It's the stuff that's fun, hence, the page title, "It's Fun!" XD That's a phrase that Laurel uses a lot because of Mystery Science Theatre 3000; they've used the phrase on that show before, along with, "It's fun to have fun!" She just picked it up along the way and uses it ad nauseam, heh. Anyway, here's where we put the fun Miracles stuff, such as: The Miracles Mary Sue Litmus Test - Put your characters to the test! Find out if they're card-carrying Mary Sues. This test has been tailored to the Miracles universe. The Miracles Fen Glossary - What is a Hooptie Mobile? Who is The Puppy? Click, click... Fic Challenges: Stumped for Miracles fanfic ideas? Maybe some of these will get your brain working. Take any challenge you like, write a story based on it, and when you're done, send it to Laurel and she will archive it on this site. Stories should be in .doc, .txt, or .html format so she can read them. (Or just paste it into an email and send it that way.) Please also run a spellcheck and mind good grammar and formatting. Excessively messy, punctuation-free, headache-inducing stories will be rejected. On to the challenges! (And yes, many of these come from the Litmus Test. Laurel never said they were bad ideas individually... just in mass numbers. ;D) Oh, if you use these ideas and post the fic elsewhere also, give this site a link, okay? (http://dementedstuff.com/miracles) After all, you should give credit where credit it due. :) And that way, people know where to go to get more challenges. WARNING! These challenges contain some spoilers for episodes 1-13. Write a Miracles fanfic story about... (01) The Graveyard Challenge: Write a story that deals with this picture - The Graveyard. Make it part of a case that SQ take on, or something to that effect. (This picture comes from the Haunted House screensaver, which you can download a trial version of at freeze.com. (There, hopefully that will make them happy since I used their picture. Free advertising!)) (02) Demon Pregnancy Challenge: Write a story in which Paul or Alva is impregnated by a demon (this'll probably work best as a comedy, but have fun with however you decide to approach it :D). (03) Mateo Santos Challenge: Write a story where an adult Matty (Mateo Santos) comes back from the future to warn SQ of some impending disaster. (04) Doppelganger Challenge: Write a story in which one of the members of SQ has a doppelganger that may or may not try to kill them (a doppelganger is an exact physical double of a person). (05) I Love My Dead SQ Member Challenge: Write a story in which one of the members of SQ dies (they do not necessarily need to come back to life). (06) Hemography Challenge: Write a story that explains what the hemography is all about ("God is Nowhere" or "God is Now Here," or both). (07) Living Dead Challenge: Write a story about a person with the power to resurrect the dead, who brings back either Paul's mother or Alva's mother (chance for much angst!). If that's too limiting, have them resurrect whomever you choose. (08) Paul's Replacement Challenge: Write a story about Paul's replacement at the Archdiocese. (09) Paul Head Injury Challenge: Write a story in which Paul gets a head injury (easy, but fun; we can have a whole collection of Paul Head Injury fics XD). (10) Take This Job and Shove It Challenge: Write a story that attempts to explain why Alva left the business of investigating miracles for the church and formed SQ. (11) Mary Sue Challenge: Write a story that is the most nauseating Mary Sue story ever, using at least 30 examples from the Litmus Test crammed into one character (this is just for fun; I've gotta see what stuff people come up with XD). It would be really cool if at the end, she could get hit by a truck. And not come back to life. >:) (12) Evie Backstory Challenge: Write a story that explains why Evie joined SQ. (13) God is Nowhere Challenge: Write a story in which SQ find the other "God is Nowhere" people. (14) Who's the Boss? Challenge: Write a story where SQ work side by side with another paranormal investigation group on a case. (15) Possession Challenge: Write a story in which a member of SQ or some other Miracles character becomes possessed by something other than a ghost (bonus points if it's not Paul!). (16) Mythology Challenge: Write a story where SQ must take on a character from mythology (Medusa, some god or goddess, a labyrinth with a minotaur, etc.). (17) I'm Positively EVIL! Challenge: Write a story in which a member of SQ turns evil or is revealed to be evil (permanently or temporarily). (18) The Big Bad Challenge: Write a story where SQ must finally prevent the "big event" they knew was coming (which will most likely be an Apocalypse, unless you can think of something else just as neat). (19) Apocalypse Challenge: Write a story where SQ must prevent an Apocalypse. (20) Cross-Over Challenge: Write a story that