Board Thread:Series Discussion/@comment-4848837-20130306014109/@comment-4848837-20130728213414

GUEST WRITERTHON ANNOUNCEMENT

Greetings again, fans and passersby. I hope everybody's enjoyed Madame Regle and hopefully even critiqued it in the comments :)

Time to move on to the main event: the Guest Writerthon full details. As I announced about a month ago, Back in Action has a few extra slots for episodes to be written by guest writers (that is, anyone who wants to) for the third and final season of the series.

Now, while I'd like to have four guest writers, the final number can be higher (or even lower, which is doubtful). I have high hopes for what kind of writers will want to be joining in for Back in Action. Even if you are unknown to the BTFF community (like I kinda am), I want you to sign up and show me what you can do.

Now, let's get straight down into what it will take to be a guest writer on season 3, shall we? Now, Back in Action can be a fairly dark show. It's also sometimes thought as complex and featuring a ton of foreshadowing (some of which no one has yet to key into because it talks about occurrences from later in the series to as far as in Heroafter or the sequel series). Will I expect you to tell a dark story? No. Will it need to be more complex than the Thep Khufan Commander's plan? Nope. But I'm not looking for poorly-thought out episodes with flawed or "easy" endings.

As writers on BTFF, you all know what a conflict is. And you all know how to convey a conflict as just that, a conflict, something difficult to overcome with all that's been provided to you. Being that you're writing about Super Ben, you've got Alien X, Gwen in her Anodite form, and a Kevin you can make somehow control his mutations if he were to absorb the Assault Omnitrix. But you know what? These aren't things that are easily controlled nor are they states that any of those three characters would desire being in unless it's completely necessary (as in, a dire situation where the universe is legitimately on the brink of its demise to a villain, which I don't expect to happen in the span of a single standalone episode).

But you know what I'm saying. Not looking for the most complex story in history (though that would be pretty awesome as a standalone), not looking for the introduction of an alien who's well thought-out and completely original in powers and/or even design (though that too would be great!), and not looking for a story dark enough to put people in a bad mood (though, sad stories might be nice :3).

To put it nice and sweet, I'm looking for something good. What's the definition of good in this case? A ton of things, hence why I'm looking for more than me for season 3. I can't think of every idea, which is why I come to you, the fans to write some episodes.

You'll be writing an episode that can stand as a filler, though, if you feel you'd like to write a plot-based episode, I should note I will only allow for a max. of one person to write that. Your episode will also be late in the season/series as you will actually need to be reading along with Season 3. Due to this fact, you don't need to establish your plot with me until Never Set in Stone ' s been premiered.

If you've read all this and you are definitely up to the task, simply fill out the following (and reply below with it):

(Pen) Name: Would you like to be credited for the episode? (y/n): Plot-based episode? (y/n): Will you be making a custom alien? (y/n): Can your works on BTFF be used as your best samples? (y/n):

A few notes:
 * "(Pen) Name" means the name you'd like to be credited as for the episode (ie. Stripes for me). It can be the same as your user name (though it will link back to you).
 * Where I ask if you'd like to be credited, I'm referring to if you want your pen name to link back to your user page. If your (pen) name is the same as your user name, I will link it back to your user page regardless.
 * If you choose no, I will not be credited for the ep. I will simply list your pen name with no link.
 * Also, if you go with no, you may want to leave the pen name blank and we'll talk at a later point (see below).
 * Any questions labeled with (y/n) must be answered just with a "yes"/"y" or "no"/"n." )

Now, you may have noticed that I have yet to ask about the plot of your episode, what your custom alien will be (name, powers, etc.), or where I can see your best samples of work that are not on the wiki. Why? Because I want that to be private. Whenever you are ready to talk, we'll PM in chat. Just message me about chat.

I will announce the final list of everyone who made it in (with their pen names, if applicable) following Never Set in Stone (on November 10). I will tell everyone individually in advance if you'd made it in. For the people not working plot-based, you're expected to have your plot, alien (if applicable), and at least 2 of the parts of your episode done by November 10. Depending on your plot, I'll tell you if your episode is a 4-parter, or a 5+-parter (meaning, you'll be free to do either 5 or 6 parts). 4-parters are episodes that always occur after an episode that has a series-wide ep. number divisible by three (ie. episode 7 of the whole series would be a 4-parter because it's after 6, which is divisible by 3).

For the person who will be getting plot-based (if there will be a person), you'll be expected to have your plot ready before episode 6 of the third season (which I'll probably choose an exact date for and tell you about in the near future) and your episode done a couple weeks in advance of when your episode debuts.

Also, you may be wondering about what sorts of pre-existing aliens you'll be using and if you'll be limited to a few. If you make it in, I will tell you about a few upcoming aliens that I recommend you use (which you are free not to) as well as some others you'll be allowed to use. I'd like to limit the number of different aliens used (though, not the number of transformations) to 6, by the way.

Finally, yes, I will add an "Endgame" to your episode if I want. This is a segment that connects your episode to the overall plot regardless of if you're writing a "filler." Endgames are what we've been seeing since season 1 where (normally) the season villain is talking about whatever their plot is and what's currently going on with it.

Thanks for reading this all, and I'll be talking more in the future with you all, I hope. The format for sign-ups again (which go in this thread) is as follows:

(Pen) Name: Would you like to be credited for the episode? (y/n): Plot-based episode? (y/n): Will you be making a custom alien? (y/n): Can your works on BTFF be used as your best samples? (y/n):

Hopefully, chat with you about your episode soon.

(No restrictions for any user who wishes to be a part of this. While preferred, it is not necessary to have signed your name on the fan list. Users are not guaranteed to make it in.)

-Stripes