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Stage One: Sign Ups
Where do I sign up? There is a sign up post for every round of the Ficathon. Find it, fill out the required form, and post via comment. Your name will be added to the list of participating authors.
Oh no! I missed the deadline by # days! Is it too late to sign up? Yeah. Sorry. There are no exceptions, once the deadline has come, no more people will be accepted.
Do I really have to give you my LJ user name/FP profile name/email address? No. No. Yes! It's ok if you don't have a LJ or if you just create a new FP account for the purpose of the Ficathon. However, a valid email adress is absolutely necessary!
How was I supposed to know that I had to do this/that? Because you should be monitoring the site regularly. Please friend the Lj (if applicable) or bookmark the main page, and check for updates. It's a major hassle for all when people miss deadlines and stuff because they weren't aware of them.
Is there only one ficathon going on at once? Yes, each ficathon begins a while after the previous one has finished. Usually, there's one in the summer and one in the winter.
Do I need to ask for a story for myself? Can I just be challenged? Usually the way it works is you write a request, and then after that you pick out 5 challenges you would like to do. Out of the five, you will receive one and that's the challenge you will have to attempt. That way everyone gives one challenge and receives one challenge - so there's balance. However, if you don't want to request you could always wait to apply as a back up writer.
What is a back up writer and when can I apply for that? A month after all the challenges are handed out there will be a 1000 word checkpoint. If by then the writers have not written at least 1000 words there will be a post that will appeal for whatever number of back up writers are needed. Back up writers are also needed when writers suddenly have to drop out. Please note that if a writer does drop out without any valid reason they will be banned from the next session of the Official Ficathon.
What happens after the deadline of signing up has finished? Will I get my challenge immediately? No. First, you will receive an email from the Mod's confirming your participation in the Official Ficathon. A post will go up to notify everyone has received the email. After that, a masterlist of the challenges will be post up and you will need to chose your top five choices (more explained below).
Stage Two: Preferences
Huh? Basically, there'll be a post that lists all the challenges. When this post comes up, comment on it with your top FIVE preferences. The comments will be screened. When everyone's preferences are in, the mods will need (yes, need) some time to sort out the preferences and then your challenge will be emailed out to you.
How does allocation of preferences work? What happens is that each mod will try to work out something that works. One might work off the "first come, first serve" policy, whilst another might work on a "what works best" basis. In the end, we'll agree on a final combination, and that's it.
I don't like any of the other challenges. Boo hoo. You suck. Sorry. If you don't like any of the other challenges, you can ask to drop out and we'll remove you. But there's nothing we can do to guarantee that that you'll receive one that you like.
Stage Three: Challenges
How come I haven't received my challenge yet?! There could be a number of reasons but ALL challenges will be sent out at the same time (or approximately the same time). Please keep in mind that the mods live in different time zones, and thus there might be a days delay.
I don't like the challenge I was allocated. What do I do? Email the mods. Tell them. Maybe we can do something about it, and maybe we can't. If the latter, sorry, but there just might not be anything we can do. We'd like it if you still wrote the story anyway, but if you just really CAN'T then we'll try to understand.
What's taking so long? We were supposed to receive our challenges on the ##th! It's now the [insert date]! This time is supposed to be used for writing! ALL final dates will be adjusted accordingly. If it takes us an extra week to get these challenges out, we'll push everything back a week, so you'll still have three months to write. So no worries!
What are you guys doing?! A DEAD monkey would do a better job of organising this than you three are! [Please note that nobody has actually said anything along these lines, but I'm covering it because you're probably all thinking it] Yeah, sorry about that. But you know, we're doing the best we can, so bear with us, and we'll finish up as quick as possible. Thanks for understanding!
Stage Four: Writing
How long does my story have to be? You must have 3000 words minimum (in ANY number of chapters) posted by the deadline.
My story isn't 3000 words long. That's ok, right? No, it's not. If you're off by, like, 50 words, then fine, we can probably overlook that. But we expect 3000 words. Please note that 3000 words is the minimum, you can definitely write over 3000 words.
Do I have to use all three words/quotes? Yes. No exceptions.
Can I change the quotes to suit the purpose of my story? We'd prefer if they remained unchanged but minor changes are ok. For example, changing the tense of a quote is generally suitable:
Original quote- I want to buy some flowers for Bob.
Changed quote- I wanted to buy some flowers for Bob.
If you want to make a change, and are unsure as to whether it's ok for you to do so, you can always email us, and we'll email the person who set your challenge to check with them, and then get back to you.
Stage Five-Submission
How? Prior to the deadline, the Master List will be posted. When you've finished writing, post a comment telling us so, and include relevant links. Your story will then be linked on the Master List :)
But the dog ate my computer! If you submit after the deadline, that's fine. You won't be counted in the polls though.
What polls? Since this is a competition, each story submitted by the deadline is eligible to be voted for in different categories. Please note that anyone can vote, not only the participants. Encouraging your readers to vote would be excellent. After that the winners will be announced (and if possible, they will receive graphic awards). Then, the whole Ficathon will start all over again!
The End. Any more questions? Comment here, they'll be added to the FAQs, with answers. And ignore typos, please. They'll be corrected at another time.
