Friends, Carylers, fandom family - lend me your ears! No, seriously, you're gonna need your ears for this, our fifth and final challenge of the Summer Survival Series! "But FM," I hear you cry, "summer is already over!" To which I say: it's still in the mid-80's here. Ergo, summer. But I digress.

Our Summer Survival Series has been a raging success! We've covered ComicCon, photo ops, "What If?" au scenarios, Remorse and Joy. To end our inagural challenge series, Peta and I decided to do something... a little bit different. Gather round, music fans, because this one is for you.

That's righ! It's a MUSIC Challenge! However, it's a music challenge with a twist. We're going to give you a list of songs and lyrics that stood out to us. However, you do not have to use the actual lyrics in your story if you do not feel inspired to do so! Rather, you can simply let the feeling of the song itself inspire your tale. With me so far? Awesome. Let's break it down:

THE MUSIC

The first 3 songs were selected by Peta, the last 3 selected by Fairies Masquerade

• Zombie by The Cranberries
  Another mother's breakin'/Heart is taking over/When the violence causes silence/We must be mistaken.
  
  


• Halo by Beyonce
  Remember those walls I built?/Well, baby they're tumbling down/And they didn't even put up a fight/They didn't even make a sound
  
  


• With or Without You by U2
  My hands are tied, my body bruised/She got me with nothing to win/And nothing left to lose
  
  


• Exogenesis: Symphony Part 3 (Redemption) by Muse
  It's our last chance to forgive ourselves
  
  


• Light In My Darkness by Dirt Poor Robins
  How could I smile when I know you weep/And what would I have with so many in need?/What could I give but all you ask of me?/You are the light in my darkness
  
  


• Something by The Beatles
  Something in the way she moves/Attracts me like no other lover
  

To help you guys out so you don't have to find these songs on your own, I made a playlist of the first 5 songs on Grooveshark. However, since nobody would let me upload an mp3 of a Beatles song, you have to click here to listen to 'Something'.

THE CHALLENGE

PROMPT: Your entry must fulfill the following criteria:

• Either incorporate one set of the posted lyrics from the song selection OR


• Be inspired by one of the songs on the list. This can be either the content of the song itself or simply how it makes you feel. You must indicate which song you used in an author's note either at the beginning or end of your story.


• It can be either Caryl OR McReedus. Or both. (Yes, we are allowing multiple entries again. Because we love you.)


• It must be at least 100 words

DEADLINE: All Entries are due on October 6, 2014 by 10pm MST. 

THE RULES: Here is how you enter the challenge:

• Send a PM to Fairies Masquerade or Peta stating that you’re going to enter the challenge. This is very important! If we don’t get a PM, you won’t be on the list. Let us know if you're doing to submit a Caryl entry, a McReedus entry, or one of each.


• Write your fic!!


• DO NOT UPLOAD IT YET!! Wait until October 6 to upload your fic – we will be suspending automatic validation for that day for all authors who enter the challenge. (Allowances can and will be made if necessary - PM Fairies Masquerade)


• Submission Day is October 6, post your fic. It will not appear on the website, but will enter our validation queue. Make sure you submit it under the Nine Lives Challenge category!


• Posting Day is October 7 – We will post the Master List and post all of the challenge entries so everything shows up at once. That way, we’re all surprised by what we get to read! Any challenge fics that are posted before October 7 will be deleted.

That is it, my darlings! Go forth, O Talented Ones, and write to your heart's content! If you have any questions, PM Fairies Masquerade or Peta. Caryl on!!

Good Morning, Nine Lives Community!  (It’s still morning in Australia!)

Some recent events have occurred that prompts me to write this post.   I know I am not a very visible presence around the archive but I can assure you all that I am here daily, behind the scenes, and very much aware of things.  I want to talk about the archive a little bit, about how it came to be.  For those of you who know me or have been with us a little while, you might already know the story, but I do think there are some salient points that need to come across.

Something like 8 years ago, a group of fellow Spuffy shippers (Spike + Buffy) were deeply dissatisfied with how cruelly some writers were being treated by another archive.  We decided to take a stand, put our money where our mouths were, and set up our own archive where we could offer a community atmosphere, help, respect, and a place that was ultimately safe for readers to access their favourite authors.  Now Elysian Fields is one of the largest remaining Spuffy archives.  We did require a decent standard of writing and strongly promote the importance of betas—not just for picking up spelling and grammar errors but in forming a relationship with someone you trust who can tell you the truth about the way your fic is travelling.  For those of us who have used a beta, we can tell you it is of infinite value.  In requesting this we have never been rude to a writer—have never told them we thought their writing was bad and that we didn’t want them at the archive. We offer help and support but all in all, we want writing we can read and review and sometimes a writer might need help.  THAT was the crux of setting up Elysian Fields.

