B2MeM 2013 Is Coming!

[dawn_felagund]

Yes, that time of year is almost here again: time for our annual Back to Middle-earth Month event! Once again, the Silmarillion Writers' Guild, Many Paths to Tread, and Arda Inspired will be teaming up to bring the Tolkien fandom a month of fun, creativity, and community.

We are currently in the planning phases for this year's challenge, and we need help and feedback from our community to help us decide the challenge we want to run this year. If you have an idea for an event, please do share it in a comment here! (If you want to see what kinds of events we've run in the past, we have links to them all on the SWG site here: http://www.silmarillionwritersguild.org/specialprojects.php.)

Even if you don't have a specific idea for an event, if there's a past event that you loved (or a past event that you'd rather not see something similar to this year), please comment and let us know.

We have only one requirement for B2MeM events: They should be open to the entire Tolkien fan-writing and -art communities. Ideally, this should also allow people to participate whether they have one or thirty-one days free to work on challenges.

We look forward to hearing everyone's ideas and getting this year's event ready to roll!

Comments

[huinare.livejournal.com]

So when I saw the title of this post on my f-list, I muttered, "Oh ****!"
In a good, but slightly terrified, way, of course.

I've only been around long enough to participate in last year's. I gathered that BINGO was meant to be a low-key thing that ballooned astonishingly when everybody was so eager to make/claim cards. While I loved all the opportunities to write, read, and natter, the scope of it was rather overwhelming. I'd be in favor of something that doesn't offer quite so many temping options! =D

[dawn_felagund]

Yes, you're right that BINGO was actually designed to be low-key. *facepalm* Did I ever misread that one or what?! :D

This year, we are looking for something less labor-intensive for the non-fun reason that our mods have less availability than they did last year during March. So we'd probably give preference, this year, to something that can be largely done ahead of time and posted during March, minus the fleet of volunteers. ;)

[silver-trails.livejournal.com]

I have participated in two B2ME month events, and though I loved the last one, it was like a mad race for me. I know we could claim the slots and say we would write, but I simply could not claim one and not start writing.

[dawn_felagund]

Yep, we always tell people they don't have to write every day, but I know that's easier said than done! :D We're definitely aiming for something more low-key this year for the simple reason that we mod-types have less availability than we did last year. Something that can be mostly completed ahead of time and then posted during March would be perfect from the behind-the-scenes perspective. :)

Sometimes less is more

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

Stop the madness!! I know that some people really, really love a crazy race to produce the maximum number of entries. I do not think an item a day should be a goal at all. Just smack me down! I realize this is probably a minority/heretical position. But, you asked!

I really found it hard to sort through it all as a consumer and, therefore, did not find/enjoy the quality pieces that were lost among a mountain of new entries every day.

As a producer, it exhausted me and brought me very little satisfaction. I think I wrote something like two ficlets out of the whole mess that I am happy to have done.

I had fun doing a bunch of photomanips and pasting quotations on them. But that did not exactly encourage me to try to produce something meaningful and thoughtful which added depth to my volume of work in the fandom.

Can't we do something simple that results in one or two quality pieces from each of the participants?

Obviously, there are some distinquished drabblers who would like to do more throughout the month. But, honestly, creating a fine drabble is an art form (not just the ability to count to 100) and not every writer ought to be churning them out in volume, one or more per day, simply to satisfy 31 prompts.

[dawn_felagund]

Can't we do something simple that results in one or two quality pieces from each of the participants?

That is always an option, actually. I wrote one story for B2MeM last year that used something like eight prompts. Some of that was because I didn't have time because I was stamping an insane amount of cards. :) But, at the same time, I definitely prefer to create a single short story to five drabbles. I was and still am proud of the single story I created.

It is never required to complete the full month's worth of prompts. Some people choose to do so but, what often gets lost is that the vast majority do not! :) A good many don't write for more than one or two prompts. So it is really your choice, when we run daily prompts (and I don't know if we will again this year or not, but it's admittedly been something we've done more often than not in the past), if you want to tackle a prompt a day or pick the ones that speak most to you and focus on them. There are also never deadlines for "handing in" a finished piece, although last year we did have claim deadlines for stamps, mostly to save the sanity of the volunteers who were stamping.

