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[Roguemagus]

Do you write fanfiction? Do you write Shrek/Madoka Magica crossover fanfiction? Do you write it faster than you read this sentence? No? YOU WILL! Test your creative mettle as you compete with other writers in this fast-paced competition to find the Greatest Speed Fanfic Champion of All Time!

The Fanfiction Bee is a competition where players must come up with premises for fanfiction based on random prompts within a short amount of time. The generator we're using is based off of the Terrible Crossover Fanfiction Idea Generator (http://kaction.com/badfanfiction/), but it's modified with more series, more premises, and a timer.

A sample prompt: "Your challenge is to write a crossover fanfiction combining Bill Cosby and Final Fantasy XIII. The story should use discovering the power of friendship as a plot device!"

Prompts are judged by a panel of SECRET GUEST JUDGES. The exact format of the competition will be determined by future dry runs and by actual attendance at the panel, but will either be a 1 vs. 1 single elimination tournament or will be more typical spelling-bee format with a line of people pitching until they're eliminated. Contestants will have a time limit of 1-2 minutes.

The winner will recieve a trophy engraved with "Greatest Speed Fanfic Champion of All Time".

Date, time, and location are currently TBA.

[Firefury Amahira]

This sounds like it could get very silly, very quickly. Did you ask for an 18+ spot? I can totally see something like this going to some very cracky places, and that often includes straight into the gutter. XD

[Roguemagus]

The panel is going to be 16+. I've found that having a few limitations often makes things better/sillier.

[Xia]

This is a great idea! But what happens if we are unfamiliar with one or both series?

[ChorpSaway]

Oh hey so I'm another one of the people behind this panel so I guess I'll come in and help answer questions and stuff.

If someone is unfamiliar with only one of the series, we can either provide a short description of the series (given that the series is simple enough for that), or that particular part of the prompt can be rerolled.
In the case of someone being unfamiliar with both series, we'll probably just reroll until a suitable prompt is created.

[Firefury Amahira]

Oh hey so I'm another one of the people behind this panel so I guess I'll come in and help answer questions and stuff.

If someone is unfamiliar with only one of the series, we can either provide a short description of the series (given that the series is simple enough for that), or that particular part of the prompt can be rerolled.
In the case of someone being unfamiliar with both series, we'll probably just reroll until a suitable prompt is created.

It would make for some extra work, but it might be worth polling around the convention prior to the panel to get a feel for what series people know. After all, if you know ahead of time that most people likely to attend the panel know, say, My Little Pony, Naruto, and Fairy Tail, but you get baffled looks when asking about Yu Yu Hakusho, then you can adjust the prompt generator accordingly. If you're only putting in for a one-hour panel, the less time in-panel spent on rerolls or explanations, the better.

[Nina Star 9]

...or somehow adjust the generator to make lesser-known series less likely to pop up, but not entirely eliminate them?

I mean, there's probably plenty of people like me who have no idea what [insert new and popular series] is about, but know older series. Or who know both older series and newer series. (I'd have no idea where to start on MLP, Naruto, or Fairy Tail [which I've never even heard of, let alone know what it's about], but know Yu Yu Hakusho, to use the previous poster's examples)
...then again, you probably don't want someone like me to participate, since I don't have a large range of series knowledge/live under a rock.



This sounds like an incredibly fun panel, though. If it's at a time that fits into my schedule, I'll probably attend.

[ChorpSaway]

Some padding is going to be done, for sure. I mean, with "guaranteed" series like Naruto, One Piece, The Lion King, etc., there will probably end up being multiple entries in the queue to increase the chance of them appearing, but there definitely needs to be a balance to that as well. Every other crossover can't be about Evangelion or Bleach, because it would start to get stale. Trying to find the balance between "series that most people will know and be able to contribute with" and "seeing the same five series over and over" is what we're looking for here, and both of you have good points about increasing frequency of popular series but having other series there to appeal to others.

I've been working on getting a list that hits most of the big series, spanning across decades and genres and mediums to give as diverse a feel as possible while still sticking to series that plenty of people should be familiar with. A polling on-site at Fanime might be done to help get a final balance before the panel. I have a couple safeguards built in to the generator as well for rerolling and such that should speed up the process should it come to that, but with tests I will have a better idea for what series work well and which don't.

But hey right now it's just cool to see that people are interested in the idea. Gotta keep our fingers crossed for the panel being approved!

[MarkHaggar]

Ok, first off I hate fanfiction (it ruins many things i.e Sonic the Hedgehog) so any chance I can get to mock it, I take it, So if this fits my schedule hopefully saturday-ish. I would be honored to be apart of this.

[Roguemagus]

Sadly, we are unable to put on the panel due to multiple issues this year.

[Firefury Amahira]

Sadly, we are unable to put on the panel due to multiple issues this year.

Well, gives you a year to refine the idea and try next year!

[Sivartius]

Well, I think it would be a lot of fun, but I would probably be knocked out pretty quickly. I don't know many of the popular anime.