2024 MAY - ALBUM CHALLENGE

[peppermint_shamrock]

Welcome to the first challenge of the Lyrical Titles community! It will run during the month of May (though entries will be accepted afterwards).

The challenge is to take an album of your choice and for each song, write a fic, using a lyric from the song as the title. This is a low-stakes, personal challenge, of course; there's no penalty for not finishing or running late.

Rules, Guidelines, and FAQ:

All works must be your own and not previously posted.
All works must use either the title of the song or a portion of its lyrics as the work title.
Works have a minimum wordcount of 100 words.
Please indicate the album name, song title, and artist in each entry for this challenge. You're not required to link to the song, but feel free to do so if you want!
Work text should be under a cut or linked offsite. Please indicate any warnings in your post.
You can begin working on the fics at any time, but please don't post them until May.

What kind of works are allowed?

All fandoms and original work are allowed. Works must be your own and not previously posted, but do not need to be exclusive to this event - they can also be used as entries for concurrent events. This is a writing focused event, and there is a minimum wordcount of 100 words, and no maximum wordcount.

What kind of music is allowed?

Any genre of music is welcome. For this challenge, songs used should all be from the same album.

How many fics do I need to write?

That's up to your choice of album! There's no minimum or maximum length, so you can set the pace of this challenge. A small EP, a big compilation album, or anything in between, is all permitted.

Do the songs/lyrics I pick need to be in English?/Can I translate non-English lyrics?

You can use songs from any language. Titles/Lyrics may be in their original language, or you may translate them if you wish. For that matter, works can be in any language as well.

There's an instrumental song on the album, can I still use it?

Since both lyrics and titles of songs are allowed as the work titles, an instrumental song can still have a work written for it. If you don't think you can make that title work, however, you can skip that song.

Someone is already doing the album I wanted to do, do I need to pick something else?

No, multiple people can use the same album.

Do I need to post in the same order as the songs on the album?

You can if you want to! But it's not required.

Do the lyrics need to be incorporated into the work? 

No, this event is focused on titles, lyrics do not need to be used in the work itself.

Have fun!

Any questions, comments, or suggestions? Please don't hesitate to ask below! Feel free to tell everyone what album you're planning on using, if you want!

Comments

[alex_beckett]

I found an album to use, but one of the songs is instrumental. Can I use the album and skip the instrumental track?

[peppermint_shamrock]

You can certainly use that album! Using the title of the track is valid too, so you can still write something for an instrumental track, even if it's not technically a lyric. But if that really won't work for you, then it's fine to skip it.

[(Anonymous)]

I have an album I might do but since the first song is an instrumental and it's title isn't that interesting (March) i might skip it. But i hope i can bring some interesting (and sad) music to the challenge!

Siverfanweedo (the one from reddit)

[(Anonymous)]

Going through i think there is actually 3 songs that are just like instrumentals or very abstract and i am not sure if i can get a title from the names of the songs (this is an album with 12 songs over all)

[(Anonymous)]

Sorry for posting so much but: Would I be allowed to make one of my fics a 2 chapter thing? I want to explore this idea from each characters pov and feel doing a spilt into 2 chapters would be best.

[peppermint_shamrock]

There's no length requirement, you can definitely do that!

[(Anonymous)]

So I have an album in mind but the first song is a short song- the shortest song in the album- and is, just like the name says, sort-of an opening or theme song to the album. I assume I can skip the first song, but I'm still going to ask if I can.

[peppermint_shamrock]

Since this is more of a personal challenge than anything, I think that's fine if you don't think you can make the title or lyrics (if there are any) of songs like that work for a fic.

[lumiosecity]

Popping my head in to say that this is a genius idea! I hope hosting goes well and it really takes off!! :]

[peppermint_shamrock]

Thank you so much!

[pebbleinalake]

This is such a fun idea for a writing challenge!! I'm definitely gonna give it a try. Is there somewhere we need to sign up, or do we just start posting after May starts?

[peppermint_shamrock]

No formal sign up. I'll open the AO3 collection at the beginning of the month (or probably a bit before to account for time zones), and you can post to the community as well.

