New Year’s Day Announcement! Join Us for Collaboration #3!
Are you a blogger?
Do you like Mario Kart?
Of course you do!
It’s time to pay attention!
It’s now time to reveal the topic of the Spring 2019 collaboration!
Three… Two… One… Go!
The Next Collaboration!
Tracking Shells: Our Mario Kart Memories!
The Premise:
This is one I’ve been wanting to do for a long time now. Mario Kart is deeply entrenched in our culture, and yet we’ve found no one who has sat down and collected stories from our frenzied races of the past. So much emotion goes into a race, and those competitions add up to tell some amazing stories from childhood, university, adulthood, and far into the future.
Each amazing writer — that, of course, means you — will select a track from a Mario Kart game upon which to base your recollections. You will not be limited to discussing that track, of course. Instead, it should function as a narrative jumping-off point, allowing you, the writer, to explore tales of Mario Kart to your heart’s content.
As always, there is no need for actual “review” or critique — so many amazing people do that already. Instead, focus on Mario Kart‘s presence in your life, and how it has impacted your reality. These are memories, after all, and should be immortalized with all the narrative wonderment they deserve.
Through Hyrule: See the Sights! Hear the Sounds! and The Games That Define Us, these collabs have become the place for high quality storytelling. I suspect Tracking Shells will be no different.
The Format:
It will be a simple three-step process:
1. You will select one track from any Mario Kart game. Preferably the one you have the most nostalgia for.
2. Using that track as a launching point or central focus, you’ll tell the story of the friendships and memories you’ve made over Mario Kart. Be as creative as you like with this aspect — those who know me know I refuse to stifle creativity.
3. I’ll design and organize them thematically in one volume like I did the Hyrule blog! I already have a design motif in mind this time around, so now all we need are amazing stories!
The Deadlines:
As with the previous two collabs, I’ll design a fun collaboration document we can all use to craft our pieces! This time around, things are pretty standard.
Pieces will be due by Friday, March 1, 2019!
… gotta remember that 9 in 2019.
And Tracking Shells will launch on Thursday, March 14, 2019!
… that’s also my mom’s birthday, but that’s completely unrelated.
The Contributors:
So, here’s the cool thing. I’ve given Returning Champions from the previous collabs first dibs on being part of this event, and amazingly 13 of them have exuberantly volunteered to come back! That’s incredible, especially considering this a far more niche topic than collabs past! I’m going to leave two more slots open for anyone else who wants to return, and I’ll convert those over to newcomer slots if need be.
Speaking of which, I’ve reserved five Newcomer slots! If you’ve never participated in a Normal Happenings collab, now’s your chance to be a part of something wonderful!
Here’s the cast so far, and I’ll be updating this list as it fills. I’ll also be updating with everyone’s track of choice as they roll in. Sign up quickly, as these slots tend to fill up quickly!
- Matt @ Normal Happenings
- Nikki @ Normal Happenings
Returning Champions! - Alyssa @ Nerd Side of Life
- Matt @ 3PStart
- Ruubin @ FTWRuubin
- Shauna @ HideNGoShauna
- Amanda May @ Imaginating Life
- Justin @ TWOTALL4UFOOL’s Gaming & More
- Victor @ The Modern Gafa
- KT @ Wintendo 64
- Kathy @ Krysanthe
- Teri Mae @ Sheikah Plate
- Imtiaz @ Power Bomb Attack
- Alex @ The Purple Prose Mage
- Skylar Mei @ gamergal.exe
+[DLC Slots for any additional Returning Champions wanting to take part.]
Newcomers! - Sally @ Geeky Hippie
- The Off-Centred Earth Mage @ The Well-Red Mage
- Winst0lf · The Bizarro Mage @ Winst0lf Portal
- The Ink-Stained Mage @ The Well-Red Mage
- Luna @ GamersUnitedGG
*UPDATE!* We’ve got a full roster! These 20 amazing bloggers will be telling their wonderful Mario Kart tales. Registration is now closed except for DLC posts by Returning Champions. This is going to be awesome!
We can’t wait to see what kind of fun and wonderful stories come out of this collaboration. And with that, we bid you a wonderful 2019 that, we’re sure, will be the best year ever!
Help us make amazing designs, better collaborations, and even achieve our dreams of podcast and video content. Consider becoming one of the amazing patrons of Normal Happenings. We would be forever grateful!