crosses Miracles over with some other fandom (bonus points for successfully crossing it over with another very obscure fandom, or a fandom that most would consider very hard to cross it over with) and still have the story be serious. Or, write it as a comedy. Whichever you choose. (21) Ouija Challenge: Write a story that centers around a Ouija board (I affectionately call it the 'Ouija? I Hardly Know Ya!' Challenge.). (22) Occultopedia Challenge: Write a story that uses at least three occult/supernatural concepts detailed in the Occultopedia. (23) Alva's Backstory Challenge: Write a story that attempts to explain what Mr. Friendly meant by this quote from "The Patient": "Alva, wanna talk to your mother? I can put you in touch. I know you blame yourself for her death, but... after what your father did to her... and you..." (24) The Exorcist Challenge: Write a story in which SQ perform an exorcism. (Contributed by Innogen) (25) The Lost Case Challenge: Miracles fan Kaija noticed something unexpected about the episode, "The Patient." There is a place in the episode where the closed captioning differs from the spoken dialogue in one spot. Where Paul explains what he 'does for fun' and talks about the trip he and Keel took to Pennsylvania, he mentions the set of identical twins born to different mothers. BUT the CC says, 'There was a rabid German shepherd. Its owners thought it was possessed by their dead grandfather.' How about a fic about this "lost" case? (26) If These Walls Could Talk Challenge: Write a story that deals with the case Paul described in "Hand of God": He said he'd spent the night at 1898 Keystone Street in Weymouth, an old Victorian house. "I was sitting alone in the dark, waiting for the walls to talk." What was this all about? (27) The Mango Challenge: In the episode "Hand of God," Alva tells Paul that the reason he became interested in the paranormal is because he was recording bird song to translate for his senior project in Linguistics, and among the bird calls, he heard the voice of his dead mother. "She had a nickname for me - 'Mango,' a character in a children's book. A bloodhound. Her reading to me from that book is one of the few fond childhood memories I still possess. She'd been dead for over a year when I heard her voice speak my name on that tape." I believe that this is a book Richard Hatem simply made up, because (as Rekka told me) the original script had "Fritzi" for the nickname, and Fritzi was a lion. (Boy am I glad they changed that.) The fact that this was changed leads me to believe the book doesn't really exist. So, here's where we're finally getting to the challenge - write this children's book that Alva's mother read to him throughout his childhood. Keep in mind that children's books do not necessarily need to be long; many are quite short, like Little Golden Books. Make it whatever length you prefer. (28) Loose Ends Challenge: Write a story that features interaction between SQ and some other type of fantasy being, such as a banshee, a mermaid, a werewolf, etc. (29) Paul's B-Day Challenge: Write a story about Paul's 30th birthday. (30) Alva's B-Day Challenge: Write a story about Alva's 40th birthday. (31) Freaky Friday Challenge: Write a story in which the members of SQ switch bodies. Just two switch, or all of SQ switch around. Switch someone with Poppi, Mr. Friendly, Tommy, whoever. Write it to be funny or serious, whatever you like. (32) Kidnapping Challenge: Write a story that involves a kidnapping. (33) Die Evil Hat, Die! Challenge: Specially requested by AlvaFan. Write a story where Alva's hat, the English driving cap, gets destroyed or lost forever. Use of a pun involving the hat's demise would be greatly appreciated. (34) Kill Lucinda Challenge: Specially requested by me (Laurel). I didn't like the ending of "Mother's Daughter" one bit. Simply wasn't fair to Hannah (which I am aware was the point, tear-jerker and all that, but that doesn't mean I have to like it). Write a sequel to this episode where Hannah gets her body back and Lucinda goes away forever or gives up the body in some other way. Force her out, have her leave voluntarily, whatever comes to you. (35) The Others Challenge: Write a story about one or more of the other "God is Nowhere" people who were murdered by Chad Goodwell. We never even found out their names. Who were they? Who did they leave behind? (36) Won't You Be My Neighbor Challenge: The building that houses the SQ office has at least four floors. The first floor has a lobby. The second floor is SQ. The third floor is Alva's apartment. What/who else is in that building? Are there offices on the first floor as well as the lobby? Who's on the fourth floor? Does the office and Alva's apartment take up their entire floors? Answer these questions in a story. (37) Phantom Floor Challenge: In the Miracles episode "The Patient," it rains quite heavily