Het Challenge

Okay, here we go! We have almost 100 pairings to choose from, and almost 100 different prompts -- with any luck, there'll be something in here that you can mix and match to create a piece of art or a story of at least 500 words. ^^

You may match your pairing up with one prompt from the complete table OR, if you want a little extra challenge, you may choose one prompt EACH from Set A on the left and Set B on the right.

To make a claim, comment with which pairing and which prompt(s) you want. You may have up to three claims at any time (but you may come back for more once you've finished your first ones, if you want them). This round will run through September 30.

Have fun!

( the pairings )

( and the prompts )

Submit your prompts here!

- You can submit up to five prompts each for pairings and scenarios (but you don't have to choose the same number of each).

- Remember, participants will mix and match these, so the pairings and the scenarios that you suggest don't have to have anything to do with each other.

- Threesomes/moresomes are allowed, so long as the grouping contains a mix of genders.

- When prompting for a pairing, please list the fandom's full name so I can organize the complete list (e.g., "Harry Potter: Lucius/Narcissa," or "Tales of the Abyss: Guy/Noelle")

- You may prompt for crossovers -- list them as "Crossover: Fandom/Fandom: Character/Character" (e.g., "Crossover: Kingdom Hearts/Shadow Hearts: Xigbar/Margarete")

- If someone else has already prompted for a pairing that you like, congratulations! That pairing is already in the list, and you can use that slot for someone else.

- Scenarios can be very simple ("handcuffs and whipped cream") or more detailed ("A employs B to track down something that was stolen from them. After an ordeal, B acquires is, but refuses to return it until A ups the price. A pays with sex.") but make sure that they're flexible, not dependent on the setting of one particular fandom (e.g., "accidental genderswitch" works well; "discovering a genderswitch materia" does not).

Have fun -- can't wait to see what you come up with!

All right, let's get this party started! I promised a new round, so here we go.

This round of het_challenge will run as a build-your-own-prompt challenge: people will submit pairings, and scenarios, but the two will not be connected. Participants' challenge, then, is to mix and match the pairings and scenarios to create complete prompts.

Details on prompting:
- Prompting will open today, and will run until July 5.
- You may only leave five prompts each for pairings and scenarios. (This is to make sure prompters choose things they'd really like to see done, and nobody swamps the list with every possible m/f combination of characters from her fandom.)
- Threesomes/moresomes are allowed, so long as the grouping contains a mix of genders.

Details on claiming:
- Claiming will start as soon after the close of prompting as I can assemble the list -- probably on July 6.
- Each combination of pairing and scenario can be claimed twice for fic and twice for art. Those elements can still be claimed more times in other combinations. (Thus, two people can claim "Zack/Aeris" and "sneaking out at night" for fic, but a third person would be welcome to claim "Zack/Aeris" for another fic as long as the scenario were different.)
- You may have three claims at a time, but you're welcome to post your works early and go back to claim more after that.
- Yes, you may claim pairings, scenarios, or both that you submitted yourself.

Details on posting:
- Posting will begin whenever you have pieces complete, and run through the end of September.
- Posting will follow the same guidelines as it has in the past (see the asylum userinfo for headers, etc).

Any questions? Ask away!
Ready to start? Prompt here.

First, to those of you still working on things for Thursday's deadline -- good luck! I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

Second: how do you guys feel about a new round? Do you want a new round to start up after this one's done, or is everyone feeling challenged out and in need of a breather?

...If you do want a new round sooner rather than later, what kind of format would you like to see? I am probably not up for running another exchange (ficathon, reversathon) right away; they're very stressful to moderate and I think I need a little time to recover from this one before I go diving in again. But I'm up for just about anything else -- would you like something where people submit/claim prompts? Something based around themes? Something else you've run into in another community, and think it would work out well over here?

Toss some ideas my way!

Hey there, guys! I hope it's going well. We are now one week from deadline on this round of Het Challenge.

If you think you may need to drop out, or to drop any requests you received, please let me know now so I have time to find pinch hitters as necessary. Most participants are covered at this point, but not all, so please be in touch!

Good luck finishing up!

Hey there, guys!

How are your het_challenge assignments going? Do you need to drop any requests you took? Do you want to pick up any that you didn't? I'm planning to offer up the unclaimed prompts to interested parties in a few days -- probably on Wednesday night, April 23.

