Unconventional Courtship 2017

[aralias]

It's late, but it's back -

Welcome to 'Unconventional Courtship 2017'!



'Unconventional Courtship' is a panfandom fic fest where you write and post a 1000w+ fic based on a M&B/Harlequin plot. Fics will be posted to this community, staggered through August and September 2017, from 18th August.

How to play:

It's as simple as:

1. Sign up! All you need to do is comment on this post with the day you want to post your fic. You can tell me which summary/pairing you're going with, but you don't have to. You can also ask me to assign you a summary, if you want. (You don't need a Dreamwidth to play - just comment with OpenID, although you will need to ask me to post your fic on the com. If you are on DW, please follow the community!)

2. Choose a M&B/Harlequin summary (or two etc) - we have hundreds of suggestions here, but there are literally thousands. Our prompt generator may also help (thank you john_amend_all) You can write more than one fic, if you want. You can also combine prompts, if you like.

3. Replace the names (and pronouns if necessary) with the names (and pronouns) of the pairing of your choice. Any any all fandoms and pairings are welcome in this fest.

You can also replace place names and jobs as long as you keep to the spirit of the prompt. So, if you want to write Kirk/Spock, but you don't want to write a modern day AU, you could replace 'the Sahara desert' with 'a desert planet' and Kirk wouldn't need to be the boss at a law firm, he could be the boss... in the sense that he's the captain.

4. Write a fic based on your altered summary. You can take the prompt seriously or use it as an improbable basis for lols.

4.5. Pimp the fest far and wide. I'm hardly going to do this at all, so it's up to you - the players! I've re-uploaded the make-your-own banners and of course you can use any that I've already made (N.B. Historically our banners were at Photobucket. I've re-uploaded to this post, but you should still see a lot of dead links around the place). Please do pimp where ever you think would be appropriate.

5. Post the fic to this community on your assigned day.

You can also post to our AO3 collection, but please post to the com whatever you do, and please post to the com first.

You can see some examples of Unconventional Courtship fic by looking through the collection, or earlier in the com.

6. Profit! Fics for all! I'll post a masterlist once all the entries are in. Crossposting is encouraged.

Any questions? Leave a comment or PM me or email me at heroic.tendencies@gmail.com


Rules:

1. All fics must be over 1,000 words long.

2. You must use a modified Mills & Boon and/or Harlequin summary.

3. You don't have to use a beta, but it is strongly advised.

4. Please use the following header (or similar - the AO3 share function is fine) when you post to the community:

<b>Title:</b> <b>Author:</b> <b>Fandom:</b> <b>Pairing/Characters:</b> <b>Rating:</b> <b>Length:</b> <b>Summary:</b> <b>Notes:</b> <b>Link:</b>

5. Please post on your assigned day. If you can't for whatever reason, please let me know either by PM or email heroic.tendencies@gmail.com

6. You can use this fic for another challenge i.e. trope_bingo

7. You can sign up for any day you like, but if it is possible for you to sign up for a day that nobody else is interested in then that'd be best of all.

18 Aug: meridian_rose
19 Aug: merryghoul
20 Aug: mara
21 Aug: lobeliakurgan
22 Aug: out_there
23 Aug
24 Aug
25 Aug
26 Aug: romanajo123
27 Aug: out_there
28 Aug
29 Aug
30 Aug
31 Aug: spikesgirl58
1 Sept: lauramoon
2 Sept: pameluke
3 Sept: samuraiter
4 Sept: vilakins
5 Sept: desertvixen
6 Sept: paranoidangel
7 Sept: puimoo
8 Sept: still_lycoris
9 Sept: melissatreglia, goddess47
10 Sept: clover71, angenoir
11 Sept: dimity_blue, misaffection
12 Sept: callmesandyk, aflaminghalo
13 Sept: fennui, luvbarryfefe
14 Sept: starticker, vexed_wench, lbilover
15 Sept: tardiscompanion, wendelah1
16 Sept: liadt, lilly_c
17 Sept: misslucyjane, sidhe_faerie


If you have questions, feel free to ask! And/or consult the FAQs from last year, which are still mostly accurate.

