Two polls, and my thoughts about writing your fic exchange prompts.

[kate]

sga_santa is live! I'll be putting up my request soon, but I was planning to post this before they went live. Whoops. It's here now, though. Losers folk, take a look at the poll further down pretty please?

DISCLAIMER: Clearly everyone is different as to the level of detail and direction they like, so there is no way you can write your prompts/request/letter to please everyone. However, here are a few directions to help you make your prompts as widely helpful and non-offensive as possible. (Also, see the poll below to see what other people think of as helpful in their Dear Author/Artist letters.)

DO:

I like Cuddy/Chase best, but I also enjoy House/Foreman, Thirteen/Taub, and Chase/Wilson/Cuddy. Indicating your top preference is great – then your gift-giver will have no doubt as to what your favorite is, if they can provide it. If they can’t, though, the second part is essential – give them some more to work with. Same goes for genres, ratings, kinks or hotbuttons. Listing what you love is great, but giving a few alternatives may save your gift-giver’s sanity. Remember you’re going to be on the other end of a prompt or request! (Corollary to this: Only ask for what you’d really enjoy receiving. Bending over backwards to be accommodating if you aren’t going to like the end result just means your author/artist will have worked hard to give you something you don’t really want.)

Here are a few ideas but don’t feel the need to stick to them. Some gift-givers want lots of detailed guidance – some only want a shove in the right direction. By outlining a few scenarios that you’d like to see (a variety here would be helpful), but indicating that these are just suggestions, you give the detail person something to go on and the not-detail person an idea of what types of stories you’d like.

I like schoolgirl uniforms, and I would love it if you could dress Garcia and Morgan up in them. Don’t be ashamed of what you want! Your author/artist wants to give you a present made just for you. Don’t make yourself or your gift-giver feel bad by making your post self-flagellatory. There is no shame in owning your desires. Ask for your scenarios like you mean it!

Be encouraging. You were a scared first-time participant once upon a time. You were a newbie writer/artist/vidder/podficcer once upon a time. A little encouragement will help your gift-giver feel like doing their best, which is good for you in turn, since you’ll be the recipient of their efforts.

DO NOT:

Leave your prompt space blank, or write ‘I like anything!’ 1.) Do you really like anything? Really? So that epic Gollum/Dobby shmoopy love story is right up your alley? You want Kaylee the serial killer who murders her whole crew? How about Starbuck in clown school debating marrying a red squeaky nose? Maybe an introspective piece where John McClane philosophizes on the nature of plant intelligence? If you would really be happy with a story like that, then take your chances and leave your prompts vague or non-existent. If not, give your gift-giver a little guidance. 2.) Ever had writer’s block? Ever stared at the cursor at the top of the page and wondered what to put there? Looked at an empty page of your sketchbook and wondered where to make the first stroke? Empty prompts can induce that same sort of deer-in-the-headlights paralyzing fear. Even people who really can come up with something from no more than a pairing won’t have their story suffer from a little push in the right direction.

I hate x, y, or z. It’s Christmas. Be charitable, even to characters you don’t like. Saying ‘I think Lassiter’s the devil!’ is probably not the best way to indicate you’d prefer a Shawn/Gus/Jules story.

No squicky things. You are the only person who knows your squicks. Rule number 1: elaborate. Your author/artist cannot read your mind, so you must tell them specifically what your squicks are (and remember the golden rule here: assumptions make an ass out of you and umption – saying ‘no het, and all the icky kinks that go with het, like scatplay and incest’ really just shows your own lack of knowledge). Rule number 2: remember that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. The last thing you want to do is alienate your gift-giver by saying ‘No watersports! That’s icky and wrong and gross!’ when that happens to be their number one ironclad kink. A simple, “No friendship or cuddling, please,” is plenty.

