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2013 Kurofai Olympics: Sign-up post!
It's here, it's here, it's finally here: sign up now for the Spring 2013 Kurofai Future vs Fantasy Olympics!
Some of you may be experienced, battle-scarred veterans of our previous Olympics, the 2012 Canon vs AU Olympics and the 2011 Fluff vs Angst Olympics. Some of you may be new to Olympics in general. Both of you are welcome, but for those of you who are new, or who want a refresher on how the Olympics fanfiction contest works, I have included a guide under the cut!
Can we have a round of applause & appreciation for Bottan/Konnichipuu, who kindly donated her time and talent to draw us our amazing mascots for this year's Olympics!
What is the Olympics challenge?
An Olympics challenge involves two teams of writers, writing different genres of fiction (in this case one team will be Team Fantasy/Feudal/Magic and the other team will be Team Future/Science Fiction/Technology). To keep the playing field level, the teams will be asked to write fanfiction following themes supplied by the challenge moderator (me!). The themes will be equal in size, and there will be enough themes provided that each member will be able to select a different theme. After you've picked your theme, you and your opponent on the other team with the same theme will be given a scheduled posting day.
Example:
Let's say Sarah, Siobhan and Sam sign-up for Team Future, and Frances, Fred and the rather unfortunately named Frogmella sign up for Team Fantasy. Once the sign-ups are over and the Teams have been finalised, I proceed to post the following theme list for them:
Sarah & Frances both claim Bucket, Fred & Siobhan claim Shadows, and Frogmella and Sam pick Umbrella. Now I hand out scheduled posting days; Bucket is scheduled first for March 6th, Umbrella second for March 7th, Shadows for March 8th. March 6th rolls around and Sarah and Frances both post their contrasting fics, one futuristic and one fantasy, based off the theme Bucket. A day later, the Shadows people post their fics, and so on.
What we need for a successful Olympics
This is fairly simple. We need writers, yes, to fill out two teams. We have no maximum limit on team size, but the teams must contain an equal number of people, so if we end up with 6 people on one team and 7 on the other, we will ask someone on the larger team to either bow out or become a pinch-hitter.
A pinch-hitter, aka standby or back-up writer, is another necessity. The pinch-hitter's job is essentially to leap into action and fill in a story gap caused by another writer dropping out. If someone does need back out of the contest, their prompt day will be shunted to the end of the posting schedule to give the understudy the maximum possible time to write. The understudy only will be granted +24 hours for their fic; their opponent, who would have originally been scheduled to post earlier, will not be exempt. It is important to contact me ASAP if you think you may have to bow out. This is because if you do not post at all, and I don't receive any information from you telling me what's going on, I will penalise your team, and you may cause your team to lose the contest.
Wait, penalities?
Yes. The Olympics is a team-driven event, but it's also a contest. You're competing against the other team to win the popular vote, as decided by readers, and as such, it's very important that you post a completed fic on schedule. If your fic is not completed, it will receive a -2 penalty from its total votes. If it would naturally have received a 9, it would be downgraded to a 7. If a fic is not posted on its scheduled day, I will halve its score (the exception to this rule is, obviously, the pinch-hitter's fic). If a fic is not posted at all, and you do not contact me to arrange a pinch-hitter, I will subtract -10 from your team, thus costing your team the contest. This can affect your team's average, so it's very important to have your fic finished and ready to post on your scheduled day!
I'm not a writer. Can I still participate?
Yes! Participating writers are not allowed to cast actual votes for any other fic in the Olympics, so we're dependent on you, as a non-affliated, independent reader to read each fic and vote for it. You will be asked to vote for any given fic across three categories, which will be given to you at the end of the fic. Sample categories have included:
You will grade the fics on a 1-10 scale, where 1 is the lowest and 10 is the highest. Your votes will then be tallied to work out an average for the fic, which will then be tallied together with other fics written by the author's team-mates to work out the average score of each team. This can be seen in action here, in the last Olympics.
You may notice Zelinxia's name is on both team's rosters: this is because Xia was a miracle-worker and pinch-hit for us on like 0 notice last year. They're living proof of how vital pinch-hitters are.
