ADMIN POST: Darkness Challenge

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

Arduinna suggested a "darkness" challenge; have your characters be "in the dark"--literally, figuratively, or creatively elsewise.

It's Tuesday by my watch; stories will be due by next Tuesday, April 26th, at midnight.

Comments

[zortified.livejournal.com]

does not notice how each week has been gaining a day

;-)

[adelynne.livejournal.com]

Bah! It's an Atlantian week. ;P

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

Hee! Okay, that's clearly what I *should* have said--thank you! *g*

[adelynne.livejournal.com]

It's all julad's fault that it immediately came to mind. :)

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

I can't help that, though; I'm not always awake or ready to archive after midnight, and if the next day's a workday, I can't do it until I'm home again. It actually takes a lot of time to archive, cause each memory has to be made by hand, however many times, switching between usernames each time (which actually makes it harder than the old way when a communty owner could log into a community.)

Anyway, the only way it happens is if it doesn't become too onerous. But I do give a deadline still because sometimes I am awake and archiving-frisky past midnight and I don't want anyone counting on that extra time and then feeling left-out or denied!

(Oh, and also? in DS flashfiction the rotating thing--Monday to Monday, Wed to Wed, etc--turned into a plus because it circled the week and therefore let different people with different schedules or time zones have the same access.)

[zortified.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry; I was only teasing you.

I appreciate the work you put into this community.

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

You? Teasing?? (shock) My image of you has entirely changed! *g*

(Actually, I figured you were teasing, but I didn't know if everyone who saw the comment would know that, and other people might have been curious as to way there's often a day or so window between the deadline and the formal closing of a challenge. For those same people, let me say, too; I feel it's important that I archive before I close, because otherwise--dude, it would SO pile up and be a nighhtmare! It's one of those, "You have to wash the dishes before bed" things that structures my life.)

[zortified.livejournal.com]

...

Does that mean you'll come do my dishes?

[doll-revolution.livejournal.com]

hey, so far a challenge. . .

at the beginning, they were sort of trapped there, so i wonder about the mundane things, like

. . .does atlantis clean itself, with little robo-vacs, or is there a rotation and you could come home one day to find a bitching mackay cleaning your toilet?
. . .how does the cooking get done? did they bring cooks?
. . .what about law, like if bates starts stealing people's underwear, or whatever? how is that dealt with?
. . .when they started, they thought they couldn't come back. would the really not allow alcohol on a mission in those circumstances? is there an offical still?
. . .what happens with your books and dvds? would you be required to share them, for the common good? or would they be yours and yours alone?

i think people could come up with some interesting stories. i know i'd be interested in reading them

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

Yay! Fun worldbuilding challenges! In the queue!

[medie]

Okay, kinda curious about what's kosher for fic and not.

Original characters showing up and *staying* in Atlantis good? (Ala new military folk and such? :-p) I'm generally not the type to stick to just the canon group and don't wanna step on toes before I post :-p Same thing for very odd AUs and crossovers? Or would you rather stick to the canon gang?

Meditation on OCs.

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

Well, I haven't consulted the other Admins on this, but my standard response to this kind of question is--look, you've got an audience assembled that's an SGA audience. They're here because they're fans of these characters on this show. So you want to figure if you're abusing their attention--they're not really here to read original fic, no matter how good. You have to judge how far before it's "original fiction set in the SGA universe" and not SGA fanfiction.

Usually, AUs and crossovers are okay because those stories stick with the characters, and most fans are into a fandom for the characters. But original characters can become a problem, IMO, if they take over a story; people can feel that their attention is being abused or cry "Mary Sue" or something. That being said, I think most people don't mind compelling original characters being thrown into the mix, though maybe not "becoming part of the cast"--see, my theory is, the reason people don't like OCs and Mary Sues is that they make the universe too ideosyncratic, and fans want to believe they're seeing more of the TV show, not more of a particular writers' own universe, no matter how good.

So my tendency would be to say--AU and XO, okay. Original characters, ok. Recurring original characters joining the cast? Proceed with extreme caution.

I'll consult the other ADMINS about this, too, though.