Yuletide indecision

[dbskyler]

Okay, I am seriously considering going for Yuletide this year. If I do it, I want to:

a) consider my story a gift to the recipient -- to really try to write them a story that I think they will like, not just write the story that I most want to write out of the options the recipient presents; and

b) consider it a writing challenge, and go into it knowing that I may be stretched as an author.

However, as someone who writes almost entirely G-rated fic and doesn't do a lot of shippy stuff, not even Doctor/Sarah (although I did have them briefly kiss once, wow, how extreme am I), I'm a little worried about fulfilling possible het and slash requests. I sorta kinda get the impression that it's pretty common for people to request het and/or slash, and I just don't know if I can write it. I'm not just talking about bowing out of writing anything adult-rated, which I'm assuming would be pretty acceptable to the community; I mean that I don't know if I can write a romantic pairing at all.

Anyone out there who's done Yuletide have experience with this? I know that optional details are optional, and I also know that this could be the challenge part of the Yuletide challenge for me, but I'm wondering what the odds are of pleasing someone with genfic. Any guesses?

Comments

[eponymous-rose.livejournal.com]

*raises hand* I'm exactly the same way when it comes to writing romantic pairings - I'll do it on occasion, but it always feels really wonky and I'd much rather write a plotty genfic than anything with a hint of romance. Like you, I want to make the fic a real gift to my recipient, but feeling like I absolutely had to write het or slash would make me seriously consider defaulting.

That said, I've only ever done Yuletide once thus far, but the request I chose last year was basically for a one-character fandom, and was thus 100% gen - and so the fic I wrote was an entirely gen action/adventure fic, and it was received really well. My own requests were gen, with a little leeway if people wanted to shoehorn in their OTPs, but the awesome fic I received was pretty much 100% gen as well.

I think that being gen-minded puts you in a less awkward position in some respects, because putting a gen slant on a romantic prompt can be seen with the right goggles as pre-slash or pre-het, whereas putting a romantic slant on a gen prompt can bring the wrath of shipwars down on your head. ;) I get the impression that the requests themselves traditionally aren't too demanding or specific - I'd be uncomfortable if they were. Sometimes people will post something like: "I'd love to see some hawt A/B sexxors, but failing that, anything about their relationship would be interesting", and that's ideal, because it opens you up to writing friendship fic. Ultimately, I've never really seen Yuletide as the NC-17-fest that lots of bigger ficathons invariably seem to become - it's about quality writing in small fandoms.

And keep in mind that these are often fandoms that have little to no fic available at all - folks aren't going to be so picky. ;)

In short: I'm with you on this, and acing Yuletide with genfic can indeed be done. :)

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Thanks -- this helps a lot! I don't know of any one-character fandoms that I would feel comfortable offering, but that's definitely a great strategy. However, I know I can write friendship fic, and then maybe someone who really wanted a romantic pairing would be able to read a slightly shippy slant into it. You also make a good point about genfic writers not having to worry about unintentionally coming down on the wrong side of a recipient's shipwar feelings.

And keep in mind that these are often fandoms that have little to no fic available at all - folks aren't going to be so picky. ;)

It does seem like a pretty positive, "I'm so happy you're willing to write this" environment. I'd hate to disappoint someone who really wants OTP fic, but hopefully most requests will have at least some gen leeway to them.

In short: I'm with you on this, and acing Yuletide with genfic can indeed be done. :)

Good to know I'm not alone, and good to know it can be done!