Julie R Fricke

The Green Room is happening over here: therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1224231.html  
This is just an Idol History Sidebar

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I've set certain guidelines for myself - that Year 20 is going to be minimal twists. Not saying they won't happen. Just that it will be more old school in the approach. Also, that I would use these Sidebars to talk about something that was relevant. I'm sure that second part won't always be the case. Unless you count "stuff on Gary's mind is always relevant" which is nowhere close to the truth.

So why is something so recent getting a sidebar for "Idol History"?

I made a comment in the FAQ that the Wheel WOULD be coming back, but in a slightly different way.  

Over the last couple of years, the mini seasons have been Idol Mini, which was light on the twists and The Wheel of Chaos, which I visualized as a box of Captain Crunch labeled "Oops, All Twists!!" 

I knew that if I actually got to Year 20, I wanted it to be more laid back and less "OMG Gary is coming to get you!", although I'm quite sure I will be coming to get you anyway!! I wanted to practice some of that with Idol Mini.  But I didn't want to leave out those people who actually really enjoy the twists, so I gave them the Wheel!

The Wheel of Chaos is an idea that has been in my head for a while. Kind of like the Pandora's Box twist in that there could be anything in there, and the fun was opening it up but one that would keep me as engaged and wondering what would happen next as you were! 

I came up with a bunch of twists, some good, some bad, some absolutely insane and put them on a spreadsheet and numbered them. Then I did the same with prompts. 

I also wanted the chance for the twist to be there wasn't going to be a twist, so I essentially added a third wheel to spin to determine if that was going to happen. 

Note: I did not create an actual wheel, but I did use a random number generator (1-whatever number I had in that category) that was a wheel. I say this because my original idea was to create a physical wheel and "go live" so people could see it spin and learn their fate! Given how my year went, I'm really glad I didn't go with that. 

To pull all of that into bullet points: 

1. First spin: What is this week's prompt?
2. Second spin: Is there a twist? 
3. Third and final spin (if 2 comes up as a "Yes") what is the twist? 

After a few early rounds came up as "No Twist", I removed a couple of the "No Twists" on the wheel. (I don't have it in front of me, but I believe the original ratio of Yes/No was 3/5 (favoring the No). The updated system made it 3/3 so there was an equal chance. 

The twists that came up tended to favor the good or at least not completely insane. Some of my more fiendish ideas were left on the board. Although one of the earliest twists was the introduction of the HEAVILY Traitors-inspired "Killers" which caused enough chaos on its own!

I had no idea which prompt was coming. What twist was coming. There was no "master plan" on how the season was going to play out. There were even a few options on that board that would have immediately ended the season by going straight to the finale! With the right (wrong?) spin, Week 1 could have also been the final week! 

After that was done, I said that the Wheel wasn't going to be coming back into a mainstream season/mini season. I said it, and I meant it. 

However, as people signing up and I started to get excited about everything again, (Yay for actually being able to get excited about something! Yay for drugs! Sorry, I of course meant "prescription medication"! ;)  )  I realized that I was still torn between two very different ideas on prompts. 

How I know it's time to start a new season (and how I knew I was "as ready as I was going to be" to start this one is that I actively start pulling prompts from the world around me.  I don't use "prompt websites" or lists or whatever I've seen other groups do. I pull them from my life. Someone says something interesting. I read/see something that triggers a thought, and I write it down.  It's part of why Idol is so personal, these prompts come directly from me, and always *mean something* to me.  (With the obvious exception of those times when I've solicited them for a special event. Or that one season where that was a perk of "winning the week", I didn't like that very much and I think it gave them too much influence) 

The ideas were: 
- Using the brand new prompts I was writing down. 
- In keeping with the idea of 20 Years of history, recycling some of my favorite prompts from our history) 

There were merits to both ideas and I kept going back and forth until that little girl from the Old El Paso commercials (and meme) came forth and said "Why Not Both?" 

But how would that work? How many old prompts, and which ones? How many new prompts, and which ones?  If only there was a way to balance that out in a way that would... oh yeah. The Wheel of Chaos!

The first question is "New prompt or Old prompt" it's going to be a randomly generated coin flip.  (if one side gets picked too often, that method will be adjusted. But probably not for a few weeks so I can see how it plays out)  

If "new prompt" then I spin for which number on my list and use that one.  Obviously once used, that comes off the board.  If "old prompt" I spin first for "which season/mini season" and then which week.  In the case of weeks where there were multiple prompts, it's another spin.  If it's a little too close to something already used, or in the case of a prompt that has made multiple appearances (We've had "Throwback Weeks" before to honor classics) I will spin again. (Unless I really, really like it. :D) 

Going into tonight, I will have NO idea of what the prompt is going to be until I'm ready to post!  I'm not sure people realized this last time around, but when I said "spin the wheel" it wasn't just for dramatic effect. I was writing it out, stopping, and then spinning the wheel in real time! I will be doing the same for Year 20! 





 

 In my navel gazing and splitting even more hairs than usual (Which,, why is my navel that hairy that hairs can be split there??? Some things are best not explored and that seems like several of them.)  I brought up that I wanted to wrap up the history portion of this season as quickly as possible so we could get on with making some brand new history in Year 20!  Several people offered their suggestions, but newbie shadaras offered this idea:  "I'm new to idol and all but: if you want to mark out a difference, you could share history posts without calling them green rooms necessarily? Like, if the point is storytelling and reflection on history rather than providing a space for chatting about the present, would it be worth it to differentiate the two?" 

I loved the idea and maybe have them every so often during the course of the season (Heavier now obviously, but maybe also when things pop up it might be a place to go into some of the backstories while keeping Green Rooms more focused on what is happening right now. *shrugs* I don't know, But i'm at least going to try this idea out for a little bit. 

I've gone through a couple names, the first was just "History Lesson", which sounded kind of pompous. (for my tastes, even though I've certainly been using it.) As I was in the process of writing the above though, I mentally called it a "sidebar", which indeed it is.  So I'll go for that for now. 

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It's important though, not to lose focus on what is important RIGHT NOW, so I'll still make sure you give you the important links: 

The Week 0 poll is closing tomorrow:  therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1222808.html

Sign-ups are still happening, until the deadline for submissions in Week 1:  https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1219874.html

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I did just realize that the time I set the poll closing for means that I can't go to Screen Unseen this week.  But then again, it's most likely Forgotten Island, so I'm OK with that.  :) 

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There were a few stories I was thinking about telling today, but I'm curious what YOU want to know about when it comes to Idol.  Favorite entry of all time - honestly that's a bit of a blur at the moment and I'd have to sit down and ponder that. There have been quite a few that I've really liked. Least Favorite is easy, the time someone posted a picture and that was their entry. I don't even recall what the picture was, but they were asking to be voted out and I seem to recall they got their wish. 

Anything you want me to cover? Or just questions in general from over the last 20 years?