THE LYRIC FAQWelcome to the Highlander Lyric Wheel FAQ. If you are here, then you are wondering just what the wheel is, what you have to do to be a part of it, or maybe just who the heck we are. Here are those FAQ's....
The History of the Lyric Wheel on the Internet The Highlander Lyric Wheel started in 1998, when Amand-r was desparate for a challenge. She spoke to Alice In Stonyland and Dana Woods about exchanging lyrics that they felt were Highlander-esque and possibly writing a story about them. Everyone thought it was a smashing idea. Then they branched out: this was fun; did anyone else want to give it a try? This website proves that they did. Then requests came from other fandoms: may we use the wheel too? Can we make a wheel of our own? The answer has always been yes. Wheels are alive and kicking in many fandoms. Current wheels include Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel the Series, Good Omens, Vin Diesel, and many more. Defunct wheels include: Oz, The Equalizer, Savage Garden, The Sentinel, due South, and many more Often, Amand-r goes on the net and googles the Wheel, just to see what's new. She is happy to see that the Wheel is everywhere, like an urban myth of fandom, and no one in the new fandoms seems to know how it started (someone in Sailor Moon is claiming creation as we speak, I see). But you know. Because you read it right here. Yeah The professiorial answer: The Wheel is a conglomeration of writers whose ranks change with every assignment. What the members of the Wheel strive to do is write Highlander: The Series fan fiction in a controlled and timely environment, with input from his or her peers. Participants fluctuate with the assignment, range in age from 13 to 60, and vary in ability and experience. The Wheel stresses the need to provide a place for old writers to enrich their skills and young new writers to test their mettle in an environment that requires a standard form without the pitfalls that can hold up the writer when they work independently. My pants are full of starfish. The deadline, page requirement, lyric requirement, and possible thematic requirement all provide a rigid backbone while still allowing for artist creativity in matters of subject, form, style, and/or person. The wheel is meant to be a fun and education experience, for old and new writers many of whom have never ventured out of their preferred styles and into the realm of something foreign. The chance to peek into the head of another writer via lyrical supplement also challenges the author. I will not buy this record; it is scratched. We use song lyrics because they are universal and handy. We have used poetry in the past, and may in the future, but the Wheel was founded on lyrics, and shall remain so for the most part. The Methosian answer: Beer. What is this set of "rules" you refer to? The rules of the lyric wheel are simple:
Step One: When you get the email describing the latest Wheel, contact the wheel mistress, Amand-r, to sign up. What if I have never written fanfic before? That's fine! If you like Highlander and you want to try your hand at fanfic, then you can participate in the Wheel. We've all been in your shoes before and you'll get nothing but support from the other spokes in the Wheel. What if I've never written anything at all before? That's fine, too! You've got to start somewhere, and what better place than at the Wheel, where everyone is out to have a good time and experiment a bit. Encouragement and feedback is standard practice at the Wheel, so don't feel shy! If you are on the ROG-L list , most Duncan/Methos mailing lists, you will receive a notice with a mass mailing. If you are not subbed to any of these lists, you may sub to the lyricwheel mailing list. Lastly, if that is not reliable enough for you, and you really want in, mail Amand-r, and she will add your email address to the personal mailing list. Her email addresse is: deparsons@earthlink.net. You will receive a notice about the new wheel. Reply to her stating that you are participating in THIS SPECIFIC WHEEL, and your name will be added onto the roster. Just because you get the invite does not mean that you are automatically in. I have to have a commitment. When the wheel has been closed off, and the random list generated, members of the new wheel will receive a list of email addresses and the actual assignments. Send the lyrics you have selected to the person that you are assigned to. For example: DanaAliceAmand-rTianyujam-wiredDana In this case, there are five people in the wheel. Dana sends the lyrics she picked to Alice, who in turn sends the lyrics she picked to Amand-r. Amand-r sends her lyrics to Tianyu, and Tianyu sends to jam-wired. jam-wired sends her lyrics all the way back up to dana, thus making a flawless circle. Easy, non? All this explaining for that DO NOT SEND YOUR LYRICS TO THE WHEEL MISTRESS! Unless there is an email problem, send