B2MeM 2014 (Yes, Really!)

[dawn_felagund]

Yes, my comods and I have really started talking about 2014's Back to Middle-earth Month. However, there is a good reason behind this! (Normally, the mods start discussion in December, with the members being brought on board by January or February.) There are two important things that we wanted to bring up to B2MeM participants for feedback.

First is the event for 2014. We have done daily-prompt challenges for the past three B2MeMs. These are always popular and are pretty easy to do (so long as BINGO cards aren't involved ... ;), but when we started running B2MeM, it was not necessarily a daily-prompt challenge, and while daily prompts are usually well-liked, we have also had requests to try a different format. So we wanted to propose an idea and see how the community felt about it.

Instead of a daily prompt, we have considered putting together a compilation this year. Those of you who have been SWG members for a few years know that we have done compilations there in the past. (Akallabêth in August is probably the best example of this.) The idea is that participants claim a prompt or prompts well before the event itself. Each participant then sets out to create a story, poem, or artwork based on that prompt, only instead of trying to get something created quickly to be ready for the next day's prompt, the participant has time to make the piece the best it can be. During the month of the event, one or a few of these pieces are "released" each day. By the end of the month, there is a compilation of stories, poetry, and art based around a theme.

Our idea is to put together such a compilation for this year's B2MeM, based around a theme that encompasses the diversity that our community has to offer, i.e., whether you write First Age or Fourth, Hobbits or Noldor, there will be a place for you. The pieces will be revealed over the course of March. At the end of the month, we would also like to offer an e-book or print-on-demand book of the compilation (for writers and artists who want to be included--this would NOT be mandatory). Ideally, there would be the opportunity for writers and artists to pair up to do illustrated stories, and we would offer beta assistance and other for authors who want it.

So what say you all? Are we willing to give the daily prompt a break for this year? Does a compilation seem like something we'd like to try for this year's B2MeM? Please remember that this community exists to promote a fandom holiday that will help bring the various corners of the Tolkien fandom together, so we need to know if our participants think an idea will work for them or not. In short: please be honest in your feedback! :)

The second point concerns moderators. B2MeM started as an alliance of Tolkien fandom groups that wanted to offer a month-long "holiday" in which Tolkien-based transformative works are celebrated. As a result of this basic structure, it was always assumed that the mods of the groups that participated would be the mods of B2MeM. In actuality, this doesn't work that well. For one, group mods already have significant responsibilities in running their groups. In many cases, they cannot also run B2MeM. Secondly, this keeps those who have ideas about B2MeM, time to volunteer, and who would make excellent moderators from actually serving as moderators.

As a result, we will be opening up moderation of B2MeM to more than just the mods of the groups that sponsor it. Moderators help plan out B2MeM events and get them ready for March. They help run things behind the scenes before and during the event. They help to answer questions from participants and cheer participants on. We tend to work closely together on planning and then divide up responsibilities for actually running the event, based on the talents and interests of each mod.

Please comment here, message me, or email me at DawnFelagund@gmail.com if you'd like to be a mod for this year's B2MeM. You should expect to be available beginning in December through early April. (Obviously, everyone needs time off, and we cover for each other when needed, but this is our "busy season," so to speak.) I will make sure to begin including anyone who is interested in moderator correspondence going forward.

Comments

[ladybrooke]

If I'm honest, while I think it's a good idea to switch it up to make it fun for the people that haven't had as much fun in the last few years, I probably won't participate. To me, the idea of claiming a prompt before hand and having to work to get it ready for that day, all the while knowing there is a limited number of stories posted on a day and a number of people might look at it is completely the opposite of what makes events fun for me. I'm afraid my stress levels would be through the roof, especially because I thrive on not having too much time to think about what I'm doing.

But do change it up. I'm sure it will work out brilliant for some people, and there's no way that every challenge is going to work out right for everyone. I'll likely just take the month to work on those still unfinished because the bunnies keep breeding stories from the Bingo one.

[dawn_felagund]

Thank you for you feedback, Brooke--and for being so understanding of the need to switch it up! :) I think it has been enlightening for a lot of us to see how differently people look at the creative process.

