Comments | risingtides: Challenge Comms... a challenge?

risingtides

Challenge Comms... a challenge?

Sep 08, 2005 13:20

I'm of two minds about the existence of challenge comms.

I find they do provide inspiration, but they're also a distraction. I often find myself setting aside my "projects" to perform in a challenge comm. If I needed the inspiration, it'd be one thing, but I don't. Instead, it riles my competitive side (and I AM one competitive bitch when things ( Read more... )

Comments 16

jgal87 September 8 2005, 14:59:18 UTC

Well ...true ... ^^;; The 30 themes comms are indeed coming up rapidly... Well...at least, some of the comms themes were not replicas of those which exists -_-() I would die if I had to do the same themes again and again for all the couples I'd claimed in various thirty comms.

"The Bet" challenge comm? Sounds interesting... but what's it about?

risingtides September 8 2005, 15:19:42 UTC

...it was a classic of anime fandom, back in the mid-90s. Basically, it was creating AUs by changing one detail - it's very similar to my usual style.

jgal87 September 8 2005, 15:21:47 UTC

Aa... I see ^^;; (sorry, can't think of anything to say... especially Naruto was controlling my mind at the moment -_-)

(The comment has been removed)

Thread 5

muzivitch September 17 2005, 11:56:28 UTC

I quite agree on the challenge thing. I like temps_mort because its more of a prompt and doesn't have the whole commitment problem.

The commitment problem is why I quit 30_kisses; it was infinitely more a commitment than it was fun, so off it went.

What I'd like to see is a community where you get a prompt a day, and you don't have to participate. That kind of thing would be more successful in getting my writing juices going.

risingtides September 17 2005, 14:21:09 UTC

I just noticed you set one up! Good luck with it. I will miss your ShinMitsu goodness, though.

I am trying to tone down on my fic challenge thing (I have 100fandomhell to make me miserable, and I am going to finish 30_kisses) so I can... like, write those longer epics.

Doing a xover between Tsubasa and X, and for some reason, it makes me think of you.

muzivitch September 17 2005, 15:50:42 UTC

I did indeed, and crossposted it to every fan community I'm in, from Alias to X to Prince of Tennis.

I stopped having ideas for 30_kisses, and thus it became stressful.

aishuu September 17 2005, 17:20:27 UTC

...I know, I got about four of them. *thwaps! thwaps!*

I've always got ideas, but they sound repetitive to me after a while....

fujis October 2 2005, 01:50:45 UTC

Yes I have face the similiar feelings regarding some communities.

"People start out challenge comms pretty gun-ho, but after the shine wears off, there's a few devote churning things out while the"

I totally agree with this. When I first began the community 31_days i was all wheeee lets go! It diverted my attention to some other projects that I shouldn't neglect. However the particular shine has weared off and I feel infinitely restless.

The whole point of improvement seem to have head down the hole of the paradox of Lewis C.'s Alice in Wonderland. In a way some of the community challenges seem repetitive and even if some of it seems like fun I feel myself drifting away.

Then I start to wonder is this the end of me? I surely hope it's one of those lay down depressive moments that I will rebound with delight and energy once again to write in several conjuncts and insane philosophical approaches to matter of human relations.

Sorry Aishuu-chan I'm babbling again. <-been babbling a lot lately. We'll I'll just post this comment ( ... )

aishuu October 2 2005, 04:19:46 UTC

I think I feel that challenge comms are fine as long as they serve a purpose. T_M improved my writing SPEED quite a bit, which has helped in real life. However, all these 30 challenge communities don't seem to do anything. *shrugs* I've not started on 31_days though I've been a member since the start. I might do a couple themes this month, since I'm AUs really are my first love.

fujis October 3 2005, 00:37:37 UTC

I've been feeling my writing skills lower lately. I guess I am going through writers block. *Flinches*

But it is good at least you get some stuff written. Yeah 31_days has AU's I'm not sure what I should do regarding those themes.

two_if_by_sea October 3 2005, 22:35:48 UTC

I feel like the one sentence fic thing is less "vogue ficcing" than it is a form of challenge in and of itself-- in creative writing class they try to get us to write 55 word stories and I feel like the one sentence fic is a variation thereof. It gets out of hand if you start taking it as a serious work of um, literature, or uh, fic, or whatever, but if it's taken lightly, as fun, it's no different than, say, writing prompted drabbles?

Just my two cents.

risingtides October 4 2005, 05:11:24 UTC

I see anything that becomes a "fashion" as vogue ficcing, because most people do it to hop on the bandwagon.

two_if_by_sea October 6 2005, 23:54:09 UTC

So hmmm... is your issue with vogue ficcing the fact that everyone jumps on the bandwagon and it's no longer ficcing? Or do you just dislike it because, well, there are things that everyone dislikes and one yours happens to be vogue ficcing? Do you feel as if one sentence is not long enough? or that the very set up of the one-sentence meme denies the drabble that is written, um, proper fic status? Or are you upset because this shows our impatience with reading, our lack of attention spans as you noted? (If I remember correctly, you also had once made a post about your ambivalence to drabbles, right?)

risingtides October 7 2005, 04:24:54 UTC

Yes, I am not fond of drabbles as an "artform" either.

I think "vogue ficcing" distracts quite a bit from a writer's focus. Our attention spans are so short.

measuringlife October 21 2005, 04:28:44 UTC

Just wandering though, figured I'd drop my .2 cents.

I'm a bit divided when it comes to challenge communities, I'm in a few, not a huge amount but enough to keep me scrambling at times and wishing I'd had the foresight to not claim two couples at 30_kisses

In a lot of cases, it's a really good thing, especially in small fandoms, or more obscure pairings. For example, having finally started looking for Sukisyo fanwork, for one particular coupling, one person has written half the fics in a claim. If she hadn't made that claim, there'd be aproximately two fics written for this pairing. Does that mean that each ficlet is a epic? No, but all were very enjoyable and well written.

But it also tends to put quantity > quality. When I first joined I had tons of plans, but when it comes to actually doing it, it seems ever so daunting. I had to resort to quick drabbles when it came to the second claim, and I rather regret that-- For I love the pairing and found so few good fiction for it, but because I claimed two, my attention is divided and I can' ( ... )