knight rider online

Hey everyone,

I'm trying to gauge the interesting in trying something a little bit new. Neil and I were talking about some fanfic related things that could be done on the board and there's an idea in blogging communities called a ficathon. It's like a challenge but a little bit different. Basically people sign up to participate and everyone gets their own assignment around a common theme. There's a due date when everyone posts so that all the stories can be posted at once.

I thought with a little modification, it might be interesting to try something like that here. Would people be interested in writing stories based on quotes from the show? Everyone who wanted to write would get their own quote to work from. The stories wouldn't have to be long -- maybe a minimum of 100 words (which isn't long at all -- this post is longer than 100 words). They could include the quote or pick up after the quote or just be inspired by it in some way. I think it would be good to have the due date be after the holidays since people tend to be busy and it would allow people who wanted to write something a little longer some time to get their stories written.

I think if we got 4 or 5 people who wanted to write, it might be fun to do. Is anyone interested?

I think I would take a shot at it. It would be cool for me to write a Fan Fic and have you guys check it out.

I'm game. lol.

I'm definitely in. I enjoy writing fanfic lately and think it would be fun to get a quote and make a story around it. I think it'd also be neat if at the start of the fanfic people mention what quote they are working from as well (I know I will on mine).

Great idea KnightShade, and I look forward to getting a quote and to start writing!

Can you give an example of a ficathon site? I can find lots of sites talking about ficathons, but I'm having trouble actually seeing one in action.

Although the next month is going to be very busy for many of us, maybe we could do a mini-athon in the next couple of weeks with just a few people. This way, we could see an example of how it works and people could get inspired to write over the holidays.

Michael, I like your idea.

Ooh! Excellent. Thank you all.

As far as links to other ficathons, I have some, but they might be a bit confusing because everyone does it a little different. But the first one is probably the closest to what I suggested. Mosca calls it a challenge. Ficathon/challenge, it's a blurry line. Basically everyone got a different set of verses from a poem and had to write from that.

Free Verse Challenge

The following is a little bit different in that everyone is writing the same idea (Buffy/Angel) but everyone has a different due date (so that there is one story a day for the whole month of Nov).

Leni's B/A Ficathon.

And this is the one I did in the KR LJ community (although, I apologize because I don't have it organized or have links to the stories -- I don't have my ducks in a row yet)

Secret Agent Ficathon

As far as December goes, I know that's going to be really hard for me. I have other irons in the fire that I need to tend to. But if everyone would prefer something with a shorter time limit, I can organize and you guys can write this time around.

I can understand that the holidays get rather busy for most people. I don't do much for the holidays so I wouldn't mind writing a fic. But if you rather wait until after the holidays, I'll understand that. I'll still be here during and after the holidays.

I'm in agreement with getting our quotes before the holidays and then posting them afterwards. I think you're right - it'd give folks some time to learn about this and to write up their own, and still enjoy whatever holidays they celebrate.

I admit the examples you gave left me very confused. So I'm going to assume that it's just as simple as we get a quote from the KR show and write a fanfic around it (ie. using the quote inside the story, or as the story's title, or just inspired by the quote)?

Like for instance, suppose a quote was "Michael, That Car! It could've been my twin! It was exactly like me!"

And someone could probably write a story about KITT happening to see a replica of himself that someone built, for example?

Or maybe they'd use the quote IN the story, or even write a story with the title "Michael! That Car!"

Am I on the right track?

Yep, you're definitely on the right track, FuzzieDice.

One thing that's open for discussion is how to get the quotes. The way Mosca's challenge worked (it was the first link) was that people signed up and she assigned the verses (quotes in this case). Each person's verse was different and other people didn't know the other verses until they were posted. We could do it that way (in fact, Neil and I talked about some fun ways to do the quotes and they could be PMed to everyone who signs up), or if people would prefer, everyone could pick their own quotes.

Does anyone have a strong opinion either way on that?

I like the idea of a challenge, so I'd prefer to have someone pick a quote for me.

Ohhhh, yeah. I'll be out of town for most of this week....but I'd get cracking as soon as I returned.

knightshade wrote:Yep, you're definitely on the right track, FuzzieDice.

One thing that's open for discussion is how to get the quotes. The way Mosca's challenge worked (it was the first link) was that people signed up and she assigned the verses (quotes in this case). Each person's verse was different and other people didn't know the other verses until they were posted. We could do it that way (in fact, Neil and I talked about some fun ways to do the quotes and they could be PMed to everyone who signs up), or if people would prefer, everyone could pick their own quotes.

Does anyone have a strong opinion either way on that?

I don't mind either way. I like the idea of being given a quote and working around that - it's like a creative challenge.

I have an idea that I got from doing "WeekEnd Themes" (or WETs) in graphics forums and newsgroups.

The idea is that people would post or PM you letting you know if they want to be someone to come up with a quote for a ficathon. Then you'd add them to a list.

The person who is chosen (first quote poster you'd choose, of course) would be told when to post their quote and they would post a quote they find themselves from any KR show or movie. You'd give them the date they should post the quote and the list of people that offered to post quotes. That person after posting their quote would choose someone from the list and PM them. If that person accepts, the former poster would PM you and let you know so you could take that name off the list (or at the bottom of the list in "already posted" or something). It would go on like that with people coming up with quotes and choosing the next person to choose.

If that's too confusing (and I admit it can be), you could ask folks to PM you quotes and you could put them in a list. Then randomly pick one and post it for everyone to work from.

Just a couple ideas. Of course, having people come up with their own quotes is nice too, but personally I find it more fun to be given a quote and work from that.

Okay, cool. Suprise quotes you all then.

Fuzzie, those are some awesome ideas and very fitting with the idea of a ficathon (often the writers get assigments from things that other people submit). But in the interests of keeping the first one simple, can we save your ideas for the next one? Neil and I kind of talked about a way to do the quotes which might be kind of a fun little secret. A twist, if you will. So I'd like to stick to that approach if it's okay with you.

Give me a few to type up an official sign up post and then we can get going. I'll assume that everyone who posted here still wants to do it. I think maybe January 10th might be a good due date?

Knightshade - ok by me. Just a few suggestions but I do admit that the way I proposed is a bit confusing. I remember I did get rather confused when I got chosen in graphics forums or newsgroups to be the WET challenger.

I'm all for the surprise quotes. Love that idea!

January 10th sounds like a good due date to me.

I'll be 'keeping the scanners peeled' so to speak.