Yuletide musings

[dbskyler]

So Yuletide signups are open, and I am thinking about actually doing it this year. Part of me is petrified at the idea of committing to writing something as my muse is still very unreliable, but I have been feeling more in the mood to write lately, and a commitment might be just what I need to really get going again. Also, I took a look at the nominated fandoms, and I was able to find 4 fandoms that I think I could offer. But I still get really worried about getting a pairing request for characters that weren't paired in canon, as that's a popular type of request and something that I have a hard time writing (not only am I bad at writing ship!fic, but if it's not a canon pairing, it usually strikes me as OOC). However, apparently you can now add a gen/het/slash tag to your offer/request, and although they can't promise you'll match on that, they'll take it into account? That makes me feel slightly less nervous about it. Come on, genfic requests!

Of course, I still owe a fic to the incredibly patient justice_turtle, who has not once asked me about the status of the story I owe to him from, um, well, ages ago now. But perhaps if I sign up for Yuletide, I will be spurred to hurry up and finish his story too.

Comments

[pitry.livejournal.com]

Well, a part of the thing is that optional details are optional, and most shippy people would put in some sort of "A/B fic would be great, but I'd be really happy with gen as well".

Funnily enough, I'm actually going to have time to write for Yuletide! I have to hand all my assignments in the beginning of December, so... I'll have time to write afterwards! It makes me so excited. ;)

Oh, and of course, obligatory: "Yeah sign up you'll be awesome!" is obligatory :)

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think most people are aware that a) there are non-shippy writers, and b) there are shippy writers who don't ship the same people they ship, so hopefully that leads to c) being happy with genfic as an alternative.

Hooray for having time for Yuletide! I think I'm going to have time, too.

[thisbluespirit]

\o/ Yes! Yes! Do Yuletide! :-D

(Sorry.)

I don't think you can do the gen/het/slash thing - you could two years ago, but not last year. Unless they have put it back again? I think they took it away because they had to disregard it anyway? However, Pitry is right! Also, what I do if I offer Blake's 7 (which is dominated by Blake/Avon and which I couldn't write really slashy, even though it actually kind of is canon), I just offer all the characters but Blake. And I still matched on B7 last year, so it worked out. The year before they had the gen tag, but it didn't match up - but luckily I got someone who wanted gen Blake, Avon & Jenna. I do think most people who like a relationship are open to interesting explorations of that ship that aren't necessarily sexual at all. Especially for Yuletide, with how it's run and the fact that they're rare fandoms that get so little fic anyway. Even shipswap that I did it the summer had a clause that you could write friendship fic - and that was a ship-based fic exchange!

Obligatory: "Yeah sign up you'll be awesome!" is obligatory :-D Absolutely! If the worst comes to the worst - although I know you'd hate that - at least there isn't any penalty for defaulting these days. :-/

And: optional details are optional. And people usually do include gen options. I know what you mean, though - you don't want to disappoint someone. But it's one of the risks of Yuletide and one I am also trepidatious about.

Anyway, this comment brought to you by my wish to have everyone in Yuletide and a wish for more fic from you.

[pitry.livejournal.com]

Pitry is ALWAYS right!

But really, I think a lot of people give you options. There's always the people who don't (:|) but I really do think they're a minority. Most people understand that the matching is based on characters alone and that they can't presume anything about their author.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Yes, Pitry is always right. :D

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, I saw the gen/het/slash thing in some instructions somewhere, but they could have been out-of-date instructions.

I'm thinking about tweaking my offers so as to avoid the most popular "I-can't-write-this" ships, but it's hard because I don't really know what the most popular ones are. And then I *do* want to write the characters, just not together! Or rather, not romantically together. Important distinction, that.

Well, I can always take comfort in the fact that I would disappoint someone more if I actually attempted to write their ship, so I'm really doing them a favor by sticking with gen even if they don't realize it . . .

[thisbluespirit]

Well, I can always take comfort in the fact that I would disappoint someone more if I actually attempted to write their ship, so I'm really doing them a favor by sticking with gen even if they don't realize it . . .

Absolutely!

[paranoidangel]

I think Yuletide's something that you're not going to know whether you can do until you've done it.

It might be worth reading the post on Yuletide about signup tips and tricks because people have mentioned similar things about worrying over pairing requests.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Thanks, that's a really helpful thread! Glad to know I'm not alone in experiencing a fear of pairing requests.