MOD: Request + Feedback + Amnesty Week Upcoming!

[darjeeling]

Just a quick request if I could, I notice some people submit their entries with the titles in the subject line and Title section all in lower case. I know it's a stylistic thing that online has adopted, but it takes me a bit longer to convert it over to title case so the Voting post and Memories are uniform, so if it's just something you can keep in mind, I'd appreciate it!

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Also, I might as well double-up on post purpose, please consider this a catch-all for feedback on the community so far! We're 8 challenges in, we've had a variety of themes (some hard, some easy), and we've had big round and small rounds. So any thoughts from members would be great!

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ALSO ALSO, we will be having our first Amnesty Week coming up after Challenge #010, so it will fall on the week of April 10-16. You'll be able to submit any fic from the previous 10 challenges, so don't throw away any partially finished ones, and stockpile story ideas that you had but didn't find time to write :)

There is no voting relating to Amnesty Week entries, and it runs the full 7 days Sunday to Sunday, 9PM EST when regular challenges will resume. Please keep in mind that any story submitted for Amnesty Week still needs to follow the fic guidelines (1000 words or less, etc).

And we'll have an Amnesty Week after every 10 challenges, so you'll see another one after Challenge #020.

Comments

[fickle_obsessed]

The only bit of feedback I have is regarding timing, I was wondering if it would be possible to post the new prompt along side voting so people have the weekend to write as well?

[darjeeling]

I can definitely look into that, sure. If we make a change, it probably won't be until after the first Amnesty Week, so we'd be looking at Challenge #011 if that ends up being a popular option.

[badly_knitted]

I think fickle_obsessed has a good idea there. I'm sure a lot of people don't have much time for writing on weekdays, it might encourage more participation.

I'm pleased about the upcoming amnesty too. I've only recently found this community so I missed the first few prompts. I like the thought of having a chance to catch up every so often.

I'm enjoying having a reason to read in unfamiliar fandoms, but picking my top three is hard. Hopefully it'll get easier with practice, I'm not used to voting.

[darjeeling]

Answered the first portion here!

I'm glad Amnesty Week seems like it's going to be a popular option!

Voting can be tricky, since it was something of a specific subset of communities on LJ and doesn't appear to have come into its own here on DW.

[badly_knitted]

I like that we get to vote, it's just so hard to choose! LOL! The writers here are so good.

[badass_tiger]

I wish there was something we could do for the banner makers. I know it can be difficult to take time out to make graphics, especially if they wanted to participate in the round too. idk what we could do though :c

Thirding fickle_obsessed's idea too. My initial idea behind amnesty was that so people who are busy during the week could participate too, but since amnesty has no voting, posting the new theme a bit earlier would be really great too.

[darjeeling]

In infrequency of the banner rotation, with each person only needing to do their banners once every six weeks, probably mitigates most of this problem. If it were an every week or every other week rotation, I could definitely see it becoming draining. But I'm always available to take over for a bannermaker's week if RL issues come up on an assigned week.

[badass_tiger]

Yeah I get that. But I didn't mean that I worry about the banner makers, I just think it'd be nice to do something for them for the time they've given.

[darjeeling]

Hm, what would you suggest?

[badass_tiger]

Ah, I don't actually know, I'm sorry! I just wanted to throw the idea out there if anyone could come up with suggestions.

[sealrat]

I really like the variety of themes and I'm enjoying being challenged to write things regularly, since I've never really written fic like this. It's a great opportunity for practice. Having weekend writing time could work well; I know I sometimes feel like I don't have enough time during the weekdays.

Looking forward to Amnesty Week!

[darjeeling]

Answered the first portion here!

[alobear]

I'm really enjoying this so far - and, unexpectedly, it's prompting to write in fandoms I've never written for before (eight entries, eight different fandoms so far - maybe a little tricky to keep that up!).

I love the variety of all the different fandoms people are picking, and the community already seems very supportive in comments.

My only concern is the voting getting onerous if the number of entries rises. It's fine at the moment, but we presumably want the community to grow, and I don't feel I can vote fairly unless I've read all the entries.

[badly_knitted]

Same here, I want to read all the entries before casting my vote.

[darjeeling]

You are a brave soul for tackling that level of variety!!

