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

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

The idea sounds interesting, and I'm always looking forward to unveiling things (be they at AinA or Si'07 or fic exchanges), so I'd be excited to see how this would be implemented (and the book idea - OMG, that would probably be the closest I'll ever get to being published, so it's kind of tickling my vanity. A lot).

What I'd miss, though, pre-March prompts notwithstanding, is similar to the points Tehta and Lignota brought up. Daily prompts may have run their course for a while if last year's participation, as Dawn remarked, is any indication, but I think I'd miss the kind of energy that usually rears its head during March - waiting for something feels very different from creating something. A very tentative idea to consolidate both unveiling and a creative component for other participants - how about a complementary remix challenge for the day's piece(s)? It'd probably have to be opt-in since I suppose not everyone would be comfortable with having their work dissected that way (which might lower the number and pace of prompts to not make it a daily challenge), but it'd open up a lot of ways to essentially work with the day's fic as prompt, and could produce anything from fanart to podfic to a POV change to an AU to goodness knows what. An example: Dawn's Toys in the Hall (http://www.silmarillionwritersguild.org/archive/home/viewstory.php?sid=1115) is a remix of Levade's This Ereinion (http://www.storiesofarda.com/chapterview.asp?sid=2692&cid=10551).

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

I am laughing at myself and my own ego and insecurity! I am such a dofus. I've often thought I really wanted to do a re-mix and not because I thought I could do better, but because I love an idea and it gave me ideas. But the idea of someone doing one of mine and changing my idea and writing a better story even horrified me!!

We are all really different.

The reveal format is very similar to a lot of Harry Potter fandom holiday events I have seen. An advance deadline for all and a story or two revealed every day (then, within that context, there also could be room for some extensions--with no guarantees--given problems with a story or daily life).

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

I know the feeling, and it's one that I relish. Fannish cross-pollination is a wonderful thing (the most amazing compliment I think I ever got was someone asking if they could use one of my manips as basis/inspiration for a tattoo - also a kind of remix, I guess). In this case, like you said, the point isn't to improve something, but I find the fear totally understandable. Hence the opt-in idea.

[dawn_felagund]

My initial thoughts on the schedule were that the prompts would be revealed in January and opened for claims. The due dates would probably be a week before the reveal, which would allow at least two months to finish. We'd reveal the most recent version in the queue, so people could make the deadline and then continue to edit and tinker.

Extensions are always possible. Having a piece due a week before the reveal allows a lot of wiggle room too. Things come up, and this is hardly a life-or-death event. Having two or more pieces to reveal per day would make this even easier to accommodate (although anything chronological would be a little off-kilter ...). But looking back in Akallabeth in August, which used the schedule I outlined above, more or less, I don't recall anyone needing an extension that took them past the due date.

[dawn_felagund]

I personally love the book idea (provided it is opt-in because I understand that is a dealbreaker for some people and I would never want that fact alone to exclude their ability to participate!) because I often regret that there aren't many outlets for "publishing" in a more permanent way some of the extraordinary pieces that get written in this fandom. Hence my bordering-on-obsession with compilations! :) I have had some of my Silmfic stories reprinted in fanzines. It's pretty awesome! :D

I like the remix idea. I also suggested to Linda up-thread that those who want a daily prompt could certainly write in response to the prompts that were used to create the pieces being revealed each day. Kind of a reversal of last year's attempt to accommodate both types of writer: Last year, we provided some prompts on Day One for use by those who wanted to write something over the course of the month, but the emphasis was very much on the daily-prompt component. This year, the emphasis might be on the daily reveal of stories, but those who wanted to use the prompts to create new pieces each day could certainly continue to do so.

I also have some ideas for how to increase the engagement generally with this kind of format. (Ideas are never the problem for me--just the time to implement them in! :D)

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

So that is where the compilations are coming from. ;) But I do think I understand - the talent in this fandom is a little staggering, so "preserving" these fics and wearing them on our brow for festivals feels like the "right" impulse. I'd probably have to make myself opt in against my inner critic's protests, but I know if I didn't the vain part of me would regret it. ;)

Thank you! Simply using the prompt of the day is of course the much less complicated solution compared to potential worries about remixing (I've had one of my fics remixed once upon a time, and it took some dithering to actually allow it, so I'm no stranger to reservations on that count, but imho the positive results win out in terms of engagement: general excitement, creative engagement, squee over the end result, more fic to read), but I'm glad the idea appeals to you anyway. A shift from the emphasis on dailies wouldn't be a bad thing, I don't think, not as long as it still allows both kinds of writers to participate. (And this paragraph is horribly convoluted, I'm sorry; I'm getting pretty tired and my English is slipping).

I also have some ideas for how to increase the engagement generally with this kind of format. (Ideas are never the problem for me--just the time to implement them in! :D)

Time's always the problem, so yay for starting to plan early! :D

[dawn_felagund]

I'm laughing because my "plan early!" impulse usually leads me to start the first B2MeM-related email to my comods each year with something like, "Please don't throw rocks at me but ..." ;)

I am very much for trying to include as many people as possible. We really tried with last year's event, but I feel like those who don't like daily prompts still felt left out.

