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Fanfiction Prompt Challenge Discussion

rhombus · 481 · 71514

rhombus

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Good evening and Happy New Year, everyone!

Today Fyn and I have decided to begin something that we have seen done in several other fandoms: a prompt challenge.  This is an interesting and fun way to encourage creative writing in a manner that often leads to unexpected and surprising results.  Here is how it works:

1)  Each month Fyn and I will alternate in proposing a prompt for potential stories in the Land Before time universe.  This may be a plot detail that would need to be in the story, or it could be a piece of dialogue that must be used, or it could even simply be a plot idea.  As soon as the prompt is posted there will be a one month period in which participants may write and submit a story or poem in response to the prompt.

2)  If you wish to participate please place a copy of your resulting story or poem for the challenge on both the Gang of Five fanfiction section and on fanfiction.net. In an author’s note in your story mention that this is a response to a prompt challenge and mention that prompt.  The only length requirement on stories is that they need to be at least 1000 words or, in the case of poems, 500 words.

3) PM me with links to both the Gang of Five and the fanfiction.net copies of your story.  I will then add a link to the prompt masterlist in this topic.  DO NOT post your story to this topic – we are trying to keep this topic as uncluttered as possible.

4) After the month is complete there will be a vote between the participants on which story (you cannot vote for yourself) was the best prompt response.  The voting will take place in the voting topic. The winner will gain the ëprize’ of making Fyn and I write a Land Before time story based upon a prompt of their choice.  The usual rules for fanfictions on the forum will apply to those prompts, however, so no smut, extreme violence, etc.

It is my hope that this exercise will result in the inspiration of many good stories from the exceptional authors we have on the forum.  I truly think that the creative side of this fandom is where it really shines, and I look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with. :)

The first prompt will soon be posted in the The Prompt masterlist topic.  If you have any questions about this challenge, the rules, or any prompts please mention them in this topic – as it is meant for discussion.  The Prompt Masterlist topic will only have the monthly prompts and links to any stories and the voting topic will only be for voting at the end of each monthly prompt.

Concerning song fics
Songs can be submitted as poetry, but to prevent abuse and ensure originality a few conditions must be obeyed:
1) They must be original works, that is to say they should not be based on existing music.
2) They still need to adhere to a poetic formula. Obviously this is pretty loose, since poems can take many forms, but essentially it needs to be visually organized like a song (lines, stanzas, etc clearly defined).


Go ahead and check out my fanfictions, The Seven Hunters, Songs of the Hunters, and Menders Tale.


rhombus

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And here is the first prompt.  Everyone who is interested will have the entire month of January in order to create a story that incorporates the following somewhere in its narrative:

Use this as part of the narrative: ëAs far as he was concerned if his mom wanted to sleep in instead of her usual habit of waking at daybreak then that was fine with him.’

Once again, if you are interested please post your response story or poem (as a separate topic) to this forum and to fanfiction.net.  Then provide me with links to both copies of the story by PM so that I can add them to the masterlist.  I look forward to seeing what everyone can come up with!  :)


Go ahead and check out my fanfictions, The Seven Hunters, Songs of the Hunters, and Menders Tale.


Fyn16

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Hey all! As we get this event rolling, I figured I'd chip in my two cents' worth as well by clarifying some things.

First and foremost, we're not expecting perfection. The point of this event is chiefly to have fun, and secondly to evolve our skills as writers. In an environment of constant feedback and brainstorming, I think all of us can benefit, both experienced and inexperienced. Yes, that's correct. Even if you've never written a fanfiction before, and have even the slightest interest in giving it a try, I'd encourage you to participate! This is about the safest environment I can think of to start writing in, and short stories require very little time commitment. Of course, how much time you put in, and how long of a story you create is up to you, and I feel we'll see a variety of different lengths, genres, and the like.

So, to writers both new and old, welcome to the 2017 Prompt Challenge! I simply cannot wait to see what our forum's bright minds can create.

-Fyn


Sovereign

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First, I must say that this is a great idea! It would be very cool to see many people (old writers and new) take part in this kind of contest and I'm really considering about giving this a try! However, is there a reason why this should be posted on fanfiction.net also? And to which topic should we post them on GOF?




rhombus

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I am glad to hear your enthusiasm for the idea. :) I look forward to your entries if you do decide to participate.

The stories would be posted to their own topics in the fanart and fanfiction section on the forum (just like how fanfic stories are currently posted) and then once I am PM'ed by the author I can add a link to the story to the masterlist topic.  This kind of organization is simply done to avoid clutter and to ensure that there is one convenient topic (the masterlist) where links to all of the prompt stories can be found.

As for the simultaneous posting to fanfiction.net, this is done to ensure that the stories are seeing the widest possible distribution.  This can encourage wider knowledge of the prompt challenge in the fandom, and it also may encourage wider participation as well.


