A Week's Delay...and a Poll

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

I decided to wait until April 9 to start FemGen VI. A great many ficathons are starting, finishing or posting right now, so I thought it best to delay a bit so that we wouldn't be lost in the shuffle. Also, this being a holiday weekend, I know that a number of people will be away with family and friends. So it seemed better, overall, to wait a week.

But we will definitely start next Friday.

And now, a poll:

[Poll #1546819]

Keep in mind that there are only 160 prompts (well, 161, but the odd one out is for me), so when they're gone, they're gone.

Also, every year we get a few people who want to sign up when the prompts are all taken. What would you think about letting these people pick one of the existing prompts?

Comments

[igrockspock.livejournal.com]

I've seen a lot of ficathons allowing people to double claim, and I definitely appreciate it. Sometimes, people have a lot going on in their lives and they can't necessarily rush over the day that claims are open. Also, it seems that the goal of this ficathon is to increase the amount of writing about women, and maximizing people's opportunity to participate would help achieve that goal.

[woldy]

I'd suggest that people who want to sign up after all the prompts are taken be given an unfulfilled prompt from a previous year. It seems a shame to waste those prompts when lame people like me failed to finish their fics last year.

[redsnake05.livejournal.com]

I don't mind how we get the prompts, so I am afraid I haven't answered the poll. In answer to your question, though, I counted up last year's completed submissions and got 64. If I remember rightly, there were 150 prompts, so it seems like there is a pretty big attrition rate (I know last year sucked for many, many people - lets hope everyone is having a better year this year). Given that, I don't think there would be a problem with letting people pick a prompt that's already been claimed once. I wouldn't mind if someone wrote the same prompt as me, anyway.

I was wondering if you were thinking of setting up a DW mirror community, too. I have a spare invite code somewhere around, if you are in need of one. Oh, and I love the AO3 collection.

[kellychambliss.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed getting a random prompt last year, so I voted for "pick a number," but really, either approach would be fine with me. (I ended up using my prompt only indirectly, anyway).

As for sign-ups, yeah -- let in as many people as you can without burdening yourself. I like woldy's idea of re-using unfilled prompts.

[slowmercury.livejournal.com]

I really like getting the random prompts, so I voted for that, but speaking as someone who completely missed the deadline for sign-up last year (and was totally devastated about it, although thankfully I did get to participate anyway), I also think it'd be great to let late people use unused prompts from previous years or pick one of the prompts or whatever.

Thank you for doing this! I'm already getting excited. :)

[hungrytiger11.livejournal.com]

Getting a random prompt (via the pick a number style) pushed me to write something I would never have thought of otherwise, so I like the current system. I don't particularly care if people claim/use the same prompt though. Or if you gave out unfilled prompts from the past years (that is, if you aren't already recycling them into this years prompts). Whatever is less stress for you! After all, either way its more people writing about women.

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

I think I'm going to sit out this year; while I love the fic, love the concept, I inevitably end up missing the deadline and have a half-finished fic sitting in my 'To Write' file. I'll still hang out to read and support, of course.

[magentabear.livejournal.com]

I would vote that we double up so that even late people get to play--but fair warning I say this for selfish reasons. I'm going to be out of town next week and won't be able to sign up until after (I assume) everything will be taken already. And that would make me sad.

[wendelah1]

I think doubling up on prompts is a great idea. Does anyone happen to know which prompts didn't get stories from the last time around?

[catsintheattic.livejournal.com]

I would love to take part, but don't know it I can make the deadline with the new, shorter time line. I would love to write for the same prompt number I've chosen in the last two years, but I don't want to take the first place and take someone's chance away to join, when I don't know if I'll be able to make the deadline. So I thought about simply waiting until the prompts are revealed and then pick that particular number and write for it, without officially signing up.