SAMMY GIRL

Reed '03: Costume Challenge: Write a story with your favorite couple (or grouping, whatever) in costume for any reason.

Reed '04: The "just do it/no excuses" challenge. You are allowed to write anything, so long as you write. Time yourself. You have 1:20 in which to write because it's all the time you can wring out of your schedule for the month-long challenge period. So sit and write, damn it. Just go. Who cares about if it sucks or isn't working or etc. At the end of 1:20 call yourself done, tell us your circumstances and post it.

Elder '03: Write a story involving any couple of your choosing that involves them dealing with living together. You can make it riddled with angst or funny. There is a wide range of things that one has to rethink when you go from being single to 'married'. I want stories that showcase those life adjustments, good or bad, I leave it to you to decide.

Elder '04: I want is a story that incorporates a non-traditional version of some ghost, spirit, divine entity or what have you that isn't about making everything right. No waving wands, no midnight conversions, no being terrified into changing your ways, no artificial happy little family. Give me some irony. Give me some grit. A little divinity that isn't quite what we expect it to be. Lucifer used to be an angel, and Prometheus was punished by the gods for giving man fire. Feel free to incorporate any religion, any god/goddess, any type of spirit, angel or devil.

Elder '05: Write a story about one of the Seven's gear - I'm thinking mainly Old West like spurs, saddle, bridle, chaps, hat, lariat, boots, horse, etc but if you're into ATF or one of the modern series then a car or computer or secret decoder ring would work also. Bonus points if the gear comes or is given as a Christmas present. 'Tis the season coming up!

Birch '04: Write a 'first time' story. Now in the slash genre, this usually means when the fellers first get together as lovers, howsomever, for me, any first time will do. I *love* first time slash stories - to me those are so romantic (I'm a sucker for that!) but any first time experience for your pair/trio/or more...is fine. This will blend well with an earlier challenge on established couples moving in together...so it could be a first time they do something together in their new abode.

Birch '05: Make the setting central to your story. I don't care if it's inside or out of doors, seasonal, local or foreign climes - just spend a bit of time helping us to really *see* and *feel* where we and the boys are - and bonus points for making the place pivotal to the plot.

Rowan '04: This challenge comes with physical instructions. Here we go:
1) Go to your music collection (for the sake of arguement we will call it your cd collection; however, feel free to replace cd with cassette, album, 8-track, or fluglehorn if you so prefer).
2) Select, at random and without forethought, ten cds of vocal artists.
3) Shuffle the cds into a random and unplanned order without looking at them.
4) Pick a number between one and ten.
5) Pick another number, between one and thirteen.
6) The first number is your cd. The second is the song on the cd (if you pick a cd with less songs than the number you selected, the last song on the cd is your song).
7) Listen to that song.
8) Write a story based on the ideas that come to your mind while listening to that song.
RULES: You cannot quote the song during the story, and you cannot have any character listen to that song, or mention it in any way. I'm looking for an 'inspired by' rather than a songfic. However, you should list what song you picked and who it is performed by, so the rest of us know. You can do it at the beginning, or at the end of the story. You can list the lyrics at the end if you want to, but you don't have to.

Rowan '05: Again another "this challenge comes with physical instructions." Here we go:
1) Go to your bookshelf.
2) Close your eyes and grab a book and flip it open to any page.
3) Point finger.
4) That sentence, whatever it is, is your inspiration.
You need not necessarily include the "inspiration sentence" in your story, but it's what gives you your idea. You can tell us the line you got and from what book and author either at the beginning or end, however you wish.

Rowan '06: Write about flexibility - emotional, physical, mental. Or, conversely, you could write about inflexibility of the same kind, but something along those lines. How the boys have to be flexible in their lines of work...or in the bedroom.

  • Bending
  • Universe: ATF
  • Pairing: C/B
  • Rating: PG-13

Ash '04: Stories about mothers. Any of the seven's moms, in old west or modern day, good or bad, sweet or nasty. From their POV or from their son's POV, I'll leave it loose so you can decide. Even the ones who are dead can come back to help with a situation. Ghost stories can be fun or scary.

Ash '05: The challenge is to write the boys of your choice participating in, practicing for, or going to a rodeo. Short or long, present day or Old West, let's see and hear 'em.

Alder '04: The photo challenge. Three pictures. Take a look and let 1, 2 3, or all three inspire you.

  • Mud Larks
  • Universe: Family Matters
  • Pairing: C/B
  • Rating: NC-17

Alder '05: "All in a day's work" is how I think of this one. There is plenty enough drama in the daily ups and downs of 'normal' life. life isn't a soap opera; there's enough that's dramatic in the day-in, day-out struggle that more than suffices. Write about everyday drama - in any variety. As a clarification this doesn't at all mean the "mundane" is drudgery, boring, tedious, etc. If you want them grocery shopping then tallying the monthly budget that would work, but a manhunt in the old west with lots of action and travel can fit as well -- it's more in the treatment than the subject. That casual, daily life feel of 'eh, it's what we do, what we are' mentality.

Alder '06: Change can be good, change can be bad, it can be neither - not good, not bad, just not the same. Small things can bring big changes. Big things can result in only a small change. Things outside our control, sometimes hundreds of miles or a lifetime away, can bring changes. Change is inevitable. A story about change.

