alyse (alylicious) wrote in primevalathon, @ 2009-01-12 23:03:00 |
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Entry tags: | admin |
Primevalathon Spring 2009
We'll be opening up sign-ups for the next primevalathon Primeval Ficathon next Monday (19th Jan), with a view to keeping them open until the 31st Jan, with stories being due on 31 March. However, as we may have already mentioned, we've been thinking about how we can make sure that things run a little more smoothly this time. So there are going to be some slight tweaks to the rules, which will hopefully help us to avoid some of the issues we experienced last time.
Automation is the key
aithine, who rocks like a rocking thing, is working on developing an automated sign up page for the ficathon. This means that we'll point you to a form to fill in, consisting of both drop down menus and free text, and that will hopefully enable us to match and keep track of assignments more easily. So watch this space.
Defaulting
While we understand that sometimes people have to drop out because something unexpected comes up, defaulting at the last minute isn't fair to the other participants and so we're going to implement a new rule:
- if you need to drop out, please let us know as soon as possible. This may mean that we contact the person who was assigned to write for you and ask if they could swap to writing for your recipient instead
- if you drop out within the last two weeks of the ficathon period before stories are due without good reason, you may, at the discretion of the mods, be banned from participating in future ficathons. What constitutes a 'good reason' will be for the mods to determine.
We're not doing this to be mean. As I said, we understand that sometimes life throws you a curveball and fandom has to take a back seat. But we take the view that if you've promised something for someone, you should try your very best to deliver and if you can't deliver, then you should be letting us know this as soon as possible so that we can make alternative arrangements. So we won't penalise you for genuine out of your control emergencies, but neither will we accept 'the dog ate my laptop' as a valid excuse. Unless the dog really did eat your laptop, in which case, dude!
Pinch hitting and beta reading
About two or three weeks before the deadline, we'll have a post for pinch hitters. If you've already finished your story by that point, or you didn't sign up and still want to take part, we'll be welcoming volunteers with open arms. However, please do not sign up for this post if you've not yet finished your first story. Default on one story at short notice, and you may be banned. Default on two, and we may end up getting out the voodoo dolls. At the very least you'll earn yourself a Paddington Bear stare.
And we'll also have a post where people can ask for, or volunteer to be, a beta.
Shared universes, crossovers and adult material
The ficathon is open to all fans of Primeval, including those that aren't active on livejournal. We've had sign-ups before from people on fanfiction.net and other blogging sites before now, and we'll continue to entice and beguile welcome people from all over the place with wide open arms. What this ultimately means is that the only thing that you and your recipient may have in common is a shared love of the show Primeval.
We've tried to make sure that everyone can play happily in this sandpit by asking you to limit requests for crossovers, adult material or fanon OCs to just one out of the three prompts you make, to ensure that there will always be at least two prompts that your author can choose from. And you've all been very good about doing that or, when you've forgotten ::g:: resubmitting your prompts when requested. So we're going to keep this rule in as we think it works.
However, unfortunately, we forgot to make it clear that this goes both ways, and elements such as crossovers and fanon OCs should only be included in your story if your recipient has asked for them. So aithine and I have been trying to work out a way that ensures that both those who love their fanon OCs and crossovers and those who don't subscribe to the fanon can still take part in the ficathon.
In terms of crossovers, we think it's covered from a request point of view by the above rule, and we're going to add the following wording: Please do not write a crossover unless your recipient has specifically requested one, and please limit it to the fandom(s) requested.
In terms of fanon OCs, we think we've come up with a solution that we hope will satisfy both those that love them and those that are rather bewildered by them ::g:: In addition to the current sign up information you give, you'll also be asked:
Can your author include fanon OCs in the story: y/n?
Would you be willing to write fanon OCs: y/n?
You'll also be given the opportunity to specify which fanon OCs, and we're going to assume that if you write fanon OCs then you have whatever permissions are needed from the original author.
As with crossovers, we can't guarantee that you'll get matched on the basis of willingness to write/read fanon OCs, especially as it's a really small fandom, but it will be one of the things we'll use to try and find the best fit for you. Hopefully this will mean that everyone will come out of the ficathon happy and with a story that they can read.
In case anyone is wondering, we match first of all on the basis of character and/or pairing, and then try and match everything else after that.
WIPs
We realise that sometimes stories run away with you and you end up with a monstrosity that you cannot finish in time (looks shifty), in which case it's far better to post what you have than leave your recipient without a story. However, if it looks like you're not going to finish in time, please contact either aithine or I before the deadline so we can discuss whether you post your WIP or whether it would be better for us to organise a pinch hitter - this will depend on a number of factors, such as how long your WIP currently is (hint - the longer the better), whether it's at a natural breaking off point and whether or not we've had our morning cup of coffee.
We'll keep an eye on this one, and if it looks like WIPs are going to be a bit of an issue, we may decide not to let you take part in future ficathons until you finish the story from the last one (and yes, temaris, I know you're looking at me).
ETA: To clarify:
- we're not introducing this rule now, just warning you that we may introduce it in future so you can bear it in mind for this ficathon; and
- if we do introduce it, we're only talking about unfinished ficathon fics, not any unfinished WIPs that you may have. In other words, if you have a story that you started for a previous ficathon, and have not yet finished it, you won't be allowed to sign up for another ficathon until that ficathon fic is finished.
Consider it an incentive to finish anything you've still got hanging around from previous ficathons before you're allowed to come out and play again ::g::
ETA: And because we've been reminded, please do not:
- request sequels to, missing scenes from or remixes of your or anyone else's stories
- write a sequel to or missing scene from something you or anyone else has written. Your story should be a standalone story, written for your recipient.
It's not really fair to your assigned author if they have to go and read something written by someone else before they can write your story, and it's not really fair on your recipient if they get a story that they can't understand because they haven't read the original.
I think that's everything, but please let us know if you have any suggestions that might help make the next ficathon run a little more smoothly than the last one, and in aithine and I keeping what little remains of our sanity!