Comments to this post are screened -- please comment here if:

a) you want to change the assignments you accepted, either to add or to drop.

b) you want to be on the mailing list for the unclaimed prompts (you can do this whether or not you signed up). make sure you leave me an email address!

Good luck with your pieces!

Thank you to all participants for replying to your requests! It looks like we're going to have some really cool stuff coming out of this round. ^_^

This post is a sign-up for people who are willing and able to pinch hit for this round -- that is, people who are willing to pick up unclaimed requests and make sure everyone gets covered.

If you are interested, please leave a comment in this post (comments are screened) with your name, an email address where I can contact you, a list of fandoms in which you write/draw, and any characters or pairings in those fandoms that you will not work with.

Right now I am most in need of people who can draw in Final Fantasy VII or Gundam Wing, and people who can write in Harry Potter -- but I expect that to change as the round goes on, so please feel free to offer other fandoms as well.

Thank you!

Okay -- everyone should have their requests out by now. Remember, you have until March 1 (that's next Saturday) to respond to my email, and to choose which request(s) you want if you have multiples.

You may post any time you get done with your piece(s) -- the deadline is May 15, but please don't feel like you need to wait.

Cross-posting or pimping your work all over creation is fine, but please do post a copy directly into the community (not just a link to your journal) so that it'll always be here.

Please include the title, fandom, and pairing in your subject line, and use the following headers when you post:

Title:
Author/Artist:
Fandom:
Pairing:
Rating:
Warnings: [if necessary; please warn for character death, rape/non-con, and shota/chan/loli-con at a minimum -- otherwise use your discretion]
Request:
Any additional headers you want to include, such as summaries, author's notes, etc.

Have fun, and good luck!

Okay -- I got the last requests in this evening, and because I have nothing better to do with my Saturday nights, you should all have your request(s) waiting for you in your inboxes now. ^_^

If you didn't get an email from me, please check your spam filters and then let me know, and I'll try to re-send.

Hope you're happy with your requests, and good luck with the writing/drawing! :3

Hey there, guys!

Just a quick note -- you have until Saturday to get your requests made if you're participating in the reversathon. So far only four of you have made requests. ^^;

The list of participant ads is here.

The request post is here.

If you don't want to make any requests, please drop me a note in the request post to say so -- that way I won't think I'm still missing yours.

Thanks!

Whew -- sorry about the delay there for some people, but we now have a full-length piece up for every participant (and a few people got some extras).

Participants, please, if you haven't already done so, make sure you leave a note for the maker(s) of your gift(s) to say thank you -- we've had some awesome stuff come through this round, and everyone deserves the recognition for it.

Without further ado:

( the master list )

Welcome to the request post for the May 2008 round of het_challenge!

The master list of participant ads is here.

Participants, please take a few minutes to look over the master list, and then comment to this post with your requests. You may make up to five requests, or as few as none at all (but where's the fun in that?).
Each request must begin with the number of the ad to which it is addressed, and should also include fandom, pairing, and the details of your request (in the details, please make sure you include anything you really do or really do not want to see -- including sex scenes, if that's important to you). If you are requesting from someone who both writes and draws, you are welcome to note which medium you would prefer. Example:
#0 - Final Fantasy 7 - Rude/Tifa - Valentine's Day, and neither one of them wants to spend it alone. Smut not necessary, but I'd like it if you could at least get them kissing. No Cloud-bashing, please!
#00 - Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Buffy/Spike - She wants to kick ass; he wants to cuddle. Some demon-fighting action would be really awesome.

Please do not address the same request to multiple ads; you are welcome to request the same pairing, but please tailor the request details to the individual participants.
You may make up to two requests of any one participant, but be aware that you will have better odds of getting multiple requests claimed if you spread them out.
Any requests that blatantly do not fit the information in the target ad (e.g., fandom not offered, requesting a listed squick) will be discarded.

If you don't intend to request anything, please leave a comment here just for my records, so I know that you chose not to request instead of just forgetting. ^^
Only participants may make requests.

Comments to this post are screened; requests will be accepted until February 23.

Okay -- we still have a few more pieces coming in for the Valentine round, but I promised the ads would go up for May today, so here they are.

Participants: if you see something that looks wrong in your ad, please leave me a comment here (screened) and I'll fix it for you.

this is not the post where you make your requests; that is here.

