The Old Guard Femslash Fortnight
| Challenge | |
|---|---|
| Name: | The Old Guard Femslash Fortnight |
| Date(s): | October 19 to November 1, 2020 and March 7th to 21st 2021 |
| Moderator(s): | lightdescending, fuckyeahisawthat, a third mod who wishes to remain semi-anonymous |
| Founder: | LightDescending |
| Type: | Femslash Fest for Fanfiction, Fanart, and other forms chosen by participants |
| Fandom: | The Old Guard |
| URL: | Official Tumblr and AO3 Collection |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Old Guard Femslash Fortnight was a femslash-focused Fest event hosted for works centred around femslash pairings involving Andromache of Scythia, Quynh, Nile Freeman, and other women from The Old Guard. Round 1 took place in Fall 2020, with a Spring Solstice edition of the event running in March 2021.
Prompts were included for visual creators (gif-makers, editors, artists, and vidders) as well as writers (fanfiction or meta). An additional, optional fanmix prompt was provided.
The event hosts reblogged content created for the fest directly to the official event blog on Tumblr, and the primary mod and event founder also created an AO3 collection dedicated to output from the fest. The About Page (archived version) indicated that multiple pairings were welcome, including Andy/Quynh and Andy/Nile or pairings involving OCs. Submissions to the event included fanfiction, moodboards, fanart, fanmixes, and manips.
Prompts
The prompt list is the same for both weeks of the event. We recognize that COVID and current world events mean this is a very stressful time internationally, and we don’t want creators to feel pressured or unable to participate; the event timeline hopes to help with that! There is no minimum requirement, and any and all contributions for a prompt count towards participation.Visual Prompts
- Colours OR Aesthetics - Sunday
- Outfits/Outfit swap OR Fave interaction from the movie - Monday
- Alternate Universes OR Symbolism – Tuesday
- Emotions OR Contrast/Parallels – Wednesday
- This is their Dynamic ™ OR Dialogue – Thursday
- Memes OR Your fave trope – Friday
- Free Choice – Saturday
Writer Prompts
- Reunion – Sunday
- Mornings OR Confessions – Monday
- Alternate Universes (SciFi, Fantasy, Normal, etc.) – Tuesday
- Poem / Song as inspiration (writer’s choice) - Wednesday
- Showing intimacy – Thursday
- “They did live, and there was happiness” OR Your fave trope – Friday
- Free Choice – Saturday
Fanmix Freebie
You may use this prompt on any day instead of the regular prompt! Try…
- A mixtape one made for the other
- Songs that remind you of them
- Songs telling a story about how their relationship progresses
- Etc.
For the second round of the event, the Sunday and Monday prompts for writers were altered slightly. Sunday's prompt became "reunions or confessions" and Monday's became "Fave headcanon". The mods stated this change was intended to open the prompts up more to possible fan interpretations [1].
Fest Guidelines
Participation Guidelines:
- We want this event to be fun; please aim to be respectful of all creators/participants
- Fanworks of all types are welcome for the prompts!
- There are two prompt lists: visual (moodboards, fanart, fanvids, gifsets, etc.) and writers (fanfiction or meta). There is also a fanmix freebie prompt which you can sub in for any other one if the prompt doesn’t speak to you.
- You are welcome to submit to the dedicated AO3 Collection as well as on Tumblr!
- Regardless of posting on Tumblr or AO3, please use the tag TOGFemslashFortnight so we can find your entries!
Guidelines for written content:
- Be respectful. Everyone has different preferences/interests/squicks.
- There’s diversity of opinion within marginalized groups about what counts as ‘good’ representation. Research, requesting a beta-reader, or requesting sensitivity reading from a trusted peer are all encouraged if you’re feeling uncertain! The Old Guard Resource Hub is a really excellent starting point for meta related to historical accuracy and cultural sensitivity; and Writing With Color has some stellar resources on writing for racial and ethnic diversity!
- In other words: the mods take a stance that racism, misogyny, homophobia etc. are not cool or enjoyable to be exposed to, and that no fandom is immune from broader structural trends. Additionally – we also take a stance that fandom wank and purity culture generally isn’t cool either. Have fun, don’t be a jerk!
- We’re not going to feed trolls or entertain bad faith arguments.
- Works will be reviewed before inclusion on the blog or the AO3 collection. Work that seems to have been produced in bad faith will be excluded.
- Fic of more than 7000 words may take a bit longer to be posted to allow for review!
- Fic including darker content or heavier themes may be allowed; please include all tags and content warnings as appropriate.
The event creator also created some housekeeping notes for participants centered around visibility of posts on Tumblr[2]. These were reinforced in the second round with the mods noting that direct mentions to the blog using an @ was the single most effective way to ensure they'd be seen, due to individual blog privacy settings having an impact on whether their posts would appear in Tumblr's tag search.
Archives & Links
- Event Collection on AO3
- Directory from the event browsable by character, pairing, prompt, or day of the week.
References
- ^ post by the admins made March 1 2021, accessed March 21 2021
- ^ Housekeeping notes for participants (archived version)