That's definitely an ongoing concern, and it's pretty standard for any fic community that does voting, that people tend to vote for fandoms they're familiar with. (That said, we've had a very high ratio of original universe stories win already, which is awesome!) It's one of the reasons of like to see voting turnout increase, to help spread that aspect out a bit more.

[energybar]

I'm definitely one of those people who has a hard time participating due to time constraints. Having weekends to get in my entry would help 1000%.

[darjeeling]

Noted!

[samuraiter]

I wouldn't mind having the extra time, as others have noted, but I have to post my first entry, anyway, so take that with a grain of salt. ;-) Hoping to start this week, but we'll see.

[darjeeling]

I appreciate everyone's input! :)

[ser_pounce_alot]

i really like the variety of the themes, but some of them can be difficult to do with more fantasy-oriented genres or any other culturally-oriented fandoms (like the road trip one) and those are usually the weeks that i don't write anything. possibly having options in the rotation that are not so culturally or modern time-specific? for example, prompts that are less specific and more "theme", such as emotions or general themes (like "winning and losing" or cliches like "always darkest before dawn") would help for any fantasy, sci-fi, or non-western fandoms.

[darjeeling]

I've been trying to give broad enough themes to work with all genres, but I can sympathize. It's always open to the writer's interpretation though! For the one you mentioned for example, road trip, they could be a horseback tour of the kingdom in a fantasy setting, or a supply run via shuttle craft to the next parsec over in a space setting. It does take a little flexibility, but it can be done.

[ser_pounce_alot]

i totally understand, just an idea that would help me (not necessarily everyone else lol). i have trouble voting because i usually don't know the fandoms and i feel like i can't judge writing in fandoms that i don't know. again, not sure there is a way to fix this or anything, but i feel bad voting without knowledge of what's going on haha. :) i really love the idea of doing something small each week, and it's helping me out in getting back to writing again, so thank you for taking the time to run this! the weekends thing would only marginally help me, as i am in a much different timezone than the other participants and my days are already 14 hours ahead, so my participation will not be dependent on extending the writing time. :)

[badly_knitted]

I don't know most of the fandoms either, but I read everything and treat the unknown fandoms as original fiction. My votes are based on the quality of writing and how much the story engages me, so I don't automatically vote for fics in familiar fandoms. Most of the unfamiliar fandoms are things I'm never going to watch/read anyway, and fanfiction by its very nature means that writers don't have to stick to canon anyway, so I set any concerns about the source material aside and vote based on each story's merits as a piece of fiction. It seems the fairest wsy. =)

[ser_pounce_alot]

that's an excellent way to look at it. :)

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[badly_knitted]

It seems to be working for me so far =D

[iluvroadrunner6]

I'm also going to +1 fickle_obsessed for weekend writing! It's not an issue for me right now, but I know that when I go back to work, having weekends to write would be a blessing, and I've had friends of mine who would like to participate but have no time during the week.

My one concern would be that if the voting is during the same time, people might write vs. vote. Maybe we could stagger the times a little differently so that the voting period is on a Thursday/Friday versus Saturday/Sunday and the new prompt goes up Friday night?

Otherwise, I'm really enjoying things here! I also know that I'm guilty of the lowercase titles, so I will try and be more mindful of that.

[darjeeling]

Not going to lie, that's my concern as well re: writing versus voting. Generally we have a very low voting turnout, although this last week was stellar! Playing with the schedule is definitely an option to give people weekend writing time, and there will probably be a poll once I've worked out a few possible options.

[novel_machinist]

I love the whole com and the ideas behind it, I try to read everything, but dang, it's hard. I'm afraid I just can't keep up on a weekly rotation, I can't write at all during the week it seems. I still read though! It'd be wonderful if we can have a weekend to write, but I understand that kind of doesn't fit a "weekly" challenge com.

[canadiandiamond]

Chiming in a little later than everyone else but also in favour of having some or all of the weekend for writing. I took part in one of the first few rounds because I happened to have time off work but most times it's hard for me to get something done by Friday when I really can't look at starting until Monday after work (my time zone makes it harder to see the results/new theme on Sunday evening).

Other than that though I love the amnesty idea (and hope to work on some ideas I didn't get done!) and am loving this group, kudos to all the participants and a huge thank you for the mods for running it! <3