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b2memReceiving questions about events always clues me in to what points I need to clarify or emphasize generally. I'm a teacher for my profession, and I know that for every person willing to put their hand up to ask a question, at least five more are wondering but don't want to ask! :)
"Can I use multiple challenges to create a single fanwork?"
Yes! Absolutely! This has been our policy for past B2MeM events, and it will continue to be our policy for this one.
In fact, I'd like to encourage those of you who prefer to create longer works to take advantage of this possible way to work with the challenges. One piece of feedback that we received after last year's event was that the challenge seemed to favor those who created shorter works like drabbles and vignettes over those who preferred to write longer stories or create art. This is a legitimate critique and an inherent downside to holding a daily challenge (however, most of our participants prefer a daily challenge). This year, we're emphasizing that a single fanwork can emcompass multiple challenges, in part, to encourage creators of more time-consuming works to use the event as an opportunity to work on these projects.
For example, say the number B3 is called on the first day of the challenge. That matches with the following challenges on cards you've claimed:
You'd be hard-pressed to write a drabble or ficlet that incorporated all five of these elements, but if you wrote a short story? Finwe returns from Mandos at the end of the First Age (AU) and reunites with Indis (Finwe/Indis), but their joy is short-lived, as he learns his family's fate in Middle-earth and decides to attempt to recover the Silmarils from Morgoth (Silmaril). On a foggy evening as he nears Angband (fog), he is ambushed by Orcs and dies ... again. And so the Silmarils result in another fruitless death (tragedy).
In the past, we've also had authors write a chapter per day for a longer story, allowing each day's challenge to determine the direction the chapter takes. This isn't something that would work for every author, but for those of you who like to discover what's happening right when your characters do (Tolkien wrote LotR this way, incidentally!), this is another possible approach for the event.
Also, remember that you only need to start a piece in order to receive credit for it. As in years past, you don't need to post the piece publicly or in any way "prove" to us that you've met the challenge. We trust participants to be honest and recognize that every author isn't comfortable sharing a piece only hours old. Nor do the event mods want to play the role of arbiters of "correct" interpretations of the challenge prompts.
What counts as starting a piece? Again, that's up to you to determine because it will vary from author to author and situation to situation. If writing 1,000 words per day is the most you can manage on the best of days, then 500 words might be a significant start for you. If you only have an hour that day to work on creative projects, then spending 45 minutes on a piece of art would probably be a good start for you. If you've never written about Hobbits before and spend two hours reading in order to fulfill a prompt on the Shirish card, then canon notes and a few paragraphs of story might represent a lot of progress on that story for you. We ask you to use your good judgment and discretion in determining what is a good enough start on a piece to warrant claiming a stamp for it.
Can I work on an piece I started before B2MeM?
If you can use the day's challenge to continue on a work-in-progress, then you are welcome to do so. To claim a stamp for that challenge, you must make significant progress on the piece using the prompt. Again, "significant progress" varies from person to person and so is up to your discretion.
Finally, a gentle reminder that tomorrow (Tuesday, 21 February) is the last day to send in BINGO cards or requests for BINGO cards to be created. Depending on how many cards/requests I get between now and then, I hope to have the final batch of cards posted and ready to claim by midweek.
"Can I use multiple challenges to create a single fanwork?"
Yes! Absolutely! This has been our policy for past B2MeM events, and it will continue to be our policy for this one.
In fact, I'd like to encourage those of you who prefer to create longer works to take advantage of this possible way to work with the challenges. One piece of feedback that we received after last year's event was that the challenge seemed to favor those who created shorter works like drabbles and vignettes over those who preferred to write longer stories or create art. This is a legitimate critique and an inherent downside to holding a daily challenge (however, most of our participants prefer a daily challenge). This year, we're emphasizing that a single fanwork can emcompass multiple challenges, in part, to encourage creators of more time-consuming works to use the event as an opportunity to work on these projects.
For example, say the number B3 is called on the first day of the challenge. That matches with the following challenges on cards you've claimed:
Artifacts and Weapons: Silmaril
Canon Couples: Finwe/Indis
Genre 1: AU
Genre 2: Tragedy
Weather: fog
You'd be hard-pressed to write a drabble or ficlet that incorporated all five of these elements, but if you wrote a short story? Finwe returns from Mandos at the end of the First Age (AU) and reunites with Indis (Finwe/Indis), but their joy is short-lived, as he learns his family's fate in Middle-earth and decides to attempt to recover the Silmarils from Morgoth (Silmaril). On a foggy evening as he nears Angband (fog), he is ambushed by Orcs and dies ... again. And so the Silmarils result in another fruitless death (tragedy).
In the past, we've also had authors write a chapter per day for a longer story, allowing each day's challenge to determine the direction the chapter takes. This isn't something that would work for every author, but for those of you who like to discover what's happening right when your characters do (Tolkien wrote LotR this way, incidentally!), this is another possible approach for the event.
Also, remember that you only need to start a piece in order to receive credit for it. As in years past, you don't need to post the piece publicly or in any way "prove" to us that you've met the challenge. We trust participants to be honest and recognize that every author isn't comfortable sharing a piece only hours old. Nor do the event mods want to play the role of arbiters of "correct" interpretations of the challenge prompts.
What counts as starting a piece? Again, that's up to you to determine because it will vary from author to author and situation to situation. If writing 1,000 words per day is the most you can manage on the best of days, then 500 words might be a significant start for you. If you only have an hour that day to work on creative projects, then spending 45 minutes on a piece of art would probably be a good start for you. If you've never written about Hobbits before and spend two hours reading in order to fulfill a prompt on the Shirish card, then canon notes and a few paragraphs of story might represent a lot of progress on that story for you. We ask you to use your good judgment and discretion in determining what is a good enough start on a piece to warrant claiming a stamp for it.
Can I work on an piece I started before B2MeM?
If you can use the day's challenge to continue on a work-in-progress, then you are welcome to do so. To claim a stamp for that challenge, you must make significant progress on the piece using the prompt. Again, "significant progress" varies from person to person and so is up to your discretion.
Finally, a gentle reminder that tomorrow (Tuesday, 21 February) is the last day to send in BINGO cards or requests for BINGO cards to be created. Depending on how many cards/requests I get between now and then, I hope to have the final batch of cards posted and ready to claim by midweek.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-21 12:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-21 01:22 am (UTC)I love that there's a support group.
(... *watches comm*)