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March 15, 2016 5:36 am  #1


Summer fan fic exchange

So, who would like to join another fan fic exchange? What could it be about? Who would organize it?


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I still believe that love conquers all!

     

"Quick, man, if you love me."
 

March 15, 2016 8:01 am  #2


Re: Summer fan fic exchange

The boys in the sun? Or free-style? AU? Victorian? Some length restriction so that everybody will find the time to read?

I am not sure if I will have the time to participate but it is a nice idea. I will try. 
 


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"To fake the death of one sibling may be regarded as a misfortune; to fake the death of both looks like carelessness." Oscar Wilde about Mycroft Holmes

"It is what it is says love." (Erich Fried)

“Enjoy the journey of life and not just the endgame. I’m also a great believer in treating others as you would like to be treated.” (Benedict Cumberbatch)



 
 

March 15, 2016 5:54 pm  #3


Re: Summer fan fic exchange

Yes, it's a cool idea. Even though the Secret Santa one is not strictly Christmas or winter themed, maybe we could make this one summer themed? And I agree that it would be good to put a limit on length because even though many of us who are studying are off school in the summer, it can still be a busy time in a different way.



Clueing for looks.
 

March 16, 2016 5:23 am  #4


Re: Summer fan fic exchange

Summer theme and word limit sounds great to me.


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I still believe that love conquers all!

     

"Quick, man, if you love me."
     Thread Starter
 

March 16, 2016 11:17 pm  #5


Re: Summer fan fic exchange

OK then I'd be willing to participate. Would we fill out a similar questionnaire as we did last time?

Last edited by Yitzock (March 16, 2016 11:17 pm)



Clueing for looks.
 

March 17, 2016 7:54 pm  #6


Re: Summer fan fic exchange

What would the organiser need to do? I'd like to be involved, if it's not too difficult


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March 17, 2016 10:11 pm  #7


Re: Summer fan fic exchange

I'd like to participate as well though the summer theme is a bit intimidating at the moment. I can't really imagine Sherlock on holiday. As for organizing, I am happy to assist.

Last edited by stoertebeker (March 17, 2016 10:30 pm)


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"There is a place for people like you, the desperate, the terrified. The ones with nowhere else to run."
"What place?"
"221B Baker Street."
 

March 17, 2016 10:23 pm  #8


Re: Summer fan fic exchange

He doesn't have to be on holiday, they must get cases in summer too


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March 17, 2016 10:41 pm  #9


Re: Summer fan fic exchange

I'm sure of that. =)

 

March 18, 2016 2:06 am  #10


Re: Summer fan fic exchange

Quite so.



Clueing for looks.
 

March 18, 2016 4:37 am  #11


Re: Summer fan fic exchange

To organize an exchange, you need to mainly match people with prompts and post the fics when it's time.

I won't have time to do so but would give any kind of advise of course.


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I still believe that love conquers all!

     

"Quick, man, if you love me."
     Thread Starter
 

March 18, 2016 7:51 am  #12


Re: Summer fan fic exchange

Well I'm happy to give it a go then

And what sort of questionnaire, is it pretty standard? (I've never participated in any sort of fic challenge/exchange, so I don't even know what is standard)

Last edited by ukaunz (March 18, 2016 7:53 am)


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March 18, 2016 12:57 pm  #13


Re: Summer fan fic exchange

Well, for Secret Santa, it was essentially what we like reading, what we won't read, what we like writing, what we won't write, and a few prompts.

I could always send you what it looked like for that unless you want to devise your own with those criteria.



Clueing for looks.
 

March 18, 2016 10:00 pm  #14


Re: Summer fan fic exchange

Send it my way and I'll have a look, thanks Yitzock 


I'm thinking about the following schedule

Monday 25 April – Registrations close
Monday 2 May – Participants will receive their prompts and can begin writing
Sunday 19 June – Deadline for sending your finished stories to me
Monday 20 June – First story published

Comments, suggestions? Is 7 weeks too long for the writing stage?

Last edited by ukaunz (March 18, 2016 10:19 pm)


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March 18, 2016 10:29 pm  #15


Re: Summer fan fic exchange

Seems like a pretty good schedule, to me.  Almost a month and a half to write the story seems reasonable. I can hear the gears turning in your head!



Clueing for looks.
 

March 19, 2016 12:34 am  #16


Re: Summer fan fic exchange

Yes the wheels are definitely turning

I've been doing some research and have drafted a post about the summer fanfic exchange. I just have a "few" things I need to clear up before I post it.

