FAQ - Rough

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Given how unique this mini-season is, I'll do something else unexpected.

I have a rough FAQ. But even when I post the final version - people always have questions!

(I was planning on linking to an older FAQ for all the technical tips. This was more of a mini-season specific one)

So let me know what is unclear/needs further explanation or that you would like to see addressed:

What is LJ Idol?

Maybe you already know. In which case – just skip this section.

But if you just randomly clicked a link to get here, or maybe someone said “Hey, check this out!” and

you did – Welcome!

LJ Idol is a writing competition like no other! It’s the first of its’ kind and even though there are

imitators, there is no substitute.  Founded in 2006, we’ve been tying writers to a runaway roller coaster

for nearly ten years – and for some reason, they keep coming back for more! I suspect there is

something wrong with them.  Then again, they are writers, so that’s a pretty safe bet.

How does this work?

I give you a “topic” each “week”.  (Note: topics are more like prompts and weeks aren’t exactly a

calendar week.) You write something and post it. Those posts are linked in a poll – people vote, and

someone goes home!

Who am “I”?

I don’t know who you are.  Maybe you should introduce yourself.

I’m Gary. The founder of LJ Idol and your host.

It says this is a mini-season. What is a mini-season?

A full season of Idol lasts about a year. Sometimes a little more.  Yes, I said a year.

A mini season is about 5-6 months.

A full season of Idol has around 300 contestants.

A mini season is limited to around 100.

Full season topics come from me.

Mini season topics come from the contestants.

Full seasons are free. (Although you can become a Patron!)

Mini seasons have a donation of $5 per contestant. (There’s a special for Patrons)  This helps keep the numbers under 100, and is used to fund a special project.  The first two mini seasons helped me purchase an engagement ring and kickstart a brand new life!

This one is a little more practical:  I lost my job a few months ago. Around that time, I also lost a dental

crown, in the front of my mouth.  I have a new job now, and my new insurance kicks in soon. But

whatever I had saved up was used for bills.  By the time my insurance is available, I will have saved

enough for about half of what I need for a dental bridge.  My hope is that the mini-season will help get

me the rest of the way!

What is the theme of this mini season?

This is the first time that we’ve had a subtitle.  Yes, the first time in almost 10 years where there has

been a subtitle. Which should tell you – it’s something new:

FRIENDS AND RIVALS

What is the difference between this and a standard mini-season?

Last season, several contestants asked me “Can we have something where people can play as teams?”

Normally, I may have laughed at this – and pointed. I would have definitely pointed.

But something clicked in my head of how to not only honor this request people were making, but to do

it in a way that was consistent with Idol.

So here is a “fast break-down”:

You can compete as either a team or as individuals.  There will be two sections of the poll each week. At least one contestant from each will be eliminated.

From the individuals, it will be the usual.

From the teams – Teams can be 4-5 individuals.  You must send me a list of those members (send to

clauderainsrm@gmail.com)  24 hours *before* the deadline for the first poll.   Yes, you can name your own teams. :D

If your team drops below 3 members, it is dissolved and all members become individuals for at least one round.  After which, they can join another team – or form a new one – as long as you notify me within 24 hours of the topic deadline.

Every member will write an entry.  Every member will be in a poll.  The scores in the team section will be averaged. The team with the lowest score will be subject to elimination… I say “subject to elimination”, but for those of you familiar with Survivor: You have lost the immunity challenge and must go to tribal council.  The person with the lowest total of votes will be elimination.  If it’s a tie – well, I have a plan for that.  You’ll see. You won’t like it. Don’t end  up with a tie.  : )

The team sections will continue until there is only one team left, OR the Top 25, whichever comes first.

Byes

If you know American football, you know about bye-weeks. If you don’t, and have never heard the term

before: You get the week off.

In terms of Idol, it’s a week where you don’t have to write anything and won’t be eliminated because of

it.

Friends and Rivals has two bye weeks per contestant that you can take at any time between the start of the season and the Top 20!

Here’s the kicker though – Teams can elect to *pull their byes into a pool*, meaning that any member of the team can use those weeks as needed. Once the team is disbanded, the remaining byes are split

between the surviving members.  If one of those members joins a new team – who elects to pool their

byes, all of their byes will go into that new pool!

One thing that was introduced in Season 9 – for individuals – is the ability to give another contestant

one or more of your byes. That will continue to be a thing.

In both of these cases though, once you are out of byes – and you miss a week’s topic,  you are

eliminated.

So try to save them for emergencies.


Ass-hats

Don't be one.*

(*I determine who is being one. If you disagree, all appeals are fielded by me. You are wrong.  :D

This goes for all rules, interpretations of the rules, unwritten rules and anything to do with Idol.

Sometimes I may decide I've been too harsh in my assessment though and will reverse a call on the field. That doesn't mean you aren't still wrong. Because you totally are!)

Han Shot First

It's a new rule of Idol, one that I never thought I would need to make. But I think it needs to be fully stated: Han shot first.

You can think that Greedo did all you want. You can say that the "new version" shows that Greedo firing, and Lucas saying things to back that theory up.  But again, you are completely wrong about that and should be forced into the Sarlacc pit!

Comments

[majesticarky.livejournal.com]

yaaaay~ I actually hope to try out the team version. Maybe this year I won't randomly flake. Looking forward to it!

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking that will either be a really cool thing - or an entertaining train wreck. :)

Either way, teams should be interesting!

[kickthehobbit.livejournal.com]

all right, all right, all right, I'm in. lemme know when I need to throw you money.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Awesome! :)

When I post the sign up sheet there will be instructions.

[sinnamongirl.livejournal.com]

ooh oooh ooh! Where do we pay the $5 to? I want to give you my money asap to hold my place. I missed LJ Idol.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

When I post a sign up sheet, there will be instructions!

[sinnamongirl.livejournal.com]

Yay!

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

I am in!

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Awesome!

[fidget]

I should do a team effort with crackpotpie, piggington, and whatever else I've entered into LJ Idol.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

That would be amazing to see.

[alycewilson.livejournal.com]

Yes!

[swirlsofblue.livejournal.com]

Yay, fun!

I love the whole thing with people being able to join other teams if their team is disbanded, that's an interesting twist.

Does it have to be exactly 4 or 5 people? Or can it be 3 or 6?

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Yes. It has to be 4 or 5. More or less than that - playing it out in my head - it gets messy numbers-wise.

[swirlsofblue.livejournal.com]

Coolio.

[redqueenofevil.livejournal.com]

The idea of working on a team terrifies me, except then I remember how many wonderful writers there are. I imagine this mini season will be neat.

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

Yes. I have never worked in a team except for one intersection, and had tentative plans to pair up with another contestant in the future that did not come to frution. So I don't know how to do that, argh!

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

The great thing is you don't *have* to work in a team.

You can play as an individual...

and if that changes somewhere along the way, if you want to get join a team or someone recruits you - you have the freedom to do it that way.

Or, if you start out on a team and decide it's not for you - you can become an individual.

I've basically given myself a giant headache, for your amusement! :D

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

Ah, but it's fun to try out new things, too :-)

[dmousey.livejournal.com]

I'll team with you kehlen, unless you have made other arrangements. I have my reservatiions about this also, but jumping in with someone else alleviates them a bit. :)

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'd love to!

I have two other teammates: majesticarky and cheapxdate, so we are almost all set. (http://majesticarky.livejournal.com/320736.html)

[dmousey.livejournal.com]

Oh, very cool! That wasn't nearly as painful as I thought it was going to be. :)

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

I'm biased (having figured out "how to make it work") but I think one of the strengths is that every group is going to end up working together in a different way.

Some may simply like each other and want to help get everyone ahead. Others will work along a theme... it will be interesting to see where everyone falls, and what happens along the way!

[adoptedwriter.livejournal.com]

I'm in! This will be fun! I need the motivation to finish my second book. It will happen! The timing of the prompts, whether they come from Gary or from others, are brilliant with uncanny timing. ( except for that " shenanigans" one. Lol. )
AW

[mac-arthur-park.livejournal.com]

I'm in!

[murielle.livejournal.com]

Aw look, you've got me all excited. Now I have to try. As an individual though, I wouldn't inflict myself on good writer people. Awaiting sign up post.

[grail76.livejournal.com]

Looking forward to it.

[beldarzfixon.livejournal.com]

A clarification: Are members of a team expected to coordinate their entries? Or is it just each tells their own story and the others encourage them?

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

That's entirely up to the teams to decide. Much like when you have a partner.

[locknkey.livejournal.com]

Saw this post and have been meaning to drop you a line. :)

You might try a discount plan for your dental like this one:

http://www.1dental.com/careington-dental-plan/

I was able to combine it with my regular insurance and saved $1500 on my first crown. Good luck! I know dental woes suck. I still have about 10 grand left to fix. :(

[deaths.livejournal.com]

re; teams, just wondering as am a bit confused - would everyone on a team have to write the same topic if it's a week where we get to choose between topics?

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

They would not.

Within the teams - unless a specific week states otherwise - they would be free to work out "how this is going to work" between themselves.

[deaths.livejournal.com]

thank you!

[sarcasmoqueen.livejournal.com]

2 questions - 1)how do I pay if I don't have paypal? (and you can't say, create a paypal account, because I've tried that and I've had all sorts of issues...), and 2) how long after we declare do we have to send the topic ideas?

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

There are other options - from Google wallet to a bank transfer/check... Amazon does have their own system, but unfortunately it's just Amazon credit. Which is always nice to have, but it really doesn't translate into being useful right now. ;)

Email me if you have specific questions or issues and we can see what can be done.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

2. ASAP. The sooner you send them, the better. I want to have everyone's topics before the first week's topic goes up. It makes it easier to plan out the season.

[murielle.livejournal.com]

I have a question about format. Back in my drabbling daze we
lead with a title, then fandom, pairing (if there was one), summary, word count, and then a disclaimer, warning (if needed) and Author's notes, and somewhere in there the writer's name.

Is there a format for therealljidol?

I checked the FAQ twice so I'm going to feel like a right asshat if I missed it. 😊

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

You didn't miss it. There's no formatting.

My general philosophy is that your LJ is your space. I'm not going to tell you how to use your space, even if it's "for" my competition. :)

Some people like that sort of thing, others don't.

From *my* perspective, I'm a fan of cutting the filler - and notes like that have always struck me as filler distracting from the actual peace. I don't want to know what I'm about to read, I want it to draw me in with the first couple of sentences to the point that nothing else matters other than reading the rest of it! :)

[murielle.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'm relieved because I didn't miss it, and because this means less for me to stress over.