in Boston, causing the ceiling of the SQ office to leak profusely. But, there are at least two floors above this office! How did the ceiling leak without flooding the floors above? Is it some sort of structural thing? Is the building rotting off its foundation? Or is there something paranormal behind it? A note on this challenge - fan Deejay (AlvaFan) attended a party for cast and crew in August 2003 where she asked this very question. Members of the crew laughed and said that they made the ceiling leak just for fun (it did make for an amusing backdrop to various scenes), and they would explain it as being possible because of a "phantom floor." What does this mean to you? (38) Phantom Hitchhiker Challenge: Write a story in which SQ encounter a phantom hitchhiker. (39) While You Were Away Challenge: What was Evie doing with her time while Paul and Alva were away in the episode "The Battle of Shadow Ridge"? We saw so little of her, and even with the deleted scenes, more could be filled in. (40) The Date Challenge: In the episode "Saint Debbie," Alva says that Paul isn't there at the office because he had "a date." What was this date like? With whom? When you do what Paul does for a living, what's it like discussing your job with a woman you've just begun dating? Or, had he known her for a while? (41) Past Midnight Challenge: Detail what the kidnapping from "Paul is Dead" was like for Matty. You could even write it from his point of view. (42) Who is John Renshaw Challenge: Which version of John Renshaw, Evie's ex, do you like better? The absent father who is also a policeman, or the jailbird in for 1-3 years? What if he was both? Remember that the prison thing is canon because Evie said it in an actual episode, while the cop thing is from deleted scenes. (And they largely contradict each other, timeline-wise. It's also a problem that a cop got sent to prison for something so light that it would get him only 1-3 years, unless you come up with a reason that makes sense. As my friend K-kitty wisely pointed out to me, cops would do everything they could to keep a fellow officer out of prison, and out of the clutches of cop-hating criminals.) But have fun playing with the ideas! (43) Wacky College Trends Challenge: In the episode "Paul is Dead," Paul said he knew a guy in seminary school who wanted to know if the white light was real, so he performed the same suicide trick that Paul did to briefly visit the other side. But, as Paul revealed, his acquaintance/friend "stayed under too long." What was the story behind this? Who was this person and how was Paul involved? Was he even there that night? What happened to the people who were there? What was the situation? Why did this guy stay under too long? Does "he stayed under too long" necessarily mean that the guy died? Why was Paul able to discuss it so casually? Extra Challenges Issued Through the Miracles Fanfic Group on Yahoo and the Miracles Fanfic Community on LiveJournal: 001A Beta Challenge: Part 1 - Paul receives a head injury. Part 2 - While you're at it, trash a city-owned facility (court house, library, police station, power station, youth center, "just say no to drugs" outreach office, whatever...). (Part 2 contributed by Innogen) 002B Groundhog Day Challenge: Write a story in which a member of SQ gets caught up in a Groundhog Day time loop (where the day or an event keeps repeating itself) that they must find a way out of... OR Challenge 2: Write a story about a member of SQ waking up on Groundhog Day without their shadow. Their shadow has gone AWOL! Where'd it go? How can they get it back? What effects does losing one's shadow have on the person who lost it? 003C Sacrifice Challenge: Write a story about sacrifice. Interpret that any way you see fit. (Contributed by Innogen) 004D Friday the 13th Challenge: (Issued Feb. 16th) In accordance with the fact that we just passed up our latest Friday the 13th, write a fic about a member of SQ (or other Miracles character, like Poppi) having a very unlucky day. It can be funny, serious, be full of superstitions, whatever you want it to be. Turn the tables on Mr. Friendly and make him have the unlucky day. Go nuts! 005E The Road Trip Challenge: Write a fic involving a road trip. (Inspired by Min, contributed by Innogen) 006F The Fear Challenge: Write about a character's greatest fear manifesting into the reality of our world. The obvious fears, the hidden fears, and the fears we as writers add to character backgrounds. Character studies could be humorous or frightening: what if a character's fear is nothing like we assume it is - is that fear relevant to work at SQ? The coming Apocalypse? (if there is one) Interpret this as you see fit. (Contributed by Innogen) 007G Past Life Challenge: Write a story about a person plagued with memories of a past life that was traumatic and/or brutal (such as, they were a Nazi). Possible