DS-C6D AU Challenge Rules & Signups!!

[sage]

Challenge Concept & Rules:
Welcome! Your friendly neighborhood mods for this challenge are sage & luzula, and we're incredibly excited about running this alternate universe challenge. Our goal is to make this challenge workable for everyone, and so the rules are a little different from anything we've ever seen done before.

Eligible Fandoms:
DS-C6D means Due South or ANY C6D fandom (check c6d_universe for a rough list). Crossovers with other fandoms are fine, but DS-C6D characters should bear at least half the weight of the work, okay? Diefenbaker having a brief cameo in a Teen Wolf fic is NOT ENOUGH—but give him a lead role as a werewolf and it's fine!

Multimedia:
This is a multimedia challenge! Make any kind and any number of AU fanworks. Formats include but are not limited to: fic, art, sequential art/comics, vids, podfic, meta, poems, songs, theatrical performance, animation, puppet shows, yarncraft/needlework items or patterns, costume design, etc. If you can figure out a way to publicly present your AU so we can see/hear/read it, go for it.

Permissions:
If you're doing a podfic, DVD Commentary, remix, or anything else that counts as a transformative work of someone else's existing fanwork, we ask you to respect fandom etiquette and acquire permission from that author to riff on their work.

Length/Effort Requirement:
Anything goes, be it one-sentence-fic or a full-blown epic. Post one or a hundred drabbles, dozens of sketches, a plethora of podfics, a novel, a haiku sequence, a fan-made movie, anything. Play as many times as you like. Just make it DS-C6D and make it AU.

Schedule & Deadlines:
The challenge officially starts with a brainstorming post on February 1 & runs for three 10-week blocks. Each block will end with a Posting Weekend.

            Posting Weekends:
            April 12-14
            June 21-23
            August 30-September 1

If you miss the first deadline, simply post at a later one. If you know you're going to be swamped at the end of the summer, then post on the earlier weekends. September 1 is the very last chance to post.

Support:
YOU: Oh god. So, in my comic, undercover space ranger Benton Fraser and sometime galactic nemesis Miles Vorkosigan have just walked into Mos Eisley Spaceport. NOW WHAT??
US: alternate_ds_c6d will have brainstorming chats and posts available for you to get help!

Crossovers:
Crossover AUs (and crossovers within crossovers) are fine as long as the DS-C6D characters bear at least half of the story. Note that a simple canon-typical crossover is not enough. For example: a post-COTW work where Frannie quits her civilian aid job and moves to Wilby Island is a crossover but is NOT an AU. However, a work where Frannie was born in Wilby and works for Buddy at the Sheriff's office is a crossover AND an AU.

Other Important Rules:
Works must be beta'd and must be previously unposted. You MAY post a new episode in an existing series for this challenge as long as the work is brand new. This is NOT an exchange, so there is no penalty for dropping out and no need to officially default.

Avoid. Like the plague:
1. plagiarism. 2. posting work riddled with SPAG errors. 3. doing things like remixing someone else's fanwork when they haven't given permission to do so.

AU/AR Specifics for This Challenge:
An Alternate Universe or Alternate Reality is required for all works. For the purposes of this challenge, an AU/AR can be any number of things, including:

• A fusion with an existing canon (Ex. Fraser is the Tom Hanks character in Sleepless in Seattle; Hard Core Logo is a band of psychic wolf-brothers; the Twitch City cast are My Little Ponies.)
• A setting of your own invention (Ex. Leoben Conoy is a time-traveling adventurer; the Slings & Arrows cast are astrophysicists; Cutter and Lennox are hard-boiled detectives in 1946—with werewolves!)
• An Alternate Reality within your canon setting (Ex. 1. Constable Frannie Vecchio of the RCMP first comes to Chicago on the trail of the killers of her mother, goes to work in the Consulate for Inspector Smithbauer, and fights crime with Detective Meg Thatcher of the CPD. Ex. 2. Fraser and the Rays are a team of world-class thieves plaguing Chicago and foiling Welsh & Thatcher's attempts to nab them.)
• A fork in the road from canon (ex. In his early 20s, Fraser quits the RCMP to run a coffee shop in Moose Jaw; Muldoon kills Bob instead of Caroline, who then becomes a Mountie.)


Superheroes, giant ocean mammals, gladiators, space pirates, sea pirates, robots. Pretty much anything goes as long as your characters' 'verse and/or circumstances are significantly different from canon—and stay that way. It doesn't count as AU if things magically go back to being canon-typical at the end.

But does it count if...?
The primary guideline is that your AU/AR needs to be significantly different from your source canon. The key to it being "Alternate" is that it does NOT revert to canon-typical. Make sense? Again, stretch yourselves as far beyond the limits of canon as you can. If you're in doubt, bring it up in the brainstorming post or ask a mod.

Brainstorming:
We'll post a brainstorming post on February 1 and organize all the ideas into a master list. We do recognize that there are some gray areas between AU and canon-plausible whimsy, so if you have questions, please ask. Also, all examples given in this post will be included in the brainstorming post and are free for the taking.


Signups:
To sign up, simply comment below saying you intend to play, and then join alternate_ds_c6d! Signups will remain open throughout the challenge, and jumping in at the 11th hour is totally fine. ALL CHALLENGE NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS WILL APPEAR IN alternate_ds_c6d, SO PLEASE JOIN/SUBSCRIBE NOW. You may wish to Track new entries to the comm so you don't miss out.

Okay! Here we go! Sign up below & look for the brainstorming post February 1st! YAY AUs!!! \o/

 

Comments

[garonne]

*waves* I've been lurking in DS fandom since before Christmas, without posting anything myself. This seems like a nice opportunity to start! So I'd like to sign up :)

Hello everyone!

[sage]

Yay, that's great!! Welcome!

[luzula]

Hi and welcome to the fandom! I'm glad you want to play. : )