December 23: fic challenges in general (for ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
silverblade219) [Tumblr crosspost]
I like them!
In terms of fests and ficathons, I do better with exchange setups than open prompt setups. I have never yet defaulted on an exchange, and have written extra fics for several of them. The exchanges I've participated in include Yuletide, Remix Redux, the Narnia Fic Exchange, Ladystuck, and Ouroboros Mix.
With non-exchange ficathons, my record is mixed to awful. I've participated in Femgenficathon (which was great fun the first three years, but after that I failed to write anything two years in a row, and wrote something nearly eleven months late the last year it ran), an LGBT fest the exact name of which escapes me (for which I never finished my story, though I do keep adding a hundred words at a time to it every now and then), HHR Serendipity (a Harry/Hermione prompt fest for which I did finish my story), the Narnia Big Bang (which I defeated the first year, but failed miserably at on the second attempt), and the Ladystuck Blind Darkfic challenge (for which I finished and posted my story literally two minutes before the collection went live).
I think the difference is the gift aspect of exchanges. In a prompt fest, if I miss the deadline the only person I disappoint is myself. In an exchange fest, if I miss the deadline I disappoint my recipient. The carrot-to-stick motivation ratio is entirely different. I have trouble with internal motivation, so having that extra external kick is very helpful getting me past my own inertia. I also like the challenge of writing a story to someone else's specifications, or working with the bones of someone else's plot.
On that note, some other things that might count as challenges include filling kinkmeme prompts -- which is fun, for the same 'writing to someone else's taste' reasons as gift exchanges. Of course, you are free to pick and choose the prompts you wish to fill, so there isn't the same pressure... unless you start posting something as a WIP, in which case suddenly people may be very invested in your writing progress. Three Sentence Ficathon prompts work the same way, though there obviously nothing can be a proper WIP; the closest you can get is people prompting follow-ups of previous fills.
I sometimes ask people to give me prompts on my own journal, which I feel free to reject if I don't know or am not comfortable with the fandoms people request. Thus far, I haven't had to reject any for inability to deal with a particular scenario or set of characters, but that will probably happen sooner or later if I keep up the habit.
I also like fifteen minute ficlets, or stuff like Cotton Candy Bingo and Thirtyforthree, where you get a single word or a simple concept as a prompt and have to write something relating to it. The challenge is partly to be relevant to the prompt, and partly in the writing restrictions. Fifteen minute ficlets obviously have a time limit. Thirtyforthree ficlets all have to be about the same threesome, though writers choose their own set of characters to smush together. Cotton Candy Bingo ficlets have a minimum length (500 words) and must be fluffy, for whatever definition of fluff the writer uses. *wry*
The common aspect in all of these things is the challenge. It's fun to put myself in situations where I have to write something I would never have come up with on my own, without the impetus and inspiration of the challenge setup, whatever it happens to be.
And now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to revising my Yuletide fic. :-)
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December Talking Meme: All Days
silverblade219) [Tumblr crosspost]I like them!
In terms of fests and ficathons, I do better with exchange setups than open prompt setups. I have never yet defaulted on an exchange, and have written extra fics for several of them. The exchanges I've participated in include Yuletide, Remix Redux, the Narnia Fic Exchange, Ladystuck, and Ouroboros Mix.
With non-exchange ficathons, my record is mixed to awful. I've participated in Femgenficathon (which was great fun the first three years, but after that I failed to write anything two years in a row, and wrote something nearly eleven months late the last year it ran), an LGBT fest the exact name of which escapes me (for which I never finished my story, though I do keep adding a hundred words at a time to it every now and then), HHR Serendipity (a Harry/Hermione prompt fest for which I did finish my story), the Narnia Big Bang (which I defeated the first year, but failed miserably at on the second attempt), and the Ladystuck Blind Darkfic challenge (for which I finished and posted my story literally two minutes before the collection went live).
I think the difference is the gift aspect of exchanges. In a prompt fest, if I miss the deadline the only person I disappoint is myself. In an exchange fest, if I miss the deadline I disappoint my recipient. The carrot-to-stick motivation ratio is entirely different. I have trouble with internal motivation, so having that extra external kick is very helpful getting me past my own inertia. I also like the challenge of writing a story to someone else's specifications, or working with the bones of someone else's plot.
On that note, some other things that might count as challenges include filling kinkmeme prompts -- which is fun, for the same 'writing to someone else's taste' reasons as gift exchanges. Of course, you are free to pick and choose the prompts you wish to fill, so there isn't the same pressure... unless you start posting something as a WIP, in which case suddenly people may be very invested in your writing progress. Three Sentence Ficathon prompts work the same way, though there obviously nothing can be a proper WIP; the closest you can get is people prompting follow-ups of previous fills.
I sometimes ask people to give me prompts on my own journal, which I feel free to reject if I don't know or am not comfortable with the fandoms people request. Thus far, I haven't had to reject any for inability to deal with a particular scenario or set of characters, but that will probably happen sooner or later if I keep up the habit.
I also like fifteen minute ficlets, or stuff like Cotton Candy Bingo and Thirtyforthree, where you get a single word or a simple concept as a prompt and have to write something relating to it. The challenge is partly to be relevant to the prompt, and partly in the writing restrictions. Fifteen minute ficlets obviously have a time limit. Thirtyforthree ficlets all have to be about the same threesome, though writers choose their own set of characters to smush together. Cotton Candy Bingo ficlets have a minimum length (500 words) and must be fluffy, for whatever definition of fluff the writer uses. *wry*
The common aspect in all of these things is the challenge. It's fun to put myself in situations where I have to write something I would never have come up with on my own, without the impetus and inspiration of the challenge setup, whatever it happens to be.
And now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to revising my Yuletide fic. :-)
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December Talking Meme: All Days
