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The BZPower Fanfic Exchange 2017


Tufi Piyufi

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The BZPower Fanfic Exchange 2017

What's better, giving or receiving gifts? Why not both? Not everything has to be an O. Henry story. And why not make those gifts the greatest gift of all, Bionicle fanfiction? We're bringing a time-honoured fandom tradition to BZPower this year with a fanfic exchange.

It's pretty simple. You let me know what you want to write and read, I take that info and find someone wanting to write the sort of stuff you want to read, and everybody gets a-writin'. Then, in late December, you'll post your stories for your giftee and all of BZP to read. You won't know who's writing for you until then, so it's a fun little surprise. They'll most likely be a different person than who you're writing for, though.

As part of the exchange, you'll submit the following info through this form. Once you receive your giftee's details, you'll have until December 26 to write your gift. There will be a couple of check-in points along the way to make sure everything's running smoothly. If you finish early, then great! The party doesn't have to stop there. You can ask me for more people's prompts, or lend your proven heroism to stepping in for someone who can't submit a gift. I may also put out an open call for people to do just that later in November. Please don't post any stories until December 26, though; part of the fun is seeing all these new stories pop up one after the other!

Successfully fulfilling your end of the bargain will also qualify you for tangible prizes. Write a story, get a story, and also get a select constraction set of your choice. Not a bad deal, eh?

Again, to participate, you'll need to fill out this form. If you've got anything to add between now and October 27, just PM me and let me know. After that, though, it's time to get writing!


Rules

1) All stories must follow the BZPower Rules & Guidelines.. Inappropriate or offensive stories will be reprimanded.

2) Bionicle stories and prompts only, please - remember, they're the greatest gift of all! Though this topic is in Short Stories, they can be for any of the subforums (though if you're wild enough to write a full-blown epic, please see rule 5.)

3) If, for whatever reason, you think you might be late or unable to submit a gift, let me know! We can sort through just about anything as long as I know you need a little help. Just leaving your giftee hanging, however, is inadvisable and will carry consequences for you.

4) When posting your story, don't forget to say who it's for! Detective work is not a traditional element of the fanfic exchange.

5) Please don't overextend yourself; a nice short story is fine. At the same time, please make sure your gift is more than a couple of paragraphs. If a prompt really calls to you and you won't be satisfied until you write a whole epic from it, please have at least a first chapter ready to go for December 26. You'll be able to post the rest at your own pace after that.


Schedule

You will have from now to October 27 to sign up for the exchange.

Matches will be sent out before November 5.

You will have from November 5 to December 26 to write and finish your stories.
-First official check-in is November 22; let me know what you're writing, or if you need help.
-Second official check-in is December 10; you should have a draft you can show me.

After December 26, post your stories! Please try to have them posted between December 26 and January 7, or let me know if you won't be able to get on BZP during that time. In that case, I'll send your story to your giftee so they'll be able to read their gift along with everybody else. (You'll have to send your story to me to make sure that happens, though.)


Prizes
Successfully fulfilling your part of the exchange means you get a select constraction set of your choice. More details will be available in December. Thanks to LEGO for the vast bounty of sets!

Exchange Runner
Tufi Piyufi



Go on and have fun!

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This sounds like a great idea!  I'd love to participate!

Just a quick inquiry, though; I went to look at the submission form, and I'm a little confused as to what the "Preferred Characters" field entails.  Could I have a bit of clarification on that, please?

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This sounds like a great idea!  I'd love to participate!

Just a quick inquiry, though; I went to look at the submission form, and I'm a little confused as to what the "Preferred Characters" field entails.  Could I have a bit of clarification on that, please?

Basically, it's more information to help make good matches. If you really like the Toa Mahri, and a potential reader would really like to read something about the Mahri, then that could be a match right there. You can name specific characters and/or groups of characters, and it'll tell me more about what you're looking to get out of the exchange.

Be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes!
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  • 2 weeks later...

And the matchups have gone out, so it's time to get writing! Remember, it's a surprise, so don't tell your recipient you're writing for them until the big reveal! If you need to ask them questions, let me know and I'll pass it along for you.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hey, folks: first check-in PMs are going out tomorrow evening, but if you want to go ahead and PM me first, that'd be pretty cool, too! You don't need to have anything substantial written down yet, just let me know that you've been putting some thought into your story.

 

As a reminder, it's infinitely better to tell me if there's any complications than to not say anything at all. The former I can work with, but the latter... not so great.

Be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes!
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  • 4 weeks later...

I know what you're getting...