I think your concerns are totally legitimate. I tend to post things shortly after writing them. I used to get very nervous when doing weekly postings of my novel Another Man's Cage. So I understand that feeling! :)

I am chuckling that you are still getting bunnies from BINGO ... and here I was thinking to maybe run BINGO again sometime soon ... :D

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

Do you know I did not get a single BINGO? And I completed way more than a prompt a day--did ficlets AND graphics. I completed some 40-some prompts. That was enough to finish me on that daily shit forever!!! I was totally committed that year to for once in my life "win" a B2MeM-month challenge. The prompting and challenge gods HATE me!!!

[dawn_felagund]

I never win things like that either. I thought it was just me. (I actually did win a door prize at the hafla I danced at back in September. They called my name and I sat there for a moment waiting for another Dawn to walk up and claim it!)

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

I was so annoying. There were some people screaming BINGO every day it felt like. Apparently, I'm a sore loser. I was like a lunatic that month, everything I swore I would never do or be in one of those B2MeM situations. Writing bad!fic, filling every prompt and still losing!

[ladybrooke]

You're welcome for both. :) I think it's enlightening too!

I have to post things shortly after I write them, or I end up utterly convinced that everyone will hate them. I also have to convince myself that nobody will ever read them, or they don't end up posted. ;)

BINGO was (for me) some of the best fun I've had in years. Now, of course, the rocks will come flying at me for that, but there was something freeing about an event where it felt like crack was completely and totally welcome. I don't get that feeling in the fandom much...but yes, I'm still getting bunnies. I go back and look at the cards sometimes, I still have a folder of fic to finish polishing/writing from it, and when I do get things finished, someone pops up in a review with "Did you mean to leave this open for a sequel to explain *insert idea I hadn't thought of but now sounds incredibly fun to write about*?" :D

[dawn_felagund]

No rocks from me! BINGO was incredibly intense from a mod perspective, but it was also our most popular and successful B2MeM to date. I actually want to run it again, even if I run it as an individual (I don't know if my comods on the groups I mod--SWG and MPTT--would be interested), but with a limit on card claims this time. I didn't anticipate the number of cards we'd get (I expected 20 and got ~100!) or the number of participants we'd have. It was a good idea and also a good learning experience! :)

[ladybrooke]

Well, if you ever do run it again and want help as a mod, feel free to ask. I have no idea what my schedule will be like at that point (considering I might just have gotten myself involved in a second research project...whoops), but if it's clear, I'd love to help! It'd also keep the problem of me being one of those people who writes fast, combines up to 12 prompts for a single story, and therefore probably annoys people with the tons of stories. ;P

[dawn_felagund]

Wow, thank you! It would probably be summertime (pretty clear event-wise and lower key for me than the regular school year).

[moetushie]

Oh, count me in as someone who would love to see the return of Bingo!

[ladybrooke]

You're welcome! Summer time would probably work for me, because aside from when I'm in Florida at my grandma's house, it's generally fairly low key for me as well.

[silver-trails.livejournal.com]

I do hope you run the bingo again sometime. I got like three bingos, I wrote and posted every ficlet in March. I was very tired when it was over, but I've never had so much fun with these things in all my life. (g)

I do understand it is hard on the mods. Just saying the bingo was a great event for me. Actually, even if I had not traveled last March, I doubt I would have participated because it was a mixed and complicated thing.

The passport event was very good too. I've been told there was a RPG once too. I'd love that.

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

If you ever do it again, you have to restrict the number of cards. That for me was the biggest frustration and annoyance as a player and I suspect at least part of what made it harder for the mods than it needed to be.

[silver-trails.livejournal.com]

I'd say, people can take as many cards as they wish, but they have to post something to claim the bingo. The other way is as you say, restricting the number of cards.

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

That would make it more fun for me; because I could not in good conscience claim a Bingo based upon intent. I have WIPs that I work on for years--I have one that is seven or eight years old! But I think it is the large number of cards claimed that made it horrendous difficult for the mods. Maybe I am wrong.

[silver-trails.livejournal.com]

I can't claim a bingo number unless I have started to write it. And as I said, I posted everything I said I would write, and in March.

It is very difficult for the mods, which is why they are not doing it. I'm just hoping they do it again sometime, as Dawn said in her post.

