remix -- Okay from some reason Ben Wyatt and Jimmy Stewart movies kind of got hand in hand for me, so I love the idea of doing Ben and Leslie to a retelling of "Shop Around the Corner" (which for those of you who aren't familiar was remade in the Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan fic "You've Got Mail"). Basic premise: two people meet online or by letter and communicate and basically fall in love with each other without ever meeting. Meanwhile they simultaneously meet in real life and can't stand each other. Until eventually they figure it out and have to resolve these two pictures. I think this is actually a premise which fits Ben and Leslie very well and could be totally cute to see them do. (And for those who are on angst overload right now might be a good antidote) So what does this have to do with this weeks theme you say? Well Ann's talk about online dating and all the "great guys out there" was what made start to think about this whole concept in the first place. Who knows maybe they meet on "Hoosier Mate".
Special Challenges -- in addition to the fic prompts there are three special challenges/events I'd like to put out there for the community
Artist Highlight:
In celebration of "Jerry's Painting" I would really like to encourage all our fantastic graphic artists out there to post something. Anything. Drawings, gifs, wallpapers, fanmix covers (with or without fanmixes), banners, etc. Whether it's something new or a piece your particularly proud of that you want to post and talk about creating it. Just this should basically be an visual arts celebration week.
DVD Commentary Challenge Extension -- So since I had originally planned to do a DVD Commentary Challenge and we had such challenges with LJ last week, I thought I'd extend the DVD commentary challenge through this week as well. If you're an author and you even contemplated doing this last week . . . take this as your sign.
Ten Facts Challenge: Finally we're going to do a Ten Facts Challenge. What is this you ask? Well this is a writing exercise where you take a little time to write snippets/drabbles for ten facts of head cannon about Ben or Leslie or Ben and Leslie together. You don't need to do an entire story. In fact the point is explicitly not to do a whole story. But to concentrate just on that moment on that piece of background or character fact. So ever wanted to write something about Ben's impeachment but didn't necessarily have a story to put with it? Make it a fact. Want to do a little scene or paragraph of observation about Leslie and Lindsay five years ago? Make it a fact. This is a great challenge for people who are just starting to dip their toes in the water and a good way to start learning to give your character detailed backstories. So I hope to see lots of new names here. Underneath the cut are the rules and one example:
Example Fact: When Ben Wyatt gets to a new town he has a routine, a system. Goes through a kind of superstitious ritual, like an athlete putting his game face on. He gets a binder for every department the town has (black always black) puts their budget the front, their employment roster all the way at the back. He buys a ton of Ramen Noodles (just as insurance) and a case of beer for the mini-fridge. He figures out what channel shows the baseball games and then (and he knows this is stupid) but the night before he goes in for the first set of meetings he watches 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington' (to remind himself who he wants to be), and then turns around and plays the 'Imperial March' on the drive in that morning (to remind himself who he has to be). The morning he drives in to 'Pioneer Hall' his iPod breaks leaving the echo of that 'Capraesque' optimism still rattling around in his head. Looking back he will think it was probably a sign.
Okay so that's what it looks like -- here are the rules:
1. There is no word limit here. Make it a sentence. Make it a paragraph. Make it three paragraphs.
2. While this is obviously not a requirement, I would encourage and hope that you would post it here in the hopes that it will all get us inspired and chatting.
3. If a fact that is written by another author inspires you in some way so that you want to turn it into a large story, you must ask the author for permission to use it and then credit the author in your notes. We're all really nice here, don't be shy, I doubt anyone will turn you down unless it's wound up inspiring the author and they're intending to use their own facts in a story they're working on or think they might work on.
♥ This Week's Schedule ♥
Okay so this is obviously a lot so there will be reminder posts through the week.
Today: Prompt/Discussion post + Ten Facts challenge!
Saturday: Episode 3x10 "Soulmates" rewatch and discussion
Monday: Art Rec post/Artist Appreciation Day -- in celebration of Jerry's Painting I'd like to do a post that's specifically focused on the great graphics artists and icon-makers out there. Post links to your favorite graphics (obviously not the graphics themselves). Talk about an artist/graphic maker whose work/style you love.
Tuesday: Fic Rec post for Soulmates - Eagleton.
Wednesday: Wrap-up post
As always, additional information on Government Shutdown as well as the schedule can be found here.