IRON FIC

Watashiwa

Administrator
Staff member
#1
Okay, I have a bad habit of getting really into things. Recently, while surfing my favorite game mods site, I came across a contest: the Iron Modder contest.

I could provide links, but it shouldn't be necessary. My train of thought is (for once!) clear.

We apply the same concept to fanfiction.

Sometime, say a weekend over the summer, I open the Iron Ficcer contest. I ask four or five people to serve as judges and announce a theme; maybe "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em." The players then have two hours to write a fic of any length (one-shot) based on that theme.

The real fun comes in the judging. The judges selected (and maybe me) have to review the stories--as if they were dishes presented at an Iron Chef competition. Then we vote, and decide a winner (no prizes but bragging rights. Watashiwa is poor, and has bad taste in non-book swag). Players are of course expected to brag about their themes and derogate the competition, while in Iron Chef character of course.

Then the fics, including comments, go up onto ff.net. We wait a week and do it again.

I'm announcing this now because I want to hear what people say about it. If there's enough postive reponse, I'll probably tap the first batch of judges mid-May, to give the college and school age of us a chance to get onto break.

So I'm honestly curious. Does this sound like a fun thing to do? I'd put a few restrictions on the entry rules (PG-13, no bashing, etc.) but other than that I'd throw open the contest. As long as people keep to the themes, the contest would be completely open, as long as I or whoever presided over the contest was informed ahead of time of participation intent.

What say you, TFF?
 

nairit

Well-Known Member
#4
I'm in. as anything. Though you have to define the rating system. Is James Bond considered PG-13?
 

MannequinMuse

Well-Known Member
#5
nairit said:
I'm in. as anything. Though you have to define the rating system. Is James Bond considered PG-13?
I think it's more like the fic has to be PG-13
 

Watashiwa

Administrator
Staff member
#6
nairit said:
I'm in. as anything. Though you have to define the rating system. Is James Bond considered PG-13?
Yes.

No overt sex, nothing that would have your grandma trying to use grandad's shotgun on you.

I'll write up a rules list sometime soon, this is just a preliminary check to see if people are interested.
 

AkinaAE86

Well-Known Member
#8
I'm interested. But excessive violence isn't allowed.
 

Left Shoe

Well-Known Member
#9
I'll watch, but I don't consider myself to be a particularly good judge of anything.
 

Watashiwa

Administrator
Staff member
#11
Andrew Joshua Talon said:
I'm game if you'd like. As either a judge or participant.
Participant, at the moment. I have more people who want to judge than who want to write. :sweat:

Anyway, I'm opening this to applicants now. If you'd like to participate as a writer, then PM me or send an e-mail.

People who have asked to judge, I'll get into contact with you.

I've got a theme ready, now all that's left is coming up with a date and time. I'm thinking next Saturday, sometime in the mid-afternoon American EST.

I'll have an actual rules list up in a few days (goddamn essays...).
 

Legacy|iB

Well-Known Member
#12
Heh, this sounds fun.

I don't think I can write a one-shot in two hours, though. My thought process is disturbingly slow at times, even for something that ought to be quite short, and overall, that's not counting how long it takes for me to actually write :no:

I should be able to judge, although it will depend on the fandom since I'm a bit more limited than some of the other members here.
 

Watashiwa

Administrator
Staff member
#13
Actually, that's the first thing I wanted to address. The timelimit for the first challenge will be 4 hours, because a lot of people have mentioned that two is too little time.

I don't think that we need that much time, but hey, if it gets more people to participate...
 
#14
Watashiwa said:
Actually, that's the first thing I wanted to address. The timelimit for the first challenge will be 4 hours, because a lot of people have mentioned that two is too little time.

I don't think that we need that much time, but hey, if it gets more people to participate...
Works for me. Just tell me when and where!
 

zerohour

Well-Known Member
#15
Sadly, it's finals time for me, so I can't enter, though I'm definitely up for being a judge. I could use a break for hilarity.
 

Dartz_IRL

Well-Known Member
#16
I have two fics that I wrote in 1 hour a while back. 1 hour 1 shots I called them. A bit rough, but they did the job. Hell, they were even pre-read inside the 60 minutes. I got about 1k words out of it.

