ROUND TWO: BEGIN?

[vangirl]

Hey hey! Listen listen! Hey listen!

I've seen some people express interest in a possible Round Two of hardmode so I'm curious; how many of you would be interested in doing this again this year, and when would be the best time for you? I want an idea of when everyone would be willing to run it with minimal overlap with other Big Bangs so be sure to mention other BBs you're interested in so I can get an idea of where the most overlap would be and how to avoid it.


Another question: How do you feel about possibly raising the word count? A 10,000 word minimum is at the low end of a typical BB wordcount and some people consider this to be more like an easymode game. However, it's a good starting number for people new to BBs and we probably don't want to alienate too many noobs either. A 10,001 minimum may be a sufficient increase though. What are your thoughts?


AND ONE LAST QUESTION: I feel that the way hardmode was run last year was a bit chaotic, stressful and ended up being especially NOT fun for media creators. I noticed that polybigbang had writer sign-ups that were open up until the rough draft due date and then posting summaries for the artists to choose from. I'm very tempted to steal that idea from them as it would a) lower stress for writers as they only need to commit when they feel they have enough material to make a commitment, b) give artists this weird thing called 'choice', something that they likely aren't accustomed to in fandom challenges, and c) make life easier for me.

C is a really big one for me, though I think you guys may be especially interested in A and B.

How would you guys feel about doing Round Two a bit more like that? Or would you prefer something else entirely?


Also, I am a huge liar and have one more question: how many of you would be vehemently opposed to the idea of an AO3 collection? I know a lot of people don't like the site so it would be optional, but I think it might be a cool thing for those of you who enjoy AO3. Though I'm not sure it would really be worth the effort if only two people would use it. ^^;

Comments

[vonuberwald]

Totally up for a Round Two on acocunt of missing the first round >.<; But I don't really mind about word count. Last-minute signups are a good idea too, I think.

The final point... I don't hate AO3, but I would really like to not use it. I don't mind updating a collection once the round is over and posted on DW, but for the purposes of actually holding the challenge, I'd like to stick to one place. If you know what I mean /ill&delirious

[vangirl]

\o/

Oh and no problem. The challenge will definitely be running here. The collection will mainly just be a place for people to toss up their work if they feel like it. It'll just another archive on the side and won't be the challenge proper, if that was your concern. :>

[vonuberwald]

XDv Then all ideas are awesome~♫ And I'm ardently hoping for a Round Two 8)

[shanaqui]

I would love to take part in round two. Especially since I never managed to post my round one fic. (Would I be able to pair up with an artist for that, in round two, since I never got art and it's never been posted anywhere?)

[vangirl]

Of course! I hadn't realized you never got your art. x( But you put in the effort so you should, hopefully, get it this round. We'll just work with it as though you turned two fics in for one round. :)

[shanaqui]

Okay, yay! Not sure what I'll write this round, but we'll see.

[samuraiter]

I must redeem myself by trying again. :-) If Round 2 will have me, then I shall be more than happy to sally forth. I like the PBB method; it would certainly be helpful to me. And I am ambivalent about AO3, but will use it if prompted (and if it does not go down).

[stealth_noodle]

Re: media creators, I participated in megaflare_ff (and still haven't posted, as I'm waiting to hear back from my artist), which uses a similar system to polybigbang. Writers posted summaries, then artists went through a first round of claiming, followed by a second round if they wanted to create for more than one fic. This was set up so that not all fics necessarily got a media creator, but you could mandate otherwise.

Also, I love AO3 collections, yay! And I would love to participate in a second round of whatever word count, though my schedule is completely up in the air right now, so I have no idea what dates would be best for me.

[darkrose]

I would love a round two. I'd also love an AO3 collection

As far as timing, the problem with Dragon Age fandom is that DA2 comes out in March, for what that's worth.

[cypher]

I like the idea for the changed format! It seems like it would reduce stress all around, and giving the media creators more incentive ("here, pick something you're excited about!" rather than "I have assigned this thing to you, go!") seems like a really good plan.

Also I think I could probably handle a raised word count, though I'm still nervous about raising it too far. My story for last year remains the longest thing I have written to date. Maybe bump it up to 12 or 15 and see how that goes?

This is the big bang I'm most excited about doing this year, so I will make time in my schedule whenever it runs! But I would like to be able to do polybigbang too, if possible, and the last two years that's been an August-September sort of thing, so. Ideally timewise not then?

