Archive of Our Own

A remix challenge, as made popular by Musesfool in the annual Remix Redux, but this challenge will be for fic in video-game fandoms only. The existing remix challenges tend to have really low participation from people outside of western media fandom, so hey, why not

Each participant will write hir own creative reimagining of a story originally written by one of the other participants; stories will be posted anonymously and revealed about a week after posting.

Q: So, a "remix"? What does that mean? How does it work?

Yes! A remix! It's a challenge in which people do creative re-interpretations of each other's previous work. To borrow from the description at fanlore, Remixing techniques include (but are not limited to): retelling the same events from a different character's point of view, switching the narrative voice (e.g. from first to third person), changing the tone of a story, focusing on a different point in time in the same sequence of events, covering a smaller or larger scope of events, or writing an AU. Writers sometimes incorporate the dialogue or description of the original work into their remix story.

For challenge purposes, each person who signs up will get assigned to remix the work of somebody else who's also playing. This means you need to have some video game fandom pieces already done, and you need to be willing to let somebody else put a new spin on one of them. You will be credited for the original piece; the remixer will link back to it when the remix is done.

Q: Is this fic only, or is art also allowed?

Art *is* also allowed. I want to encourage artists to participate whenever possible! If you are an artist assigned to a writer, you will make art inspired by one of your assignee's stories. If you are a writer assigned to an artist, you'll write a story inspired by one of your assignee's pictures. An artist assigned to another artist would reinterpret a piece of art however you see fit -- changing up the perspective or the pose, reversing roles, working in a different style.

Q: I need to have other stuff already written or drawn? How much?

You need to have at least three works each available to remix in at least two fandoms (so a total of six pieces). The signup form will let you choose up to eight fandoms, though, and if you can offer more than the minimum, please do: it makes matching a lot easier.

Stories provided for remixing should be at least 500 words long.

Art should be complex enough to give a remixer something to work with, so you'll want action poses, or characters interacting, or something going on with costumes/setting -- basically, something other than straightforward character portraits.

Q: How much do I need to write/draw for the remix?

Stories should be at least 1,000 words long, and if you are remixing another story, the remix should touch on the major plot elements of the original.

Art should be polished (sketch lines cleaned up, etc.) and should be complex enough to show a relationship to the original work.

Q: So do I need an account at the Archive of Our Own to sign up?

Yes, you do. If you don't have one, you can request one directly through the site at the main page of the archive (the big "sign up now" link), or you can drop me a comment or PM with your email address and I'll send an invite out to you.

Q: Do I need to have my existing works on the AO3?

No, you don't. The link to your existing work can go to any place where your work is collected and doesn't have restricted access: a fic journal, a master list of your work, your personal web site, an account at another fiction or art hosting site (make sure your work isn't limited to logged-in users), or your account at the AO3.

Please don't link to a general-purpose journal that sometimes has your fic/art scattered through it -- I don't want your remixer to have to scour through your journal looking for your work. The link you provide should make it easy for your remixer to browse through your work.

Q: I'm an artist. How do I post art at the AO3?

So far, the AO3 doesn't have its own hosting space (it's planned, but I don't know when it will happen). For now, you'd post art there the same way you'd post it to a journal, by uploading it somewhere else and using the img HTML tag in the space provided for the text of stories.

If you don't have your own web space or an account at an image hosting service that you can use (or if you want to upload a sexually explicit image and are worried about Photobucket ToS'ing you, etc.), you can contact me and I can host your image on my web space and give you a link to use when you post.