No OOC. The good writers/artists already know. The bad writers/artists are not going to learn from your request post, so just let it go. If there is a certain genre that tends to change characterization in a way you don’t like, then just say you wouldn’t like it. “No crack or episode fics, please.” Don’t forget the please. This person is giving you a gift. The least you can do is be polite about your requests. ETA: busaikko points out that this was a point of contention recently, and she's very much right. See, what constitutes OOC is totally subjective. So, if there's some thing you don't think is in character, then simply include it in your list of 'DO NOT WANT.' Politely. Because there are people who will think it is totally in character, so you're not going to do anything but alienate your dwircle (if you have to post your letter/request, for example) or annoy your writer/artist (which is probably not good for the gift you're looking to receive).

I love my OC, and I’d love to see a story someone else wrote about them! Of course you love your OC, because they’re yours. But your gift-giver may not even know your OC, and to ask them to read your fic and then write in your universe when they signed up for a gift exchange based on a mutually agreeable canon is just plain tacky.

I want Spock/Sulu, where Spock is a garbage man and Sulu is a dog walker, and Sulu’s dog chases the garbage truck down the road, and then they meet and Sulu buys Spock a coffee for being so nice to the dog and Spock turns out to be allergic to something in the coffee so Sulu has to take him to the hospital where Spock almost dies and Sulu takes care of them and… Scenarios good, outlines bad. If you have that detailed an idea of what you’d like, write it yourself.

My SGA SeSa request from last year, as an example. I write fairly widely and read even more widely, so don’t take my enormous amount of ‘things I love’ to mean you have to offer your gift-giver everything under the sun. Keep your list to strict dislikes, and as many likes as you can muster. Positive reinforcement is better than negative.

Things I'd like: I would really love a John/Rodney story this Christmas. I love a lot of other pairings and characters, but I miss them lately, and I would love a John/Rodney present just for me. If John/Rodney is absolutely not your cup of tea, I’d like a gen ensemble piece or teamfic, or maybe a slashy rarepair like Radek/Ronon, Radek/Lorne, Teyla/Elizabeth, Teyla/Kate Heightmeyer, or Cadman/Katie Brown. I’m feeling the need for something heartwarming, but that doesn’t mean no angst or nothing bad happens – on the contrary, hope at the end of a dark story is love. I love AUs, crossovers, fusions, and canon. I love fluff, angst, romance, action, h/c, pwp, fairy tales, kink, dub-con, deathfic and crack, and any rating is just fine. Tell me the story where they’re cell phones or car parts or animals on the savannah, or tell me of John the princess that falls in love with Rodney the lowly scribe, or Teyla and Ronon’s adventures while the rest of Atlantis was Earthside in the Return, or the epic seduction of Elizabeth by Teyla in first season or Radek saving the day offworld with Lorne’s team. I will like it more if you love writing it than if you try to write something to any specification I’ve given here.

Things I wouldn't like: No mpreg, non-con, humiliation, or scatplay, please. I haven't seen SG-1 so a major crossover with it would be lost on me, unfortunately (though I have basic mental sketches of the characters, so don't feel like you need to exclude them).

Poll #4567 What do you prefer to get for prompts in your gift exchanges?

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 21

View Respondents

What is your favorite kind of prompt?

View Answers

A long, detailed, outlined story idea.
3 (14.3%)

A list of likes and dislikes.
13 (61.9%)

A couple of vague words.
1 (4.8%)

A longish ramble with lots of different bits and bobs.
14 (66.7%)

It doesn't matter; I go by their journal/fics/recs/something else.
4 (19.0%)

An idea of what style of story works best.
8 (38.1%)

A single definitive pairing.
2 (9.5%)

A list of characters/pairings they like.
13 (61.9%)

Definitive list of must haves.
3 (14.3%)

Vague list of things that might work.
10 (47.6%)

Something else you're not thinking of! (Comments always open!)
1 (4.8%)

Poll #4568 The Losers Winter Fic Exchange

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 22

View Respondents

Losers winter fic exchange?