[dawn_felagund]

If (when!) I run bingo again, there would be a card limit for the simple fact that having to work with such huge files with so many cards included in each was a major reason why the event took so much volunteer time. It also forces chance to play more of a role when people have to settle on, say, 10 cards, versus claiming anything they can imagine writing a single prompt for! :)

The main reason that we do not require people to post their B2MeM responses is that not everyone is comfortable posting something that new in public. For example, I know we have ESL participants who would be mortified at posting something before they have a chance to run it past their betas. Or writers who feel something is unfinished or raw or personal ... and just aren't ready to put it up in public yet. So we've always run on the honor system and will continue to do so.

Also, we don't have the mod power to check that stuff is posted, so having a rule that can't be enforced doesn't make sense, imo. :)

However, another lesson learned from B2MeM BINGO is that, in the future, I need to clarify that one must make a significant start on a piece before claiming that card. By "significant start," I mean sitting for a good chunk of time and working on a piece or getting most of it finished (or all of it finished, if it is something very short, like a drabble). There were people responding almost immediately after I'd post the new number, and I suspect they were claiming what they expected to write ... but expecting to write something and actually doing it are two totally different things! :) They didn't mean any harm with this, of course, but the rules just weren't clear on this point.

[silver-trails.livejournal.com]

Amen. ;)

[huinare.livejournal.com]

I like the idea of a smaller-scale Bingo at some point in time. As to limiting, if each person could only make one card (maybe that's already been brought up in this labyrinthine discussion somewhere), that would hopefully do the trick. Unless you got like 50 people wanting to make cards. x.o

Wait, you mean a limit on the number of card claims per participant, not on the actual number of cards produced...well, I'm still going to put that out there, because when there are 100+ cards produced it's really really REALLY hard to settle on, say, 10. ;)

[dawn_felagund]

Yes, if I were to run it again (and I would like to, though obviously not as a B2MeM since we don't repeat events), then that is what I'd do. I love the bingo idea, personally, and learned a lot from running it the first time. When I planned the event that year, I did not anticipate how popular making cards would be! I expected we'd end up with about 20 (and I was prepared to make most of them myself) and we ended up with, I think, 105. O.O If I'd known we were going to have 105 when I wrote the rules, then there would have been a claim limit. Claiming every card--or just about every card--when there are so many ruins the role that random chance plays in determining a winner. A person who claims 100 cards stands a much better chance than someone who claims only 10, so the smart thing to do, of course, is to claim any card you can imagine writing! :)

And, yes, it increased the complexity immensely for the mods and volunteers. It took a long time to put together 80+ cards for a single player, required multiple huge files per player, and added to the complexity when adding stamps. Ten cards, for example, would not be onerous. Even waiting for the files to load in Photoshop--albeit on Pengolodh, my ancient and slow laptop--meant that I was stamping cards for most of the night.

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

That makes my blood boil. I should ban myself from these discussions.

[dawn_felagund]

Oh come on, you know me! I wasn't just stamping; I was multi-tasking like a fiend. ;)

[dawn_felagund]

I definitely want to run BINGO again, even if I run it as an individual (because I don't know if my SWG or MPTT comods would be interested). It was intense but worth it, I think. So many people enjoyed it and so many people got involved because of it. That makes it worthwhile in my mind.

In 2010, B2MeM included a quest game which also had the option to talk to other players in-character in a "tavern." It was very complex but was also successful in some ways that I'd like to replicate. I actually have an idea for another event like this (and at least one SWG comod interested in doing something like this again! :), but it is something that has to wait till I have more time. It is a very time-consuming event to run.

[silver-trails.livejournal.com]

It was a great idea, but I know it was time consuming, You mods did a wonderful job!

If you ever replicate the quest and tavern thingie, I can help. =)

[dawn_felagund]

Thank you! I have an idea for one, actually. (I might have mentioned this already. Forgive me if I did! This thread has long become very complicated ...) It will likely wait until a time when I'm not in school, and as it's set in the halls of Mandos, then I'd like to run it in the autumn. Perhaps next year. I only have a few classes left to take before I begin on my thesis, and I will be taking as long as possible off between the last of those classes and the start of the thesis as possible (for research).