Hear ye, Hear ye!
The First of December is once more upon us, which means that we stand on the precipice of yet another season of writer-based joy and wonderment.
That’s right, gang, polish up your prompts, spool up your spellcheckers, and flex those fingers because it’s time once again for the Best Thing to Happen to Humanity Since the Invention of Tacos (TM)*....
THE TENTH** ANNUAL SEKRIT SOLSTICE SCI-FI/FANTASY STORY SWAP!
So what exactly is the SS-SFF-SS you may ask?
The SS-SFF-SS (AKA: The Sisyphus) is an event where all participants submit a prompt with details for the kind of story they want to receive and what they’re willing to write. Once we close the window for prompts, participants are secretly paired up via the Story Elves and a lot of math, they create a story based on their assigned prompt, then provide it to the Story Elves who send it to the giftee a la Secret Santa.
The best part is that authors not only gets to write something fun or outside of their normal comfort zone, but everyone who participates walks away with a story written just for them. Hilarity normally ensues, especially when we try to match authors with stories in a blind Guessing Thread.
If you want an idea of the general madness involved, feel free to review last year's Sisyphus and the SS-SFF-SS Guessing Thread (password: vista).
What the Sisyphus is not:
1) Stressful: No word-count minimum and no grammar police allowed.
2) Lonely: We’re a family here. We lean on each other if we’re struggling.
3) Judgmental: Genre, word count, and typos don’t matter here.
Basically, we prompt, we write, we trade stories, we guess, we share the joy of the event, and we foster camaraderie with our fellow writers.
If this sounds like your kind of literary playground, then here are the rules and such.
The Rules and Such:
RULE #1) THE 50 POST REQUIREMENT:
In order to join in the Sisyphus fun, all participants must have a minimum of 50 posts on AW. No exceptions. This ensures everyone meets the requirement for posting in the Share Your Work (SYW) sub-forum where we'll play the Guessing Game.
TLDR:
Less than 50 posts?
NAY!
50 posts or more?
YAY!
RULE #2) HOW TO PLAY:
There are two primary ways of participating: RECEIVING/GIVING and GIVING ONLY. A third path, The Beta Option, exists for those who simply want to help fine-tune the stories. See Rule #6 for more details on beta-ing.
2a) RECEIVING AND GIVING:
Signing up to RECEIVE a gift means signing up to GIVE a gift. No exceptions. Since the spirit of this event is giving, if you ask for treasures, you must give treasures.
To sign up, you’ll make a post (aka: Prompt) with what you want to read as well as what you’re willing to write. See Rule #3 for details on the Prompt Parameters.
2b) GIVING ONLY:
You may absolutely sign up to GIVE a gift, but not RECEIVE one. If you’re the benevolent type that loves to give and give, I’ll forward you a copy of my Christmas Wish List***. I’ll also hook you up with a giftee (or more than one if you so fancy). Please let me know if you want to give a story in general or for a specific prompt so I can match you appropriately.
RULE #3) PROMPT PARAMETERS:
When you sign up to GIVE AND RECEIVE, please include a prompt that provides parameters for both your gift AND what you're willing to write for someone else. Your “receive” info can be anything: a word, a quote, an author name, an idea, a theme, etc. Just give your gifter a direction in which to run. Once you post your prompt, please also rep me via Rule #13.
That said, please KEEP YOUR PROMPT REASONABLE. Long, detailed diatribes run the risk of not getting matched because people don’t want to be boxed in. Feel free to ask for the moon, but also allow your gifter room to maneuver. If your prompt is deemed too stringent or “outlin-esque”, the Story Elves may contact you to tweak it. If you ignore the Elves or refuse to bend, you run the risk of Getting Benched (See Rule #12).
Also, please specify themes/topics that you are okay with/not-okay with, both for receiving and for giving. Maybe you want to receive a space opera, but aren’t confident with writing sci-fi yourself. Perhaps horror isn't something you want to read. Add the perimeter of comfort for your incoming and outgoing stories so those writing and receiving know where to draw a line.