One thing I can promise: There will never be a minimum requirement for participation. It will never be "try to do all 31 prompts or don't even bother!" People will be welcome to write one thing or 31 things; it's up to them to decide which.

[shadowbrides.livejournal.com]

What about Aliana's Bechdel fic challenge? I thought it was a great idea. Perhaps we could do something in that direction for B2MEM as well.

[dawn_felagund]

I'm not familiar with it. Do you have a link or could you point me in the right direction? :)

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

If I say "Bingo", I strongly suspect half the mod team and community will start screaming, the other half will feed me to Sauron's werewolves... and not even Finrod made it out alive of a situation like that. So, even if it's tempting because last year was one of the most fun B2MeM projects (it comes as a tie with the RP) for me, I'll not ask for another round of Bingo. Helping with the cards alone was fairly time-consuming, I can't even pretend to imagine what the organizational effort must have been like behind the scenes. Another good reason not to ask.

How about a multi-directional round-robin thing? It could branch anywhere, and ideally there would be space for all and any replies which then in turn could spawn their own. The downside being that it'd probably require a lot of reading to stay up-to-date with story events especially later during the month, and that it might be fairly easy to lose track.

Origins? Since the Hobbit just happened (and that's the earliest published Middle-earth book), how about a low-key set of prompts based on that? That could take any number of shapes, from in-universe things like the Awakening of the Elves or the creation of the Dwarves or the coming of Men, to meta ideas like revisiting (possibly rewriting) an author's earliest Tolkien fic, or something of the sort.

Just brainstorming, though - I'm curious to see other suggestions! :)

[dawn_felagund]

I would still like to run Bingo again, not as part of B2MeM but as a just because, but with some caveats with respect to cards claims so that it doesn't take the people-power to run again. And I actually have an idea for something similar to the RP (that will probably also not be a B2MeM project but a regular SWG thing) that I only have to get to a point in my life where I have the time to run it, and I will propose it to my comods. So that's encouraging, I hope! :) I liked both of those challenges too.

Thank you for the ideas! :D I figure the mod-types will figure out what's feasible to run (everything you suggested fits that bill, at least at a glance) and will probably put up for the community to choose from.

[aearwen2.livejournal.com]

I participated in the B2MEM when you did the passport thing - and loved it. I looked at the Bingo thing last year, couldn't wrap my mind around it, and didn't even attempt it. So for my money, something similar to the passport again would be an event I'd participate in. It's so straight-forward: each day a prompt, collect the badges.

Just my 2¢'s worth...

[dawn_felagund]

Thanks, Aearwen, for the feedback! Whatever we do this year will likely be much, much simpler than last year (which, believe it or not, was actually meant to be simple but attracted many more participants and a lot more enthusiasm than past years) for the simple reason that we mod-types don't have the availability we did last year.

[dreamflower]

I know we've discussed it in PM, but I'll put my scavenger hunt idea up here for discussion.

Prior to B2Mem, we set up a list of quotes from Tolkien, probably divided into categories (The easiest might be Silm, TH, LotR, and Misc.) This master list is posted ONCE. At the beginning.

Participants look over the list and then seek out the quotation and write a fic or create art or meta or some other sort of fanwork around it. I also suggest that another response would be to find someone elses' work that fit the quotation, and post a review of it. This would allow people who don't write much to also participate.

We could set a goal number. (My original thought was 31, but since many people don't want to do something every day, we could cut that in half to, say, 15.) Anyone who reaches the goal "wins". We could also have awards for those who did the most overall or something like that...

The only maintenance of the scavenger hunt once posted would be a reminder post with a link to the master post, and a post where people could post links to their work.

And aside from making the list, which could be easily done by setting up a shared doc on Google and letting the volunteers add to it until it's full, the only other prep work would probably be banners and promotion.

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

I kind of like the idea of a scavenger hunt, and this sounds fun and low-pressure --- I'm just not completely clear where the scavenging comes in? (Which probably is because it's late and my brain is slowly falling asleep, not because of a lack of explanation from your side.)