It's perfectly doable, and you can sometimes pull out some interesting, if rather pointless, slices of life
 

Watashiwa

Administrator
Staff member
#17
Dartz_IRL said:
I have two fics that I wrote in 1 hour a while back. 1 hour 1 shots I called them. A bit rough, but they did the job. Hell, they were even pre-read inside the 60 minutes. I got about 1k words out of it.

It's perfectly doable, and you can sometimes pull out some interesting, if rather pointless, slices of life
Yeah, Dartz has the right of it (and I remember those one-shots, they were pretty good).

The goal here is to provide a bragging rights incentive to get people to generate content.

You interested, Dartz?

@zerohour: The first challenge will be next Saturday, May 16th. That okay for you?
 

zeebee1

Well-Known Member
#18
It's been done. It was all the rage in for several fandoms in the forum and went on for several months. I think AJT was in charge of one of them.
 

Robo Jesus

Well-Known Member
#20
Watashiwa said:
...as if they were dishes presented at an Iron Chef competition.

...What say you, TFF?
 

Watashiwa

Administrator
Staff member
#21
... I think someone is trying to tell me something. I will admit complete and utter bafflement.

Anyway, I promised rules, so here are rules.

DA RULEZ said:
RULES OF THE IRON FIC CHALLENGE


1.) At the designated time on the designated day, a challenge theme will be announced.á

2.) All interested parties will have four hours to develop, write and proofread a story using that theme for the fandom of their choice.

3.) All entries must be submitted within four hours of the theme announcement.á Failure to enter a fic by the timelimit disqualifies the story from the running (though the author may request a review, in which case the story will not be scored).

4.) Subject material must be PG-13.á R-rated and X-rated stories will be disqualified without appeal.

5.) Judging will take place within 48 hours of the contests close (or have a damn good reason why not).

6.) Judges will be contacted prior at least three days before the contest.

7.) Judges may not subject stories to the points ranking.á They are of course welcome to submit challenge stories anyway, which will be reviewed but not scored.

6.) Judges may request to disqualify a story.á Requests will go to a vote, and noá attempts will be made to lobby the other judges.áá Appeals will be heard on a case-to-case basis (Judges are required to use discretion when requesting that a fic be dismissed from the rankings.)

6a.) Fandom/charcter pairing/gross misinterpretation of characters or plot are not grounds for dismissal.

7.) Judges are required to read, score and review every fic.á They may not "sit out" or "pass" because they take offence to the story (although they may request that the story be dismissed, as per above).

8.) Scoring criteria is as follows:

Grasp of the English language (Readability): 20%
Use of the theme: 20%
Use of details: 20%
Story/Plot: 20%
General awesomeness: 20%
The first challenge will be this Saturday, May 16th at 2:00 PM, US Eastern Standard Time. Judging will take place on Sunday, May 17th.

[/seriousness]

Anyway, the first Iron Fic challenge approaches! The Hawk Memorial Stadium in TFF Academy City is being renovated right now--New press boxes and soundsets for the judges, and the general admission seating is being re-upholstered. I also hear that rukia will be, ah, "providing" free beer (you're SURE that you can drive fast enough, Akina?)

So far, Iron Ficcer Andrew Joshua Talon of the living ship Moya, Iron Ficcer parker of Sin City and Iron Ficcer Shaderic from.... wherever the hell he's from have announced their intentions to participate. Of course, audience members are always free to jump into the stadium to show up our registered participants, as long as submissions are complete before the timelimit expires!

Judge requests have been sent out again, as I seem to have only gotten one response...

But for now, ponder this... Who will be TFFs first IRON FICCER?

Find out this weekend!

EDIT: Hm. Going through this thread, I see that Akina, nairit and MannequinMuse have also expressed interest. You guys still want in?
 

Shaderic

Well-Known Member
#22
Okay, I may actually be busy.
But, I still intend to participate as best I can!
Also, consider me from the Twin Cities of the Frozen North!
 

nairit

Well-Known Member
#23
I am interested, though it will depend on the fandom. If it is something I'm not familiar with then, I naturally can't participate.
 

Ray

Well-Known Member
#25
I'm in.

If I must have a resounding title, consider me Ray, Fanfiction Paladin, defender of all things Yuri and slayer of all things Yaoi.
 
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