Valentine's Day Cuddles, Snuggles, Kisses and Porn Multi-Fandom Story Tree - FAQ
For many of us, it's cold, we're buried under two feet of snow and we need a little warming up. So for one week, between today and Valentine's Day, on my personal journals I'm running a multi-fandom V-Day story tree.
What's a story tree? It's a set of 'connected' short stories. Not a round robin story or anything like that, but where connection between fics comes from using the last word of one fic as the first word in the next story. If someone starts with an Stargate: Atlantis story, you can follow with a Hawaii 5-0 story and someone can follow you with a NCIS story... There does not need to be a continuing plot line or theme between fics.
Q: How does this work?
A: Let me explain... with pictures for the visual learners in the room, like me...
If the first story ends with the word "Brief"
At least one story would need to start with the word "Brief".
Let's say that second story ends with "light", the next story can begin with *either* "brief" or "light". If a story that comes after that ends with "down" then anyone following up can start with "down", "brief" or "light".
We can be seventy stories in and you can still post your story that starts with "brief" or any of the other 69 ending words until the challenge closes.
Get it?
Q: What fandoms/pairings/topics can we write about?
A: Any fandom is fair game. To keep the legal-eagles happy, no RPF with graphic sex with characters who are under 18 in real life through the end of February. Any pairing is fine, no professed pairing is fine. This is a Valentine's Day challenge, so let's try to be upbeat with it. See the title: Cuddles, Snuggles, Kisses and Porn. So, you know, graphic violence, deathfic, issues of consent... probably not great for this project. If you want to do something gen and fluffy, it's all good. Basically we're going for, by the end of the fic, a little emotional lift.
Q: How long can a story be?
A: It should be at least a drabble - 100 words. It can be as long as will fit in a comment. Please do not split your story into multiple comments or link back to your journal for parts that didn't fit. It messes with people who are looking for the first words and last words that are available. Which means the limit is 16,000 characters, (~2,750 words) on Dreamwidth, or 4,300 characters, (~750 words), on Livejournal.
Q: Can we use different forms of the last words?
A: You can use a different *meaning* of the word, but not a different form. For example, a story ends with "And the exercise nut went for a run." And you want to start with, "Run for office, you'd be a great president!" Cool. You can't start with "Running after the bad guy really wore Jack out."
Q: What if my story contains spoilers for something that has aired recently?
A: Please don't spoil people. Use your sense of the fandom to know how long is long enough before you say something like "Mary's death was really weighing on Tom" if Mary just died last night. Let's err on the side of caution and say that if the episode aired at some point in February for the first time, it may be too early to spoil major plot points. You can't cut-tag comments and people need to be able to scan stories for their last/first words, so please... fannish common sense?
Q: Can I post my story elsewhere?
A: Sure, your writing is your writing. Obviously it needs to be here as well, but if you want to put it on A03 or your LJ or whatever also, go for it. Feel free to link back to the challenge if you think people may want to know why you started a story with the word "eggplant". (Don't laugh - the last time I ran one of these, that happened to me. :)
Q: Where can I tell people how much I love their work?
A: There is a separate post on each journal for discussion and feedback. Please put the author and story name in the subject line of your comment. I know it's a hassle, but we need to keep the tree as unencumbered as possible. Feel free to go nuts talking things out on the feedback post (as long as it remains civil.) Please, please, please don't comment on stories on the actual story tree. We need to be sure that between my graphic posts people can easily scan for the available last words.
Q: Where is the tree happening?
A: There's a tree starting on Dreamwidth and another one on Livejournal. We're going to start with the same drabble and see how they diverge. You're welcome to post to either or both as long as the tree can be maintained. (Just don't take the word 'light' from Livejournal and post the story that starts with 'light' on Dreamwidth if there's no last word 'light' on DW. Did that make sense?)
Please hit 'reply to' any of the fics that ended with the word you started with. So if your story starts with 'brief', hit reply to the first comment. If your story starts with 'down', you'll hit 'reply to' the story that ends with 'down'. If we end up with several stories ending with the same word that you want to start with... pick one. :)
Q: What's the timeframe?
A: The first drabble is up. Go for it. The threads will be locked Valentine's Day (2.14.11) evening at roughly 8:00 p.m. Chicago time.
Q: Besides writing something, what else can I do?
A: Pimp this puppy! Seriously, I'll hit the comms that allow it for the fandoms I'm in, but if you want to see your fandom participating, you may need to let them know.
