WE WANT YOU! Expression of Interest: 2017 KuroFai Olympics

[cloverfield]

 
You're not dreaming, folks: we're looking to bring back that fandom institution, that fantastical fanfic extravaganza, that fabulous festival that is the KuroFai Olympics back for the seventh year running!

But Clover, I can hear you asking, what exactly are the KuroFai Olympics?

That's a great question! The KuroFai Olympics are a friendly, fan-run fanfiction writing event, where two teams working with paired-but-mirrored themes compete to create fanfiction entries based on a series of prompts. The Olympians for each team write frantically over the course of several weeks to finish their entry for their respectively assigned prompts, and then the teams post according to a roster during the much-anticipated posting week... and then comes the voting! Fans vote for their favourite entries in accordance to a scoring rubric, and at the end of the voting period, the scores are tallied up to name a winner!

Clover, that really sounds more like a writing contest than the Olympics. Don't the Olympics have, like, sports and naked oil wrestling or something?

You have a point - it is a contest in a sense, but the name comes from the concept of the Fandom Olympics, which it was inspired by way back when the very first KuroFai-specific Olympics was held on livejournal. And even though it's technically a contest between teams, there are no winners or losers or medals - just a little friendly competition, and a whole lot of amazing fic to read! Besides, no-one's saying you can't strip Kurogane and Fai, cover them in oil and make them wrestle in your fic - just as long as it fits the theme!

...Thank you for that stunning mental image.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not, but you're welcome! [wink]

Still, naked oil wrestling or not, it sounds like a lot of fun! When's it being held? Who's running it? What's the theme for the teams, and where's the prompt list? When do we start writing, and when do we vote?

Whoa, whoa, whoa! That's a lot of questions that we don't have the answers to yet... and that's what this post is for.

This is an Expression of Interest: we're looking for volunteers to be the contest moderators (the hardworking peeps that run the show), ideas for themes for the teams to compete in (such as Fantasy vs. Sci Fi, Angst vs. Fluff, Canon vs. AU and so on), and suggestions for what dates we should hold the event on (remembering that we need it to be fair for as many people as possible, and accommodate an international calendar - we've got fans all over the world who'd like to join in the fun!).

If you can supply any of the above, we want to hear from you! I've put together three separate threads for volunteers, themes, and dates respectively down below,  as well as a miscellaneous suggestion thread, so if you can, please drop a comment to the appropriate thread with your suggestions!

Hey Clover, didn't you run the event one year? Why can't you just run it again?

You're absolutely right, I sure did - back in 2015. And I don't think I can do it again: I'm a lover writer, not a event-runner, and while I had a blast doing it, it played merry hell with my anxiety. Because of that, it's probably best I stick to doing what I do best: writing about the scowly ninja and his mage husband, and leaving the hard work to other people. Basically, I'm anxious and also lazy, and I wanna write for this year's Olympics - which is a lot harder to do when you're running the whole thing behind the scenes.

That said, I am more than happy to help out to the brave souls that step up to the plate and take their places as event moderators - and as an admin for the comm, I'll lend as much behind-the-scenes help as I possibly can. Now, since I a) work full-time, and b) live in The Land Down Under (aka Australia, aka really bloody far away) it might take me a little bit to get back to you, but please don't hesitate to chat amongst yourselves. I'll chip in when I can to help you out, and I have faith everyone will be polite and friendly to one another! (Because if you're not, then I'll feed you to Mokona [cheerful grin])

SO! Please check out the threads below, and reply to any where you think you have an idea or a suggestion - to make this year's event a successful one, we need all the input we can get!

Thanks, Clover! This sounds really exciting - I can't wait to get involved!

Me too, friend, me too! [finger guns]

EDIT: So far, we have the wonderful animangod , flowerspeaks  and aquarius_galuxy  as part of our moderating team - hopefully we can finalise our whole team soon! I'll update the post again once everyone is confirmed!

Comments

Volunteer Thread

[cloverfield]

If you'd like to volunteer to be part of the hard-working moderating team that runs the whole contest (or if you'd like to volunteer a friend who you think would do a great job) please reply to this comment!

Re: Volunteer Thread

[flowerspeaks]

I volunteer! Although I really have no idea what I am getting myself into hahahaha!

Re: Volunteer Thread

[animangod]

Volunteer #2? Usually I do fic writing but I'd be happy to help moderate too...

Re: Volunteer Thread

[blue_phoenix_tears]

I volunteer!^^ I have no previous experience but I'll do my best^^

Re: Volunteer Thread

[aquarius_galuxy]

I'm not sure what exactly goes on with being a mod, but I don't mind helping! I might also sign up as a pinch-hitter this year, depending on schedule. This week is crazy for me (self-assigned goals) but I'll just be working on a book the next 6 weeks or so :D

Re: Volunteer Thread

[mikkeneko]

I can help run it. Honestly at this point I've done this so many times that all I have to do is copy/paste my old speeches and update a few dates

Re: Volunteer Thread

[loxxxlay]

I also volunteer if volunteers are still needed :)

Theme Suggestion Thread

[cloverfield]

If you've got a great idea for an interesting theme for this years Olympics, please reply to this comment!

Remember, it's got to be a mirrored, two-part theme: something like Fantasy vs. Sci Fi, or Angst vs. Fluff. Simple tropes, concepts or genres work best - don't try and make it too complicated, but have fun!