View Answers

Yes
17 (85.0%)

No
0 (0.0%)

Maybe
3 (15.0%)

If there are enough people interested
2 (10.0%)

As long as I don't have to run it
5 (25.0%)

You're bonkers, aren't you?
1 (5.0%)

I was planning on writing Losers for Yuletide
2 (10.0%)

Would you participate?

View Answers

I'd write for it
18 (85.7%)

I'd pinch hit
10 (47.6%)

I'd read it
15 (71.4%)

I'd help mod it
3 (14.3%)

I'd advertise it
10 (47.6%)

I'd ignore it
0 (0.0%)

Due when?

View Answers

December - I like making it holiday-ish
6 (33.3%)

November - I like not having stuff conflict with Yuletide or my other challenges
2 (11.1%)

January - there's too much going on before then
11 (61.1%)

Some other time, I may or may not mention below
0 (0.0%)

When, if not November, December, or January?

View Answers

Which media?

View Answers

Movie
2 (9.5%)

Comics
0 (0.0%)

Both
19 (90.5%)

Must have ticky!

View Answers

Ticky loves winter exchanges!
10 (50.0%)

Ticky loves The Losers!
17 (85.0%)

Ticky loves carols and hot chocolate!
7 (35.0%)

Ticky loves snow!
9 (45.0%)

TICKY LOVES BOOOOOOOOM.
18 (90.0%)

Comments

[quinfirefrorefiddle]

THANK YOU for pointing out the necessity of pointing out what you don't like or want. Because your author is not a fucking telepath. (Or, likely, fucking a telepath. Or even a celibate and chaste telepath.)

[kate]

Hee, exactly!

[busaikko]

I would say, instead of "No OOC", to specify what is OOC for you. If non-canon nicknames drive you up the wall ("Hey, honey-bunny*," John called to Rodney), or if you can't stand characters whining/crying/giggling/tittering, or if you simply cannot wrap your head around Dom!Keller or pushy bottom!Lorne or amoral!Sam, these are things even bad writers can work with.

* IRL busaikko calls everyone either honey-bunny, darling, sweetheart, or love. I'm totally down with nicknames, personally.

[cesare]

ICONNNNNNNNN ♥

[busaikko]

There are those who might consider it out of character *g*

[cesare]

Not me! As far as I'm concerned, CANON, baby, all the way. ;-)

[kate]

Oh, good point. I forget that what people consider OOC is very much up for debate. Which is the same thing people who put 'No OOC' in their request letters do.

I call people sweetheart. I dunno, it's just what I do. I'm totally with you on that one. <3

[healingmirth]

Ahoy my conflicting answers: Well, I hadn't been planning on writing Losers for Yuletide, because it hadn't occurred to me, but now I totally want to!

If there are a ton of people who want to do an exchange, then hooray, and I am cool with that, but I feel like not everything needs its own holiday exchange, and I'd sort of like to funnel some Losers interest towards Yuletide.

(I have done such a poor job of following The Losers on LJ that I have absolutely no idea what's going on in the fandom the past few months. I've just been checking out some of the things that have popped up on my reading page.)

[kate]

Hahaha, I hope there is a lot of Losers fic for Yuletide too! I cannot participate though, so that's one reason I'd like to do a fic exchange (even though I completely agree that not everything needs a fic exchange, or at least a winter/holiday one). The other is that I imagine if I did do Yuletide, I'd rather have my options for something else (but still write Losers) because there are SO MANY I can never make up my mind.

I don't follow The Losers on LJ at all (I'm hardly there at all, and my most recent comment is making me want to delete my LJ altogether, it's not worth the trouble anymore). On DW, pretty much the only thing I follow is a few specific authors and the_losers_2010. Once in a while I take a look at AO3 to see what's been posted too. :D

[saekhwa]

I can't participate in Yuletide either (or really, any Christmas-oriented exchanges), which is why I'm jumping all over a Losers fic exchange. Although, now that I think about it, might be tough, too, since I'm clearly in a minority when it comes to ships. But I still want to help however I can. ^_^

I don't follow The Losers on LJ at all

Oh goodness, I'm glad I'm not the only one. I gave it a good go, but I just love the DW side of the fandom, and I'm so deliriously happy that there is a strong Losers fandom presence here.