( Participant ads, 1-16, in no particular order )

Okay, as of the moment I post this, five people are still waiting to receive their valentines. I'm so sorry, guys. Two of the writers in question have already contacted me, and I've written to the others to ask if they'll be posting soon or need pinch hitters to take over.

If anyone else is feeling generous or inspired in the meantime, please feel free to jump in with drabbles, sketches, any cool little thing will do, for the following participants:

( still waiting )

Also, if you think you could pinch hit for any of these requests, please comment here to let me know -- comments on this post are screened. ^^

Everyone who's still working on your Valentines -- good luck! We're rooting for you! ^^

We've had enough sign-ups for the May round now that I think it's about time to put up the fandom list -- though we don't yet have nearly as many people playing as I'd like. If you have friends who'd enjoy the challenge, or you're part of a community where it would be appropriate to pimp it (and you have the mod's okay), please spread the word!

Currently, we have people offering the following fandoms (updated 2/10, 11:30am):
( so many options! )

...People who have already signed up: If there's something in that list that jogs your memory, and you want to add something to your ad, feel free to drop another comment in the sign-up post and I'll make a note of it.

Welcome to the sign-up post for the May 2008 round of het_challenge!

Before you sign up, make sure you've read and understand the rules here.

Then fill out the form below.

Signing up commits you to producing at least one 1000-word story or complete artwork by May 15 (though you are definitely welcome to do more than one).

Name:
Email: (make sure this is an address you check regularly, since I will use it to send you your assignment(s) and to communicate with you if I need to)
Author/artist/both:
Level of explicit content you're comfortable with:
Fandom(s) you're offering, with your preferred characters/pairings: (try to be specific here, as much as possible -- mention your favorites, so people have something to go on when they request from you)
Any characters/pairings in your fandom(s) that you do NOT want to write/draw:
Themes/kinks/genres you particularly enjoy: (try to be specific here, too; requesters will use this information to make requests that suit you personally, so give them good information to work from)
Themes/squicks/genres you don't enjoy:

Comments to this post are screened; sign-ups will be accepted until February 15.

Welcome to the May 2008 round of Het Challenge!

This will be a reversathon, like the one we held on LJ last year in August -- participants will fill out "ad" profiles to let others know what they are interested in writing or drawing, and will receive requests from other participants based on the information they provide. You choose which request(s) sound most interesting, without knowing who suggested them. (If you've never participated in a reversathon before, or haven't been satisfied with how they've gone for you in the past, I have tried to write up some advice for reversathon participants that I hope will be helpful.)

( Here's how it works: )

I am going to offer amnesty for all previous defaulters on this round, but please think carefully about whether you want to make the commitment if you've had trouble with deadlines before.

Timeline/deadlines for this round:

Feb 1-15: sign-ups
Feb 16: ads posted
Feb 16-23: request period
Feb 24: requests mailed
March 1: deadline to accept requests
April 15 (?): unclaimed prompts offered to interested parties
May15: deadline

Questions? Comments?

Ready to sign up? head over here.

So! We're getting close to the end of this round, and momentum being what it is, I thought it'd probably be a good time to ask: what do you guys want to see for next round on het_challenge?

I'm thinking we'll probably be aiming for a sign up/organization phase, of whatever sort we need, in February, and a deadline for the round in the middle of May.

I'd like to know what style of challenge you guys are interested in playing -- I'm up for just about anything, and sort of leaning toward a reversathon, since I don't think there's been one of those going around for a while.

Anybody else have a strong opinion one way or another?

Hey there, guys!

As of today, January 24, we are three weeks out from the deadline (Valentine's Day) for this round. How's everyone doing? Started yet? ...Have an idea?

This is just a quick reminder so nobody forgets the deadline's coming up -- and so I can ask you to please tell me as soon as possible if it turns out you'll need to drop out. The sooner I know, the more easily I can find a pinch hitter. ^^;

Thank you also to kaycee and elanor_pam, who have posted early! (Recipients, please make sure you comment on the pieces produced for you.)

Probably this weekend or next week sometime we'll start talking about the plans for the next round. New fandoms mean I can't wait. ^_^

The Valentine's round will be happening!

I need to arrange all the match-ups -- this is the part that's like one of those logic puzzles, where A can't sit next to B and C needs a seat at the end of the table and F won't eat anything with hazelnuts in it. Except with fandoms. But I should be able to send out assignments tonight or tomorrow.

In the meantime, here's a quick FAQ for the getting-my-assignment phase.

( Q: What if... )