[iavalir.livejournal.com]

I was part of two B2MEs in the past, so I don't know how helpful my idea will be. This involves a different take on the Bingo which could make both prompt-a-day fans and one-work fans both happy. What if we did the bingo in the same vein as hc_bingo and other similar fests? Each person gets one card that's generated just for them (and I figured out how to do such cards on Excel, if you need help. :) ) Everyone gets just one card initially and they can make just one work if they want or fill their entire card. Or for those who love many prompts, they can make all kinds of bingos (line bingos, blackout, plus-sign-shaped bingo, etc), and if they make a bingo then they can either ask for another card or keep playing with theirs. There's also the chance to make extras such as postage stamps (such as four prompts to one work.) Hopefully this can be low-pressure for those who want something low-pressure while also offering a chance for someone who enjoys multiple prompts to also have fun. :)

[dawn_felagund]

I just skimmed the rules but I'll check into this in more depth later! :) Thanks for the suggestion; based on said skimming, it seems like a cool (and much less labor-intensive than last year's) concept.

[zdenka]

I would really love something which allows/encourages for finishing things, even things which were started earlier. Otherwise I wind up with a huge pile of beginnings and never get any farther . . .

[dawn_felagund]

We need to run the Season of Writing Dangerously on the SWG, I suppose. ;) That was especially for finishing stuff! :D

But there's definitely some favor here for something other than a daily prompt this year, which would result in fewer orphaned beginnings ... or one would hope.

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

Basic feedback: I disliked and could not do the RP at all (which is weird as I have an RPG background), I wasn't comfortable with the passports; the prompts didn't seem to fit my style or something, much as I liked the idea. I loved Bingo, but I would not dive in that deep again - I should have limited myself to one prompt a day or something (I'm still slowly cleaning them up and posting them).

Personally I'd prefer an idea that emphasized participating rather than winning, but I accept some people are competitive writers.

[dawn_felagund]

Thanks for the very specific feedback, Kei! We always try to emphasize participating in whatever way one finds best, but of course, it's hard to resist collecting all of the stamps or getting BINGO and, in light of others doing those things, viewing one's own two or three "prizes" as small in comparison. :)

There seems to be some strong favor here for something other than a daily prompt, which I'd definitely support, since we've used variations on this format for a few years now and generally try to mix it up a bit.

[ladybrooke]

Alright, so, feedback!

I loved Bingo, but having a minimum of 2 papers, and most weeks three, plus group projects and such...this would so not be the college semester, either to do Bingo or get beaten by other people for suggesting Bingo.

But here's what I liked from Bingo: that the cards allowed me to choose subjects that I felt comfort and fun writing. I don't think I'd enjoy it as much if the topics were too specific - okay, today the subjects are write or draw about Hobbits in the Shire in the Third Age farming vegetables or Gil-galad, son of Fingon in Lindon in the Second (to give examples of things that would make me go "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" and run far, far away, never to be found in the Tolkien fandom for the rest of eternity (eternity here defined as "roughly one day, unless I have to rant about something like Oropher on Tumblr before the one day is up") So, vague to simply defined prompts or whatever, instead of ultra specific that I have no choice about and will cause general angst and feelings of failure to appear, in spite of knowing I don't actually have to do it. *waves from the pit of perfectionism*

I'd be in favor of the quotes one, for example, as long as it was left free what in the scene inspired me - for example, quote from Mr. Talking Fox, can I go off and write Mr. Talking Fox stumbling across Maglor one day, in spite of the scene being in the Shire with a bunch of Hobbits? Can Mr. Fox inspire me to write the adventures of Mr. Chattering Squirrel, quite confused by these two things that have been standing in this glade for years and years (and how does that silver haired one not notice the sparrow making a nest in his hair?) Awesome! Totally cool! I love this! More specific guidelines, on the other hand...see above. And now I've inspired myself to write that fic. This is why I shouldn't think about examples.

Other than freedom, though, I'm pretty good with whatever you all come up with, provided that it doesn't require me to go run off and try to coordinate performing a presentation with 10 other people or something (the nightmares of college).

Apologies for any weirdness in this post, I'm pretty sure the contrast in enjoyment between some of my classes is causing mental instability and rambling.