Nine Lives came about because I entered the Walking Dead Fandom and found a hole regarding accessible Caryl fanfiction.  I already knew how a community spirit could be fostered through an exclusive pairing archive, and I wanted people to be able to come to the fandom and find all the fic in one place.  Obviously this hinges on authors joining and posting their work here, and so many of you have been wonderful at encouraging writers to come and take part and through all of your support we have grown, and we will continue to grow as we can see the member numbers climb every day.  This archive was NOT free to set up, but it was my gift to all of you.  The only things I expected out of it was an appreciation of our lovely couple—Caryl—and a respecting, supportive community.  I believe that we have mostly achieved this and it makes me extremely happy and proud.  Fairies Masquerade and Susan are now also major reasons why this site is as successful as it is and I’d be nowhere without either of their help, support and contributions, so to see everyone’s support for them is incredibly uplifting. 

I do think some things need to be said, though, about some of the experiences here lately that have made it a little less pleasant behind-the-scenes than it could be, and they are things that Jessa and I have decided need to be addressed.  There are certain behaviours that we WILL NOT accept on this site. 

1) We will not condone members contacting other members through PM’s telling them how best they should update their work.  If a new writer comes and chooses to upload all their work at once, that is up to them. 

2) WE WILL NOT act like the writing police and tell another writer what they can or cannot write regarding their work in either McReedus or Caryl.  We have ratings for a reason and warnings and what one person might find unacceptable, another won’t.  We have never been in the habit of banning people due to kinks or content upsetting to just one member and we will not be starting now. 

3) We will not condone being told how to run the site in any way—which does not include any reasonable suggestions or input. 

4) We will not be held to ransom with threats of deleting fic.  If you don’t like how we run this site, feel free to leave.  We will not beg anyone to stay.  We also DO NOT BELIEVE that any one author’s following will make or break this archive.  If a writer chooses to leave because of issues with the staff (which is all donated time, I will add, coming from love and dedication to this ship) then we hope the readers will still remain to be entertained by the other writers here, but we will not beg you to stay if you wish to follow the writer.

The most important point, I think, is this. WE DO NOT OWE ANY ONE WRITER ANYTHING BECAUSE OF THE READERS THEY BRING INTO THE SITE.  This site is our gift to YOU, and I will never feel like I am indebted to one writer above all others for the support they have brought this site.  I would hope that our readers come to enjoy a multitude of writers, not just one, and that they stay because of the support and community that this site is all about.  Jessa and I will no longer tolerate the multitude of efforts to undermine other writers on this site, nor attempts to influence how we run things.  We are ALL playing by the same rules and it will stay fair and true to you all.

Thank you again for being here and for showing your support.  We would be nothing without all of you.

Megan

Greetings and salutations, my lovelies! First, thank you to everyone who has participated in our Remorse-themed challenge. We have so many great new stories to read that, for once, I'm just gonna shut up and provide you with The List of Awesomeness:

CARYL

• Kill Pen Blues by Argent Gale


• Some Say Love by Liddym2113


• Failed by lovesdaryl


• She Knew by Uncaged Must


• Trouble, Trouble by liveinadive


• She Was Theirs by sweettooth7


• Afterbite by darylsdiva1


• Beside You In Time by jen131

MCREEDUS

• Amber Armor by Argent Gale


• Done by liveinadive 

I know a couple of you didn't make the deadline for various reasons, but don't be afraid to continue writing! Our loyal and lovely readers will definitely want to read your work, no matter when it is posted.

Thanks again everyone! This was the best response to a challenge yet! And stay tuned, because our next challenge will be announced this Friday.

Happy reading and Caryl on!

I am excited to introduce a new initiative here on Nine Lives that has just been run at Elysian Fields.  This is our way of saying thank you to our supporters, to our reviewers, and to help our members know how much we appreciate their support of the site.  I am putting Susan’s write up here from Elysian Fields as she explains it much better than I ever could, but please feel free to jump in wholeheartedly.  Your support is what makes this site a success, and your reviews are what makes authors want to join and post here…I hope you approve of the new incentive!

From Susan’s fingertips to your eyes…

We have so many wonderful authors and reviewers here at Nine Lives, and now you have the chance to help us recognize some of the members who make NL such a great site. Every month we will have two members of the month, one author and one reviewer. So, how are the members of the month chosen? That's where you come in! Starting on the 1st of every month, nominations will open and you can head over to the nominations page to fill in your choices. Not sure who you want to nominate? You have until midnight on the 25th to get your nominations in. Also, if you change your mind, you can change your vote since the nominations aren't counted until after the 25th (your nomination only counts once no matter how many times you change your vote or hit the submit button).

