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

[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*

[dawn_felagund]

I definitely felt like bingo was awesome in encouraging outside-the-box thinking in a more abstract way than trying to make Elf-fanciers write Hobbits or Gondor fans try First Age or romance buffs attempt horror. Because you only had to include each prompt--it didn't have to be the focal point of the story--it almost let people dip their toes into uncharted waters without taking the full plunge! :) A lot of people seemed to stretch their limits last year.

[mrowe.livejournal.com]

There's just something about the need to be devious to get them all to work that makes me plunge ahead despite better judgment

This.

[dawn_felagund]

I'd definitely like to run the bingo again, outside of B2MeM (since we usually try not to repeat things), and I'm happy to see that it looks like several of us at least would be up for that! :)

So it seems you're more in favor of having a regular prompt or goal rather than, say, posting a list of prompts at the beginning of the month and letting people run with what they will? I understand that as I personally tend not to do well at these kinds of things unless I have a deadline. ;)

Thanks for the feedback!

[mrowe.livejournal.com]

So it seems you're more in favor of having a regular prompt or goal rather than, say, posting a list of prompts at the beginning of the month and letting people run with what they will?

Exactly, especially is there is some freedom in combining things or striking out at weird angles within the constraints of the format.

[dawn_felagund]

Kei suggested posting some initial prompts and then regular prompts thereafter, giving those who want to tackle something longer some prompts to get started, while the follow-up prompts could take longer works in new directions or serve as prompts for those who do drabbles, icons, and other "short" forms. I think this is an interesting concept that might work to strike a balance.

[mrowe.livejournal.com]

Sounds good:)