[dawn_felagund]

I am likewise in the throes of grad school (reading the Bhagavad-Gita in between answering comments here, which is a weird whiplash), and it's standardized testing week at the school where I teach so, believe me, I Know Weird. ;)

But you will (I hope) be comforted to know that one of our unwritten but founding philosophies is keeping this challenge open to anyone in the Tolkien fandom who wants to play. So while we offer the opportunity to stretch one's wings and attempt to write, say, Hobbits farming vegetables or Gil-galad in Lindon, we also want to keep the challenge accessible to the person who never, ever, ever wants to write anything beyond Pengolodh/Maglor h/c genfic.

To elaborate on DF's scavenger hunt/quotes idea from our private email conversation about this challenge, if we run this challenge, we will offer different categories for different quotes. So there might be, for example, a LotR category, or a First Age category. One can select quotes from one or all of the categories! :) Presumably, we'd try to get a nice mix (and aim also for those that have themes that would be writable even for the aforementioned Pengolodh/Maglor h/c genfic specialist).

[engarian.livejournal.com]

I have to say that although I enjoyed BINGO last year, I worked my tail off. The year before, when we did the passport with only a single story/artwork per day was much more manageable. I would like something closer to that format again, perhaps with a different type of literary style for each day instead of a location? But I'm sure I'll be trying to participate again no matter what, even though I want to concentrate more on my novel than shorter pieces.

I'll play, no matter the playground...

- Erulisse (one L)

[dawn_felagund]

Thanks for the feedback, Erulisse! I think that everyone is ready for something a little lower-key than last year, even those who liked last year's challenge. :) And it's going to be a necessity for us because, short of hiring a fleet of volunteers, we just don't have the peoplepower from the mods this year that we did last year.

[dwimordene-2011.livejournal.com]

As I believe Huinare pointed out, B2MEM is not about finding time to do all the prompts and manage your work life sanely, rationally, it's about how high the crazy is in March. And kudos to all the planners, you guys manage to help pump a significant amount of crazy into the collective ether every March!

That said, while I loved loved loved the RPG, I can't do something like that in March. There really are only so many hours in a day.

I did, however, like that with the RPG, *formally*, at least, you could've done four fics, one per week, and hit every prompt you drew. A somewhat longer timeline per prompt might be helpful and slow down the frantic pace.

Maybe something like a vaguely acrostic-themed challenge would work? For example: everybody draws a name (or is assigned one) and then for every letter in the name, the participant strives, during B2MEM, to produce a story/artwork whose title or main character (or something... location? Topic?) starts with that letter. Post fanworks as letters are finished, work in any order desired. It'd be a little more self-paced, perhaps, possibly a bit more leisurely, and might encourage people to write longer stories, too. If someone finishes and is really wanting more, they can always draw another name.

[dawn_felagund]

You'd mentioned the acrostic idea before, and I'm glad you brought it up again, because it had slipped my mind! :) Actually, in last year's BINGO craze, I don't know that it ever fully slipped into my mind in the first place. But that's a cool idea, and I like the acknowledgement of making things 1) self-paced and 2) more directly welcoming authors/artists of longer works.

I actually have an idea for another RPG-type thing, but it probably won't be a B2MeM challenge (it's more appropriate for Halloween); it just awaits my life clearing out enough to have the time to run it, that format being a lot (a lot!) of work behind the scenes, so trying to balance it with grad school classes and lesson planning is not something I'm quite ready to attempt!

[independence1776]

I, um, really liked the Bingo last year, to the point where I hope we'll do it again. (And I say that as a tagger…) Don't kill me.

I like daily prompts, but then, I've also pushed for weekly in the past. As long as I can work on a story for more than just one prompt, I'll be happy.

I don't really have any ideas; I like a lot of the ones that have already been suggested.

[dawn_felagund]

No killing from me. ;) I liked BINGO too, even if it was a ... wild ... 31 days! I definitely want to run it again, not necessarily in association with B2MeM, but just need to get the time to do that. I'm hoping that will happen soon.

