SG-1 Friendship ficathon, poll #2

[fignewton]

So, the results of the first tentative poll are mostly positive:

SG-1 Friendship Ficathon?

The next step is to determine what kind of ficathon we're going to do, and when we're going to have it.

What kind we're going to do:

We have two choices: a traditional assignment of prompts, and an open pool of prompts.

If we go with the traditional mode, then each person participating in the ficathon would submit three different prompts. Prompts should name two characters and a quote, an episode, a bit of dialogue, or the like. These prompts must use different characters - you can't, for example, ask for Jack and Daniel three times! :) You may use one character twice among your three prompts - for instance, you can ask for Janet and Sam dealing with Cassie, or Janet and Hammond and "they also serve who stand and wait," but you would not be able to put Janet in your third prompt. You may also, if you wish, offer one prompt of three or more characters for multi-friendship (such as Jack, Teal'c, and Daniel watching jello-wrestling in Ascension). Timeframes may be included in your prompt (early Season One, pre-series, post-series, classic SG-1 only, S9-10 only - whatever). You may also include up to three things you specifically do not want in your fic: no NID, no Tok'ra, no excessive violence, etc.

If we go with an open pool of prompts, there will be a one-week period in which anyone, whether or not they plan to sign up for the ficathon, can submit screened prompts. As with the traditional mode, prompts should name two (or more) characters and a quote, an episode, a bit of dialogue, or the like. There would be no limitations in terms of using the same character in multiple prompts or submitting serveral multi-friendship prompts, although I do hope we would end up with a nice mixture of both. When the submission period has ended, a new post would go up with all the available prompts. Prompts would be claimed on a first-come, first-served basis.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both methods. The first assures that participants will get one story written specifically to their tastes, including what they'd rather not see in their requested prompt. The second offers many more choices for inspiration and makes it easier to take the plunge into participating; it also allows last-minute contributions from people who hadn't planned to take part in the ficathon, but find themselves suddenly inspired by a particular prompt a week or so before the stories are due. However, there's no guarantee that your own prompt will be taken or that the story written with your prompt won't include elements that you dislike.

With that in mind, the first question on the poll below is to determine which kind of ficathon we want: traditional assignment of prompts, or an open pool of prompts.

I should add that no matter which kind of ficathon we ultimately have, all assigned or claimed prompts must be written and posted to the ficathon community before any of them can go public. I've taken place in three ficathons so far, and two out of three had that rule - and, despite the inevitable delay in unscreening, I'd say that it's definitely worth it.

When we're going to do it:

This is pretty self-explanatory, I think. If we go with the traditional mode, we'll have a week sign-up period, a week for assignments to be handed out, and seven weeks to write before stories are due. If we go with the pool of prompts mode, we'll have a week submission period, a week in which prompts can be claimed, and seven weeks to write before stories are due. (If anyone thinks more time needs to be allocated for any of these time periods, please leave a comment below.) I've offered a spread of dates in the poll, and it offers ticky boxes so you can choose whatever works for you. Hopefully, we can find a time that is, at the very least, doable for most.


[Poll #1134155]
As aurora_novarum points out, I sadly neglected to offer the option of "either one" for the first question. So if you have no specific ficathon-type preference, please leave a comment.

I've created the sg1friendathon community, and you're more than welcome to join there if you'd like! :) And if anyone with talent in banners or icons would like to suggest anything for the comm, I'd be delighted. And please, spread the word to your own flists - we want as much SG-1 friendship love as we can get!

Comments

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Anyone who participates in a traditional ficathon understands, and even expects, that different authors can take the same prompts and come up with entirely different scenarios. As long as the general concept is there, most people are pretty happy. :)

OTOH, the open pool prompt seems to be running pretty popular right now, so we'll have to see what happens!