Anyway, I'm excited, so I hope we get enough participants.

[kate]

I participate in the Christmas exchanges (well, only sga_santa this year) because I love writing gift fic; there should be more non-holiday fic exchanges! I mean, memes are well and good, but it's that deadline, and having a single specific recipient that really gets my motor running.

Yeah, LJ has just because a huge waste of time for me. The very few people that are reading me over there are RL people, and so I spend as little time as possible. I'm there for lavvyan, my ten or so RL friends (that hardly journal at all anyway, so getting them to move is nigh impossible), and sga_santa and mcshep_match. When I'm done with SGA fandom, I'll be done with LJ, I think, completely.

Just with the interest in the poll, I'd say it'd be worth running. Maybe I'll put up a post on the_losers_2010 and see if I can get more of a feel for how many people might participate.

[saekhwa]

I do love the idea of gift giving, but I just wish, like you said, there was more non-holiday fic exchanges.

Oh! I was also going to ask if it was all right for me to post about your poll in my journal, but yeah, posting in the_losers_2010 sounds like a great idea. I'm sure a lot of folks would jump on the idea. Or at least, I hope they would.

[jain]

I'd sort of like to funnel some Losers interest towards Yuletide.

I'm definitely planning on requesting and offering The Losers for Yuletide, but because Yuletide requires that you request at least three different fandoms and offer to write...what is it? three or four? (and I try to offer as many as I can to help matching go more easily)...there's a decent chance that I won't get the chance to write or receive The Losers for that challenge. So I really love the idea of a Losers-specific exchange.

[kate]

Yes, that was my thought too - while yay, Losers in Yuletide (and I'll totally be doing Yuletide madness), there's a slim chance that's what you'll actually get matched up on. I want guaranteed Losers fic, you know?

[meghanc]

You want Kaylee the serial killer who murders her whole crew?

...actually, it turns out that I totally DO want that! I didn't know it until right this minute, but holy shit do I want that.

[meghanc]

Maybe especially if she's very secretive and cunning and no one knows or even suspects that it's her, and they can't figure out what's going on and are afraid that the government has taken over River's brain or that there's a stowaway on the ship who's picking people off, and Kaylee's acting totally normal and innocent about it all, and then in the end she's the only one left and takes the ship and flies it, like, square on into a planet or something.

...cough.

[kate]

I LOVE YOU. <3<3<3

[jae]

I don't know anything about the other exchanges, but your yuletide advice is spot-on!

-J

[kate]

Yeah, surprisingly I have never had a hard time with my Yuletide letters. I know of a lot of people who have, though - including recipients whose journals are locked and don't post letters at all. Eep - I would go crazy if something like that happened to me. This post just came out of a lot of people posting really annoying stuff for sga_santa last year (you post your request as a new post to the community, so the flist gets flooded for a couple of weeks). Oh, and a really bad exchange experience in Criminal Minds fandom. The organizers didn't match people up at all, so I was stuck with the most random pairing, and since I didn't like pairings, my poor person had no idea what to do. :(

[trobadora]

One thing I really like in requests is when people let me know what they're interested in thematically, not just characters/pairings/scenarios.

[kate]

I agree. I also like general genre of story - I mean, if someone actually would like darkfic, I wish they'd say so, because I can write the hell out of that. But if they don't, there's no way to know if they'd like it and I will always go for safe, not sorry.

[trobadora]

Yes, that's a great point too.

Ironically, the person I'm currently writing a fic for did indicate genre preferences, but I'm not sure if I can write it. Thankfully there's plenty of time left ... *g*

[kate]

You can do it! \o/

I have complete faith in you. <3

[trobadora]

Thanks! *hugs*

My writing brain's not really working at the moment, bah. Need something to jump-start it ... Any thoughts?