So Bingo will be back in some form, I'm sure, as will the RPG thing we ran one year that some people liked! :) Maybe not as part of B2MeM but just part of the general craziness we get up to once per year or so on the SWG. ;)

[periantari.livejournal.com]

Will it be in March? I look forward to seeing the posts. :)

[dawn_felagund]

Yes it will! So not long to go! :)

[moetushie]

My feedback won't come to much -- I've only done the bingo cards last year, and I thoroughly enjoyed them! Yes, looking back, I probably got my competitive streak get the better of me -- it's the curse and the allure of bingo! -- if I had to do it again, I would have probably concentrated on fewer stories or made a few graphics instead. This year, definitely, I'd pull back a lot.

(But really, I still quite like some of the things I came up with, so it's a positive thing for me.)

But what I really loved about the cards was that I could combine prompts into one big prompt, which was, more often than not, very inspiring!

[dawn_felagund]

Thank you for the feedback on this! :) And, yes, even just being able say "I liked this about last year's challenge and didn't like this" is immensely helpful to us. Because, ultimately, if everyone is saying, "I would like to scale back a bit this year," then we know we don't want to do another crazy-massive challenge like last year. (And that does seem to be the prevailing opinion, coupled with the fact that we have less mod availability than last year.)

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

I loved the Bingo and would like something similiar. I do hope will play bingo again one day and can create more cards. The passport game was great too, but I didn't fancy the RPG. What about a recipe fic type thing where participants are given a list of words to make a story from?

[dawn_felagund]

I'd definitely like to use the bingo cards again for something outside of B2MeM (since we don't usually repeat B2MeM events)! :) The RPG thing isn't something we'd likely run for B2MeM again either as it was 1) really labor-intensive and 2) it was either love-it or hate-it for most people, and we really do try to avoid things that people feel right off the top that they could not or would not want to do.

You're the second person to mention liking the idea of making a story from combined prompts, so we'll keep that in mind! :) Thanks for the feedback, Linda!

[mrowe.livejournal.com]

I loved the Bingo and would love doing it again sometime - though not in the context of this year's B2MEM.

So, what would I like for B2MEM...? I don't have any concrete ideas, but it would be nice to have something that allows me to put a certain amount of pressure on myself (although oddly enough, setting a goal for myself doesn't do that - I'd need something more 'external' than that). I don't expect to write every prompt, but the rush of creativity from last year was really great, and I'd love to recapture that.

[dwimordene-2011.livejournal.com]

I'd need something more 'external' than that

Hear, hear! I think part of what made Bingo so much fun was that once you took up multiple cards, the possibility of insane prompt combinations came into play, and I have to admit, shake 'n' bake fanfic prompts sometimes get me going like nothing else. There's just something about the need to be devious to get them all to work that makes me plunge ahead despite better judgment. *cough*

[foxrafer.livejournal.com]

I've only participated in two (the passports and bingo) and I loved both. I produced more (and, to me, better) stuff with bingo, but that's likely because I was able to focus more on the challenge that year. I know the bingo challenge is crazy big and demands a lot of your time, but something like the passport challenge would be very welcome. I'm open to trying anything that people come up with, though.

[dawn_felagund]

Thanks for the feedback! :) I'd definitely like to run bingo again sometime outside of B2MeM (since we try to come up with a new event each year). We have all those cards and a lot of people (including me!) enjoyed it. As I just noted to Dwim in the comment above yours, I think it was good for writers to push their limits.

[pandemonium-213.livejournal.com]

I may not have a horse in this race, but maybe I have a My Little Pony as a sometime partipant. I now stringently avoid anything other than a very low key challenge because my work-a-day writing is all about deadlines, some of them are pretty scary. My Dark Muse, as flattered as he was by the attention I gave him for Akallabeth in August (in...what was that? 2009? 2010?) has informed me that he will not stand for something like that again.

I do understand Oshun's position. With BINGO, which I thought was a clever idea, it was not so much that I felt I needed to respond every prompt, but rather the sheer volume of stuff produced by the many participants I found overwhelming. I was only able to read a fraction of it, and to be honest, I think that does the writers a disservice. BUT! B2MeM does generate a lot of excitement and energy so those are good things that far outweigh my selfish whine that I can't winnow through all the stories produced.

