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

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.

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

There are definitely people who want to produce a prompt a day if you give them a prompt a day. I have grown to dread B2MeM rather than look forward to it. All it takes is ten people trying to produce a prompt a day--even if they fail--to make it dizzying and no fun for me.

I guess I am a minority of one. But I am voting anyway, and I vote for backing away from daily prompts.

I do not remember what your story was last year. I am sure I read it, I am sure it was awesome, and I always love and look forward to your stories, but it did not have the effect it should have had.

I have this moralistic thing, that if I am a member of a community which I care about, I want to participate fully and be productive in that context. If the bar is raised to high then I feel less than a full participant and, you know, kind of a slacker.

[dawn_felagund]

I guess I'm confused about what your complaint is. Some people like writing a prompt a day, if offered it? It's not a requirement, but some people look forward to doing that, which somehow ruins B2MeM for those who prefer to write only one or two pieces? What am I missing, because this makes no sense to me? I don't get how deciding, "I'm going to pick three prompts that I like and work on short stories for those" makes it "dizzying and no fun" if others choose otherwise.

I certainly wouldn't oppose doing something other than a daily prompt, since we've had that format for a few years now and we've always tried, in the past, to mix it up a bit. We've received a couple of ideas that could break out of that format.

it did not have the effect it should have had.

Because it was written during B2MeM, which means it sucked more than what I usually write? Or because it was presented during B2MeM, which made it lost in the shuffle? Again, just confused ...

If B2MeM is truly dizzying and no fun for you, maybe it's time for a year off? I'm really not trying to be a jerk, but this is supposed to be fun, and the vitriol in your two comments and flat-out acknowledgement that you didn't enjoy last year's event at all really make me wonder why you participated.

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

You asked. I answered honestly. Obviously, you will do what you are able and what you think the most people want to do.

I always feel guilty that I never do well and every year have tried to do better, to fully participate. So far it hasn't worked for me no matter how hard I have tried. Almost everyone else works full time also, so one would think I could participate at the highest level, given how important the community is to me and the fact that I have more time to spend on it than most.

Or because it was presented during B2MeM, which made it lost in the shuffle? Again, just confused ...

Lost in the shuffle (I am sure I would have read it). I keep meaning to go back and look at the fics I skimmed, or was just to brain dead to absorb even if I tried to read carefully.

[dawn_felagund]

I guess we just have to differ here, and I need to accept that I'm not going to understand what the issue is. The goal is not and has never been to produce the largest number of stories/art during March. The goal has always been and always will be to do something meaningful as part of this community. What "meaningful" is differs from person to person. Some people will write 100 drabbles during March and will be happy with that and feel that they've done something meaningful because they made time every day to write. That's not my speed, nor yours, but I don't feel like my past contributions of a story or two are any less meaningful; to me, I will always be most satisfied to produce the kind of story that seizes me, heart and soul, for the hours it takes to write it, and that I am proud to share afterward and feel is the best I can do, which was how I felt about the story I wrote last year.

The trick for this every year is to strike some kind of balance because we really do try very hard to make it an event that anyone in the fandom can participate in. That's easy when it's Hobbits vs. Elves, het vs. slash, Silmarillion vs. LotR because there are plenty of prompts that can invite responses from all of those. What is more difficult is how to welcome a drabble writer, novelist, painter, and icon maker into the same challenge. That's a big part of the reason why we have fallen into the habit--rut, maybe ;)--of the daily prompt, because it keeps those who want a prompt a day happy while still letting those who work in longer or more time-consuming forms choose a prompt or two--or combine prompts--to make one or a few pieces that month. And, of course, whatever we do does have to have some kind of sustaining effect across the month or it might as well be one of the SWG's regular challenges (which hardly anyone ever does ;).

You did review last year's story, but you said you were sick and definitely sounded like too little butter over too much toast. ;)

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

You did review last year's story, but you said you were sick and definitely sounded like too little butter over too much toast. ;)

OMG! I am dying here! That is vintage Janet having a meltdown. OK. I am not misremembering how these things make me feel! Well, for starters, I am going to re-read that story tonight and really review it. Sounds like I thought it was good, but . . . brains were dribbling out my ears.

Maybe I can write a really nice character bio for March (to assuage the guilt factor) and one story, so I can feel like I can join with others in commemorating that very important fictional month in Tolkien's legendarium (I wrote almost 20 chapters of an LotR novel based on those canon days in March--it is not like they don't matter to me).

[dawn_felagund]

Okay, I replied before the edit:

I have this moralistic thing, that if I am a member of a community which I care about, I want to participate fully and be productive in that context. If the bar is raised to high then I feel less than a full participant and, you know, kind of a slacker.

I can understand social influence and all that. But we really do emphasize over and over again that different forms of participation (such as working on longer pieces versus a drabble-a-day--as I said, not my favorite format either) are equally welcome.