And I understood you perfectly, so no worries (and it is late where you are! :^0)

[moetushie]

I really, really like the idea of remixes, even of already existing stories. Maybe something like the Reverse Remix, but offering specific stories rather than fandoms? /*still pines for Remix Redux=*

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

I am so neurotic! I just burst out laughing at myself again! I've only in the last few years steeled myself to be able to read people who write the same characters as me. Now you want me to be able to read my stories rewritten by people with a totally different slant on the canon! Horrors. I really am a delicate mentally-disturbed little flower. Of course, I do that to Dawn all the time--take her settings and characters and re-do them--even pick up her stories where she left off or fill the gaps--with a totally different take on the situations and characters. It could be a great exercise for me to learn to have thicker skin. Not that anyone would want to re-write any of my stories.

I can think of some of yours I would love to expand. Good new plots are hard to think of.

[moetushie]

Oh, oh, I hope you feel a bit differently about artwork based on your works. *Looks nervously at the shamefully late SoWD prize*

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

Are you kidding! I think of artwork based on my stories as the highest compliment and am thrilled by it. Seriously!

[dawn_felagund]

I am not the least bit bothered by remixes. While I understand that some people might be uncomfortable seeing a beloved story or character "remixed" by someone else, what I really don't get at all is the complete opposition to remixes among people who write fan fiction (which is itself a form of a remix). I know that is not what you are saying, but that perspective does exist and really and truly baffles me!

[tarion-anarore.livejournal.com]

...what I really don't get at all is the complete opposition to remixes among people who write fan fiction (which is itself a form of a remix).

I was just thinking this!

"A fanfic of my fanfic? Well, I'm not really in a position to complain much, now am I..."

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

I get your point entirely and I agree! I am not saying I would complain about a remix, just saying I'd worry it would be better than than my original. (I always thought that writers who protest so much about fan-fiction of their published novels were actually not as worried about the juvenile, not-so-great ones, but the ones written by better writers.)

I love to read remixes--and I always read both, one right after the other--the original and the remix. I always have thought I would love to write one--I see short-shorts all the time that I think would make a fabulous true short story. "I Hate You" of mine is a remix of your ficlet “Hatred.” I am sure I wrote something different than your initial intent, but I did it out of an intense emotional connection to the original.

[tarion-anarore.livejournal.com]

just saying I'd worry it would be better than than my original

I tend to consider that everyone else's stories are better than mine anyway, so a remix wouldn't be any different for me, lol. I'd just be flattered.

[silver-trails.livejournal.com]

If a remix is what I think, I wouldn't like it. The characters are not mine, but the plot is.

[dawn_felagund]

A remix is a story written based on a fanfic story. It's fanfic of fanfic in a way. Since we use characters--and plots!--of Tolkien in our stories, I've never understood how fanfic writers could object to the same being done with their work (and then often get into a tizzy at authors like Diana Galbadon and Anne Rice who speak out against fanfic of their work), but to each her own, I guess.

[silver-trails.livejournal.com]

Oh, I am sure the authors have the right to object our work. I don't really buy all the excuses we make for ourselves. Only that we don't make money. So I'm not one of those authors angry at the original authors.

Anyway, I do object to people taking my characters (the original ones) or plots without my permission. I'd erase all my work if that was allowed with my stories without my permission.

[tarion-anarore.livejournal.com]

I actually really like the remix idea!

If all the creators of works revealed* on a given day opted out, maybe we could remix the initial prompt itself. Or something.

*Predicated on whether the revel format is ultimately deemed feasible or not, of course.

[dawn_felagund]

Somewhere in this increasingly complex conversation, I suggested that people who don't want to write for a compilation and want a daily prompt could certainly use the prompts revealed daily as part of the story revealed for the compilation and write their own stories based on it. I love the remix idea, personally, as someone who doesn't give two figs who does what with my stories so long as I'm credited for them, but do know that some people are really touchy about this. So we'd have to tread carefully there.

[rhapsody11.livejournal.com]

Another thing to consider is that for example lesser known author's might get ignored (be it unintentionally) if on the same day their story is released with a very popular author where people might line up to jump at the chance of writing a remix of a story written by that author. Tetha brought it to my attention above and I have to say that I agree with her. I am not sure how we can prevent from that happening if people can add stories to the queue, but I can see it happen.

[tarion-anarore.livejournal.com]

That is true, a remix challenge overlay introduces an unplanned reciprocity issue. Lots of valid concerns with the reveal format have been brought up, though as you mention on the remix front, it is hard to predict where the most attention will fall and prevent uneven distribution of feedback!

[tarion-anarore.livejournal.com]

I did read that. Somewhere. At some point. (I worked my way through the comments on my phone during work, so that it looked like I was proofing a markup when actually I was sneaking over to B2MeM!) That did lead to the idea, since these Theoretical Advance Prompts will be available in [January] where anyone could see them, of a prompt remix as a more "daily prompt" style alongside the other format. It's hard to explain exactly what I was envisioning without prompt examples, of which I have none. It is, as always, entirely possible that what my brain conjured up is entirely infeasible and that I am talking complete sh**e.

Anyway! I agree on the "treading carefully" front. I'm the same as you about anyone remixing my stories; I'd be more surprised by the request than anything! But I figured that wasn't a bridge we wanted to figure out crossing at this point in the conversation, since we might not even want to leave this side of the river! I do have a habit of getting ahead of myself after all. ;)