MMU October Read-A-Thon Discussion Thread

[Marchioness of Magenta]

NBRC Halloween Read-A-Thon


It's read-a-thon time! And since we all love books and reading challenges, this one is a mix between a regular Read-a-Thon and a Treasure Hunt, Nothing But Reading Challenges style.

◈ Duration: October 4th BST 4:00 PM to October 19th BST 4:00 PM

*start time in all time zones: Click Here
*countdown: Click Here

◈ Teams can choose from two types of events:
Event #1: Reading like a Banshee - a "read-as-much-as-you-can" event
Event #2: Halloween Book Hunt - a mini-challenge event

◈ Book advantage: Each event will have a book advantage awarding, as follows:

1st Place: 10 BAP's
2nd Place: 8 BAP's
3rd Place: 6 BAP's
4th Place: 4 BAP's
5th Place: 2 BAP's

In case of a tie, the full amount of book points will be granted to the tied teams.

Each team participating in the read-a-thon will receive 5 BAP's - and yes, it's cummulative

◈ Events are not exclusive. That means teams can choose to do event #1, or event #2 or both.

◈ The winners of the Read-a-Thon will be announced on October 20th.

[Marchioness of Magenta]

Event 1: Read Like A Banshee:

◈ How to Read Like a Banshee

Step #1: Set a personal goal and let us know about it - this one is just for fun. It wouldn't be a read-a-thon without some goal, right?

Step #2: Find your team's read-a-thon goal - This is as simple as the sum of the book goals from each participant in the read-a-thon.

Step #3: Keep us posted from your process on the provided thread- this one is very important.

Step #4: Read. Read. Read.
Grab your books. Tell the world to stop during 2 weeks. Tell the kids you will be busy reading. Grab your favorite snacks. Find your favorite reading nook and read like a Banshee.

◈ How to keep track
We will provide a thread for this. After you finish the reading for the day. Or you are changing books. Or you need a break. Whatever. Just go to the thread and say which book you are reading and the amount of pages you read from said book.

◈ How to find the winner:
First sum the pages read by your team (A). Grab your team's Tower Team Goal (B)
A/B = read-a-thon ratio.

Example: Team Moonstone only has 3 members participating on the read-a-thon.
book goals are:

Member book goal
Chris 100
Rebecca 150
Vi 213

Total book goal:100+150+213 = 463

Now add the number of pages read during the RaT

Member pages read
Chris 1000
Rebecca 2000
Vi 3000

Total of pages read = 1000+2000+3000 = 6000

Moonstone Points for the Reading Like a Banshee option:
(6000/463)*100 = 1295,896

The event winner will be the team with a bigger read-a-thon ratio.

[Marchioness of Magenta]

Event #2: Halloween Book Hunt Posting

◈ How to Beat the Pirate Ghost and Catch the Treasure

For this event, each team will have to complete 5 tasks or steps. Each task has to be posted on the correct order. Plus, they are cumulative - which means read one book for task #1, two books for task #2 and so on.

Step #1: Choose the themes from the options below, and decide which one you will do for each task. You can't choose the same theme more than once. Don't forget you have to post them in the correct order.
For example, if you choose Theme #7 for Task 1, Theme #4 for Task 2, and Theme #10 for Task 3, you must post them in that order: 7, 4, 10.

Step #2: Grab the Clues. For each completed task, we're going to give you a clue. After you collect all clues, you can start working on your final task. Without this one you can't compete for the final BAPs, so plan carefully.

◈ Book Hunt Themes

Theme #1:Classic Horror
Read classic horror books like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein or Bran Stoker’s Dracula. Or, you can choose the modern revamp of old classics like Pride, Prejudice and zombies.


Theme #2:Masters of Horror and Fantastic
Read a book from a master of horror and Fantastic like Stephen King or Dean Koontz, or if you prefer a more lighter approach, like Neil Gaiman or Terry Pratcher.


Theme #3:Samhain (**)
Read a book that focus on Celtic/Gaelic traditions like Beltane, Samhain or other rituals, or somehow fit the meaning of Samhain (see spoiler for info)
(view spoiler)[[
Samhain is a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the "darker half" of the year. Most commonly it is held on 31 October – 1 November, or halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice.

It was the time when cattle were brought back down from the summer pastures and when livestock were slaughtered for the winter. In much of the Gaelic world, bonfires were lit and there were rituals involving them. People and their livestock would often walk between two bonfires as a cleansing ritual, and the bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames.