Glad to have you!

[(Anonymous)]

Is there an ao3 collection?

[(Anonymous)]

I just saw the above comment. Sorry.

[autisticwriter]

Oh this looks really fun! I’m planning to use Alchemy Vol. 1 by Poets of the Fall as my album.

[peppermint_shamrock]

Glad to have you!

[kalloway]

Thank you for not requiring an AO3 account!

Does the album in question need to have had a commercial release?

[peppermint_shamrock]

Welcome!

No, it doesn't need to be commercially released, that's fine.

[notyourwinter]

Are compilation albums okay? I'm thinking something along the lines of an official movie soundtrack.

[peppermint_shamrock]

Yes, that's fine. If any songs are instrumental, you can use the title.

Welcome!

[resurrectfeeling]

Oh wow, this looks awesome! I think I'll use my all time favorite album, intimacy by Bloc Party. ^.^

[peppermint_shamrock]

Welcome!

[(Anonymous)]

Hi! I love the idea of this challenge, but I don't have a dreamwidth account. Can I still join if I post the fics in the ao3 collection?

The guidelines say the length of the album of our choice doesn't matter, but I was wondering if we can use singles that only have different versions of the same song?

(For context: my current main fandom is a cursed dramedy and it would be pretty fitting to write 5 fics featuring various quotes from Never Gonna Give You Up, building up to a fic titled with the actual song as a submission for the instrumental track.)

[peppermint_shamrock]

Yes, it's fine if you don't have an account! I plan on putting up a thread for those without an account to post links to their fics in the comments.

If you feel that fits the challenge, then go for it!

[thetubfullofcats]

This may be answered by the How many fics do I need to write? point already but would it be allowed to write multiple fics for one song (as in, in addition; if for example two parts of the lyrics give me different ideas -- not in the way of writing all the fics about just one song)?


Really cool idea! I can't wait to try this i have many ideas™

[peppermint_shamrock]

Yes, you can write "bonus tracks", if you like.

Glad to have you!

[bladesandstars]

I had just thought of doing this as a project for myself, and didn't even know this challenge existed! Perfect coincidence.

[peppermint_shamrock]

I was surprised I couldn't find anything like this already.

Glad to have you!

[sweety_mutant]

This is such a good challenge! I hope I'll manage to do it, and now I am on the hunt for inspiring albums :D
Is there a minimum of tracks required (one of my favourite albums has only 3, and I don't know if this is too short or not ^^)

[peppermint_shamrock]

Welcome!

Nope, no minimum number of tracks required - if you want to do the three song album, go right ahead!

[myulalie]

Looks fun! ♥

[peppermint_shamrock]

Welcome!

[(Anonymous)]

I spent a lot of April preparing for this first time ever doing a challenge I am excited i mentioned it on my last fic update so my readers are excited.
little do they know: it is gonna be real angst hours cuz I picked a Mitski album and am writing JJK fics.

Siver(from reddit)

[peppermint_shamrock]

I'm glad you're excited! These kind of challenges are all about having a good time writing.

And inflicting angst on readers is also fun :)

[cornerofmadness]

Oh I'm excited to see this. I used to do a lot of lyric challenges back in the Buffyverse's hey day and I missed doing them.

[peppermint_shamrock]

Glad to know it's been a thing before!

Welcome!

[miss_grimwood]

I love this idea! I don't think I'll be able to complete a whole albums worth of fics by the end of the month, but hopefully I can get them done by the end of the year!

[peppermint_shamrock]

That's completely fine, there's no hard deadline and the next event won't be until September.

Welcome!

[(Anonymous)]

I know this is at my own pace but, I still have two fics left to write but I kind of burnt myself out on this and cannot bring myself to write them. I do intend on finishing them but it won't be until sometime in June at the earliest.

-Siver

[peppermint_shamrock]

That's completely fine, I'm not going to finish all of my fics this month either

[but_can_i_be_trusted]

Loving this idea. :) I can't wait to see what I'm able to come up with.

[peppermint_shamrock]

Welcome!