If you wind up having any questions about making the AO3 collection, feel free to poke me on gchat. :3
I already have my story on the AO3, but would be happy to have a collection for it to live in. ^^

[lassarina]

Totally up for Round 2.

I very often end up writing far more than is called for in a fic challenge (sometimes double the amount--which I nearly accomplished in the first round of this--and sometimes by orders of magnitude, like that one time I wrote 17K for a 1k minimum challenge. oops.) So for me, having a "lower" minimum--like 10K--is actually better because if it was 20K I'd end up writing 50K and my wrists would not thank me at all.

[cephy]

Yep, I'm there. :D Would be up for a raised wordcount, though not to an insane degree, and I am happy with whatever method of running things you find the easiest and/or best.

[icedark_elf]

I missed Round 1, and would love for there to be another one, as I just found this com recently. I know that I'm probably not the most helpful, but given that I wasn't involved on the first round means I probably don't have much input to give. But I love the concept of the com, and really hope to join up next time.

[ukefied]

Totally up for Round 2, though I do like the 10k minimum. For someone whose schedule is anything like mine, 10k remains manageable no matter how hectic life gets, and the odds of defaulting are lowered. XD

I'm not crazy about AO3, but I don't mind having a collection of works after-the-fact. The other ideas sound good, too.

Not sure when we'd hold it, though, since my schedule from the June-Sept range is a little ... uncertain. I could handle an earlier bang, though I'm not sure how many others would want that. ^^;

[solaris]

I didn't make it last year but I'm looking forward to trying again for round two! 10K is still a bit of an intimidating word count for me, but a little bit higher word count would make sense? I'm used to the minimum being bigger but I'm totally okay with an increase to 10,001. |D; The time slot wasn't the best for me last year, but since I don't have nearly as much insanity planned this year, I'm good for most anything.

I haven't used AO3 from the publishing side of things, but I do like the idea of an offsite hose in case anything (heaven forbid) happens to Dreamwidth. Kinda makes it more official.

As for the signups question, I can't help but wonder if the signups could be a little more open? Posting summaries of things for the artists/media creators to look at and choose from is a good idea, but it might also be cool if artists/media creators could be in contact with the writers earlier on so they could more easily bounce ideas off of each other.

[vangirl]

I may end up increasing it to 10,001 now. xD IT IS A NICE LOOKING NUMBER, OKAY?

*nodnod* I personally love how AO3 works and I think it could be a great archive tool, even just as a backup, for Hardmode. The only issue would probably be media but I can try and figure something out for that. ^^

Posting summaries of things for the artists/media creators to look at and choose from is a good idea, but it might also be cool if artists/media creators could be in contact with the writers earlier on so they could more easily bounce ideas off of each other.

...AND THAT IS AN EXCELLENT IDEA. It makes it more of a team-effort, instead of a Writer Show with artists in the background. I'll definitely be thinking of ways to make this work. :>

[solaris]

Palindromes are always nice! XD

My only other real experience with stuff like this are the fests in HP fandom, and they tend to have offsite locations for the larger fics as well as NWS art. DW doesn't have the same problems LJ has that probably caused things to be done that way, but I think it's nice for the fest to have that sense of identity that comes with having an offsite archive. This probably sounds so weird. XD I'd be willing to fool around on AO3 if we had a collection there.

YAY! I like the idea of having it be part of a team effort since it sort of helps with the cheerleader thing and the creativity that stems from having two minds pool together could lead to some great things! There could be some issues with people butting heads but I'm hoping it'll work out to be increase awesome output from both sides! :)

[traxits]

1.) I would love to participate again. I actually made a DW account specifically so that I could participate in Hardmode last year. Any time slot really works for me.

2.) 10,001 sounds perfect. I love that Hardmode is a shorter BB. Keeps it more fun and gives me some flexibility with the stories I would choose to write for it.

3.) Wouldn't affect me so much. I plan on signing up the moment sign-ups open. ^^ Would it be possible to do two fics? I'm not sure yet that I could, but depending on my schedule and everything, I'd like to know if the option is open. ^^; Also, as an FYI, as the mod for Hardmode, keeping things easier on you is very important to all of us. We want you to enjoy Hardmode too!

4.) Well, for what it's worth, I posted my fic from last round, Sword Dance [off-site link to AO3], on AO3 and just embedded the media into the fic. AO3 supports that, and since JackofNone, my media creator, went with a specific scene from the fic, I just embedded the picture into the fic at that scene. ^^ I think that it looks quite lovely as a finished product. She's listed as a co-author on the fic because AO3 doesn't have a "media creator" slot. Too bad, really. That would be perfect.