Samhain (like Beltane) was seen as a time when the "door" to the Otherworld opened enough for the souls of the dead, and other beings, to come into our world.
Feasts were had, at which the souls of dead kin were beckoned to attend and a place set at the table for them. It has thus been likened to a festival of the dead. (hide spoiler)]
People also took steps to protect themselves from harmful spirits, which is thought to have led to the custom of guising. Divination was also done at Samhain.
[bookcover:The Mists of Avalon|402045]

Theme #4:Trick or Treat (*)
Let your inner child on the loose in a trick or treat spell-it-out challenge. Suggestions: the perfect costume, the sweets, the pranks, the kind neighbor, the scary one. Surprise us.
T - Tangled Threads
W - Wallbanger
I - Ilona Andrews
Z - Zeke from The Immortal Rules
Z - Zevin, Gabrielle - All These Things I've Done
L - The Last Olympian
E - Etiquette & Espionage
R - Robert Galbraith - The Cuckoo's Calling

Theme #5:Face your Fears (**)
Read books about things that scary you - urban legends, ghost stories, spiders, spider webs, murders, even elevators or planes, is all about your fears.


Theme #6:Hallow Places (**)
For this option, is all about the setting - Cemeteries, dark forest, haunted house, the asylum, Dracula's Castle


Theme #7:Halloween Party – a Spell-it-Out challenge (*)
Use your imagination to create the perfect party item: the beverages, the food, the decorations, the theme, the music

Theme #8:Supernatural Creatures
The title is self explanatory, read a book that has witches, warlocks, vampires, werewolves, zombie, ghosts, spirits, poltergeist, anything counts.


Theme #9:Halloween Cover Hunt
Read books with covers matching Halloween colors - black, orange, red - or Halloween themes - pumpkins, skulls, etc.


Theme #10:Special Abilities
Read books with characters with special abilities - fire power, magical powers, sending the dead, flying, weather manipulation, visions, time traveling, etc.



(*) For spell-it-outs: use the first letter in the book's title (if the book starts with 'the', 'a', 'an', etc, you may use the first letter in the second word of the title), the first letter of an author's first or last name, or the first letter of a character's first, last or nick name.

(**)For this theme, it all depends on the reader's interpretation - it can be book concept, settings, cover or title.

◈ Clues and Final Task
To keep things even - and to avoid the Pirate's Wrath - we're going to use a point system.

For each task marked as complete, the team will be awarded some points, according with the posting order as follows:
1st team to post task:10 points
2nd team to post taskt:8 points
3rd team to post task:6 points
4th team to post task:4 points
5th team to post task:2 points
From 6th forward:1 point

As soon as a task is marked as completed by the first team, the correspondent clue will be posted on the thread, so every team member can access it.

Final task has no reading included, and will by posted on the 14th or as soon as ALL teams complete all tasks from 1 to 5.

Final task is worth 20 points, and every team can win them, as long as it is completed during the Read-a-Thon time frame.

The event winner will be the team with the bigger pontuation.

◈ Rules:
- Books started prior to the read-a-thon will count.
- One post per team per step. It can be any member, if the team captain isn't available.
- Steps have specific days in whihc they can be posted. Which means, that a step can't be posted before the correspondent day. The day and hour will be based on the Greenwich time zone, with a countdown similar to the one for the read-a-thon which allows to easily convert into your time zone.

◈ Posting Days:
task #1: October 5th
task #2: October 7th
task #3: October 9th
task #4: October 11th
task #5: October 13th

Final Task: October 16th

Note: the hour and clocks will be posted soon

[Marchioness of Magenta]

Participants

Event 1: Read Like a Banshee

Event 2: Halloween Book Hunt Challenge

[Marchioness of Magenta]

To Do:

1. Please post your interest for Event 1 & 2 in this thread
2. For Event 1, the page goals you set is just for fun. It's ok if you exceed or lower it
3. For Event 2, we need to select the Top 5 Theme for 5 Tasks.

Note the Order:
Task 1 has 1 book
Task 2 has 2 books
Task 3 has 3 books
Task 4 has 4 books
Task 5 has 5 books

This will be the discussion thread, I will open the seperate threads for Each Event by tomorrow.

[Marie]

I'm in for both.
R-a-T goal: 7 books
Themes for hunt: Hallow places, classic horror, supernatural creatures, Halloween party and Trick or Treat..

[Blakely]

I'm interested in both challenges!

As for the themes, 2, 8, and 9 are my top picks.

[Jennifer H]

I'm in for the RaT. My goal is 8 books.

[Elle]

I'm in for RaT. My goal is 7 books.

[Elle]

For Themes I vote for 1,2, 6, 8, 10.

[Jess]

I'll do both, why not!

RaT goal = can I put a page goal for this since it's the pages read during the RaT that count? I'd like to get 1500 pages read.

My favourite five themes are 1, 2, 5, 6, & 8.

[Marchioness of Magenta]

Yay! Welcome to the Halloween Challenge, Team!!

