The 2016-2017 Sekrit Solstice Sci-Fi Fantasy Story Swap

Yahhhhhhh!!! Give and Receive, please!

Okay, so giving: I am up for stretching my skills, so am willing to try my hand at most anything. Except the following: I don't write hard SF or MG, and I don't want to write erotica, historical, or anything about aliens (unless someone wants Pride and Prejudice with aliens - I'll make an exception for that ). Otherwise, I love writing fantasy, romance, PNR, urban fantasy, humor, fairytale retellings, touches of horror and darkness and anything in between. And zombies. Even sparkly vampires though I will probably kill them in a violent sparkly death.

Receiving: I would love a story inspired by Sam Tinnesz's song Hold on for Your Life. Go wherever it takes you, as long as that doesn't involve splish-splash gore or pink fluffy kittens.

Bonus points if you make me cry. Whether those are tears of joy or sadness, that's entirely up to you

Cliff Face said:

(Also: Did anyone else get a "dating site" vibe from this thread? "Oooh, she sounds nice... I'd love to write that!" )

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Lol, now that you mention it, yes.

Actually, I was chomping at the bit yesterday and thinking, "I can't wait to see which one I get and dive in," when it occurred to me, "So just start now! Pick one you like and go nuts." If I finish it quickly (which for me is unlikely, but a girl can dream), I can do another.

That way when I get my assignment, if it happens to be one I already wrote, I'm ahead of the game. Otherwise, I can give TWO gifts this year. Maybe more! And if I fail in this task? No problem. Nobody ever has to know about the story that almost was.

CobraMisfit said:

I can see Maggie now: "Hey, wanna participate in the Sisyphus? All the cool writers are doing it....."

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Stop lurking in the Rep Checkers thread, Cobra.

Ohmigosh I have hereby and OFFICIALLY lost my mind and I am signing myself up to do the thing. *shivers with teh nerves...er anticipation?* GIVE and RECEIVE, please.

Give: I’ve only ever written Fantasy and dabbled in Fairy Tale rewrites, but I think I’ve watched and read enough Sci Fi that I could write it. I could probably also do Historical Fic and clean Romantical things (and/or any combination of all these genres) if needed. I’ll write violence, but not graphic/gory/sexual violence, and I don’t write smexy times, or grimdark. I prefer writing happy endings over sad. I also don’t write vampires or zombies, smexy, emo, or otherwise.

Receive: Can I do a picture prompt? There’s something I really like about this picture:


I want to know who that girl/woman is and what she’s doing. Why is she reaching for that star? Can she actually touch it? Is it actually a star or something else? Is she even human? You get the idea. Let this image inspire you and write free! Free as the wind blows! Seriously, any genre (or combination of genres) goes EXCEPT erotica, grimdark, or creepy paranormal, all of which I do not like. I would also prefer not to have any swearing, graphic/gory/sexual violence, smexy times (clean, sweet, boy/girl romance is acceptable, but not a must), vampires/zombies/werewolves, or depressing depressingness. Happy ending please.

Um...I guess that's it. *closes eyes* *hits submit* *accidentally hits go advanced* *opens eyes* *clicks submit for realz*




ETA: (copied from my other post for clarity re: sparkly emo goats) Whomever gets my prompt doesn't have to sweat trying to fit an emo sparkly goat into the story. In fact, even if you do include it, I'd just as much prefer it only be a VERY brief mention.

If it turned out that the person who's prompt I get really, really, REALLY wanted this universal prompt in there I'd try to slip it in somehow, but it would most likely be only a very brief mention of a sparkly goat. I make no guarantees about the emo part.

Please do sign me up to both give and receive.

Give: I'm happy to write whatever my dear giftee would like. All bets are off. However, comedy and sex scenes are not my forte. I'm willing to write it but I won't promise it will be any good.

Receive: I would like to receive a story that is fairly surreal. Anything from talking animals, to eight limbed aliens invading Earth, to wacky alternate dimensions where people drive underwater on underwater highways. The weirder the better.



CM, I have given out too many reps today so, if it's okay, I shall rep you tomorrow. Oooops.

