to sign up or not to sign up

[extrapenguin]

I was going to post a post waffling about signing up for fandom_stocking (signups close tomorrow), but then I realized that Guardian is maybe technically eligible for Space Swap (last year I let in The Witcher, so this should be at at least a similar level of space...), and that Modao Zushi, despite the huge influx of fic not to my tastes, still has under 500 Yuletide-counted fics posted*, and some of those are actually in Chinese, so I will be able to request them both in addition to my more regular stable of SF books no-one will ever write fic for unless I'm requesting them. So, there will be no more urge to sign up for f_s, which I wouldn't have the time to properly do, focusing on Yuletide. The biggest loss are my crossover prompts, but those I can use later, or just randomly post for people's inspiration. (EDIT: trobadora convinced me to sign up after all. Comment here; shall link to stocking once it goes up.)

* Guardian has roughly the same amount, except more of them are mistagged Chinese fic. Nirvana in Fire has under 400.

I also found my last year's stocking! I really should catch up with Machineries of Empire; I was super busy this year and had no time to get Revenant Gun. And damn is Sinusoidal Elegy still excellent. I even noticed new things about the rhyme scheme! ("What notion fuels / A brick / To rise / Against its wall?" still does it for me, always.) Come to think of it, I've had excellent luck with fannish poetry; * shallow cluster * deep dive * Streaker find * is also amazing. I should perhaps add poetry to the likes list I'm revamping for next year. (They're all valid, this year's Yuletide author! I have merely figured out better ways to phrase some, in addition to new ones to add.)

As for reading outside of exchanges, I know that's possible with a bunch of fandoms, but my tastes tend to be hilariously non-mainstream (example: I have acquired a Thing for tentacled eldritch abominations bottoming), so stuff that's to my tastes is produced either by me or for me, and even if not, doesn't have a convenient tag to search for, like some more straightforwardly tropey things do. Or, even if they did have a tag (Sewage Infrastructure Management!), it mightn't be canonized, and I certainly wouldn't think to check it.

Comments

[trobadora]

The great thing about fandom_stocking is that you're not actually committing to anything, though! It's a completely different thing from an exchange, which is why I love it so much. :D

Hmmm, I wonder if requesting Guardian in SpaceSwap might lead to fic that actually deals with the sci-fi trappings of the drama? *ponders*

[extrapenguin]

It still feels bad to sign up and not do anything. Would my Guardian prompts be interesting enough/worth it? Do I have prompts that might work for sub-1k works? Bleh, decisions.

I definitely do want stuff that deals with the sci-fi trappings of the drama, instead of "novel worldbuilding with mostly-novel characterization, tagged with the drama's tag", which is false advertising. And I'm certainly going to be prompting for stuff that deals with the sci-fi trappings! (space_swap allows for requesting characters, ships, and worldbuilding types, so I'd definitely request several types of worldbuilding. Dixingians and their genetics, at the very least.)

[trobadora]

I always look out for people requesting things in my fandoms! I mean, I don't know how much I'll actually manage to write in the end, but it always makes me happy to see. And who knows, you might get inspired or find some extra time!

"novel worldbuilding with mostly-novel characterization, tagged with the drama's tag"

Argh, yeah, that's the bane of my fannish existence right now! I really wish people would keep that in the novel tag, where it belongs.

And, okay, I suppose that means I'm doing space_swap next year! Because honestly, I want ALL the drama worldbuilding. Ancient spaceships and everything. :D

[extrapenguin]

Welp, guess it's time to sign up then, lol. I can always do some non-fic stuff; people generally ask for miscellaneous other stuff as well, and that might be easier on the brain post-Yuletide. So my signup with the ludicrous wall of text of prompts shall be a go! :D (Also, my favorite character is Worldbuilding.)

We have two tags, why do people insist on using the wrong one?! (I feel the same for Modao Zushi fandom, where the cartoon people have mistagged almost all of their fic with the book's tag. Sigh.) The characterizations and worldbuildings are different, so it's futile trying to pretend one is the other.

Welcome to Space Swap! AO3 is kind of awkward, so I hack it a bit for nominations. As a result, the nominations instructions are a bit involved. And I can feel less guilty about "abusing" my modly privileges if someone else is involved in nominating the fandom!

[trobadora]

We have two tags, why do people insist on using the wrong one?!

Yeah, it's pretty weird. I mean, it's bad for everyone! If you want to find novel-fic, you can't! If you want to find drama fic, you can't! It's a mess. :(

I'll be looking forward to SpaceSwap. :)

[extrapenguin]

I have heard that people use the more popular one for "exposure", but again, they're not writing the fandom they're claiming to be writing in! Why do that?! (Of course, some people just fundamentally don't get that tags can be separated by media type.) My least favorite was the fic tagged with the drama's fandom tag ... and then a freeform that said "Novel Characterization". Out of spite, I shall never kudos a fic that intentionally mistags the fandom.

[trobadora]

Surely "exposure" in this case means you're exposing yourself to lots of people's annoyance with your mistagging? