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?
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?