HOWEVER: Unless otherwise specified, the person writing for you will assume all bets are off.
Mwa.
Ha.
Ha
Example Prompt:
Once you have posted your prompt, I’ll put the names of participants in The Sign-Up List of AWesome located at the bottom of this post.
And yes, you may absolutely write an additional story/stories based on other prompts that catch your fancy if you want! There's no maximum to how many you send to others. Plus, it shakes up the Guessing Thread, which is always fun.
Note: Failure to sign up by the closing date (December 22nd, US, East Coast Time) means you'll miss out on this year's fun.
RULE #4) “EGADS, YES!”/”NO THANK YOU”:
If a prompt really excites you or there’s a prompt/person you don't want to write for, no matter the reason, please rep/e-mail me with your request. I’ll do my best to accommodate your wishes.
RULE #5) WRITING TIME:
Once the sign-up thread closes, the Story Elves and I will pair up everyone based on the Prompts and what people are willing to write. On Christmas morning (US, East Coast time), the Story Elves will send out assignments via e-mail. From the day you get that e-mail you'll have approximately 10 weeks to create your masterpiece.
As of today, our target delivery date is MARCH14th 31st. This ensures that authors don’t feel pressured to write during the holiday season AND gives them enough time to get their stories to betas as needed. Keep in mind that target dates are flexible and we can always shift them if folks need or want more time.
Most important: Communicate! If you hit a snag or have questions/concerns, please contact me via e-mail or here on AW and I’ll do my best to help you out. If you’re struggling and go radio-silent, especially as we reach the final weeks of the event, the Story Elves will go into full panic mode and may initiate Rule #12.
RULE #6) THE BETA OPTION:
This is the tangential way to participate since beta volunteers are always welcome. If you'd like to serve as a beta, please let me know via Rule #13. I'll post your name in this thread so folks can reach out as needed. Authors may also seek out betas exterior to this thread/genre as they desire.
(continued in Post #2)
The First of December is once more upon us, which means that we stand on the precipice of yet another season of writer-based joy and wonderment.
That’s right, gang, polish up your prompts, spool up your spellcheckers, and flex those fingers because it’s time once again for the Best Thing to Happen to Humanity Since the Invention of Tacos (TM)*....
THE TENTH** ANNUAL SEKRIT SOLSTICE SCI-FI/FANTASY STORY SWAP!
So what exactly is the SS-SFF-SS you may ask?
The SS-SFF-SS (AKA: The Sisyphus) is an event where all participants submit a prompt with details for the kind of story they want to receive and what they’re willing to write. Once we close the window for prompts, participants are secretly paired up via the Story Elves and a lot of math, they create a story based on their assigned prompt, then provide it to the Story Elves who send it to the giftee a la Secret Santa.
The best part is that authors not only gets to write something fun or outside of their normal comfort zone, but everyone who participates walks away with a story written just for them. Hilarity normally ensues, especially when we try to match authors with stories in a blind Guessing Thread.
If you want an idea of the general madness involved, feel free to review last year's Sisyphus and the SS-SFF-SS Guessing Thread (password: vista).
What the Sisyphus is not:
1) Stressful: No word-count minimum and no grammar police allowed.
2) Lonely: We’re a family here. We lean on each other if we’re struggling.
3) Judgmental: Genre, word count, and typos don’t matter here.
Basically, we prompt, we write, we trade stories, we guess, we share the joy of the event, and we foster camaraderie with our fellow writers.
If this sounds like your kind of literary playground, then here are the rules and such.
The Rules and Such:
RULE #1) THE 50 POST REQUIREMENT:
In order to join in the Sisyphus fun, all participants must have a minimum of 50 posts on AW. No exceptions. This ensures everyone meets the requirement for posting in the Share Your Work (SYW) sub-forum where we'll play the Guessing Game.
