What's the deal with incredibly detailed "challenges" which are actually, "I had this great idea for a story, with this totally witty exchange and these characters who do this, now somebody else do the work of actually writing it." It always seems to me the height of arrogance -- I mean, you can ask if someone will write a story for you, but giving that level of detail and calling it a "challenge" as though people would be all "Ooh, me! Me!" bugs me.

Just felt the need to rant.

What Emily said.

A challenge should open a door rather than herd you down a chute.

Challenge: food Too lazy to write my story: Xander says something witty, almost chokes on lo mein and has to count on someone he's pissed at to save him.

I'm afraid I would be overwhelmingly tempted to take that challenge and write a story about Xander peeing on someone. I wouldn't, because it would be gross, but I'd be tempted.

For a second, I wasn't sure where you got that, but I said "pissed"

Because the overly-specific challenges? They make me pedantic.

Those sorts of challenges are definitely of the "I'm too lazy/have insufficient talent" school. They make Katie pedantic, but they make me cranky and resentful.

Not a soda machine, here!

Pffft.

The other side of challenges is challenge elements that are too wacky/weird to evoke much. I've seen (and been on the receiving end of) some pretty wacky ones, either designed to evoke only a specific scenario (Characters X and Y in a bathtub, e.g.) that you have to work around, if you're not interested in that scenario (those characters standing in the bathtub, looking at something weird in the ceiling), or else just plain wacky (Character Z naked on a snowboard, yes this really was an element).

If you yourself don't write wacky, it takes some hard work to bleed the wackiness out of an element like that.

I did enjoy the "Worst Case Scenario" challenge. It didn't specify fandom or character--it just involved incorporating a given Worst Case Scenario in whatever way engaged a writer.

My favorite quote-found-via-metafandom ever:

I've wondered if fandom is in some ways a convenient excuse for people to write porn

NO! Say it ain't so!