[kate]

Do you do 750words? I hate the guy and I don't want to use it, but it totally worked for me when I was using it. :(

Or how about something like 15_minute_ficlets? Sometimes the only thing to do is find something to inspire yourself with, and then hope it rolls into what you really want to do.

Other than that, I've got nothing. A christmas/holiday exchange, maybe?

[trobadora]

Heh. lavvyan just suggested 750words to me. It sounds fabulously useful, and it's really annoying the guy seems to be such a douchebag. :(

I looked at several comms of the 15minutes/bingo/etc. variety, but I've never been able to write to prompts that vague. I need something more specific. Maybe if 750words doesn't work out, I'll just ask my flist for prompts or something. *sighs*

(I'm signed up for one exchange already, and I'm definitely going to do Yuletide as well, but the way things are going at the moment I'm going to end up writing my fic the day of the deadline. And not a word before then. I'd really rather not. *g*)

[kate]

Yeah, 750words is really shiny. It's worth looking at, and using - I just recommend not giving the guy money.

Ah, I can do vague prompts, but I prefer not to. I'd rather have something that really sparks an idea - that's why I like fic exchanges.

That's how I did my intoabar last year - I liked the end result, but I could not force myself to do it until the day it was do. And honestly, my Match fic this year was a slog too; the story I wanted to write wasn't really appropriate for the Match, so I ended up writing the story I did (which I like well enough, but which was way huger than I originally wanted it to be, because the whole time it was pulling teeth).

Well, no matter what, good luck. This is just one of those things, you know? I think everyone finds their way out of stuff like this, and while suggestions can help, there's no way to know what'll work until it happens.

[trobadora]

I'm giving it a try! No money, I hear you on that. :)

I know it'll go away at some point; it always grabs me again eventually. But the annoying thing is that I currently have fic I really REALLY want to be writing. So I'm hoping one of the suggestions I got will shake something loose.

(I hope you still had fun with the Match! *hugs*)

[kate]

<333 Good luck! I hope it works for you!

I had a fabulous time with the Match, of course I did! It wasn't mostly about the fic-writing anyway - I loved my team and watching the stuff come live and doing recs... I loved it. Had a fabulous time, will play again. <3

[trobadora]

Had a fabulous time, will play again. <3

Yay! We've already made Plans for next year. (Yes, they deserve the capital P. *g*)

[kate]

OooooooOoooOooOOOooooooooooooooooh. :D

[zillah975]

I love the idea of a Losers fic exchange, but alas, I have a policy against participating in exchanges because of the high likelihood I'd default.

[kate]

Oh dammit. I was 3/4 through a response to you and I lost it.

Okay, first of all. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate that you are so well able to police yourself. I've only once not finished an exchange fic, and felt horrible about it for months. I know that there are lots of people who sign up in all the excitement and then have to drop out, and while I don't fault them, I wish more of them knew themselves as well as you do.

How about pinch hits? There are a lot of stuff I don't sign up for but sign up as a pinch hitter, because sometimes I'll get blindsided by a story when a pinch hit request comes around.

[zillah975]

I might be able to pinch hit, but I hesitate to commit to it, you know? I don't want to be counted upon and then not be able to deliver. Now, if it's a situation where pinch-hitters can sign up at the time the pinch hit is needed, in response to a particular prompt, I would definitely stick around in hopes of doing that -- I just wouldn't want to commit in advance.

[kate]

Oh, no, that's not how pinch hitting works! At least, not in any of the comms I've pinch hit for. Basically you sign up as a pinch hitter, and then if/when the need arises, either the mods email all the pinch hitters and say 'first one to claim gets it!' (Yuletide does this) or they shop it around to people on the pinch hit list until they get a nibble. You're not obligated to write, ever, on the pinch hit list - you just make yourself available if something catches your eye. At least, that's been my experience every time so far.

ETA: Oh, and if it's just a simple 'I don't have time' when the pinch hit is available, that's fine too - you're really not obligated to write when you sign up to pinch hit, not at all.