Also, if there's anyone out there who'd want to help me maintain the tree graphics (like the ones in the example), please holler! If this runs at all well, I'll need the help. :)
FAQ on LJ || FAQ on DW || Drabble Tree (stories) on LJ || Drabble Tree (stories) on DW || Feedback Post on LJ || Feedback Post on DW
What's a story tree? It's a set of 'connected' short stories. Not a round robin story or anything like that, but where connection between fics comes from using the last word of one fic as the first word in the next story. If someone starts with an Stargate: Atlantis story, you can follow with a Hawaii 5-0 story and someone can follow you with a NCIS story... There does not need to be a continuing plot line or theme between fics.
Q: How does this work?
A: Let me explain... with pictures for the visual learners in the room, like me...
If the first story ends with the word "Brief"
At least one story would need to start with the word "Brief".
Let's say that second story ends with "light", the next story can begin with *either* "brief" or "light". If a story that comes after that ends with "down" then anyone following up can start with "down", "brief" or "light".
We can be seventy stories in and you can still post your story that starts with "brief" or any of the other 69 ending words until the challenge closes.
Get it?
Q: What fandoms/pairings/topics can we write about?
A: Any fandom is fair game. To keep the legal-eagles happy, no RPF with graphic sex with characters who are under 18 in real life through the end of February. Any pairing is fine, no professed pairing is fine. This is a Valentine's Day challenge, so let's try to be upbeat with it. See the title: Cuddles, Snuggles, Kisses and Porn. So, you know, graphic violence, deathfic, issues of consent... probably not great for this project. If you want to do something gen and fluffy, it's all good. Basically we're going for, by the end of the fic, a little emotional lift.
Q: How long can a story be?
A: It should be at least a drabble - 100 words. It can be as long as will fit in a comment. Please do not split your story into multiple comments or link back to your journal for parts that didn't fit. It messes with people who are looking for the first words and last words that are available. Which means the limit is 16,000 characters, (~2,750 words) on Dreamwidth, or 4,300 characters, (~750 words), on Livejournal.
Q: Can we use different forms of the last words?
A: You can use a different *meaning* of the word, but not a different form. For example, a story ends with "And the exercise nut went for a run." And you want to start with, "Run for office, you'd be a great president!" Cool. You can't start with "Running after the bad guy really wore Jack out."
Q: What if my story contains spoilers for something that has aired recently?
A: Please don't spoil people. Use your sense of the fandom to know how long is long enough before you say something like "Mary's death was really weighing on Tom" if Mary just died last night. Let's err on the side of caution and say that if the episode aired at some point in February for the first time, it may be too early to spoil major plot points. You can't cut-tag comments and people need to be able to scan stories for their last/first words, so please... fannish common sense?
Q: Can I post my story elsewhere?
A: Sure, your writing is your writing. Obviously it needs to be here as well, but if you want to put it on A03 or your LJ or whatever also, go for it. Feel free to link back to the challenge if you think people may want to know why you started a story with the word "eggplant". (Don't laugh - the last time I ran one of these, that happened to me. :)
Q: Where can I tell people how much I love their work?
A: There is a separate post on each journal for discussion and feedback. Please put the author and story name in the subject line of your comment. I know it's a hassle, but we need to keep the tree as unencumbered as possible. Feel free to go nuts talking things out on the feedback post (as long as it remains civil.) Please, please, please don't comment on stories on the actual story tree. We need to be sure that between my graphic posts people can easily scan for the available last words.
Q: Where is the tree happening?
A: There's a tree starting on Dreamwidth and another one on Livejournal. We're going to start with the same drabble and see how they diverge. You're welcome to post to either or both as long as the tree can be maintained. (Just don't take the word 'light' from Livejournal and post the story that starts with 'light' on Dreamwidth if there's no last word 'light' on DW. Did that make sense?)
Please hit 'reply to' any of the fics that ended with the word you started with. So if your story starts with 'brief', hit reply to the first comment. If your story starts with 'down', you'll hit 'reply to' the story that ends with 'down'. If we end up with several stories ending with the same word that you want to start with... pick one. :)
Q: What's the timeframe?
A: The first drabble is up. Go for it. The threads will be locked Valentine's Day (2.14.11) evening at roughly 8:00 p.m. Chicago time.
Q: Besides writing something, what else can I do?
A: Pimp this puppy! Seriously, I'll hit the comms that allow it for the fandoms I'm in, but if you want to see your fandom participating, you may need to let them know.
Also, if there's anyone out there who'd want to help me maintain the tree graphics (like the ones in the example), please holler! If this runs at all well, I'll need the help. :)
FAQ on LJ || FAQ on DW || Drabble Tree (stories) on LJ || Drabble Tree (stories) on DW || Feedback Post on LJ || Feedback Post on DW