Sure, might as well take advantage of my copious spare time (insert sarcastic background music here) and give this a shot. There's a first time for everything, right?

Give - I'm comfortable doing fantasy (either epic or sword and sorcery), SF, dark fantasy, classic horror, steampunk, or action/adventure. Not much for a touch of the ultraviolence or bedroom scenes (more a fade-to-black kind of writer).

Receive - I'd like to get something that focuses around music. It can be a SF Cantina band, a cyberpunk/anime-esque girl band that fights in power armor on their days off, a bard at a fireplace in a fantasy setting, let your imagination go . . . just as long as music is important to the story.

Tazlima said:

Lol, now that you mention it, yes.

Actually, I was chomping at the bit yesterday and thinking, "I can't wait to see which one I get and dive in," when it occurred to me, "So just start now! Pick one you like and go nuts." If I finish it quickly (which for me is unlikely, but a girl can dream), I can do another.

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Ha! I have a story idea kicking around my head that uses prompts from at least 3 different people. I may write it, and if I actually get assigned one of those, then BINGO! And if not, I might be able to adapt it. Because who doesn't like [DELETED DELETED] with some [REALLY, REALLY DELETED] thrown in?

I'm in! There will be handwringing and flailing and buggerbuggerarrgh and it wil be glorious.

And if history proves anything, this is about the only thing that will garantee I will write something in 2017...

giving: I generally write light SF&F, including modern fantasy and/or humourous, but I am willing to experiment with other genres (but with the caveat that I might end up doing them badly). Don't ask any horror, grimdark or graphic sex from me, please.

receive: Tiddlywinks did so well with this last year that I'm going for a similar prompt: connect the dots: a penguin, fata morgana, butter, osteoderm and a lost key. Given the festive period, I'd prefer anything but a bad ending but go where the story takes you. No horror, grimdark or graphic sex, please.

Well, I accidentally posted in last year's thread. Lol so here's a copy/paste since I'm too lazy to type it all again.

I'd like to join in! I'll give and receive

Receive: I love to read fantasy or sci-fi stories. Some of my favorite authors are J.R.R. Tolkien, Chuck Palahniuk, Stephen King, Isaac Asimov, Charlotte E. English, Neil Gaiman and H.P. Lovecraft. Anything in those styles, like high fantasy, dark fantasy, horror and dystopian sci-fi. If the person who gets my prompt wants to write sci-fi, I recently watched "Blade Runner" for the first time and I loved it, I'd be happy to read more like that. But really, I'll read practically anything, though I'm not a huge fan of romance/erotica/etc. Content isn't an issue, so if you want to write gore/sex/profanity/adult content that's fine with me, I'm sure I've read worse (remember, Palahniuk is one of my favorite authors).

Give: I prefer to write sci-fi and fantasy, but I'm willing to write in practically any genre to stretch my creative muscles. I won't write sex scenes, simply because I'm not good at them and I don't include them in my stories anyway. I don't really know what people consider the border between "violence" and "gore" so be aware that there will be blood if there's a battle, but not brains splattering on the characters' faces. Not sure where that fits on the violence spectrum. Also I don't really use profanity in my writing unless it's really called for, but if it's really called for I'll use it, so I probably shouldn't be paired up with a seven year old or those sensitive to that kind of thing. I guess in general I write for a slightly-older-than-YA audience, people my age (I'm 24), with more mature themes but not all the way to "adult content." But if I'm paired with someone who wants a YA story that would be absolutely fine, and fun to restrain myself a bit.

I hope that's good enough for a prompt without being too specific or vague. I also prefer to write a short story, five to ten thousand words is all I can probably manage in that time frame.

The best time of the year is here again! Last year was my first year and it was AMAZING. I'll be signing up to give and receive.

Give: This year the safety harness is off. I am prepared to write anything. Anything.

Receive: In the top kitchen cupboard, behind the pressure cooker the protagonist's grandmother gave them, is something that doesn't belong. I don't know what it is, but I look forward to finding out. Limitations: no excessive gore, and I tend not to like horror stories so I'd prefer not to get one.