Re: Theme Suggestion Thread

[flowerspeaks]

How about we go classical with Comedy Vs Tragedy? (like the ancient greek plays, if i remember correctly one end in marriage and the other in death!) But of course this could be up for interpretation!
Adventure vs Slice of Life?
Cannon vs Au?
Nature vs Nurture?
Alien Vs Predator??? (ahahahaha)
Fai vs Kurogane? like maybe one team writes from that one perspective?
I have no idea what were the past themes so I am just spit balling here!
New vs Old? Or Maybe Beginnings vs Endings?

Re: Theme Suggestion Thread

[mindlessadri]

For reference here is what has been done since moving the community to DW:
AU vs. Canon 2013
Fantasy vs. Future 2014
Comedy vs. Drama 2015
Sci-Fi vs. Fantasy 2016
Light vs. Dark 2017

Re: Theme Suggestion Thread

[mindlessadri]

Here area few ideas:
Convention vs. Rebellion
War vs. Peace
Winter Vs. Summer; could also be Heat vs. Chill


If nothing else lets do fluff vs. angst!

Re: Theme Suggestion Thread

[tsubasafan]

We've had
fluff vs angst
Fantasy vs sci-fi
Canon vs AU



Could do
Pirate vs ninja
West vs east
Horror vs comedy

It's really hard to figure out how to type this into google lol

Re: Theme Suggestion Thread

[superyuui]

love at first sight vs slow burn

Re: Theme Suggestion Thread

[evig_sang]

What about Alternate Canon vs. Alternate Universe? like, AC would be something like a what-if scenario within canon (what if the real Fai survived, what if Tomoyo hadn't rescued Kurogane in time, what if Soulmates marks or w/e within canon, etc.) and AU would be, like... coffee shops, university, office workers, etc.

Re: Theme Suggestion Thread

[pokechan]

Heaven vs Hell / Angels vs Demons
Sky vs Sea
Adventure vs Domestic
Business vs Casual

Re: Theme Suggestion Thread

[notpotable]

Eros vs Agape ? (thanks, Yuri on Ice)

Re: Theme Suggestion Thread

[(Anonymous)]

I don't know exactly how to do this but here are some ideas.

Seme Kurogane vs. Seme Fye (Please)
Power bottom vs. Submissive bottom (Either Fye or Kurogane).
Police vs. Mafia (like both of them in the same team).
Good vs. Bad (Either Fye or Kurogane), (like in an angel universe he is an angel or a demon, or in a Mafia universe he is police or a mafia member).
Angels vs. Demons

Date Thread

[cloverfield]

If you've got a suggestion for what dates the contest should be held over, allowing several weeks for writing, a week for posting, and at least a fortnight for voting, please reply to this comment!

Try to keep in mind that we're an international community: we're trying to be as inclusive as we can for both hemispheres to take part, so let's work together to come up with the best possible timeframe for everyone!

Re: Date Thread

[aquarius_galuxy]

this is just my voice - someone else feel free to suggest something else sooner/later in the year. My october is shot to hell anyway, so for the most guilt-free experience (on my end), I suggest

last week of sept - admin stuff/ prompt selection
1-31 Oct - writing period
1st week Nov - submissions period
+ 2nd week nov - voting period

Re: Date Thread

[mindlessadri]

I think sooner is better. Interest has already been generated by opening discussion. It's summer so if we get teams together in the next two weeks people will have most of July and part of August to write before school starts. Can't really avoid work... and if we could all of us would have a different work thing to work around.

Schedule like this?
6.3.17 - 6.6.17 writer sign ups
6.7.17 - 6.9.17 Prompt selection
6.10.17 - 8.6.17 Writing
8.7.17 - 8.11.17 Posting (assuming there's 5 prompts)
8.12.17 - 8.27.17 Voting, people will also be voting during the posting week
8.31 Results announced

Adjust based on extensions.

Re: Date Thread

[mikkeneko]

I would suggest late July-August. That will fall squarely into the school schedule crowd while not imposing too much of a rush.

Re: Date Thread

[evig_sang]

for me, school starts at the end of August, and midterms start ramping up in October, so sooner would be better for me, otherwise i might not be able to hold up my end.

Re: Date Thread

[pokechan]

Personally I think late Sept- Nov would be best give or take a few weeks.

Miscellaneous Suggestion Thread

[cloverfield]

If you've got a suggestion or an idea that doesn't fit neatly into the three categories above, please reply to this comment!

We definitely want to hear what you've got to say: there's no such thing as a stupid suggestion, and we're always open to new ideas!

Re: Miscellaneous Suggestion Thread

[zelinxia]

Co-mod from Olympics 2016! Faren and I implemented a coach system last year where they take on 2-3 writers and provide support and betaing if requested. They also act as sub-mods for us and help streamline communication, so that the 2-3 mods don't have to worry more about hearing back from 12+ participants.

Also, community should come up how to make sure votes are as even across entries as possible. It makes participants feel good if everyone's entry gets scored close to same amount - plus ideally makes the tallying consistent. But i have no ideas atm

[badluck_koi]

I'm behind anyone who wants to carry on this noble tradition. Also, I helped out with coaching last year, and I'm willing to help out again. Oddly, my job makes it easier to read... but not write (even though I'm working all the flip time).