I completely avoided the RP challenge, and I can guarantee I would do so again. My inner hipster, who tolerates my fan fiction involvement, draws the line there. However, a lot of folks get into RPs so that's a possibility.

Here's my useless and selfish suggestion: whatever will allow me draw cartoons in response. That was probably the best component of the BINGO challenge last year. How else would I have come up with Treebeard in a parsley thong? :^D Perhaps BINGO again but limit the number of cards people can claim, and I mean really limit it. I recall that you mods faced some real challenges with keeping track of things and, uh, dealing with participants, too.

I'm going to be a real pill here and remind folks that ToMe Awards planning may be quiet at the moment, but it is far from being dead. So that's another reason I'd (selfishly) like to see B2MeM kept low key, because I not only will be pulling out my barbed Whip o' Discipline and cracking it on my own back, but I will be flogging others, too. >:^)

[dawn_felagund]

It's definitely going to be more low-key. We have less mod availability than last year (including me, as I will probably be taking two grad classes again next semester, and while they will have just started and so will likely not require papers or presentations at that point, will still be more than I had on my plate last year), and three of the B2MeM mods (me, Russa, and Dreamflower) are also ToME stewards, so we'll be dividing our time there as well. Having read all of the comments here, I think the consensus at this point is something less labor-intensive (from mod and participant perspectives) than bingo last year and something that lets those who want a regular challenge to keep them motivated and those who want to use the month as an excuse to write/finish on or two longer pieces to both feel like they're involved.

It's a tough balance to strike, but my brain is already churning on some ideas based on what's been discussed here. :)

I will definitely run bingo again, probably as a stand-alone challenge (which is why I'm saying, at this point, that *I* will run it and not committing the SWG or any other groups lest my comods come after me with a blunt object! :D) with more limits imposed from last time to make it easier from the admin side. Big involved challenges like the RP and bingo are always learning experiences, and I think, at least, limiting the number of card claims will both reduce the workload on the mods and limit the feeling among participants that they have to create something for 30 prompts a day or feel like they've failed. It's little details like the time it takes to load a page with 15 cards on it in Photoshop on my aging laptop so that I can add one stamp that slip under the radar when planning something like bingo for the first time but that I now know for future reference! :D (And I have a new laptop, which would seriously half the time I spent last year, but even half of last year's commitment is more than I am prepared to make at this point.)

Anyway, on bingo and the RP, we don't generally repeat challenges for B2MeM, although we may use elements that people liked (a challenge a day, game format, daily "prizes"); both of these I will probably run independently again, at a later date, either on my own, or if my comods don't have any blunt objects nearby, with the SWG. ;)

From a Reader not a writer

[mikononyte.livejournal.com]

As a reader type participant (no card or anything last year, and it was my first time even finding such an event) I'd like to make comment.

I loved the whole Bingo thing as far as quality and difference in works, but as a reader/commenter it was most difficult to keep up. Each writer deserves at least an "I loved it" or something but with the sheer volume of works I know I missed many, skipped comments on probably most just to keep up as best I could. Not fair at all to those who worked so hard!

So my vote would be for something a bit less hectic for the creative teams so that we lowly readers can give our complete and enthusiastic attention and remarks where they do the most good and not fall to the wayside.

I look forward to rooting everyone on!

[dawn_felagund]

Thank you for your feedback! We're definitely going for something low-key this year; this has been the predominant request on this post, and we also lack the mod hours that we had last year.

As a writer, I will say that it's always awesome to get a comment on a story posted a while ago, in case you ever get the chance to catch up on any you missed. ;) But I know the participants will appreciate that cheering on!

[arwen75]

I properly participated for the first time last year with the Bingo challenge although I did make an abortive attempt on the passport (real life illness got in the way). I surprised myself with how much I managed to write last year in my busier semester for teaching (university lecturer). However I did only take a few cards so managed myself that way. I liked having the prompts to give me ideas - I seem to work better with them. I will admit I do not count myself as a great writer and am still learning.

So I would like so something involving prompts I think and something where I do not feel I have to write everyday given my hectic schedule in March. Amongst everything at work there is a big personal thing going on.