 

... well, most of you. There's still a few people who haven't done a second check-in, and since the next important date is the posting of the stories themselves (starting December 26), this is a little more serious. I cannot emphasize this enough: even if you're going to tell me there's no way you can make the deadline now, let me know! If the posting period passes and there's no sign or word of your story, your member title will be changed to reflect the fact that you owe your exchange recipient a gift. It's going to be a very boring and unambiguous title. Not very appealing.

 

Don't let your recipient down - check in!

Be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes!
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It is officially

 

time to post!

 

From now until January 7, post your stories in the appropriate Library subforum and let your recipient know you've got something for them. Remember, you have time to get your stories up, so don't stress yourself out if you won't be able to post it until the weekend. The commitment some of you folks have to December 26 is admirable and I truly appreciate how much you want to fulfill your requests, but you're a winner all the same if you post it tomorrow, too.

Be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes!
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  • 3 weeks later...

Speaking of, what of those who still haven't posted stories?

 

Have you received updates from them? If people are waiting on them, they should be informed that their story will arrive later or not at all.

 

According to the index, at least two participants have sent fanfics but have yet to receive and three people have received fanfics but have not sent any.

 

At the time of this update, it's been over two weeks since the entry period ended. What next?  Has the exchange been an overall success?

Edited by AceGreenLegend
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- Bionicle Fan since 2002

- Former Lego Universe Alpha/Beta Tester

- Owner of The AGL Group

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  • 2 weeks later...

At the time of this update, it's been over two weeks since the entry period ended. What next?  Has the exchange been an overall success?

 

Even without official feedback, I think the exchange was a success. There were a lot of fun stories to read over the holiday season and I for one definitely didn't realize now much I needed a good jolt of BIONICLE adventure!

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Gonna go out on a limb and guess that all the complaining is gonna make the staff feel less inclined to get those sets in the mail, and that being patient might be a more fruitful course of action.

 

You see, I was contemplating this point. I'm not demanding for the set promised. I'm more concerned over the general lack of communication. As I posted previously, there's still a lot of loose ends. People haven't posted or received stories, I don't know if the turnout of people enrolled was of a scope that this is a tradition BZP would like to continue, and the forum has been pretty quiet for a while.

 

There's the phrase that "patience is a virtue." Unfortunately, I've seen so many projects that had such great enthusiasm at their start, but when the higher-ups slowly didn't communicate, it all crumbled. I'm afraid that this lull period is a sign that there's less passion behind this, and as a result, may not be a tradition deemed woth repeating.

 

That being said, I could be wrong. Most of my time on BZPower has just been keeping up to date with the news articles, I don't participate in the forums too often and I'm not quite a part of the culture that surrounds the Short Stories area. This delay in event beginnings and endings may be normal, I simply don't know what to expect. This is new for me.

 

The last thing I intend is to come off as irritating and a nuisance. I just care about how this event has been going on for everyone involved, participants, runners, and others behind the scenes. I’m glad that members like Torran feel very satisfied with the results. Members like Scrubbish and ReeseEH seem anxious about the final end of the event, possibly more participants are afraid to speak up for the exact reason you brought up. Being quiet is the polite course of action, though without thorough communication from both sides, people can gain incorrect assumptions and nobody will be happy.

Edited by AceGreenLegend
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- Bionicle Fan since 2002

- Former Lego Universe Alpha/Beta Tester

- Owner of The AGL Group

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Thanks for everyone's patience - 2018 got off to a surprisingly relentless start for me. It's finally started to relent, though, so let's get to the goodies!

 

Of 18 participants, 14 have posted their stories, which is absolutely terrific. Those people who've fulfilled their part of the deal can PM me with their first, second, and third choices of sets from the following list:

 

70786 Gali - Master of Water

70793 Skull Basher

71300 Uxar - Creature of Jungle

71301 Ketar - Creature of Stone

71303 Ikir - Creature of Fire

71304 Terak - Creature of Earth

71305 Lewa - Uniter of Jungle

71309 Onua - Uniter of Earth

71313 Lava Beast

71315 Quake Beast

75114 First Order Stormtrooper

75115 Poe Dameron

75117 Kylo Ren

75118 Captain Phasma

75119 Sergeant Jyn Erso

75120 K-2SO

75121 Imperial Death Trooper

75525 Baze Malbus

 

and we'll work on getting those sent out to you.

 

As for the four participants who have yet to post their stories: until you do, you will have the member title 'IOU 1 Exchange Fanfic'. Please, please get your stories in. It's not fair to your recipients to leave them hanging.

 

Overall, I think the exchange went really well. There's some things I'd tweak for next time, but I definitely see a next time. Do you have any comments on the structure of the exchange itself? I'm especially interested in your thoughts on the schedule, in terms of both duration and location on the calendar.

 

Thank you all very much!

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