What time zone will the contest operate in with regard to schedules and deadlines?
Pacific Standard Time (PST). This is -8 GMT, -19 Australian EST, meaning that if you live in Sydney, your deadline will actually be 7pm the following day.
Can I co-write my entry?
No. You have to write your own fic, based off whichever theme you choose.
Is there a minimum or maximum length for entries?
Nope! Write as much or as little as you like. Do remember, however, that shorter fics are likely to score lower votes due to your readers having less information to go on. You should aim for a balance; a fic that is sufficiently long enough to engage readers, while not being overly ambitious and ending up not able to finish the story in question (thus incurring yourself a penalty). Most posters usually end up between 5,000-14,000 words.With the exception of some idiots who type like the wind
When will you post the themes?/What's the schedule for this Olympics?
Sign-ups will remain open until February 13th, at which point I will engage in some team-shuffling to balance the numbers. On February 14th - that's Valentine's Day - I will post this Olympics' themes, and you will be able to choose them. Hopefully both teams will have their themes picked out and organised by February 17th, when writing will begin! Fics will be scheduled to begin posting on March 10th, and the posting period will be followed by a week to allow for readers to vote on all entries.
I have a further question.
Post it in the comments section and I will reply to you ASAP!
My name's Frogmella and you're mean.
I'm so, so, so sorry. :x
Hopefully, with those questions out of the way, you're sufficiently prepared to sign up to write for the Future vs Fantasy Olympics!
Please indicate in your sign-up comment whether you're signing up for Team Future, Team Fantasy, Both/Either, or as the all-important pinch-hitter.
Team Future (6)
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reikah
eijentu
little_echo
caffeine_buzz
mindlessadri
atomherrerin
Team Fantasy (7)
mikkeneko
zelinxia
shachaai
perfectworry
down
farenmaddox
tsubasafan
Either/Undecided (5)
uakari
cloverfield
rinoa11
misskirichan (prefer Future)
sotongsotong
Potential pinch-hitters (2)
animangod (prefer Fantasy)
jezzra (prefer Fantasy)
Sign-ups are still open until the 13th, Wednesday evening! :D
Some of you may be experienced, battle-scarred veterans of our previous Olympics, the 2012 Canon vs AU Olympics and the 2011 Fluff vs Angst Olympics. Some of you may be new to Olympics in general. Both of you are welcome, but for those of you who are new, or who want a refresher on how the Olympics fanfiction contest works, I have included a guide under the cut!
Can we have a round of applause & appreciation for Bottan/Konnichipuu, who kindly donated her time and talent to draw us our amazing mascots for this year's Olympics!
What is the Olympics challenge?
An Olympics challenge involves two teams of writers, writing different genres of fiction (in this case one team will be Team Fantasy/Feudal/Magic and the other team will be Team Future/Science Fiction/Technology). To keep the playing field level, the teams will be asked to write fanfiction following themes supplied by the challenge moderator (me!). The themes will be equal in size, and there will be enough themes provided that each member will be able to select a different theme. After you've picked your theme, you and your opponent on the other team with the same theme will be given a scheduled posting day.
Example:
Let's say Sarah, Siobhan and Sam sign-up for Team Future, and Frances, Fred and the rather unfortunately named Frogmella sign up for Team Fantasy. Once the sign-ups are over and the Teams have been finalised, I proceed to post the following theme list for them:
Bucket Shadows Umbrella
Sarah & Frances both claim Bucket, Fred & Siobhan claim Shadows, and Frogmella and Sam pick Umbrella. Now I hand out scheduled posting days; Bucket is scheduled first for March 6th, Umbrella second for March 7th, Shadows for March 8th. March 6th rolls around and Sarah and Frances both post their contrasting fics, one futuristic and one fantasy, based off the theme Bucket. A day later, the Shadows people post their fics, and so on.
What we need for a successful Olympics
This is fairly simple. We need writers, yes, to fill out two teams. We have no maximum limit on team size, but the teams must contain an equal number of people, so if we end up with 6 people on one team and 7 on the other, we will ask someone on the larger team to either bow out or become a pinch-hitter.
