Admin: Discussion and Poll!

[snacky]

So, I've had a couple of questions about multiple stories written for the same prompt. Evidently some of you were really inspired! \o/

The questions were about whether I could post them as part of the NFE, or if the authors could post them elsewhere. I am always fine with any of the stories written for the NFE being posted elsewhere, but only after all the stories for the round are posted, so the authors are revealed. This applies to secondary stories as well.

However, if people are interested, I would be glad to post them to the comm first, as a kind of "bonus story" for the recipient.

I can see doing this one of two ways:

1) I can post all the stories submitted for the recipients, and when everyone has received at least one story, I can post the bonus stories at the end of the posting.

2) We can do a week of Madness posting, similar to Yuletide Madness. I could post all the prompts, and people could write stories (of any length!) for these prompts, and post them to the comm, either before posting begins (in the week between the deadline and posting, so August 19th - 26th); or after all the stories are posted (so post-September 30th, give or take a few days).

If we went with the second way, I would open the community to posting by all members, so you could post the stories yourself to the comm. They would not have to be anonymous, they would not have to beta-ed, they could be any length (from drabble on up), and you would not have to be signed up to the NFE to participate, you would only have to join the community to post.

The drawbacks I see to this are:

- there is no guarantee that people would get more than one story, so I don't want people feeling bad that they don't more stories.
- people would feel pressure to write multiple stories, and would feel bad if they can't do so.
- if the Madness round is before regular posting, assigned writers might feel that their stories about being overshadowed by Madness fics (we could get around this by just revealing the prompts and not the name of the prompter, I guess).

So, bearing all that in mind, I am going to ask you to tell me what you think, once again. :)

[Poll #1929118]

ETA: aurilly has a third suggestion for how to proceed with additional prompts in a Madness round, see the comments.

Thank you! And remember, if you're not participating in the NFE, you can still vote in this poll, if you're interested in a Madness round.

Comments

[aurilly.livejournal.com]

As a third variation of #2 (or this might actually be what you proposed and I misunderstood): What if the prompts went up on the 19th, but stories don't get posted until after all the regular posting is done? That way, there's more time for things to percolate and come out well (for those those of us slow writers).

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

I love the idea of the prompts all going up after the story deadline on the 19th with posting of the bonus stories after all stories are posted at the end of the exchange. The only issue I see is that during the NFE you reveal the recipient when the story is posted, so a writer who decides to write a bonus story in the madness round will know sooner or later who her recipient is. A madness writer will know who the prompt she picked up is for because the requester is identified when her story is posted. There's know way around that as I see it. That might dampen participation. And it might increase participation. sounds like fun and I love the idea of opening it up to any length, anyone who is in the Comm but didn't' necessarily participate in the NFE.

[snacky]

Yeah, that's the only catch, I think.

I think I'd prefer to post the prompts anon so that the primary writer doesn't know who they've written for, until their story is posted. I'm fine with Madness writers knowing who they're writing for, as the prompt is revealed.

It could go either way on participation? In the last poll, most said that they were happy not knowing who they were writing for, or they were neutral on it. But some people would like to know who they are writing for ahead of time. So knowing who you're writing for in a Madness round might draw in other people.

[ruanchunxian0.livejournal.com]

Yes I think that this idea is best because the only thing I thought of when reading the post was...a week?!?! I think there would be more participation if people had more time to write. If it's anything like past year, posting all primary stories will take a month at least so if you reveal prompts on the due date, and Madness posting begins after all primary stories are posted, then people will have a month to write.

I don't think Madness participators will mind being revealed prompters as the primary stories come in.

[pencildragon11.livejournal.com]

I like this idea the best!

[snacky]

Oh, I like this idea the best! Thank you! Sadly I can't edit polls, but I think this is a good option.

[moriwen1.livejournal.com]

I also like this plan! That way those of us whose vacations are ending can write something before we go back to school and all our free time gets sucked into the Endless Black Hole of Research, slow writers get more time, and it doesn't distract from the main posting.

[crescent-gaia.livejournal.com]

I guess I'm confused. How were there multiple stories written for the same prompt? Did a lot of people request the same thing?

[snacky]

Some people wrote more than one story for the prompt they received. I'm sorry that wasn't clearer!

[crescent-gaia.livejournal.com]

Oh! Thank you. Now it all makes sense. :)

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Something else that occurred to me is that there are people who only want to write if they can see their prompt in advance, before signing up -- it's why some will pinch hit but not participate in the exchange. And there were some who wanted to participate in the NFE and didn't. Or people who might participate but angst about the prompt they get assigned. I think it's a great idea. And for those who want to know for whom they are writing, well this allows them to participate.

It's a great idea.