Hello all. Welcome to NewsieChallenge! I'm Keza (aka Queen Kez the Wicked) and I will be your guide today.

NewsieChallenge was created in the summer of 2004, when I had just finished a long story and didn't know what to do with myself. With over 60 members, the group took off and was a lot of fun for a few months. Unfortunately, I became very busy and wasn't smart enough to pass the torch to someone else, so the group kind of faded away. Time to bring it back, I say!

The purpose of NewsieChallenge is to get everyone writing. The basic idea is this: there are "official" weekly challenges, which I send out. These come in many forms. You have as much time as you want to write something (or nothing, if you're not inspired) in response to the prompt. Members are encouraged to post "unofficial" challenges whenever they want.

Challenge responses can be posted anywhere (like FFN) but we also have our own fic archive where I would REALLY like people to post their challenge responses. We'll get into that later.

So, that's the idea. Intrigued? Good! Spread the word. Now, here are the specifics...

Let's do this in the form of question/answer, shall we?

Q. WHAT HAPPENS IF I DON'T DO A CHALLENGE?
A. Nothing. You may find yourself doing every challenge, or you may just do one or two whenever you have the time. No one is going to punish you. It's completely your decision.

Q. WHAT DO CHALLENGES LOOK LIKE?
A. They come in many forms. A challenge may be "write about betrayal." Or, it could be "write exactly 1,000 words that is entirely the dialogue of an argument." Or, "Write a fic that begins with someone hanging up a phone, and ends with someone picking up a phone." Or, "Pick 3 of the 6 mentioned characters, 2 of the 5 listed quotes, 6 of these 20 objects, and write a humorous story involving..." etc. The possibilities are endless, my friend.

Q. HOW LONG DO I HAVE TO WRITE THE CHALLENGE?
A. As long as you want. Maybe a challenge inspires a 100,000 word story in you. Well, that's gonna take awhile, but good for you! Maybe you want to try and do every single challenge, which means that you have about a week.

Q. WHAT DO I DO WITH MY FINISHED, CHALLENGE-INSPIRED FIC?
A. Post it. Studentnumber24601/B was kind enough to create a Challenge category on the fic archive "One Voice United" ( http://onevoice.queenitsy.com/archive). PLEASE go over there, create an account, and post your challenge responses on that site. Why? Because then we have them all in one place! You are welcome to additionally post your fics on FFN, of course. But please post them both places (or at least One Voice United). That way, they are easy to find, and anyone can read all the challenges at once, etc.

Q. HOW DOES THIS EMAIL THING WORK?
A. The group is set at "reply-to-group," which means that when you hit reply, the whole group will see what you post. Please remember this and remember to reply-to-sender with personal comments. Other than that, group discussion is encouraged!

Advertising. Advertising is allowed for the following:
-Casting Calls
-Requests for beta readers
-Announcements for fic contests and challenges
-Plugging for sites, LJ communities, archives, MySpace groups, msg boards, etc, that pertain to Newsies FANFICTION

Advertising is NOT allowed for:
-Fanfiction Updates

The exception is if you post a link to your challenge response. For example, I could not send a plug to the group for my story "Epic," but I could send a plug to the group about the fic I just wrote in response to a challenge. 'Cause it's group related.

Q. ANYTHING ELSE?
A. I don't think so, but I know more stuff will come up. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask! Either send them to the group, or contact me.

Remember to spread the word! The more people involved, the more fun it is! :)

With love,
Keza
Queen Kez the Wicked

EMAIL: mm.link@...
AIM: ProcrastnateTHIS
MSN: mahoney_ml@...

Again, feel free to contact me.