TLDR:
Less than 50 posts?
NAY!
50 posts or more?
YAY!
RULE #2) HOW TO PLAY:
There are two primary ways of participating: RECEIVING/GIVING and GIVING ONLY. A third path, The Beta Option, exists for those who simply want to help fine-tune the stories. See Rule #6 for more details on beta-ing.
2a) RECEIVING AND GIVING:
Signing up to RECEIVE a gift means signing up to GIVE a gift. No exceptions. Since the spirit of this event is giving, if you ask for treasures, you must give treasures.
To sign up, you’ll make a post (aka: Prompt) with what you want to read as well as what you’re willing to write. See Rule #3 for details on the Prompt Parameters.
2b) GIVING ONLY:
You may absolutely sign up to GIVE a gift, but not RECEIVE one. If you’re the benevolent type that loves to give and give, I’ll forward you a copy of my Christmas Wish List***. I’ll also hook you up with a giftee (or more than one if you so fancy). Please let me know if you want to give a story in general or for a specific prompt so I can match you appropriately.
RULE #3) PROMPT PARAMETERS:
When you sign up to GIVE AND RECEIVE, please include a prompt that provides parameters for both your gift AND what you're willing to write for someone else. Your “receive” info can be anything: a word, a quote, an author name, an idea, a theme, etc. Just give your gifter a direction in which to run. Once you post your prompt, please also rep me via Rule #13.
That said, please KEEP YOUR PROMPT REASONABLE. Long, detailed diatribes run the risk of not getting matched because people don’t want to be boxed in. Feel free to ask for the moon, but also allow your gifter room to maneuver. If your prompt is deemed too stringent or “outlin-esque”, the Story Elves may contact you to tweak it. If you ignore the Elves or refuse to bend, you run the risk of Getting Benched (See Rule #12).
Also, please specify themes/topics that you are okay with/not-okay with, both for receiving and for giving. Maybe you want to receive a space opera, but aren’t confident with writing sci-fi yourself. Perhaps horror isn't something you want to read. Add the perimeter of comfort for your incoming and outgoing stories so those writing and receiving know where to draw a line.
HOWEVER: Unless otherwise specified, the person writing for you will assume all bets are off.
Mwa.
Ha.
Ha
Example Prompt:
Once you have posted your prompt, I’ll put the names of participants in The Sign-Up List of AWesome located at the bottom of this post.
And yes, you may absolutely write an additional story/stories based on other prompts that catch your fancy if you want! There's no maximum to how many you send to others. Plus, it shakes up the Guessing Thread, which is always fun.
Note: Failure to sign up by the closing date (December 22nd, US, East Coast Time) means you'll miss out on this year's fun.
RULE #4) “EGADS, YES!”/”NO THANK YOU”:
If a prompt really excites you or there’s a prompt/person you don't want to write for, no matter the reason, please rep/e-mail me with your request. I’ll do my best to accommodate your wishes.
RULE #5) WRITING TIME:
Once the sign-up thread closes, the Story Elves and I will pair up everyone based on the Prompts and what people are willing to write. On Christmas morning (US, East Coast time), the Story Elves will send out assignments via e-mail. From the day you get that e-mail you'll have approximately 10 weeks to create your masterpiece.
As of today, our target delivery date is MARCH
Most important: Communicate! If you hit a snag or have questions/concerns, please contact me via e-mail or here on AW and I’ll do my best to help you out. If you’re struggling and go radio-silent, especially as we reach the final weeks of the event, the Story Elves will go into full panic mode and may initiate Rule #12.
RULE #6) THE BETA OPTION:
This is the tangential way to participate since beta volunteers are always welcome. If you'd like to serve as a beta, please let me know via Rule #13. I'll post your name in this thread so folks can reach out as needed. Authors may also seek out betas exterior to this thread/genre as they desire.
(continued in Post #2)
Last edited:
