First Day of Summer Fanfic Challenge

[aura218.livejournal.com]

First Day of Summer Mashfic Challenge

It's Memorial Day weekend, which in America means the (un)official start of summer. And summer means time to write more fanfic!

Below I present to you 28 fanfic challenges. They are not mutually claimable, ie, more than one person can claim them. You can also claim one than one for a single fic, and you can claim as many challenges as you please.

Due date is 4th of July.

Post your fics to mash_slash, bjhawkeye, or mash_fic where appropriate.

When posting your fic, please specify which challenge you're responding to.

1. Use this quote or theme: "There's got to be more to death than drinking all the time."


2. Part of Your World Crossover Challenge: Is Margaret a Slayer? Is Henry a Time Lord? Is Flagg a Special Agent in charge of the X Files? We've all seen crossovers where characters from different series meet, but in this challenge, MASH characters must be in some way deeply incorporated into the world of another show, movie, book, etc. They have to play an active role in the crossover world, not just observe it. Bonus points if they or someone from the crossover Choses to Stay.


3. Spin the Genre Wheel: Write your MASH fic in the style of another genre -- sci-fic, noir, cowboy space opera, etc. More on genres, with lists for ideas.


4. Secrets: Go to Post Secret or Post Secret on Facebook or any of the Post Secret books. Pick a secret. Imagine one of our characters created the secret. The more off-beat the secret, the better.


5. Mixed Connections - Who met before the war? Did they like each other? Sleep together? Who were they before Korea? Consider: According to book canon, Trapper and Hawkeye played college football together; Margaret lived pretty much everywhere, including, when she was a kid, bases Col. Potter also lived at; Klinger and Radar might have gone on class trips to Chicago; Trapper and Charles are both from Boston; Fr. Mulcahy could have gone on mission or camping trips with Catholic youth group to almost anywhere; Peggy is from Oklahoma, so what was BJ doing out in the Midwest? And that's just canon.


6. Do the Ipod Shuffle - Create a playlist on your music device of choice or search for one on Youtube. Scramble it. Take one line from each song. You now have a theme or quote for ten scenes, chapters, or paragraphs of your fic.


7. Alive Letters Challenge: You've heard of the Dead Letter Challenge, the letter written before the character dies. This is the letter that's written before your character lives. Maybe they're wounded and think they won't survive. Maybe it's "live" in a more symbolic sense, as in "get on with my life" or however you want to interpret it. Maybe they're literally or emotionally imprisoned and not taking part in life. Maybe it's a letter from the womb or the aether. The required part of the challenge is that the character wasn't or didn't think s/he was living before the letter (possibly in a symbolic/metaphorical sense, or close to death) and does live after.


8. Caught - Oops. Someone forgot to put the hangar on the door of the supply room. 1 point for jealousy, 2 points for slash, 3 points for het, 4 points for surprise!threesome.


9. Somebody's Getting Married - The 4077th family comes together in the States for a wedding. There's nothing like a wedding to make a family go nuts.


10. Welcome to the 60s - The Mad Men 60s, the Tricia Nixon 60s, the Hair 60s, the Civil Rights 60s? What're our people doing during the most tumutuous decade in American history?


11. Old Soldiers - Someone who died or was sent home wasn't really. Bring em back.


12. Spill the Beans - Someone gives an interview to Stars and Stripes or another media outlet that reveals too much information. Someone else's reaction is unexpected.


13. Blast from the Past - Write your OTP. Bring back a spouse, boy-friend, or girl-friend from the past, who was brought up in the show. (Can also be someone merely mentioned in the show that you fanwank was a romantic partner.) The ex is surprised or chagrined to find their old flame involved.


14. Parent's Day - Someone has a child they were hiding (women), or didn't know about (men). The secret is let out at the MASH.


15. Coming Out - For the slash writers: write a fic where someone comes out, or is outed. Bonus points for a twist ending.


16. First Time - The First Time Love Conquered War at the MASH. A couple's first time together, or, for slash, one or both's first same-sex experience. Or, if you're going to fanwank, or writing Radar, a character's first opposite-sex experience. Or any other combination you can think of . . .


17. Rainy Day in Tokyo - One or more people have a three day pass, but, for whatever reason, are stuck in the hotel/Officer's club/jeep/hangar. How will they entertain themselves?


18. I Overheard it Somewheres - Radar isn't the only one with extrasensory perception.


19. Roshomon Style - Similar to the ep "The Novocaine Mutiny" (or that Simpsons ep with Lisa's grammer bot Linguo), tell a story from one than one character's perspective, so that their perspective reveals unique things in the narrative. Maybe they are unreliable narrators because they physically weren't available to see each event; or maybe their personal biases (Hawkeye's arrogance, Frank's ... being Frank) get in the way or accurate storytelling.


20. Daydream Believers - MASH people fall asleep reading their favorite books. They dream themselves into the stories, with themselves and others as characters in the book. Alternate: you can use movies, comics, or period-appropriate (or not) TV shows.


21. The Kiss Bet - Someone loses a bet and must kiss another person. But did the first person know they would lose the bet? Or did the second try to lose the bet? Or did the first person know that the second person would know that the first person would know -- gahh! This is getting complicated.


22. 5 Things - 5 Things that Never Happened to [Character] (and One Thing that Did). 500 word limit.


23. Ghost - The joint is haunted by a supernatural being. Can be a ghost, demon, cryptic, whatever. A little wiki crawl can help you find ideas.


24. Grapevine: There's a rumor going around that two people are in love.


25. Lower Decks - Write your story from the perspective of a minor or background character.


26. Perspecive Flip - What if Frank was actually a good guy? What if Margaret's shrieking was completely rational and appropriate? What if Col. Blake was criminally incompetant? What if it was the Swamprats who were the bad guys? It's all a matter of perspective.


27. Worst Case Scenario - The Cold War is lost, the Communists have overrun the entire continent, Russia and the US are lobbing nukes every other week, running water and electricity are dim memories. Our Heroes are just trying to eke out a survival and maybe try to do some good in the middle of this goddamn neverending war.


28. (b) Also, there could be zombies.

You don't have to post a reply here to claim a challenge, but it would be appreciated, so everyone can get an idea of what's being written. Just in the interest of not getting ten of one story and none of another. But don't claim unless you're pretty sure you're going to write.

If you are seeking a beta reader or offering your beta reading services, please reply to this post. Do not eme.

Need help with canon, dates, or history? Reply to this post and I'll try to help you.

General challenge questions or comments? Reply to this post or eme.

Comments

[dinahqueen.livejournal.com]

-tentative wave- Hi, I'm new here. And I'm only just getting in to this fandom, but I thought this challenge would be a nice way to get warmed up to it. Now, I'm not new to fanfiction, but I'm a little confused and wanted some help.

Two things: First being, am I only allowed to claim one challenge?

Second being, can you explain the crossover thing a bit more? I've done crossovers before, but I'm not sure I really get exactly how you mean, so I'd enjoy some clarification.

Thanks in advance!

[aura218.livejournal.com]

Hi there. :) Welcome to MASH. :) If you're looking for more fic, try the comms I listed in the post, the yahoo group mashslash, and the comm bettermashfic.

No, you can claim as many challenges as you like, as long as you're pretty sure you're going to write.

In crossover fic, a lot of times characters from two serieses just meet. The challenge here is that they have to be a part of the crossover series you're proposing, in some way. You can do this in a lot of ways. You can create a backstory that, say, Margaret was always secretly a vampire and either didn't know, or did, and then tell your story with a vampire crossover series. Or, you can draw a MASH character into a new world and, say, elect them mayor of the crossover world. Or marry them to a crossover character so they're inherently a part of that person's life.

No one is going to judge your fic and say it's not close enough to the challenge. Interpret the challenge as you please.

Does that make sense?

[dinahqueen.livejournal.com]

Hi! :) Thanks so much! I actually tend to stick to the slashy side of things, but I think I did check out some of the comms. =) (I got suckered in by Mulcahy !fic: :D)

Okay, great then! I'm pretty sure I'm going to write. I actually did up an outline for the iPod shuffle challenge. :D

And, yes, that makes a lot of sense. I was having problems trying to relate the fandoms directly. Like the MASH people during the war and another fandom within it. But if it doesn't have to be like that, I think I do have a rather fantastic idea where at least one, or two, of the MASH characters would be in to another world. (Both minor ones, but I have an insatiable love for Colonel Flagg. :D)

So, go ahead and sign me up for sure on the iPod Shuffle challenge. And I think I'll go ahead and put a tentative maybe on the crossover challenge and get back to you all on that. I'm really excited to be a part of this group! \o/!

[aura218.livejournal.com]

Lol, great. I'm glad you're a part of this challenge. I can't wait to see what you come up with. Flagg lends himself to a lot of x-overing, imo, b/c he's so mysterious.

[dinahqueen.livejournal.com]

:D I hope I don't disappoint.

I agree about Colonel Flagg, in fact, I keep wanted to merge him with another Colonel Flagg! :) But my crossover idea tends to deal more with Sidney Freedman. I love that guy! <3

[raven-mcbain.livejournal.com]

For the Part of Your World Crossover Challenge does it have to be set during the show or can it be set before or after the show? I have a Highlander/MASH idea.

[aura218.livejournal.com]

Any time period is a go.

[tania-sings.livejournal.com]

I know I said I was going to do this, but I've just been hit with a massive plot bunny, so I'm going for it.

I'll use prompt 4.