Receive: I'd like a fun, adventure type story. Let there be awesomeness and ridiculous escapes swinging across gorges or blasting off just before everything explodes and that kind of thing. Fantasy or SF, romance or not romance, friendships or a lone wolf, sex and violence or everything off screen or plain old nonexistent. I don't mind!

Give: I'll try any subgenre. I can do dark, and possibly even horror (I've been complimented on my corpses before!). I can do light, sweet, though probably not an emotional punch in the gut. Good with romance, violence, swearing, animals, no animals. You know, anything. Humour is probably my weakest point.

Possibly Dumb Question: When we reach a point where we'd like beta reader feedback, what do we do about contacting our volunteers? Just do eeny, meeny, miny, mo, and shoot that person a PM with a beta request?

E.F.B. said:

Possibly Dumb Question: When we reach a point where we'd like beta reader feedback, what do we do about contacting our volunteers? Just do eeny, meeny, miny, mo, and shoot that person a PM with a beta request?

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Yep. Pretty much that. Shoot them a PM and if they are available or can slot you in, they'll reply with their email addy and expected turnaround time. Just like with any other beta, let them know what type of feedback you're looking for.

Okie dokie. Thanks.

Okay, I'm gonna do this. It's my first year, so what I create may not be great, but I'll do my best! I'll give and receive.

Give: I can't write mysteries or comedy. I also don't want to write sexual violence, although other kinds of violence are 100% okay. Since time is limited, anything that requires research (hard sci fi, history) may be inaccurate/rushed. Other than that, I'll write whatever

Receive: There's something in the sewers. You can decide what it is, what genre you want to write, comedy or drama, whatever interests you. Swearing, sex, and violence are okay. Bonus points if you find some way to include a character who's a huge geek. They make me happy.

Add me to the beta list, please!

I'm in, for the fifth year in a row.

To give: I will try most things, SF, fantasy or horror and places in between. I do tend to be dark/slipstreamy and more likely set in this world (not necessarily in the present day) than in another one. That said, I did write an other-world fantasy two years ago, but don't expect too much in the way of trad fantasy or very hard SF. I can't really do out-and-out comedy but can do humour in otherwise serious pieces. I don't have any taboos as regards language or content. (I've also had a little tradition in that male giftees have had stories written from a female POV and vice versa for female giftees, though as it worked out that wasn't the case last time and may not be this time. We'll see what happens.)

To receive: 2016 is a leap year and one of the themes last time was "leap" (not my prompt, and not the prompt I received). But let's have a story involving the gain or loss of time in some vital way. That doesn't necessarily mean a time-travel story - the gain or loss of time can be in other ways. I'll leave that up to you. I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

P.S. I won't be in Australia on deadline day this time, so will be in my normal timezone of GMT.

Wow, I just realised it's been *nearly* a year since we met, Mr. Eye. I remember walking through the city while you told me that your giftee receives the opposite gender as a protagonist. (Don't worry, Cobra - neither of us cheated and let on who our giftees were. )

I wonder if I'll meet any other AWers during this year's Sisyphus?

Friendly Frog said:

receive: Tiddlywinks did so well with this last year that I'm going for a similar prompt: connect the dots: a penguin, fata morgana, butter, osteoderm and a lost key.

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Nothing like a tree frog flasher to get the dots connected. To whomever gets this type of prompt, there may be lots of snorting laughter and mad cackling involved on your end, depending on your muse's eccentricities...I had a blast, oh lovely frog prompter.

GGGAAAAHHHH!!! Why isn't it Dec. 25th yet??? I WANT MY PROMPT NOW!

GIMMEGIMMEGIMMEGIMMEEEEEEE!!!!!!


<sigh> It's funny... last year I would look at each prompt and think "Oh gawd, not that one!". But this year I'm not filled with any sort of dread at all (not yet anyway).

Don't know if that speaks to higher confidence as a writer or deeper depths of delusion... whichever...


GIMMEGIMMEGIMMEGIMMEEEEEEE!!!!!!