Go ahead and check out my fanfictions, The Seven Hunters, Songs of the Hunters, and Menders Tale.


The Wasp

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This is an excellent idea. I can't wait to get started on it!


Ducky123

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Indeed it is and I will participate! That prompt juuuust happened to work with a story idea I had anyway ;)
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Fyn16

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I'm really pleased to see all the positive responses! Thanks for coming on board, and I look forward to this month's entries. Remember that you can use this page for discussion as well. Things like brainstorming, discussion of plot points, etc.


Ducky123

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Do stories have to be finished by the way? My idea certainly isn't a story I can write in 10000-20000 words without applying serious cuts in terms of quality...  :unsure:
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rhombus

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Quote from: Ducky123,Jan 3 2017 on  01:16 PM
Do stories have to be finished by the way? My idea certainly isn't a story I can write in 10000-20000 words without applying serious cuts in terms of quality...  :unsure:
Hmmm... I think generally we are looking for completed works.  However, if the part of the story that satisfies the prompt is posted before the deadline then that should be acceptable even if the story is not entirely complete by that time.  If this exception to the policy leads to many cases of incomplete works then we might reconsider that exception, however.


Go ahead and check out my fanfictions, The Seven Hunters, Songs of the Hunters, and Menders Tale.


Ducky123

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Okay! Well, I'll try to work really fast on it then. :yes
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Sneak

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I see you have huge fan contest projectS here, guys. :)
I am happy for you and wish good luck!
6/14
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ask me thread: http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=15601
my personal thread: http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=15412


Sovereign

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I'm just wondering whether there has actually been any LBT poems? The only ones I can remember are the ones posted by the Friendly Sharptooth. They were pretty nice but apart from his (her?) works, that sub genre has been very quiet.




Fyn16

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Quote from: Sovereign,Jan 5 2017 on  04:56 PM
I'm just wondering whether there has actually been any LBT poems? The only ones I can remember are the ones posted by the Friendly Sharptooth. They were pretty nice but apart from his (her?) works, that sub genre has been very quiet.
Not many, as far as I know. I remember reading one a few years back (2012 if I recall correctly), but that author is no longer writing for LBT- or writing much at all, for that matter. Poetry's always had a small audience, and this is probably why we haven't seen much of it. Thing is- when it's written well, it can be more impactful than a 100k+ word story. I'm hoping we see some of it this year!


Sneak

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Not so long time I created a thread and asking if there fan LBT themed songs were created, but nobody answered.
Poems, rhymes, and songs are very close to each other, so does songs fit for this thread/competition?

(or we should give  chance to third Promt thread? About songs? ^^ lol)
6/14
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ask me thread: http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=15601
my personal thread: http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=15412


Fyn16

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Quote from: Snik,Jan 5 2017 on  06:17 PM
Not so long time I created a thread and asking if there fan LBT themed songs were created, but nobody answered.
Poems, rhymes, and songs are very close to each other, so does songs fit for this thread/competition?

(or we should give  chance to third Promt thread? About songs? ^^ lol)
Hmm, I'll talk to Rhombus on that one. While I could see songs being added under poetry, I believe they'd probably have to adhere to a few restrictions. I'll get back to you on that.


Fyn16

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Update on the question about songs: they CAN be submitted, but the songs need to abide by a few restrictions:

-they must be original works, that is to say they should not be based on existing music. As an example, you can't take Judas Priest's "Breaking the Law" and somehow apply it to Ozzy and Strut (though if it were executed well, I'd pay to hear that).

-they still need to adhere to a poetic formula. Obviously this is pretty loose, since poems can take many forms, but essentially it needs to be visually organized like a song (lines, stanzas, etc clearly defined).

These restrictions are in place to ensure that participants are encouraged to create entirely original works regardless of the medium. If you have any additional questions, please ask Rhombus or myself.


Sneak

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I think about joining your party... And I have a question.

Instead of creating something new, I want to use and remake some of my old not-written stories, with using my OC.

But the problem is that he...
eem...
SHE has a problem with gender. XD
lol

So, does sentence "As far as SHE was concerned if his mom wanted to sleep in instead of her usual habit of waking at daybreak then that was fine with HER." fit with this month's promt? XD
6/14
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ask me thread: http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=15601
my personal thread: http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=15412


Ducky123

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Good question, I was wondering about that too for my story... anyway, I would love to see your story so I hope it works out for you :yes
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Sneak

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in case if not, well, I have alternative story. ;)

lol this gender borders...

fun fact: in official translation of some LBT movies, one beloved character was forced to change its gender... Many times.
guess who was a victim...





(hint:
[size0]It's nickname of one active user)
6/14
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ask me thread: http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=15601
my personal thread: http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=15412