Discovered During a Test Match

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It's still summer here, and we've had holidays, we've had weddings, and it's finally time for those immortal words...

We welcome World Service listeners to the Oval, where the bowler's Holding, the batsman's Willey. (Try reading it out loud for that heeee moment... *g*)

Yes - the sport of gentlemen (and Bodie) - cricket!

We thought we'd try something a wee bit different for this challenge too - something fast-paced, hard-hitting (no, it is based on cricket, really...), that will work best if lots of people join in... a Prosfic Test Match series!

I know, I know - the Ashes are half over - third test started today at Edgbaston... but that's okay, we shall take it one match at a time, and see if there's a winner by the end of the series. (Don't worry, you don't actually have to write about cricket - unless of course you want to imagine the lads in their cricket whites, with that long mark where they've been rubbing their balls on their trousers... *g*)

The First TestFic Challenge will be played between the appearance of this post, and midnight on Monday 3rd August (Pago Pago time, as usual... *g*) It's played one person at a time, with many people watching, all ready to take their turn on the pitch, like this:

The First Innings
The first person to comment below gets to bat first (go first!) - you have four hours starting from when you comment to write a little (or big - depending on how fast you write!) Prosfic. The first person must mention something to do with cricket somewhere in their fic (doesn't have to be cricket, just use a word maybe found on a site like this, if you're not sure. That's your only guideline, apart from making it Pros fic, please! Can be any length, any format, anything at all. When you've written it, and within the 4 hours, post your fic to discoveredinalj.

The Second Innings
As soon as someone sees this fic, they should comment to take the next innings (turn!). To do this, you must write a Pros fic, again within 4 hours, that starts with the last word in the previous person's fic. So, for example, if the first story ended: "Bodie knew nothing would be the same, but he made himself lean forward anyway, made himself take a breath, and he kissed Doyle, as if the world depended on it.", then the second person must start their story with the word "It": "It was cold in the water, and heavy, although somewhere he knew that it was the water weighing his clothes down, that he could stay afloat if he just tried hard enough..." Or, you know, summat. *g*

Catching Someone Out
If more than four hours pass, and the claimant hasn't posted to the comm, then anyone can go back to the previous post and claim that innings for themselves - in which case they then have four hours to write their Prosfic, starting with the last word in the previous story...

Does that make sense?

Leg Before Wicket
You can play as often as you like, as often as you manage to claim an innings for yourself - hopefully taking it in turns with other people to do so, although if an innings remains unclaimed for four hours then you can claim a second go in a row. Hopefully what we'll end up is a fun game of four-hour-fics, and our flists will be full of Pros-fic-y goodness over the Match! If anything weird or unfair or just not cricket *g* seems to be happening, the mods reserve the right to call LBW and disqualify you from the team... *g*

Scoring runs
Now - a twist - scoring! The faster you post, the more points you get - and we'll keep a running total in a scorepost. Posting within an hour (according to the comm clock, which we really really hope is working properly!) scores a four, if you post in two hours you get 3 runs, three hours = 2 runs, 4 hours = 1 run. You can also score a six by going that little bit further and actually continuing the theme (not necessarily plot) in the story before... Let us know in your trailer notes if you're claiming a six!

Taking home the Ashes
At the end of the match, we'll add up the scores, and see if anyone's managed a century... or, you know, a duck. *g* At the end of the series (there'll be 3 short challenges in August!) there will be a winner, with an actual Test Match Trophy (probably paper/story/zine/pic-based!) to take home!

So... do ask questions below if you're not sure about anything, make sure you check out the challenge banner, made by our fab empty_mirrors, umpires (me and empty_mirrors, of course!) are in position, and... as soon as someone comments and claims... play is about to commence!

Comments

[tears-of-nienna.livejournal.com]

This is probably a terrible idea, since I'm 1) on vacation and 2) utterly clueless about cricket, but...I'll go! It's 9pm here on the coast of Florida, so by 1am I'll have, uh, something to post. :)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Good morning (just past 7am here!) - and yeay! We have a batsman! (And I have fic to read with my coffee) *g*