IT'S TIME.

Time to go back and change the past. Time to speculate on the way things could have gone, or repair the damage done by TPTB.

Time to seize the reins and redirect Caryl's story.  

ARE YOU UP FOR THE TASK???

A "what-if" fic looks at canon and mixes things up. What if a certain canon event hadn't happened, or had happened differently? What if Merle had died on that rooftop in Atlanta, or if Rick, Daryl and company had gotten back there in time to get him out of the cuffs before he cut his hand off? Or if they'd been able to intercept him afterward and take him back to the quarry to recuperate? Any of those changes to just that one piece of story would have dramatically changed what happened later.

What if Rick had been the one to die in that field at the Greenes' farm instead of Shane? What if Daryl had gotten himself stuck in that cell in the Tombs, and Carol had been the one to find him? What if Carol and Andrea escaped the farm together and spent that terrible winter with Michonne before ending up in Woodbury? What if Axel had lived? Or T-Dog? What if Daryl had stayed with Merle in Woodbury rather than escaping? The story could have gone in vastly different directions.

"Fix-it" is a variant on "what-if." We probably all have pieces of canon we wish had been handled differently. In a fix-it fic, maybe Andrea didn't dawdle over retrieving the pliers from the floor of the Governor's torture room and was able to get free of the chair before Milton turned. Maybe it was Daryl who killed Karen and David, or maybe he and Carol did it together. There have certainly been plenty of stories where Carol was revealed to have taken the blame for someone else -- all of those stories "fix" canon, bringing it in line with how the writers understand Carol's character. There's even at least one amazingly ambitious story that sends Daryl back in time, letting him know in advance what's about to happen and prevent it this time around.

So now it's your turn. You have the power to rewrite history for these characters. What parts of the story will you erase from canon and insert your own vision of how things could have been?

Challenge Dates: submission date Sunday, January 22nd; publication Monday, January 23rd

Open to: Fan Fiction, Fan Art, Graphics, Fan Videos

THE PROMPT: What-if/Fix It

You can pick any aspect of canon to rewrite,  but remember, this is a Caryl archive, so your story has to prominently feature both Daryl and Carol.

THE DEADLINE: All submissions must be turned in by midnight Pacific Time on January 22nd.

THE RULES:

For FANFICTION:

Send a PM to fairiesmasquerade, Ikkleosu, or subversivegrrl on the Nine Lives site that you want to enter the challenge. Even if you're not sure you'll have anything ready in time - let us know you're planning on it. YOU MUST DO THIS TO BE INCLUDED.

WRITE! Stories must be at least 100 words.

Multiple entries are allowed!

No McReedus (given the theme, we assume you already knew that.)

Do not upload it yet! Wait until Sunday, January 22nd to upload your fic – just like in challenges past, we will be suspending automatic validation for that day for all authors who enter the challenge. (This is one of the main reasons why you need to let an admin know you'll be participating. Otherwise UGH a mess.)

Submission Day is January 22nd – post your fic. It will not appear on the archive, but will enter our validation queue. Make sure you submit it under the Nine Lives Challenge category!

Publication Day is Monday, January 23rd – We will post the master list and all of the challenges entries so everything shows up at once. That way, we’re all surprised by what we get to read!

Any challenge fics posted before January 22nd will be deleted. IF FOR SOME REASON you are unable to post on the 22nd, please send a PM to one of the admins - we will work with you.

For FAN ART/GRAPHICS

Send a PM to fairiesmasquerade, Ikkleosu, or subversivegrrl on the Nine Lives site that you want to enter the challenge --OR--

Send an ask to the Nine Lives tumblr account (ninelives2.) Anonymous submissions are not allowed! Your Ask must include your Nine Lives username if different from your Tumblr URL.

CREATE!!

Submit your challenge piece via one of the following channels:

• Nine Lives Tumblr submissions box (include your NL username if different from your Tumblr URL) OR

• Email your submission to challenges@ninelivesarchive.com

Email title: What If/Fix It Challenge Submission

Emails must include your Nine Lives Archive username along with any other information you want to be posted with your artwork.

Submission Day is January 22nd - We need to have your artwork submitted to our Tumblr or email by 12:00 midnight Pacific time on 1/22.

Publication Day is January 23rd - We will post all artwork via the Nine Lives tumblr account and add them to the master list of challenge entries on the Nine Lives Archive.

For FAN VIDEOS:

Send a PM to fairiesmasquerade, Ikkleosu, or subversivegrrl on the Nine Lives site that you want to enter the challenge, OR

Send an ask to the Nine Lives tumblr account (ninelives2.) Anonymous submissions are not allowed! Your Ask must include your Nine Lives username if different from your Tumblr URL.

CREATE!!

Upload your video to YouTube - ensuring you select "UNLISTED" as the privacy setting. You will have a URL for your video.

• Send a PM to fairiesmasquerade, Ikkleosu, or subversivegrrl with the URL for your video, along with a title and the name you use on YouTube, plus your Nine Lives name (if different from the one you use on YouTube) --OR--

• Email all of that information to challenges@ninelivesarchive.com.

Email title: What-If/Fix It Challenge Submission

Submission Day is January 22nd - We need to have your video link submitted to our inbox by 12:00 midnight Pacific time on 1/22.

Publication Day is January 23 - We will post all submissions via the Nine Lives tumblr account and add them to the master list of challenge entries on the Nine Lives Archive.

You can change you video's privacy setting to PUBLIC once it has been listed on Nine Lives.

Any questions? please PM an admin.