[zillah975]

Oh! Okay, well, in that case... *goes to fill out poll*

[kate]

\o/

Seriously - almost everything zvi runs is interesting to me, but also scary, so I do the midway option and pinch hit. And I've written three pinch hits for various contests she's run so far. Maybe this year I'll actually sign up for 3_ships though. Hmmmm. *ponders*

[katemonkey]

Oh my, we were thinking alike here!

Dude, I am so all over a Losers Christmas exchange that THERE AREN'T WORDS.

[kate]

I know! I really would love an exchange specifically for the fandom, we may be small but we have a bunch of awesome writers here.

[katemonkey]

So if you want a co-mod, I'm so your girl.

So do we want to run it on LJ, DW or a totally separate website with an info-feed for people to keep track of what's going on?

And what sort of rules do we want to lay down? What level of detail do we expect to get from participants? What deadlines are we thinking about? Mid-January might be good, but then we run the risk of people not bothering because they've burnt out on all the other various seasonal exchanges.

You make the decisions, I'll build the comm/site, and we'll kick ass and take names.

[kate]

Awesome! \o/

I'm all for running it on DW (I must admit I'm biased), but perhaps something off-journal would be best, if we're looking to be more inclusive (and if that means more stories, then yay). How do you feel about the AO3? Their challenge-running tools are actually pretty impressive, though there's a few streaks of anti-AO3 sentiment out there, so it could cost us in participants, maybe. In general, I tend to be more comfortable on LJ/DW/AO3, but I can navigate my way around a website (or find people to help me with it) if you think there are huge benefits to that approach. (If you honestly have no opinion, I'll stew on this some more and make a decision.)

I'm thinking posting in January, with maybe the due date being early January. I think if we make the due date too much past Yuletide, we'll get a lot of people pulling out at the last second as they get burnout, so maybe first week of January due date. But! There is always a post-Yuletide lull, so a mid-January posting date may catch people's second wind for fic reading. At least that's sort of the theory I'm going on.

[saekhwa]

I know nothing about modding an exchange, but I was going to suggest AO3 since it has some infrastructure built in to keep it anonymous and easy to post? Also, I have an invite, if you do go the AO3-route.

What I really wanted to say was that, as long as it's not Christmas-based (or holiday-based or whatever), I can help co-mod or provide any kind of help that you might need because this fandom is just so freaking awesome. So ... just laying it out there. ^_^

[theleaveswant]

I would strongly prefer a January deadline, for two reasons. First, I kinda hate christmas (calling it "the holidays" is too often just a euphemism), but that's just me. Second, and probably more pertinent to other prospective participants, there is already so much going on in December for many (though not all) of us, in fandom and in other spaces. It's a good idea to spread the love. And that certainly doesn't preclude people from writing/requesting holiday themes, just because it's "out of season", does it? Perhaps if you set up a wide posting window, say the entire month of January--keeners/people who want to tie their work to some December holidays can post early, and it gives a little slack time/distance to other folks. Thoughts?

[kate]

I have to say I agree with you about avoiding the holiday part of it; there are plenty of holiday exchanges as is, and The Losers definitely qualifies to be a Yuletide fandom this year, so there is that for people who want the holiday idea.

I hadn't thought about staggered posting. I know that I prefer it for fests with huge participation, but I guess I'm not expecting more than a few dozen signups for this, so I was thinking about posting it all mid-January. Then it's really not too late to still have holiday themed stuff if that's what people want, and hopefully would take advantage of a post-Yuletide lull.

[kayim]

Am I too late to say "Count Me In"?!!

I'm trying not to get too involved in any fandom right now, but Losers (or more accurately, Chris Evans) has sucked me in so damn much, I can't resist!

[kate]

Oh, so glad to hear it! We're in the planning stages in email, we'll be opening the comm for business in the next week or so, and we'll be advertising on the_losers_2010, so if you're on that comm, you definitely won't miss it. And I totally understand about Chris Evans - he completely snuck up on me!