A Few Things:

1. The R-a-T lasts only 2 weeks - from October 4 - 19.

2. The RaT Goal is in term of pages.

3. The Halloween Hunt is a little more complicated:
- Task #1 - #5 has a progressive number of books. i.e Task 1 has 1 book; Task #2 has 2 books and so on for a grand total of 15 books. We need to determine the theme on each Task accordingly.
- Secondly, each task need to posted in order and on specific day and time. We can work on all the tasks simultaneously but Task #1 must be posted first as soon as the specific day/time is hit (we don't know the time yet though). There are points awarded to each team in the order of posting (i.e team to finish first will get 10 points etc). So it's better if we have our reading plans lined up.

So in order for that, can I ask everyone to post their planned reads for the October Halloween Event?. Remember, it's only 2 weeks and the books need to be read fairly fast. (Books started before Oct 4 count as long as they are finished after Oct 4) I will go through the books and find out which themes work best for us as a team.

Thanks for being so helpful!

[Marie]

Planned reads:
1.Household tales by Grimm Brothers (some of the fairy-tales are quite scary, so I think they can be in the classic horror theme
2.Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through Looking Glass by Lois Caroll - maybe for a spell-it-out
3.Dracula by Bram Stoker classic horror
4.Inferno by Sherrilyn Kenyon supernatural creatures - vampires, wereanimales,demons, take your pick :D
5.Branded by Keary Taylor supernatural creatures - angels
6.Forsaken by Keary Taylor supernatural creatures
7.Vindicated by Keary Taylor supernatural creatures
But it won't be a problem if I read a book or two more, right? I'll try to fit them in the themes you chose, if it comes to that :D

[Jess]

I don't mind what I read, but I had a look at my bookshelves and here's an idea of what I have categories I have easy access to:

Theme 1: 2 books (I read all my other classic horror earlier this year :((
Theme 2: absolutely no shortage there.
Theme 3: 0 books.
Theme 4 (& 7) are spell-it-out so that's easy
Theme 5: I've got heaps of these.
Theme 6: I've got heaps of these too.
Theme 8: it's crazy how many of these I have.
Theme 9: nothing stuck out at me but I'm sure I could find something if I really looked.
Theme 10: 3 books.

Basically, I'll just read whatever needs to be read.

[Elle]

The only books I am definitely going to read are Dracula, House of Hades by Rick Riordan, and Heirs and Graces by Rhys Bowen. However, I have many other books on my to read list that can fulfill any of the tasks for Event#2 so you can simply let me know which task each of us should focus on.

[Marchioness of Magenta]

OK, so they changed the rules. Now Event #2 is not about speed reading anymore. As long as we complete 15 books that fit 5 different themes, we'll get 5 BAP (and another 5 for the Final Task)

The RaT's official start time is in roughly 13.5 hours.

I've shortlisted the following themes:

Step 1: (1 Book) Spell-it-Out
Step 2: (2 Books) Masters of Horror & Fantastic
Step 3: (3 Books) Classic Horror
Step 4: (4 Books) Special Abilities
Step 5: (5 Books) Supernatural Creatures

The categories are not set in stone. I can always move around based on the books we've read but this can give us a good start. Are the above themes ok for everyone?

[Marchioness of Magenta]

And if there are some non-PNR/Horror/Fantasy books, we can always switch out a category to a Spell-it-Out.

[Moderators of NBRC]

Allison wrote: "Do we need to post what we have read?"

That would be nice, Allison. Or at least every two or three days.

[Marchioness of Magenta]

LK beat me to it. Could everybody post an update in this thread every other day? I'll consolidate and post it in the mods' thread.

If you have started any book prior to the challenge starting time:
- In case of physical books, please post the starting page number
- In case of ebook/audio which doesn't have any page number, post the % you've done prior to the starting time. I'll calculate the number of pages it translates to.

[Moderators of NBRC]

Saw it this morning; however, I was waiting for Sonia or you to respond... and then just went for it. ☺

[Moderators of NBRC]

I don't want to make anymore mistakes... so, I'm not answering right away and be wrong.

[Marchioness of Magenta]

Moderators of Nothing but Reading Challenges (All the Mods) wrote: "Saw it this morning; however, I was waiting for Sonia or you to respond... and then just went for it. ☺"

:) It's the time difference. But thanks for answering!

[Marchioness of Magenta]

Attention, everyone!

Just a heads-up. I'm having family over right now and it's insanely busy here. I'll be checking this thread periodically now and then to update the mods' thread for the pages read.

[Marchioness of Magenta]

Please make sure you UPDATE the pages you've read in THIS THREAD so that the mods and I can keep track of our progress THANK YOU!