Welcome to the Breakout Kings American West Novella AU Fanfiction Challenge! The Challenge will run every summer, for as long there's interest. Without further ado:
The Challenge:
Write an AU fic that imagines the drammatis personae of BOK in the Wild American West.
There Are Rules Here:
1. Your story must take place in some real-world version of the American West. Time travel, it-was-all-a-dream, magic, science fiction, and crossovers are verboten. (Those are all awesome, but they're outside the scope of the challenge.)
2. Your story must be a minimum of 7,500 words.
3. The story cannot begin before 1865 (though flashbacks/background can go earlier if needed), and it must end no later than 1912. (If you're wondering, 1912 is the year Arizona became a state and is as good a time as any to date the "end of the west.")
4. Your story must use ALL of the following characters: Charlie Duchamp, Ray Zancanelli, Shea Daniels, Julianne Simms, Erica Reeds, Lloyd Lowery, Fritz Gunderson, Philomena "Philly" Rotchcliffer, Teresa Zancanelli, Marisol Duchamp. This requirement may be satisfied with name dropping, but actually seeing these folks would be way cooler.
5. Research is awesome! Please (a) do some and (b) include a post-script or author's note describing some of it.
6. This is the most exciting one: when we say AU, we really mean AU. You don't have to cleave to the structure of the show at all, you just have to use the personalities. If you don't want any of these characters to be convicts, they don't have to be. If you want Charlie to be a criminal instead of a Marshall, he can be. Want Gunderson to be a Pinkerton? Go ahead. Feel free to go in for the crackships, too. Philly married to Doctor Lowery? Rock on. Etc., etc.
7. The community [http : / bok-westerns(dot)livejournal(dot)com/] can be used for discussion of plot bunnies, research help, and generally related discussion, before, during, and after the run of the challenge.
8. In an effort to encourage some sociability, we ask that, while snippets, teasers, etc., can be posted here, your finished story be posted at your journal; we'll follow the fake cuts. (If posting from please post a link to your story on the LJ page).
9. When posting fic, please include the following above the cut:
Title:
Author:
Disclaimer:
Summary:
Warnings:
10. Please leave all blocks of text, discussions longer than 200 words or fic of any length, behind a cut.
If you have any questions, please feel free to PM us!
Schedule:
Sign up closes: August 1st
Stories must be posted by: September 21st
About Betas:
Everyone appreciates a little editing, but finding a beta is up to you. A beta would be appreciated, and feel free to post beta requests in the comm. However, if you feel comfortable editing your own work, you can do that, too.
Finally:
Let's all try to be polite, ladies and gents, and have fun!