A pinch-hitter, aka standby or back-up writer, is another necessity. The pinch-hitter's job is essentially to leap into action and fill in a story gap caused by another writer dropping out. If someone does need back out of the contest, their prompt day will be shunted to the end of the posting schedule to give the understudy the maximum possible time to write. The understudy only will be granted +24 hours for their fic; their opponent, who would have originally been scheduled to post earlier, will not be exempt. It is important to contact me ASAP if you think you may have to bow out. This is because if you do not post at all, and I don't receive any information from you telling me what's going on, I will penalise your team, and you may cause your team to lose the contest.
Wait, penalities?
Yes. The Olympics is a team-driven event, but it's also a contest. You're competing against the other team to win the popular vote, as decided by readers, and as such, it's very important that you post a completed fic on schedule. If your fic is not completed, it will receive a -2 penalty from its total votes. If it would naturally have received a 9, it would be downgraded to a 7. If a fic is not posted on its scheduled day, I will halve its score (the exception to this rule is, obviously, the pinch-hitter's fic). If a fic is not posted at all, and you do not contact me to arrange a pinch-hitter, I will subtract -10 from your team, thus costing your team the contest. This can affect your team's average, so it's very important to have your fic finished and ready to post on your scheduled day!
I'm not a writer. Can I still participate?
Yes! Participating writers are not allowed to cast actual votes for any other fic in the Olympics, so we're dependent on you, as a non-affliated, independent reader to read each fic and vote for it. You will be asked to vote for any given fic across three categories, which will be given to you at the end of the fic. Sample categories have included:
1. How well-written was this fic?
2. How in-character were the cast?
3. How much did you enjoy this fic
You will grade the fics on a 1-10 scale, where 1 is the lowest and 10 is the highest. Your votes will then be tallied to work out an average for the fic, which will then be tallied together with other fics written by the author's team-mates to work out the average score of each team. This can be seen in action here, in the last Olympics.
You may notice Zelinxia's name is on both team's rosters: this is because Xia was a miracle-worker and pinch-hit for us on like 0 notice last year. They're living proof of how vital pinch-hitters are.
What time zone will the contest operate in with regard to schedules and deadlines?
Pacific Standard Time (PST). This is -8 GMT, -19 Australian EST, meaning that if you live in Sydney, your deadline will actually be 7pm the following day.
Can I co-write my entry?
No. You have to write your own fic, based off whichever theme you choose.
Is there a minimum or maximum length for entries?
Nope! Write as much or as little as you like. Do remember, however, that shorter fics are likely to score lower votes due to your readers having less information to go on. You should aim for a balance; a fic that is sufficiently long enough to engage readers, while not being overly ambitious and ending up not able to finish the story in question (thus incurring yourself a penalty). Most posters usually end up between 5,000-14,000 words.
When will you post the themes?/What's the schedule for this Olympics?
Sign-ups will remain open until February 13th, at which point I will engage in some team-shuffling to balance the numbers. On February 14th - that's Valentine's Day - I will post this Olympics' themes, and you will be able to choose them. Hopefully both teams will have their themes picked out and organised by February 17th, when writing will begin! Fics will be scheduled to begin posting on March 10th, and the posting period will be followed by a week to allow for readers to vote on all entries.
I have a further question.
Post it in the comments section and I will reply to you ASAP!
My name's Frogmella and you're mean.
I'm so, so, so sorry. :x
Hopefully, with those questions out of the way, you're sufficiently prepared to sign up to write for the Future vs Fantasy Olympics!
Please indicate in your sign-up comment whether you're signing up for Team Future, Team Fantasy, Both/Either, or as the all-important pinch-hitter.
Team Future (6)
reikaheijentulittle_echocaffeine_buzzmindlessadriatomherrerinTeam Fantasy (7)
mikkenekozelinxiashachaaiperfectworrydownfarenmaddoxtsubasafanEither/Undecided (5)
uakaricloverfieldrinoa11misskirichan (prefer Future)sotongsotongPotential pinch-hitters (2)
animangod (prefer Fantasy)jezzra (prefer Fantasy)Sign-ups are still open until the 13th, Wednesday evening! :D
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