directly to your chosen person. We have our own direction sheet. It is located at: https://www.angelfire.com/pa2/lyricwheel/howto.html You may have noticed we had a "mortal" wheel, or a "k'immie" wheel. In these instances we have narrowed the subject matter so that writers have to work with certain characters. In most previous wheels, we had had a lot of Methos stories, but little Kronos, or anyone else. So we have developed themes that we use every now and then to ensure that the stories stay unique and challenging. All themed wheels will be clearly marked as such from the beginning. We are four days into the Wheel and I don't have any lyrics yet! Okay, if you received the mail days ago, and you sent your lyrics out the day you got the mail, and five days later the wheel is a week from being posted and you don't have any lyrics, mail the Wheel Mistress. I have spare sets of lyrics sitting around for this very purpose... The lyrics I got are a little......odd..... And a word of warning. I know I am tempted to really screw with whoever gets my lyrics, but do not send anything really REALLY odd….no Schoolhouse Rock or Space Ghost sings….you know? It has to go with the song, and it's hard to do that when the chorus of your song is "Conjunction Junction, what's your function?" Unless that's a drunken Joe, I suppose. Do not set out to find the hardest lyrics in creation, because then your chosen recipient says "screw this", and there is no story. If you cannot work with what you have, write to the person who sent them to you and explain why it is too hard. Do not simply return lyrics because they aren't your type of music or the lyrics don't move you to tears. This is about a little bit of elbow grease, folks. Can I post my story on my website or have it archived elsewhere? You can post to whatever list you want. We don't own nuthin, we don't claim to. Lots of people post their stories to lists after they've been betaed. Every LW story is linked from the archive, with the author's permission. Or, if you do not have your own site, we would love to archive it. In any case, it would end up here. Does my story have to be beta read? No! In fact, we ask that your story NOT be beta read for the wheel. Our thinking is that certain people are more connected than others, and so those people will always have a beta available to polish their piece, while some people are not that familiar with a quick and dirty beta, and it simply wouldn't be fair. We do recommend that you have your story betaed after the wheel if you plan to post it to a list or an archive. Beta? Huh? What's that? Most of you know what a beta is. For those of you who don't, a beta is, in short, a proofreader. Her or she can be much more than that, but in any case, no betas. What if I don't have a story by the deadline? It happens. On average, we have about two people who don't make the deadline...ever. We always have a few stragglers, and some overzealous people who like to post early. That is fine with us. If you get swept up in RL, of course that comes first. But if you don't have anything by the time the deadline rolls around, post on the forum and let us know. It's no big sin, and the muses do depart at the most inopportune times, even to the best of us. What if my story is sexually or violently graphic? Label a rating in the title header when you post (see posting pages). Please rate accordingly. Movie ratings are pretty much the same way. Exempli gratis:
Lyric Wheel: Methos and Byron Are Buddies (PG-13) ...mild violence or situations We have some readers who don't like slash. For their sakes (and my own, so I don't get an earful) label all slash, even if it's just a little slap and tickle. Mention it in your disclaimer. You can label it in the title header, like this: Lyric Wheel: Methos Boffs Byron (Slash) Slash? Huh? What's that? Slash is a same-sex pairing that does not occur in the show itself, like Methos/Duncan, or for the purposes of this FAQ, Methos/Byron. Slash in Highlander usually features male/male sexual scenes, but it can be rather innocent. The boys playing house. No sex. But you know...most of the time we get a little dilly dally.... Ew! That's sick! A word of warding then: Don't read it. Really. I am sick of hearing slash readers complain about slash when they actually read the slash! If you don't like it, if you think (summoning the spirit of Horton) that it's an abomination to the planet, then don't read any slash. It's a simple system. Those who rock the boat drown too. Se-freaking-lah. Contact Amand-r in the following ways:
1. Email me privately. Do not hit "reply" if this message is from ROG-L, or the DM list or someplace like that (you'll just annoy people and seal my death warrant). Either my live journal or earthlink will do. Okay. Done now. If you think of a question I have not covered, please mail me. Thanks to Dana for her help in constructing this. Return to Main Page |