I must be mad, but I figured it's been three years since our last SS and, well I know you all like to get eyes on your stuff so, here is a call of interest as it were.
For those of you who don't know (by my reckoning there have been quite a few new members using the writing section of Chrons over the last 3 years), the Sekrit Santa challenge is this: You select; 1) a genre; and 2) a subject/precept/theme/etc. We collect these (well, I collect them this time around) and they are then distributed randomly to participants.
For example; "phyrebrat wants a weird fiction story where the Moon begins to speak to the population."
If you got that particular gem, you'd then have to write the story (usually no more than 10k, and anonymously) and send it to the organiser (me). As I receive them I send them out to the recipients. The timeline to write the thing is typically around 2 months.
Once they have all been received and sent, I post the first 100-500 words and we then guess who wrote what.
There've been some great offerings in the past and it's a really good community event.
THE RULES
Please post your story requests in this thread and you will be matched to your Santa story recipient when everyone has signed up.
1. All stories written are to be at least 500 words as a minimum. Otherwise there is no constraint to length and they can be as long a literary journey as your muse wishes to take you.
2. If you wish to get your story, you must write a story.
3. Should your muse prove fickle and abandon you partway through your magnum opus, feel free to deliver whatever you've managed up till then.
4. Guessing paragraphs can be handed in before the full work.
5. Guessing for what story was written by whom will begin as soon as enough samples are turned in.
6. ALL ARE WELCOME TO PARTICIPATE. Just get your request in and participate in your fashion. This is a workshop thread so all skill levels are welcome. And of course you don't have to enter to guess.
The quicker the requests are in the more writing time there will be..
I'm thinking registration until the first week in October (relatively flexible). Then I'll shuffle them and send the requests out. You will know who you're writing for , but they won't. And you won't know who's writing yours.
I would say all stories to be subbed to me by 19th Dec 2023. If you're done sooner we can start the guessing sooner.
Things to bear in mind:
This used to be very popular but we got a bit fatigued because it seemed to become "who could devise the most outlandish stimulus". Being asked to write a story about a bread factory that takes over the world by sentient central heating radiators might sound entertaining for example, but is quite draining to keep motivated about. This is quite a commitment as the stories always seem to be longer than the minimum as we get invested, so please think a little about the person writing your request.
Most of all it's meant to be fun and to improve our writing, so don't worry about writing or receiving Booker Prize type stuff! If you want to get an idea of what the SS is, you can search Sekrit Santa in the workshop forum and find the past ones.
So, who's in?
For those of you who don't know (by my reckoning there have been quite a few new members using the writing section of Chrons over the last 3 years), the Sekrit Santa challenge is this: You select; 1) a genre; and 2) a subject/precept/theme/etc. We collect these (well, I collect them this time around) and they are then distributed randomly to participants.
For example; "phyrebrat wants a weird fiction story where the Moon begins to speak to the population."
If you got that particular gem, you'd then have to write the story (usually no more than 10k, and anonymously) and send it to the organiser (me). As I receive them I send them out to the recipients. The timeline to write the thing is typically around 2 months.
Once they have all been received and sent, I post the first 100-500 words and we then guess who wrote what.
There've been some great offerings in the past and it's a really good community event.
THE RULES
Please post your story requests in this thread and you will be matched to your Santa story recipient when everyone has signed up.
1. All stories written are to be at least 500 words as a minimum. Otherwise there is no constraint to length and they can be as long a literary journey as your muse wishes to take you.
2. If you wish to get your story, you must write a story.
3. Should your muse prove fickle and abandon you partway through your magnum opus, feel free to deliver whatever you've managed up till then.
4. Guessing paragraphs can be handed in before the full work.
5. Guessing for what story was written by whom will begin as soon as enough samples are turned in.
6. ALL ARE WELCOME TO PARTICIPATE. Just get your request in and participate in your fashion. This is a workshop thread so all skill levels are welcome. And of course you don't have to enter to guess.
The quicker the requests are in the more writing time there will be..
I'm thinking registration until the first week in October (relatively flexible). Then I'll shuffle them and send the requests out. You will know who you're writing for , but they won't. And you won't know who's writing yours.
I would say all stories to be subbed to me by 19th Dec 2023. If you're done sooner we can start the guessing sooner.
Things to bear in mind:
This used to be very popular but we got a bit fatigued because it seemed to become "who could devise the most outlandish stimulus". Being asked to write a story about a bread factory that takes over the world by sentient central heating radiators might sound entertaining for example, but is quite draining to keep motivated about. This is quite a commitment as the stories always seem to be longer than the minimum as we get invested, so please think a little about the person writing your request.
Most of all it's meant to be fun and to improve our writing, so don't worry about writing or receiving Booker Prize type stuff! If you want to get an idea of what the SS is, you can search Sekrit Santa in the workshop forum and find the past ones.
So, who's in?