Where do I sign up? There is a sign up post for every round of the Ficathon. Find it, fill out the required form, and post via comment. Your name will be added to the list of participating authors.
Oh no! I missed the deadline by # days! Is it too late to sign up? Yeah. Sorry. There are no exceptions, once the deadline has come, no more people will be accepted.
Do I really have to give you my LJ user name/FP profile name/email address? No. No. Yes! It's ok if you don't have a LJ or if you just create a new FP account for the purpose of the Ficathon. However, a valid email adress is absolutely necessary!
How was I supposed to know that I had to do this/that? Because you should be monitoring the site regularly. Please friend the Lj (if applicable) or bookmark the main page, and check for updates. It's a major hassle for all when people miss deadlines and stuff because they weren't aware of them.
Is there only one ficathon going on at once? Yes, each ficathon begins a while after the previous one has finished. Usually, there's one in the summer and one in the winter.
Do I need to ask for a story for myself? Can I just be challenged? Usually the way it works is you write a request, and then after that you pick out 5 challenges you would like to do. Out of the five, you will receive one and that's the challenge you will have to attempt. That way everyone gives one challenge and receives one challenge - so there's balance. However, if you don't want to request you could always wait to apply as a back up writer.
What is a back up writer and when can I apply for that? A month after all the challenges are handed out there will be a 1000 word checkpoint. If by then the writers have not written at least 1000 words there will be a post that will appeal for whatever number of back up writers are needed. Back up writers are also needed when writers suddenly have to drop out. Please note that if a writer does drop out without any valid reason they will be banned from the next session of the Official Ficathon.
What happens after the deadline of signing up has finished? Will I get my challenge immediately? No. First, you will receive an email from the Mod's confirming your participation in the Official Ficathon. A post will go up to notify everyone has received the email. After that, a masterlist of the challenges will be post up and you will need to chose your top five choices (more explained below).
Stage Two: Preferences
Huh? Basically, there'll be a post that lists all the challenges. When this post comes up, comment on it with your top FIVE preferences. The comments will be screened. When everyone's preferences are in, the mods will need (yes, need) some time to sort out the preferences and then your challenge will be emailed out to you.
How does allocation of preferences work? What happens is that each mod will try to work out something that works. One might work off the "first come, first serve" policy, whilst another might work on a "what works best" basis. In the end, we'll agree on a final combination, and that's it.
I don't like any of the other challenges. Boo hoo. You suck. Sorry. If you don't like any of the other challenges, you can ask to drop out and we'll remove you. But there's nothing we can do to guarantee that that you'll receive one that you like.
Stage Three: Challenges
How come I haven't received my challenge yet?! There could be a number of reasons but ALL challenges will be sent out at the same time (or approximately the same time). Please keep in mind that the mods live in different time zones, and thus there might be a days delay.
I don't like the challenge I was allocated. What do I do? Email the mods. Tell them. Maybe we can do something about it, and maybe we can't. If the latter, sorry, but there just might not be anything we can do. We'd like it if you still wrote the story anyway, but if you just really CAN'T then we'll try to understand.
What's taking so long? We were supposed to receive our challenges on the ##th! It's now the [insert date]! This time is supposed to be used for writing! ALL final dates will be adjusted accordingly. If it takes us an extra week to get these challenges out, we'll push everything back a week, so you'll still have three months to write. So no worries!
What are you guys doing?! A DEAD monkey would do a better job of organising this than you three are! [Please note that nobody has actually said anything along these lines, but I'm covering it because you're probably all thinking it] Yeah, sorry about that. But you know, we're doing the best we can, so bear with us, and we'll finish up as quick as possible. Thanks for understanding!
Stage Four: Writing
How long does my story have to be? You must have 3000 words minimum (in ANY number of chapters) posted by the deadline.
My story isn't 3000 words long. That's ok, right? No, it's not. If you're off by, like, 50 words, then fine, we can probably overlook that. But we expect 3000 words. Please note that 3000 words is the minimum, you can definitely write over 3000 words.
Do I have to use all three words/quotes? Yes. No exceptions.
Can I change the quotes to suit the purpose of my story? We'd prefer if they remained unchanged but minor changes are ok. For example, changing the tense of a quote is generally suitable:
Original quote- I want to buy some flowers for Bob.
Changed quote- I wanted to buy some flowers for Bob.
If you want to make a change, and are unsure as to whether it's ok for you to do so, you can always email us, and we'll email the person who set your challenge to check with them, and then get back to you.
Stage Five-Submission
How? Prior to the deadline, the Master List will be posted. When you've finished writing, post a comment telling us so, and include relevant links. Your story will then be linked on the Master List :)
But the dog ate my computer! If you submit after the deadline, that's fine. You won't be counted in the polls though.
What polls? Since this is a competition, each story submitted by the deadline is eligible to be voted for in different categories. Please note that anyone can vote, not only the participants. Encouraging your readers to vote would be excellent. After that the winners will be announced (and if possible, they will receive graphic awards). Then, the whole Ficathon will start all over again!
The End. Any more questions? Comment here, they'll be added to the FAQs, with answers. And ignore typos, please. They'll be corrected at another time.
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