ideas are that they experience nightmares of this past life, maybe wake up with blood on their hands, hence the reason SQ would need to be called in. (Contributed by Argento) Picture Challenges: They say a picture is worth a thousand words - how many words do the following pictures inspire you to write? The Graveyard PCh01 Twouble with Wabbits Made by Devi PCh02 Alva in Wonderland Made by Devi PCh03 Two-Timing Puppy Made by Deejay (AlvaFan) PCh04 PCh01: The Graveyard pic from Challenge #01 above. PCh02: Twouble with Wabbits, made and contributed by Devi. Easter-themed, but what ideas does it bring to you? PCh03: Alva in Wonderland, made and contributed by Devi. Is this a cross-over with Alice in Wonderland, or something completely different? Did Alva drink too many mystical spider shakes? PCh04: Two-Timing Puppy, a split-screen effect made and contributed by Deejay (AlvaFan). The images come from "Saint Debbie." Interpreted in a certain context, this dream of Alva's takes on a whole new meaning. Elaborate on this picture in any way it takes you. Audio Commentary Challenges: On the "Miracles" DVD's, Richard Hatem details a few second season ideas during his audio commentaries. These ideas may be produced as actual episodes someday! As long as he's gone public with them, why not use them for fanfics? Maybe one day, they can be compared to the actual episodes! It's always interesting to see how two different people treat the same idea (at least it is to me!). Be sure to designate them as "Miracles" fanfic, though, since although they were never made into actual episodes, they are still the ideas of the "Miracles" writers. Day of the Dead: This is the actual title picked for this possible episode. An episode that Rich did not elaborate much on in the commentary, so I don't feel right including details at this point. I'll just go over what he briefly touched on - that Alva and Paul are involved in a car accident that renders both of them dead (?) for some time, and they walk among the living before coming back to life. I'm not sure how they were going to do this without extensive brain damage... you work it out. ;) The Bullet Speech: Evie's speech about what happened to her when she was shot in the head was finally included, in the deleted scenes. What she said was that she died for over 6 minutes (! Again, no brain damage?) and saw absolutely nothing. No white light, no dead relatives. This convinced her that there was nothing there after death, and that life is all we have, so we have to make the best of it. The lack of a vision made her happy, gave her a new purpose for living. Rich went on to elaborate that they were going to have Evie hypnotically regressed to her near-death experience for some reason and that she would reveal that she HAD seen something while dead, she just didn't remember it. When she woke up, she would still have no memory of this event. Paul and Alva would anguish over whether or not they should tell her the truth, because she's already so happy with things the way they are - should they disturb her perfect balance? Paul thinks not, which personally surprises me, that Rich would write it that way; I would have figured Paul for truth all the way. But he said Paul would not want to take her faith away from her, which I guess I can understand. Anyway, what would you make of this idea? The 60 Million Dollar Question: A rich man offers SQ an insane amount of money to prove there is an afterlife. WOW, nice idea. I have no idea what to do with it at this point. Do you? I See You: Kate Armstrong, the white-eyed blind lady healed by Tommy in the pilot, was supposed to return in a future episode with startling news about her condition. Whether that would be good or bad, the writers hadn't decided yet. They just really wanted to bring her back because people had a strong reaction to her. If something changed about her condition, would this mean something would also happen to Paul? (After all, he was also healed by Tommy.) Iiiiinteresting... (I also liked Kate; her eyes were creepy cool.) The Amazing Randi: A James Randi-like debunker of psychics would begin harassing SQ, calling Paul a fraud. Trouble is, it turns out the guy is dead and STILL doesn't believe in an afterlife. XD Okay, so it already has an ending, but the story could still be really entertaining. Watch Paul squirm! He does it so well. Bonus Challenges: Challenges that deal with Laurel's cross-over fic, She Just Wanted to be Heard - If you were put into a similar situation as Sadako, Samara, or Charlotte (you have the power of thoughtography, someone throws you into a well, you're pissed off, and you want everyone to know what happened to you), what would be the contents of your cursed tape? Describe them. Create your own "evil well bitch" (like Sadako and Samara). What is her story? What is her cursed tape like? Back to Cross to Bear.