Community Profile

Would the last writer in the hub please be sure that Myfanwy is fed, the computers are on standby and the lights are turned off? Thanks.

This is a challenge community for all styles of Torchwood fanfic - all pairings (slash and het) and gen writers are welcome.


So how does this work?
Each week a challenge prompt will be given. Prompts will lend themselves to all pairings and gen writing. For example there might be a three word challenge wherein the writers must all get the words green, key and lumpy into their fic. Thinking outside the box for the challenges is encouraged! In this case the 'key' could be a reference to musical pitch or the 'key ingredient' in an alien recipe.

A word limit will also be given. At least in the beginning, when many people are writing, no story will be allowed to exceed 1000 words. People have to be able to write in a short time frame and then people will need to be able to read all the submissions in a reasonable amount of time in order to vote. Writers may come as far under the maximum as they like. If you can do your best work in 50 words, then that's fine.

Deadlines for making submissions will be given in each challenge post. If it's not stated, all times are Central Standard Time (Chicago).  (GMT - 6)

Once all submissions are sent to the moderator, they will be posted anonymously and in random order. Writers and the public at large will then vote for the story they like the best and the one they like the least. The story with the most positive votes will win for the week and the writer will get immunity from elimination for the next challenge until we are down to five writers. At that point, no one will get immunity. The writer with the most negative votes will be shown to a drawer in the Hub morgue and will be out of the current round of competition. They're welcome to come back for the next round if they like, however. We'll continue through until there is only one writer not in a drawer.

Rules for Writers
1. Stories must fit under the word limit. I'll be tossing them into Word to format, so that's the word-counter I'll be using. You might want to give yourself a few words lee-way if you're using another counter. I don't know how it works, but I've put the *same* text through three different word counters at one point and gotten different results for all three.

Use this word counter if you have any doubt: http://www.promojunkie.com/word-counter.php. ; It isn't matching my Word count, but it tends to count higher.  Which means that if you're within bounds on this site, you'll be in great shape by the time I get it into my counter.  Make sense?  If I see that your story seems to have a significant word count problem I'll try to send it back to you, but as we go on I'll be going back to work and that means getting stories, formatting them and posting as soon as I walk in the door.  So if you're worried about the count, give me some time to check it and get back to you.

Stories that do not fit the word limit at the end of the submission period will not be posted and the author will be drawered.

Headers and titles do not count against your word count.

2. Stories must clearly reflect the prompt in some way. Again, thinking outside the box is encouraged, but please don't be so vague as to appear to have not followed the prompt.

3. Stories must be emailed to writerinadrawer@gmail.com with your user name and challenge number as the  subject line (i.e.Smallwaldo, Challenge #5) so that my filter will catch them all. They also need to be in by the time and date listed in each challenge. The moderator will not 'chase down' authors.

4. Stories must come pre-formatted. If you need to show italics or other html formatting, you need to have coded that in before you email it. My copy/paste will not preserve the formatting of the story you send. Please make sure the < /i> type tags are showing.

5. Stories should include the following header information and only this information:
Title:
Warnings:
Pairing/s: (if any)
Rating:
Summary:

Spoilers will be dealt with as the time line for both airdates of Children of Earth and our own schedule get nailed down.  If necessary, a spoiler line can be added to the headers.

What do we warn for? Descriptions of rape, extreme violence, child abuse or sexual acts that might be viewed as 'extreme'. We don't 'warn' for slash (or het for that matter), the pairings will make that quite clear. Warnings for things like M'preg are not necessary either, especially as they can spoil the plot of the story.

6. Self-beta or find a beta who won't be voting. Remember, anonymity is the name of the game. The moderator, in the interest of fairness, will not beta entries.

7. Challenge specific rules will be listed in the challenge post. Be sure to take note of them.

8. This may seem obvious, but, do not post your story anywhere else until the challenge has closed. Once we've voted and the winner and drawer-inhabitant have been announced, your stories are yours to do what you please with.

9. Encourage your friends to vote. Do not encourage your friends to vote for your story.
Okay: Hey friendslist! The next batch of stories is up at </a></strong></a>writerinadrawer. Please go read and vote!
Not Okay: Hey friendslist! The next batch of stories is up at </a></strong></a>writerinadrawer. There's a fabulous little Myfanwy/Weevil story I'm sure you'll love!"

10. The nitpicky stuff. In general, anything goes. Any rating, any pairing any genre including AUs. Crossovers; however, are not acceptable. This is a Torchwood community. The only exception to this is using characters and canon from Doctor Who. RPS/RPF is not allowed here either. We're focusing on the characters and events of the Torchwood series.

11. When the deadline arrives, if your story has not been received, you will be drawered.  There are no skips or passes at Writer in a Drawer.

Rules for Voting
1. Unless there is a hard and fast reason to not read a story (i.e. there's a warning for rape and you have personal reasons for not going there) read all submissions before you vote.

2. Vote for the winning story that is a.) the best written and b.) most clearly utilizes the challenge prompt in a clever and engaging way.  When you vote for stories that will potentially put their writer in a drawer, give clear, concrete reasons for voting a story down.

3. Do not vote for or against a story simply because it is/is not of a certain pairing. This isn't a 'Which relationship is most popular?' contest. Bad characterization is certainly a reason for voting against a story, but please don't vote against a piece just because the central character is someone who is not your favorite.

When you vote you'll need to give a brief justification of your vote.

Okay: I vote for [insert story here] as best story because the characterization of Jack was spot on and the dialogue sounded like it came right out of the show.

I vote for [insert story here] as the one that puts a writer in a drawer because it clearly ignores the canon from "Cyberwoman", without establishing in any way that the story is an AU.

Not Okay: I vote for [insert story here] as best story because Eugene/Mary is just the cutest pairing ever.

I vote for [insert story here] to put a writer in a drawer because who could possibly think that Owen would hook up with Bilis?

Feedback can be as detailed as you like, but must have at least one solid reason for voting the story up or down.


4. Writers still not in a drawer You may vote. You may not vote for yourself as best or worst.

5. Writers in a drawer are absolutely encouraged to continue voting from your new home.

6. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT discuss your vote with anyone until after voting has ended.  If there is evidence that votes were discussed and that either/both parties' votes were swayed, or there seems to be some kind of collusion, the votes WILL NOT COUNT.  If the author/s of said comments are still writing, they will be drawered.  (To show that you've read the rules carefully, please put the following phrase in your comment - The WIAD moderator sleeps in Myfanway's nest.)

Now, you might think, "But if there's a given problem with a story, won't everyone pick up on it?"  Sure.  But as an example, a story that seemed to go great guns at the beginning and then peter off might get the following comments:

1. Seemed like the led in to a longer story. Lacked resolution.
2. Didn't seem to go anywhere for me and the ending was a bit weak.
3. This one just doesn't work for me. The concept of [story details] isn't bad at all, but it doesn't go anywhere.

I think we can all see that all of these make the same general point.  The story in question needed a stronger ending in order to be highly successful.  But the particular way this is expressed is unique.  Even saying that someone's grammar and punctuation is weak can be said in a thousand different ways. 

We write and vote anonymously so that no one's voting or writing is influenced by another person.  That really is the core of making this challenge work.  So please, keep your votes and opinions to yourself until after the results are posted.  After that, of course you're free to discuss whatever you'd like.

7. Voting end times and dates will be posted in each story-post.



Okay, those are our rules and regs.  Please leave a comment below to let me know you've read and understood them. (Alternatively, that you read them and have a question/comment/concern.  Let's get those cleared up now.)

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