the reunion challenge: rules
THE RULES

  1. Write anything -- anything at all. Any pairing or no pairing, any plot, (nearly) any length, single-author or co-written. The only subject requirement is that your story must with no exceptions take part in, on, or around a hypothetical, future N'Sync reunion tour or reunion album. The boys can get back together any way you'd like them to: it can be two years from now or twenty years from now; it can be a Greatest Hits album or a new album or anything at all; the tour can be a stadium extravaganza or twenty clubs in ten weeks. But the story has to include all five of them and it has to somehow involve a reunion, whether a reunion tour or a reunion recording. Other than that, go to town.

  2. AUs are permitted, but they should be AUs that are very close to our world -- things with only one or two minor changes, but still true to the spirit of "the guys get back together to make another album after a long hiatus". Magical realism is fine, stories where one or two little things in the past are different is fine, but stories that take place in another entire reality or another world should be avoided.

  3. Stories don't have to deal only with happy themes and the reunion process doesn't have to be smooth sailing for the guys, but please consider leaving the story on a hopeful or uplifting note. After all, the spirit of the challenge is to re-inspire us! Stories which don't end on a hopeful note will not be in violation of the rules, but if they don't, people might pout at you and demand you pay their Kleenex bill.

  4. Stories should be at least 1000 words.

  5. This challenge has four deadlines. When signing up for the challenge, please indicate which deadline you are choosing. You can change your deadline later if circumstances require, but this should only be used in the event of emergency. The four deadlines will be:
    • April 25, 2005, to go live on April 28, 2005 (the date of the final tour of the Celebrity tour, 2002)
    • May 23, 2005, to go live on May 26, 2005 (the date of the Germany release of the debut album)
    • July 15, 2005, to go live on July 18, 2005 (the date of the Disney concert and platinum album, 1998)
    • August 1, 2005, to go live on August 4, 2005 (the date of the group's signing with BMG, 1996)

  6. If you must change your deadline after you've signed up, for any reason, please email Synecdochic as soon as possible.

  7. Signups for the challenge will be done on a rolling basis. You may sign up for the challenge anytime before the final deadline.

  8. You may choose a quote from the list of quotes provided, but you don't have to; if you'd prefer to write an open-ended story, you are welcome to. Quotes will not be "claimable" -- you don't need to sign up for them -- but they'll be provided for inspiration.

  9. You may sign up multiple times/for multiple stories/for multiple deadlines/with multiple co-writers/etc. In fact, please do! The more stories, the better.

  10. Before the challenge deadlines, there will be a form to submit your stories on this site. All submissions should take place through this form. (An email will go out before your chosen deadline reminding you of this.)

  11. You're welcome to submit early if you finish early. Once I finish the submission form, of course.

  12. If you are signing up with the April, May, or July deadline, when you submit your story, you will be prompted with two checkboxes:
    • This story is available for REMIXING.
    • This story is available for a SEQUEL.
    Both of these options will be "off" by default -- that is to say, you aren't forced to let someone write a sequel to or a remix of your story. But if you want to, you can release your story "into the wild", so to speak, to see what other people come up with from your ideas. I'll stress again: letting your story be available for remixes and sequels is completely optional but will be a part of this challenge for those who want to permit it.

  13. When you sign up, you may specify whether you are writing a sequel or a remix while you're signing up. Stories whose authors have indicated are remixable/sequel-available can have more than one sequel/remix written for them, so it's not a case of "first come, first served". Please specify which story you're writing a sequel or remix for when signing up. Stories are assigned numbers on the story listing page. There's an advance story, so even people signing up for the April deadline can have something to play with.

  14. You may write sequels to sequels, and remixes to remixes, assuming the sequel or the remix is also marked available for sequel or remix. Think of it as a sort of Creative Commons thing.

  15. Hosting will be provided for all stories. You're welcome to host your stories on your own sites as well, but a copy will be archived here. This will be done so people can come to a single site and a). be assured of finding all the stories without having to worry about 404s, and b). see at a glance what stories are available for remixing/sequels. If you truly object to having a copy of your stories archived elsewhere, please let me know, and we can discuss it.

  16. If you have a previously-written story, or you fall in love with your story so much that you don't want to wait for a deadline, but you still want it listed on the stories page or available for sequel or remix, please feel free to email me. I'm willing to do an "auxiliary stories" page if there's interest.

  17. Any questions or anything I've forgotten, bring them to me.