July Activities

[ysabetwordsmith]

What were your activities from June?  What are you planning for July?

The July Crowdfunding Creative Jam will be Saturday 19-Sunday 20 with a theme of "conflicts where no one is wrong."  Also, check out the new "Plot Challenges" public card that magistrate made over on allbingo. It looks awesome for jamming inspiration.

Comments

[magistrate]

I did my first-even crowdfunded prompt call, and I was really surprised and gratified by the results! I'm meaning to write up a post about things I learned from it, when I get some cognitive downtime over the next week.


thebonesofferalletters and I were talking about challenges that could be done based on the seven-sentence plot synopsis idea, where people could come up with seven-sentence synopses and then put them up for adoption, and they or others could take those synopses and expand them into stories. M suggested a monthly or recurring round setup: "First two weeks people generate plots and the second two weeks people write. You can post whatever plot/fic at any time within the two weeks alotted and you can go back and adopt any plot, though if someone else has claimed it, you should check with them if it's all right/they can have a thing in the subject line saying if they're comfortable with you taking it too."

I suggested: "In a crowdfunding model, people could even place "bounties" on plots, and if someone writes it, part of the bounty goes to them and part of it goes to the writer. So, if Alice does a plot, I could place a $3 bounty on it, and Bob could write a short story on it, and $2 goes to Bob and $1 goes to Alice, or something? Not sure how you'd handle multiple people wanting to write for things with bounties. First one to claim gets it when they post? First one to post gets it? I only pay the bounty if I'm satisfied with what I get? Everyone is welcome to submit something to the bounty, and the person who posted the bounty gets to decide the winner?"

So, it's an idea that could use some clarification and refinement, and it would probably need a host/curator of some sort (and neither of us have the time at this moment to manage that sort of a fest), but I thought it was a cool idea and one worth playing around with.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> I did my first-even crowdfunded prompt call, and I was really surprised and gratified by the results! <<

Yay! That was awesome. I really loved it.

>> I'm meaning to write up a post about things I learned from it, when I get some cognitive downtime over the next week. <<

I would greatly appreciate this also. Please post or link here if you do.

>> M suggested a monthly or recurring round setup: "First two weeks people generate plots and the second two weeks people write. You can post whatever plot/fic at any time within the two weeks alotted and you can go back and adopt any plot, <<

That sounds very promising. I'd be flexible about writing, though -- some folks will get inspired by prompts as soon as they appear. Having a day or two to post prompts is fine if you plan to do something like combine them or make a bingo card though, because the working prompts won't appear immediately. We've experimented with some different prompt methods and timeframes in Torn World Muse Fusions.

>> though if someone else has claimed it, you should check with them if it's all right/they can have a thing in the subject line saying if they're comfortable with you taking it too." <<

I honestly wouldn't worry about this unless people are really anxious. Every communal activity I've observed, people take the same prompt in wildly different directions.

>> I suggested: "In a crowdfunding model, people could even place "bounties" on plots, <<

This is BRILLIANT. I genuflect in your general direction.

>> and if someone writes it, part of the bounty goes to them and part of it goes to the writer. <<

I would have expected it all to go to the writer (or artist or whatever) but hey, I'm open to trying this kind of kickback for prompters.

>> So, if Alice does a plot, I could place a $3 bounty on it, and Bob could write a short story on it, and $2 goes to Bob and $1 goes to Alice, or something? <<

Bear in mind that PayPal and other money handlers always take a cut. That makes small transactions (less than $1) pointless and really you need several dollars to get good bang for your buck. So you'd need someone to bundle the funds, if more than one small amount is feeding into a bounty on the same prompt, then send that to the recipient(s).

However this may not be an issue on any site that has its own internal currency! Torn World has both karma, which can be redeemed for onsite perks such as adopting a character or reading a subscribers-only story; and credits, which represent actual dollars.

>> Not sure how you'd handle multiple people wanting to write for things with bounties. First one to claim gets it when they post? <<

This would be my preference, although you might let potential participants vote on how they'd like to handle it.

>> First one to post gets it? I only pay the bounty if I'm satisfied with what I get? Everyone is welcome to submit something to the bounty, and the person who posted the bounty gets to decide the winner?" <<

I'd say that the point of the bounty is to encourage folks to write that prompt. It's not to sponsor the piece, but to help inspire it. So you may want to separate writing from posting -- the prompter and the bounty donor(s) should get complimentary copies. Consider that a bounty might just be a few dollars, but a lot of folks write things that are going for $10-$20 or more. Writing to target is something that some crowdfunders are great and others aren't.

>> So, it's an idea that could use some clarification and refinement, and it would probably need a host/curator of some sort (and neither of us have the time at this moment to manage that sort of a fest), but I thought it was a cool idea and one worth playing around with. <<

Maybe someone else will nab it! I would love that. I've been running the Creative Jams which are low-demand. I probably wouldn't be the best person to handle this activity but I would really enjoy giving prompts and writing for it.