Comments

[vilakins]

And maybe you can guess that two men are mentioned there. :-)

[aralias]

ahaha, yes - that's great. i haven't seen anything like it in unconventional courtship thus far, but it meets the spirit.

here's the bases again: https://we.tl/fYLH5kVSa4

[still_lycoris]

Oh, I nearly forgot this! Can I have 8th September please? It will be an X-Men fic, probably Charles/Hank, still sorting through prompts. :)

[lobeliakurgan]

Hey! I'd like to sign up for August 21st. (That list is a little bottom-heavy right now.)

Fandom's Fire Emblem: Awakening, pairing is Tharja/Chrom, blurb is #154, "The Prince Who Charmed Her."

I'll definitely be switching some job titles around, and they'll be on a warship instead of a cruise, but I think it checks out.

[aflaminghalo]

Hi, did I post this right? DW was a little strange about it.

[aralias]

you certainly can. i'll add you to the list!

[aralias]

sounds good :)

i'll add you to the list.

[aralias]

you posted it fine, but for some reason i didn't see this comment! (or the one above it). but 8th of september is great - i'll add you to the list.

[aralias]

yes, ithat would be fine, as long as you feel it's basically a mills and boon-esque title.

sorry for the slow reply here! not sure what happened to your comment and my inbox :(

[aralias]

and thanks for taking an earlier date :) you're right - we need some more august!

[aflaminghalo]

Thank you :)

[tidal_race]

Just a heads up, I was going to try making some covers to promote this and it seems like nothing is working graphics wise right now?

[aralias]

yes, it's very annoying - photobucket changed their T&Cs and killed loads of images throughout fandom.

theres also the thing about long-term hosting - i just put my make-your-own graphics on wetransfer, which expires. here's a new link: https://we.tl/CSGVodsOgR

i'll upload the main comms banners.

[tidal_race]

Thanks! I think I misunderstood the make-your-own-banner bit. I thought it was one of those type where you upload photos and it inserts them into a base. But I think I have a program (no photoshop) that I could use to get about the same result as using photoshop.

Sorry about photobucket being a pain.

[aralias]

that's ok - i think it was ultimately useful :)

if your programme doesn't work, this website is super cool: http://apps.pixlr.com/editor/

[tidal_race]

Thanks! I'll have to try that. The one I usually use doesn't like the file for some reason, even after I tried to convert the format.

[tidal_race]

I checked it out and you're right! It is really cool. I dinked around a little earlier and started to get the hang of it.

I have a story I think I want to do and I finally found a summary that fits it, but I'm waiting to see if I can get anything done on it before I officially sign up for a date.

[luvbarryfefe]

If it's not too late, I'd really like to join in the fun!

Please sign me up for September 13th. The book summary I am *thinking* of basing mine on is Phantom Lover by Rebecca York.

Fandom: General Hospital

lol

[aralias]

it's never too late! welcome :)

[tidal_race]

Kind of random, but...do you think maybe there could be a sort of general chatter post for the round? For people to talk about things like how they're doing, their favorite romance novel tropes, any sort of misc. stuff like that?

[out_there]

Hi, I started working on a second entry (the first one came together a bit quicker than I expected, and given that I'm a few scenes away from getting the second one done, it'll definitely be ready for the challenge).

Can I claim a second day, say 22nd of August? Do you need to know the prompt number and fandom, or can I post either story on either day?

[aralias]

you can claim a second day if you want - just let me know! and you can post either story on either day. you can also post both stories on the SAME day if you want, but i think it's better to spread them out to give people a chance to read.

WELL DONE at being so productive :D :D

[aralias]

yes, good suggestion! i just created one, using many of your words. thank you.

[out_there]

I like the idea of spreading them out -- mostly because it gives me feedback on different days. So, yeah, I'll claim the 22nd as well.

[aralias]

awesome. you got it :D