[dawn_felagund]

Thanks for the feedback! The majority of participants cannot write something every day, so that will never, ever be required, so no worries there. :) We are going to try very hard this year to make the challenge equally attractive to those who would rather focus on a few works rather than doing something every day--the most difficult part of planning B2MeM is always striking this balance! :)

[hhimring]

Not much to say that hasn't already been said except perhaps--the BINGO was an amazing high, but by the end most of us were exhausted, I suspect, and so there was perhaps a certain lack of closure--although maybe closure is not the right word and too difficult a thing to ask of such a type of event anyway.
I thought the opportunity to include reviews and various sorts of meta stuff was a very good move and so was the creation of the LJ community as a focus.
(I enjoyed the passport project, too, although I participated less intensely.)
The origins suggestion, I think, will have to be handled with care--if you've only just started writing, re-visiting your roots is not all that attractive, so it offers less to newbies, unless you offer them a different way of doing it.

[dawn_felagund]

A lot of the lack of closure (which I agree was an issue) came from me being out of the country through the first week of March and then have real life slam upon me--all the stuff I'd been putting off for bingo! :D Bingo was amazingly successful from a numbers perspective--88 participants signed up and over 1,000 (1,000!!) works were posted to the community (which means the number is actually much higher, since I still see B2MeM pieces being posted for the first time, and there's always a few people who aren't ready to share their work at all)--but it was also a big jump from prior year's participation, and I think we learned a lot from the experience. I know that I did. :)

The origins suggestion, I think, will have to be handled with care--if you've only just started writing, re-visiting your roots is not all that attractive, so it offers less to newbies, unless you offer them a different way of doing it.

I think the original idea envisioned a series of prompts or challenges focused on origins; revisiting one's first story would only be one of those. Since we often get participants who are writing their very first fanfic, I share your concern, and if we go with origins, this option will be one of many to choose from.

[lin4gondor.livejournal.com]

I haven't participated in a B2MeM as yet, except on a personal level by reposting some of my writing during March. I may do that again this year, because I've written a number of short things that I never actually got around to posting in my own LJ! ;-)

I did consider participating in the past, however, because I do like writing to prompts. The passport B2MeM really appealed to me, but Real Life was too much for me at that time and I couldn't even begin to participate. The Bingo looked way too complicated to me, so I didn't even go there. ;-)

I like the sound of the way you are going currently, something low key, that doesn't necessarily require a daily prompt. I'm not any less busy, but if there is something put forth that's not complicated to work with (or run, for the sake of the mods), I'd like to try to participate this year!

[dawn_felagund]

Yay! It's always good to see someone new able to come on board. :)

You're right that we're definitely going to low-key this year, compared to last year. We're also going to work extra hard this year to make the challenge appealing to participants who only want to work on one or two pieces across the month versus those who, say, like to make a drabble or icon per day. I hope you find some inspiration from it! :)

[paranoidangel]

I had an idea, based on B2MeM being all about getting back to doing Tolkien-y things. How about something a bit like what picowrimo does in November? The idea with that is you set your own goals (eg write every day, write 1000 words, finish a wip etc) and everyone posts about what their goal is. Then throughout the month someone posts a daily post for people to report on their progress and encourage each other.

The problem I can see with this is that this community is a lot bigger, so the posts would get unwieldy.

[dawn_felagund]

In the conversation here, there's been some interest in doing a challenge that lets people set their own goals. Even though we make it very clear every year that any amount of participation--whether one day or 31--is acceptable, I know that people feel disappointed when they can't keep up with those who manage the 31. Thanks for the idea here--it's definitely something we'll consider! :)

The challenge you describe is similar to something we did on the Silmarillion Writers' Guild once. We called it the Season of Writing Dangerously, and the idea was that participants set a goal and worked through the summer (winter for S. Hemisphere) to meet that goal. There's been a lot of interest expressed here for running that again, especially since people always seem to leave B2MeM with unfinished pieces. :) I have to run it past my comods, of course, but since it's such an easy challenge to run, I'm expecting we'll run it again this year. I'll make sure I post to this community when we do. :)