Any sort of media could be linked in the notes too, so really, the media thing isn't an issue at all with AO3, I don't think.

... I might be a bit biased though. I love AO3.

[cypher]

Re #4, that's what I did with my kinked story, too -- I listed subtext as the co-author, and then in the notes at the beginning I said that I'd done the words and she'd done the pictures.

...I wonder if anyone has suggested the possibility of marking different kinds of contribution to the AO3 folks yet. It would be neat to be able to have "author" and "illustrator," or "author" and "translator" on a translated version of a story, that kind of thing, instead of just listing them as coauthors.

[traxits]

Not sure, but that might be something to consider mentioning! I mean, AO3-- from what I can see-- is a pretty popular choice for Big Bangs and such, so that sort of option is appealing. I think I remember seeing something about the Archive being made more friendly to fanart, but I don't remember where I read that. Oh well.

[theliterator]

To the best of my knowledge, AO3 IS working on the whole "media/illustrator/translator" field, but writing an email or something would probably be a good idea-- let them know what their users want most!

[jack_of_none]

4) I did the same thing with my Hardmode story. It seems to work out fine, and gives the artists a little more prominence, which i think is fair.

[traxits]

It's also nice for people who are looking for the media made by a specific person, especially if they can't remember the author that the media-maker was paired with. They can just search by the artist's name. ^^ Also, I totally like seeing more "joint" projects on my AO3. It makes me happy.

[electric_butterfly]

I'm interested in a second round. If I managed it the first round(still have to fix some booboos though), I should be able to handle it again. Too much over 10,000 words maybe asking for too much though.

I use A03 myself, so a collection would be nice. And yes, polybigbang had the right idea.

As for when? Many challenges run during the summer, so maybe around Feb-May? Something like that. It doesn't make much of a difference to me.

[jack_of_none]

1) Not November/December (i.e. the Yuletide/NaNo season). Anything else is probably OK. And I'll definitely be signing up, as AU happened and I have yet another longfic to write. Plus, drawing for the last one was fun.

2) Considering I more than doubled the last wordcount minimum and I still feel like it's too short, I would be OK with raising it.

3) Artist choice = awesome.

4) I would probably use the AO2 collection, since my fics are mostly hosted there these days.

[jack_of_none]

AO*3*, even. God, I need to go to bed.

[tg]

I'd be interested in theory, though it really depends on what time of year it falls in, and unfortunately, I'm not certain enough of my own cycles to say when's good for me.

Okay with raising word count.

Change in organization could be for the better. hardmode is still just starting out too, technically, so it can't hurt to try different things.

While not vehemently opposed, I am uncomfortable with AO3.

[shanaqui]

Oh, and I would prefer it if 10K remained the minimum. I don't want to have to add to my first round fic! And I like it when I have more options. 10K is still a long fic.

I'm not at all averse to using AO3.

[wallwalker]

I'd love to try again! I just hope I have more energy this time. -_-' As for other commitments, other than the big ones (November/December,) I don't know when any other challenges are running, so I can't say that I know of any big conflicts. So... pretty much whenever you can run it between now and October works for me.

I have no problem with increasing the word count; I actually made the word count with my attempt, but the story wasn't finished. So whatever the word count actually is, I'll probably exceed it anyway, even if I don't finish.

That matching system sounds like a good system, and I'd be all for using it.

Sure, if there was an AO3 collection, I'd use it! Assuming I can finish, of course.

[nagaina]

I would personally love to participate in round two. I'm still sorry I had to pull out of round one.

Last-minute sign-ups and flexible wordcount limits are, I think, good ideas, as is the idea of giving media creators a choice of projects based on summary. Fun, and something you're familiar with, for everybody!

I'm a proud AO3 adopter so having a Hardmode collection up there gives me a Happy.

[moontyger]

I didn't do last round, but I am seriously thinking about doing it this time. But I admit that I'd find it intimidating if you raised the wordcount too much - this will be my first big bang and I'm not sure how well I'll do with this length.

The proposed format change sounds fine to me.

And I'll put my fic on AO3 anyway, so having a collection would be awesome.

[kitsuneasika]

I found this community right after writer sign-ups had closed, so definitely want a Round Two. As for A03, I'd rather not use it. I mean, I have an account just in case exchanges & stuff require it, but I'd prefer not using it.

[mystiri_1]

I'm up for this! And for the last minute sign-ups, as I felt really bad when I had to drop out in this round. It would be good to know I had something mostly done before saying yay or nay.