b2mem | Participant Guidelines:: Back-to-Middle-earth Month Scavenger Hunt: Expedition in the Abecedarium

[Admin note: Our poll for this year's B2MeM theme ended up with a perfect tie between the scavenger hunt and alphabet options. We've kinda sorta combined the two, using the scavenger hunt format with the alphabet for inspiration. Thanks again to everyone who shared feedback with us!]

Middle-earth is full of hunters. The Vala Oromë found the first people of Middle-earth while hunting, and hunters have remained central to the stories since. Whether hunting for an Arkenstone or a band of Orcs or for truth and justice, Tolkien’s world is full of hunts for things both physical and metaphorical. Back-to-Middle-earth Month Scavenger Hunt: Expedition in the Abecedarium seeks to encourage creativity in the Tolkien fandom through a “quote scavenger hunt” that participants will use as inspiration for stories, art, meta, and other creative responses.

B2MeM 2013 Participant Guidelines

Each day’s prompts will be quotes from the books of J.R.R. Tolkien. First, select a quote that inspires you, then find the source of the quote in the books--that’s the scavenger hunt part! Create your response using that quote and the surrounding scene as inspiration. You might write about the event itself, characters in that scene, the location where the scene takes place, or themes and ideas present in the theme. Your response does not need to include the scene itself.

In a continuing effort to welcome writers of both short and longer works, this year’s event will offer several options for participation. Participants are welcome to choose the one they like best or mix it up by choosing more than one approach!

On the first day of the challenge, we will post of an initial set of twenty-six quotes, each dealing with a different theme. Participants are welcome to select the prompt or prompts that inspire them and begin working on their response to that prompt. Participants who would like to focus on just one or a few longer pieces do not need to select another prompt if they do not wish to do so!

Each day after, three additional prompts--one from each major era of Arda’s history--will be posted for those who like a daily prompt. Participants who wish to use the daily prompts can create a new work for each one, or use the prompt to guide an existing work in a new direction.

There is no minimum for participation. Although we offer a daily prompt for those who enjoy that kind of challenge, we equally welcome participants who can only join us for one or a few prompts. We also encourage participants to make creative use of the prompts in ways that do not require writing something every day. For example:

Choose one or a few prompts from the first day’s list that inspire you and aim to create a single longer work during the month of March that uses those prompts.

Choose a prompt for the first day to start a longer work and use subsequent prompts to guide your story in new directions.

Select a prompt that inspires you, spend a few days working on a response, then select a new prompt that tickles your muses.

All formats of creative work are welcome: stories, artwork, poems, photomanips, essays, songs, drabbles, podfic, scripts, meta, vids, crafts, and things we haven’t even imagined yet! Reviewers are welcome to participate as well; please see below for more information on how to participate as a reviewer.

All responses must be based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Beyond that, all genres, ratings, and subjects are welcome, including crossovers and alternate universe (AU). Works in progress are welcome as long as you are adding to the story based on the day’s prompt.

There are no deadlines this year. While some participants enjoy the time-pressure of trying to meet a prompt in the same day it is offered, that is not required, and we encourage participants who want to take some extra time with a prompt to do so. Feel free to go back to prior prompts and work on the ones that inspire you.

You determine if your response meets a particular prompt. Our moderators and volunteers do not make judgments on this and will not, even if we’re asked. There is no “prompt police” checking to make sure responses fit what we deem is a “correct” response to that prompt. We understand that thinking deeply about a prompt can lead you in unexpected directions—and we welcome this! Please don’t ask if a piece fits a prompt. We’re only going to ask you if you think it fits. If it does—that’s good enough for us.

You do not need to post your response in order to participate.

Any banners or icons offered for participants can be claimed on the honor system. You do not need to post your piece or otherwise “prove” yourself deserving of your prize.

B2MeM Participation as a Reviewer

Last year, we opened participation in B2MeM to reviewers. This was a popular change, and participants have requested something similar for 2013’s event.

If you wish to participate as a reviewer, you should seek out, read, and comment on a story that meets one of the day’s prompts. The story does not have to be a B2MeM story. For example, if the quote for the day is, “In a hole in the ground, there lived a Hobbit,” you might seek out, read, and comment on a story set in a Hobbit hole, a story about Bilbo, or a story based on the first chapter of The Hobbit.

Reviewers are welcome to display any banners or icons for having participated in that day’s challenge. As with writers and artists who participate, banners and icons should be claimed on the honor system.

B2MeM 2013 Reading Week Guidelines

This year, we are adding a reading week to our B2MeM schedule, after the main festivities end in March. During the main event, it is sometimes difficult to find time to revise and post your creations, to say nothing of reading and commenting on the creations of others. We hope that reading week will encourage posting, reading, and commenting! Reading Week will run from April 1 through 7.

Participating in B2MeM does not obligate you to participate in Reading Week. Likewise, you are welcome to participate in Reading Week, even if you didn’t participate in B2MeM.

Any banners or other prizes that we make available for Reading Week are available on the honor system. No one will be checking that you actually read and commented on B2MeM entries.

If you have any questions about this year's event, you can post them here, or you can message or email me privately at DawnFelagund@gmail.com!