Eastern European Funk concept draft

[yuuago]

Okay, it looks like the Eastern Europe fest is going to actually happen. It won't be for a while yet, but I wanted to get down all the major details so that I won't forget. So, here we are.



Assignments:
Everyone is given 3 characters from the list. They are also given 3 short prompts (independent of the characters!). Also given 3 time periods, which are completely optional. Then you pick at least one character, and at least one prompt (and a time period - if you feel like it) and write/draw something based on it. Assignments will be delivered to the e-mail that people provide on signup.

Character assignment options:
Russia
Ukraine
Belarus
Lithuania
Latvia
Estonia
Poland
Hungary
Bulgaria
Romania
Any Eastern Europe character [from the above list]

(Originally I thought of limiting only to the Eastern Slavs + Baltics + Poland, but since people were interested I've decided to add the other Eastern Europe characters that have appeared in strips as well.)

Nations that have not appeared in strips are not going to be assigned, but are allowed to be included in fanwork as long as you include one of your assigned characters.

Minimum fanwork requirements:
At least 1 fic with a minimum 500 words length, or 1 black and white drawing. (obviously, people can do more if they want to).

Tentative schedule:
Signups open: May 18
Last day to sign up: May 27
Assignments sent out by: May 31
Posting access opens: June 22
Last day to post: June 30

Posting:
Same as with Nordic fest. The fest will be held on Livejournal in its own community. People can opt to post with a LJ account, or if they don't have a LJ account or prefer to be Anonymous, they can email their work to the mod email, and then the mod account LJ will post for them.



I think that's all the most important points. In this one, a lot of the problems that I ran into with the Nordic fest will be smoothed out. In that one, a lot of people were worried that they wouldn't have enough time to finish, so I extended the deadline - and that put a lot of things out of joint, including the posting schedule. Also, a lot of people weren't able to finish because doing two fanworks minimum was too much (people got busy with RL, that sort of thing). So, limiting it to one as minimum should be better. And I think a slightly longer signup schedule will be beneficial; this one is only longer by a few days, but it will make a difference, I think.

The only issue I have is that the Eastern Euro fest will bring us close to when I want to have the summer edition of Nordipalooza; I'd wanted to have that one in August, with the signups in July. However - I expect that most of the people doing Eastern Eurofunk won't be doing the Nordic fest (most people either write one group or the other, not both) so it shouldn't be that much trouble. Not for me, either, if I get everything done ahead of time.

Of course, feedback is appreciated - and as always, Anonymous commenting is turned on for those who don't have LJ accounts.

Comments

[pilkosayks.livejournal.com]

I totally didn't just make a livejournal account because of this.

Nope. Not at all.

[yuuago]

Of course not ;)
The response to the idea in general has been great, so I'm thinking that this will turn out very well. *_*

[tiiiik.livejournal.com]

This sounds amazing! ;A; Yuu, how are you even real.

And yes, you added Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania! That's awesome <3 I wish I had something constructive to say, but alas I can only jump up and down with excitement ;o;

Also, looks like you just... found the blog. Oh welp.

[yuuago]

Well, mostly it's just building on the Nordic fest template, so really, most of the work is already done.

Tik my love, do you have any idea what sort of things I could emphasize in the introductions and the signup promotions, when it comes time for it? Nordicfest is about togetherness and rare character interaction... On the other hand, I'm thinking of emphasizing for Eurofunk that all these characters (and the area in general) have really awesome qualities, and that this is a way to explore them. Does make sense/sound good to you?

Also haha, yes, I did. I was looking through tags and found it. -3-

(Tiku, is it okay if I add you at that journal, or is it meant as more just for yourself? o3o)

[tiiiik.livejournal.com]

Yes, but you're still actually doing it! Which is like, bahhh ;o; <3!

Seriously, I'd emphasize on rare character interaction as well, since some of those are almost nonexistent -- Estonia with Belarus, Latvia with Poland, even Russia with Hungary! When we talk about what people call "post-Soviet family", we mostly have Ukraine and Belarus attached to Russia, Poland attached to Lithuania, Hungary isn't present in that group at all... Sooo, idk, showing that all of those characters are also together instead of coming in sets would be good. But I like your idea of focusing on their qualities as well -- since the "sets" thing we see robs some of them from individuality in fandom (Latvia, even Estonia to an extent, not to mention Belarus).

Ah, I'm not even sure what I'm doing here, buuut since we're talking about it; I was thinking about reccing fics, and I almost immediately thought of that longer Poland/Estonia fic you wrote! I know it's pretty old, but it's still one of my favourite Estonia pieces in fandom. Would you mind me reccing it, and do you have it anywhere else except for the kink-meme?

(It's completely ok, though I feel like I need to warn you for a lot of whining that's going on in there... if you don't mind, add away!)

[yuuago]

Hmm, you're definitely right about that. Okay, I'll emphasize that too. Since pairs aren't assigned, only characters, it doesn't necessarily come built into the format - but I bet people are perfectly capable of thinking outside the box, especially if they use whatever three they are assigned as inspiration, because that will be random.

I'm also going to emphasize taking inspiration from history and culture - but not putting too much pressure on that. I don't want people to be scared away by thinking they need to do a ton of research. :Va

Also re: that. Oh, lol. I've meant to edit that fic (both of them! Remember, there were two) for years but haven't... well, okay, you can rec it. It's only on the kink meme; I never posted it elsewhere because I never cleaned it up after that. BUT, there is one caveat: if I ever do edit it and post the cleaned-up version on LJ or somewhere, I'd want you to do a re-rec of the edited version. orz. (Because not only would it be smoothed out, but I also seem to remember that there were plot holes that needed fixing... heh, it's been ages since I last looked at it)

(Also, that's fine, I don't mind. Sometimes people just need a good whine. <3 )

[tiiiik.livejournal.com]

It can be even more of giving people the idea of trying to show their given character with someone "unusual" than a rule, like it was during Nordicfest.

That sounds like a neat idea, but yeah, it's not absolutely necessary to show the uniqeness of the character, considering that all of those really have their own personalities that work individually pretty nicely (I went through the strips before I made the blog; I was actually surprised by how much material they have! Not America-kind-of much, but more than I thought there was.) So if people would rather work mostly with their hetalia-esque aspects, that's fine too, I guess.

I'll definitely re-rec it if you let me know that you edited it! And oh right, there were two fics, but one story, or am I wrong? :Oa Also, if you have the link to it, I'd be forever thankful since I lost all my bookmarks a while ago and I'd have to look for it, ahah.

[yuuago]

Yeah, they actually do have quite a lot, don't they? Which makes it even more surprising that some of them don't get much fic nowadays. :Va Well, we'll see what happens.

Sort of! There was one fic, and then I wrote a sequel. ... I think I intended for a while to write a third one, but I don't think I ever will.
Anyway, here they are: Small Hours and Starry Night

[tiiiik.livejournal.com]

I guss it's just easy to miss it if you don't look specifically for it while reading the manga. And well, many people now mostly watch the anime, and I have no idea how the things look there.

Ahhh, thank you! That spares me a lot of time. Huh, now I have to decide whether to split it for two recs ;3;a I think I will, since it's not like I know about many fics unfortunately orz