  • Changes
  • Universe: ATF
  • Pairing: E/B
  • Rating: PG-13

Willow '04: "Other" challenge: Write that niggling idea that you've put off or thought "hmm, no, I can't write *that*." Write in a universe you don't normally [expand into old west, go to the ATF, any other open au], especially if it's a good idea you've never quite made yourself do -- write a pairing you don't usually, whether it's a fleeing idea between the coupling or a rather involved plot you'd put off because it isn't the two [or hell, three or four] you are "comfortable" dealing in.

  • Dovetailed
  • Universe: ATF
  • Pairing: C/J
  • Rating: Hard NC-17

Willow '05: Write a story with all seven actively engaged in what they are paid to do; an OW story with the boys actually keeping the peace, an ATF story with more than just the bust at the end and sex afterward, etc. Give us the case, assignment, whatever and make it central to the story.

Willow '06: File-Open-Select challenge. Sift through your files and pick a story that's never been finished. Share your favorite paragraph(s). Consider it a tantalizing glimpse in the form of a ficlet.

Hawthorn '03: Ok here is the challenge that I call the "Satin, Silk and Leather challenge". If you could use all three materials and/or the song "Black Velvet" in your story extra bonus points. With the song you can have it in the background while they dance, or one of the guys singing to another ... whatever your heart desires.

Hawthorn '04: A crossover fic. It could be one of the guys with a new guy, or it could be someone from another fandom that crossover's with the M7 guys in any universe.

Hawthorn '05: Small rituals that govern one's day. Secret vices that rule one's night. Pick either or both.

Oak '03: Pick any couple or pairing. One member plans to celebrate a day of significance to them...could be first kiss, first glance, first year together...whatever. The celebration can't go off as planned in part because the rest of the team doesn't realize the couple you choose is in fact a couple and have committed the frustrated paramour to being elsewhere.

Oak '04: Write a story telling how they all came together. Feel free to use any universe.

  • Before
  • Universe: OW
  • Pairing: C/B, E/V
  • Rating: NC-17

Oak '05: Let there be travel. On a boat, plane, car, train, bus, horse, wagon, bicycle, spaceship, camel, or dog sled - long road trip or short jaunt. Here's the trick, though: the story should take place DURING the traveling, rather than before or after. Overnights in the middle are okay, but preferably focus on the "in transit" parts.

Holly '03: Someone from one of the guys' pasts comes along. Doesn't have to necessarily be the past of one of your pairing: could be, say JD's past wreaks havoc for Vin and Ezra, or Josiah's past causes problems for Chris and Buck. All that matters is that the person from the past be somehow connected to one of the seven, and that same person is a catalyst in some way for your duo/trio/quartet/quintet/etc.

Holly '04: Make dancing the central theme of the story.

Holly '05: Write about Sanctuary. Is it a place or a time or a memory that cradles one or more of our heroes? When life gets too fraught with peril or toil, where do he/they go, physically or mentally for sanctuary.

Holly '06: Kiss challenge. Give us a kiss. Chaste, horny, private, outs the pairing, reunion, parting, sweet, dirty. Just seal the deal.

Hazel '03: Write a fic that has a lie/an untruth as a central or pivotal point in the story.

Hazel '04: Write your Anti-Peeve story. Either the Peeve happens and our hero(s) have to deal with it/resolve it, or write a story that deliberately avoids the peeve altogether - say, X gets beat up and we see Y dealing with not having sex for six months during the recovery.

  • Santa Septum
  • Universe: Modern
  • Pairing: E/B, C/V
  • Rating: PG-13

Hazel '05: The Bard. Well I decided to go all British on you, so Shakespeare. Take his words as your inspiration, a whole play, a sonnet, a poem or just a quote, you don't have to use the words as such, just take inspiration from him.

Vine '03: Write a fic that revolves around an 'outing'. Who gets 'outed', by whom, whether it happens deliberately, accidentally or maliciously and what the consequences are - is up to you.

Vine '04: Write about one of the seven's father. Good, bad, indifferent, unknown, whatever you think about him - how did he affect his son?

Vine '05: Write an action story, any au, where the boys are busy being their heroic, action-y selves, in whatever function you feel moved to write. From hunting down some rustlers in the old west to busting a meth lab ring in the ATF, all would work for this challenge.

  • Play Acting
  • Universe: ATF
  • Pairing: E/B, C/V
  • Rating: PG-13

Ivy '03: Write an honest to god PWP; all action, no plot, short, sweet and definitely sweaty.

Ivy '04: "As others see them." A Fic written from the POV of an outsider to the 7, could be a peripheral character like Inez, Nettie or Travis or is can be an OC or even a X-over character.

Ivy '05: In fanfic the only one of the seven who has a phobia assigned to them regularly is Vin with claustrophobia. Pick any one of the seven, give them a phobia and put them in a situation where they have to deal with it. The only fear not open for use is claustrophobia because it's already been done...unless you want to assign it to someone other than Vin.

Mistletoe '04: Holiday/winter drabble, on the romantic side.

Mistletoe '05: "Festival of light." This can be taken literally or liberally. Luminaries tucked into the snow, what brings light to the holiday season for the boys or, more specifically, to their lives by the light of the Christmas tree, firelight, so on and so forth.

Mistletoe '06: Word association challenge. Use 'mistletoe' as your prompt. Write six paragraphs on the theme, no word limit.