Since nominations are open for most of the month, we're choosing for the following month (for example, right now nominations are for the September members of the month). After voting is over, the members with the highest number of nominations in each category will be selected. If there's a tie for the highest number of nominations, the tie breaker will be chosen at random. The members of the month will then be displayed for all to see in the new section on the main page sidebar.

There's some more information over on the nominations page, so be sure you read that over before submitting your nominations. If you have any questions or comments, please let me know.

Susan

MY PEOPLE! I am here-what, Peta? Excuse me a sec, folks. *furious whispering* Ok, fine. *sigh*

OUR PEOPLE! ;) Peta & I are psyched to bring you the second challenge of our Nine Lives Summer Survival Series! It's time to get our Caryl on, folks! *intense dramatic music*

The theme for this challenge is 'What If?' I'm ging to present two scenarios. You guys will have 2 weeks to write a little somethin' somethin' using one of the scenarios. Sounds good? All right, time for the down low:

• THE PROMPT: It’s a Caryl "What If?" scenario! You have 2 options available:
  
  
  
  • Option 1: What if our merry band of heroes never found the prison?
  
  
  • Option 2: What if Carol & Daryl went on a run & got lost somehow?
  
  
  
  


• It must be at least 100 words.


• THE DEADLINE: All entries are due on July 31, 10pm MST. (Yes, I'm making you all work around my ridiculous time zone. I regret nothing!) Everything will be posted on August 1.


• THE RULES: Here is how you enter the challenge:




• Send a PM to myself or Peta stating that you’re going to enter the challenge. This is very important! If we don’t get a PM, you won’t be on the list and you kinda need to be on the list for this one. ;)


• Write your fic!!


• DO NOT UPLOAD IT YET!! Wait until July 31 to upload your fic – we will be suspending automatic validation for that day for all authors who enter the challenge.


• Submission Day is July 31, post your fic. It will not appear on the website, but will enter our validation queue. Make sure you submit it under the Nine Lives Challenge category!


• Posting Day is August 1 – We will post the Master List and post all of the challenge entries so everything shows up at once. That way, we’re all surprised by what we get to read! Any challenge fics that are posted before July 31 will be deleted.

We also decided that, if one of our scenarios sparks something for you that could grow beyond a simple one-shot, just let us know! We will accept new WIPs with at least 2 chapters as part of the challenge submissions, so once the challenge is over you can continue growing your new story.

So there you have it! Get crazy, get kooky, get on it! We've had so much good Caryl news lately and I can feel more on the horizon. Let's celebrate by stretching our imaginations and celebrating our OTP!

If you have any questions, holler at me or Peta. Let's have some fun!

Greetings and salutations to all our members, old and new, young and small, tall and… something else. The days are long and warm, the sun is shining but alas, the lack of The Walking Dead, and more particularly Caryl, tears at our souls. Never fear! We have a solution for all our hiatus withdrawals. The magnificent Peta and I are pleased to announce the Nine Lives Summer Survival Challenge Series has begun! *cue dramatic music*

This will be a series of challenges that we have worked out, designed to amp up our creativity and bring tons more fun to the awesomeness that is Nine Lives. Guess what we picked for our first challenge? The oh-so-popular, always delicious… MCREEDUS!

Here is the scoop: I’m gonna give you a prompt in a minute. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to write something including the details given in the prompt. Easy peasy lemon squeezy, right? Now, to the important stuff! 

• THE PROMPT: It’s ComiCon time! The story must take place at or around a con of your choosing and must include a photo op. It must be at least 100 words.


• THE DEADLINE: All entries are due on July 14, 10pm MST. Everything will be posted on July 8.


• THE RULES: Here is how you enter the challenge:
  
  
  
  • Send a PM to myself or Peta stating that you’re going to enter the challenge. This is very important! If we don’t get a PM, you won’t be on the list and you kinda need to be on the list for this one. ;)
  
  
  • Write your fic!!
  
  
  • DO NOT UPLOAD IT YET!! Wait until July 14 to upload your fic – we will be suspending automatic validation for that day for all authors who enter the challenge.
  
  
  • Submission Day is July 14, post your fic. It will not appear on the website, but will enter our validation queue. Make sure you submit it under the Nine Lives Challenge category!
  
  
  • Posting Day is July 15 – We will post the Master List and post all of the challenge entries so everything shows up at once. That way, we’re all surprised by what we get to read! Any challenge fics that are posted before July 14 will be deleted.
  
