Shack attack!

[arduinna]

I am so jazzed about this, I can't even say. cesperanza gives the full background here, but basically, once upon a time, she came up with this idea for writing tiny stories about characters in a Canadian shack, and shortly thereafter there were 101 little ~500-word stories in something like 60 fandoms written by about 30 people.

And somehow it has been ten years now since then, wow. So in celebration, she's created a new collection on AO3, for anyone who wants to contribute.

I've got two stories in there already, one Leverage and one Burn Notice, and a few more ideas kicking around in my head, too. (This is what happens with me and Shacks: I wind up writing in fandoms I've never written in before.)

Come play! These are a lot of fun, and very low-pressure. Just aim for roughly 500 words, stick your characters in a Canadian shack (no matter how unlikely that may be), and post to the Canadian Shack 2011 collection on AO3.

Help us get to 101!

♥

Comments

[misspamela]

...ten YEARS?

[arduinna]

I know, right? How is that even possible!

[ithildin]

I read about this yesterday, and it got me thinking back. Then I realized Nin moved in 15 years ago! OMG. Which means I've known you the same amount of time. Where did the decade + go?

[arduinna]

I know! I was thinking about it last night when I posted this, and realized that back in 2001, I was probably already saying "I've been in fandom almost a decade..." Which I hadn't, quite, but it was creeping up on it, and there's that weird mental shift where you go from "I'm a newbie" to "eh, it's been around 10 years, I think?" without much in between. And mentally I've been at "oh, about 10 years" ever since.

But clearly not so much! Man. I think it's been 15 full years since we went to the Cape that time. How does that even happen?

[ithildin]

I think you're right, the trip was 15 years ago, which means we're on year 16, on the downhill to 20 [g]

That was a fun trip - Shirl papoosing, and that book you had a few copies of that you were reading, breaking into the pirate museum, and the duck song.

[arduinna]

hee! Good times, man. I will never forget breaking into that pirate museum. *g*

[rhi]

::grinning:: I remember when those came out, going, "Oh, that looks like fun!" Working on Buffy/due South now, and debating Chronicles of Amber or Riddle-Master of Hed for a second.

[arduinna]

It really is a blast, and I'm so glad Ces opened it back up for another round, so everyone can play.

debating Chronicles of Amber or Riddle-Master of Hed for a second.

Ooooh - both! *grabby hands*

[rhi]

::grinning:: I am now working on ideas for both, yes. Any others you wanted? No guarantees, but I can at least try.

[gwyn]

I think it would be fun to do this, except for one big problem: I've never written anything that short in my life and I don't know how. Seriously, I can waste more words than any human being on the planet with a keyboard and a thesaurus at their disposal.

[arduinna]

Yeah, it's hard, but there's something really cool about just going straight to the heart of things (or as dorinda puts it, "cut to the Shack!"). I kept having to rewrite mine because I'd be at 600 words and they'd just be arriving at the damn shack. *g*

But I love getting into the groove of paring things down, of just painting in the backstory or journey with a line or two and diving right into the interaction-in-isolation.

You never know, you might decide you really like it!