Have we settled on the summer theme? Any other suggestions?
I was thinking we might call this the Midyear Fic Exchange as it's only going to be summer in the Northern Hemisphere, but perhaps it doesn't have as much of a ring to it. (I don't really mind, and I think I'm the only Southern Hemisphere person on the board at the moment!) The theme could still be summer, as there were plenty of wintry stories for the Secret Santa exchange

When people receive their assignments, do they know who they are writing for, or do they just get the likes/dislikes/prompts?

Are all aspects of a prompt expected to be fulfilled, or are they optional? Obviously we want stories tailored to recipients tastes as much as possible, but this might not be possible. For example, someone might request a romantic pairing, but the writer prefers to write gen. Is it okay for them to write a friendship fic instead? Sometimes it's hard to include everything that is requested. I'm sure most people will try to fulfill the specifics as best they can.

What are the minimum and maximum word limits? I gather 221 words has been the minimum for previous exchanges. What is a reasonable maximum?

What sort of maximum "rating" will we put on the stories? Up to PG13? 16 years old? Nothing explicit obviously, but what about profanity, drug use, violence etc?

Which tools do people use when formatting their stories for the forum? Please provide me with the links/resources. (Edit: I've found the link posted in the last Secret Santa thread, so don't worry about this question).

How often should I post the completed fics? Daily? Every second day? We should probably give people time to read and comment on each new fic.

Do we want to reveal the authors at the end, or do people prefer to stay anonymous?
Should I mention that people can post their stories to AO3 at the end?

The forum is pretty quiet lately. Do we want to promote this exchange elsewhere, such as tumblr?

I may have more questions

Last edited by ukaunz (March 19, 2016 9:59 am)


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March 19, 2016 2:23 pm  #17


Re: Summer fan fic exchange

I don't know if I have all the answers, but I will give my two cents on some of these.

It had slipped my mind that it wouldn't be your summer, but of course it's not - you live in Australia! Mid-year fic exchange sounds fine to me - I mean, it's not inaccurate.

As far as knowing who we are writing for and who wrote a story - for Secret Santa we only knew who we were writing for, but not who was writing our prompts.  But this isn't Secret Santa so we don't necessarily have to do that rule.  If we don't reveal them at the time of posting, I think we can reveal the authors at the end.  I'll let the others weigh in on this as well.

I'd say around 1500 is a good maximum if we want to keep it to shorter stories, though there were some in Secret Santa that were longer than that - but if we want to keep these stories shorter than the Secret Santa ones were, then we could think about maybe a limit of 1500-2000? Again, I'd like to hear what other ideas people have.

I'm not sure whether we had to write all aspects of the prompt.  The way it worked last time was we filled the prompt, and we could draw ideas from the "what I like reading" part of the questionnaire the person filled out to help get other ideas if we wanted.  For example, the prompt I got was "Johnlock fight that gets resolved," but in the "what I like reading" answer, "Viclock" was included in the list of things the person liked reading, so I used that to help me get an idea about what they could be fighting about.  And for the one that was written for me, I said I liked platonic Sherlock and John, which the person wrote, and then the Christmas mystery prompt was the plot of the story.

I think how often you post the stories depends on how many there are and how long you want it to last.

As far as ratings of stories, I don't recall exactly how far we went with the Secret Santa.  I know we didn't write sex, and that if anyone wanted to include those kinds of scenes they were told only to put them in the AO3 version of the story after the Fic Exchange was over.  Everyone who could or wanted to posted their story on AO3 after all the authors had been revealed at the end and were grouped together, but I think that's optional.  But it's nice to have them all filed together to look at again later, other than on the forum.  I liked being able to bookmark mine.

Also, I don't know if you noticed, but for Secret Santa we had one topic for posting the stories and one for commenting on them.  I think it kept things pretty well organized.  It's up to you whether you want to do it for this one as well.



Clueing for looks.
 

March 19, 2016 10:03 pm  #18


Re: Summer fan fic exchange

Thanks Yitzock, that was very helpful, and it all sounds good to me, but I'll wait for others to have their say too


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March 19, 2016 10:18 pm  #19


Re: Summer fan fic exchange

I was thinking of 10,000 words rather than 2,000. O.o What does the rest of you think?

Other than that, I am fine with whatever you'll come up with. I realize that I quite enjoy taking part without having to organize. I love taking care for the secret santas but this is nice as well.

Last edited by Schmiezi (March 19, 2016 10:19 pm)


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I still believe that love conquers all!

     

"Quick, man, if you love me."
     Thread Starter
 

March 19, 2016 10:28 pm  #20


Re: Summer fan fic exchange

I have little personal experience, but I was thinking it might be more difficult to write a very short story than a longer one. I'm happy to put 10,000 as the maximum.

I look forward to being able to organise rather than participate as an author, and I think I'm ready to post the challenge. I'm too impatient to wait much longer!


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