  
  
  

That’s it! This is a great chance for us to embrace our random creativity and see just what wild paths we can all take from the same starting point.

This is just the beginning – we’ve got lots of challenges lined up to take us through this hiatus! So if this isn’t quite your thing, stay tuned, because we’ve got more on the way!

A little while back a few members of Elysian Fields made a couple of suggestions for the prompt section over there, so I did a bit of work to fulfill their requests. Megan asked me to bring the changes over here as well. When you look at prompts, you'll notice that at the bottom there are 2 new options. If you see a prompt that piques your interest that you might want to respond to at a later date, just click the first option [Save this prompt] and the prompt will be stored on your saved prompt list, which is accessible on your account info page. If you see a prompt that you don't want to take on, but feel like it's a great idea that you'd love to see come to fruition, click [Second this prompt]. You can see how many members have seconded a prompt on the top row next to the number of responses. In the example below, you can see a '+1' because one member decided that my prompt is awesome and should definitely be brought to life (and they're right!). If 2 members seconded the prompt , it would show a '+2' and so on...

Also, on the prompt browse page, there are new sort options. Before, you could only sort alphabetically or by most recent, but now you can sort alphabetically by the prompt author, by most responses (i.e. the number of stories created from each prompt) or most wanted (i.e. the number of members who have seconded a prompt).

As self-proclaimed Queen of Promotion for All Caryl Events, I have another seriously cool tumblr event to share! However, this one is actually... a McReedus challenge! *cue the dramatic music* This is being hosted by our friends at BetterTogether. Check out the challenge details below:

• Submissions are open from May 7 - May 18. Voting on the submitted entries is open from May 19-24.


• All entries must be based from at least one option of the provided list of song lyric prompts. For the full list of prompts, click here.


• There is no word limit or limit to how many of the lyrics you can use in your entry. The only specific rule regarding content is that the lyric prompt used is to be “quoted" in the text directly.


• You can submit your entry by emailing it to sanja_marie@hotmail.com


• All entries will be posted on the BetterTogether tumblr on May 19th. The entries will be posted completely anonymously for the vote to make it as fair as possible.


• Voting is open from May 19 - 24.

This information is taken directly from the BetterTogether's McReedus Challenge page.

Have fun, McReedus writers!

This is cross-posted from Elysian Fields, so forgive me if you've seen it before.

We now have a new way to contact other members here at Nine Lives. Before, the member contact link had you send an email, and a few people mentioned to me that they were leery of sending out their email addresses. So, after much coding (and a little frustration), we now have a new method. When you click the envelope icon in a user's profile, it will allow you to send a private message. The message will be stored here, and will not force you to include your email address.

When you receive a private message, you will be sent an email notification with a link to the PM (don't reply to the email because the PM sender won't see your reply). Also, you'll know you have a new PM because there will be a little envelope icon in the top menu (the envelope wont be there if you don't have any unread messages):

If you hover over the envelope, it will tell you how many new private messages you have, and if you click on it, it will take you to your inbox. There is also a link to your inbox on your account info page. Once you're at the inbox you can view and reply to messages.

This was a big project for me, so the possibility that I've forgotten something or messed something up is definitely there. If you notice anything not working as you think it should, be patient and let me know about it (with a PM, perhaps ) . If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Thanks!

When I first went looking for Caryl fanfiction, I was looking for an archive like I’d been used to in the Buffy fandom, that held all the treasures, new and old, of the fanfic world in my chosen pairing. I didn’t find it, and was more than a little surprised to find I could only read Caryl on private blogs, on fanfiction.net and on AO3. I believe there is a great need to foster community around our ship, gathering all our fantastic fanfiction in one place so that anyone seeking it out can find it easily. With this site I hope to foster that sense of safety within our own community, support for writers and readers with the inclusion of the chat box and chat room, a beta service, a moderated service that helps those entering the fandom to improve their work and thus improving the reading experience of all Carylers that want to read quality fanfiction. What we are about is acceptance and support, love of Carol and Daryl, Melissa and Norman, and hopefully a place where our detractors can recognise that this is not their space to impose upon.

So, please come on in, join up, submit your work, read other people’s work, shout out a hello, get to know the place and above all, ENJOY THE CARYL AND HAVE FUN!

Your administrators for the site are Peta2, Spikeslovebite, Atoizzard, and Fairies Masquerade. If you have any problems, please don’t hesitate to contact us. If you find any hiccups with the site, remember we are new and still ironing things out, so let us know if something doesn’t work. You can follow fic updates on Tumblr at ninelives2.

I hope you all seize this opportunity to build the most kickass Caryl archive there can be.

Stay Safe!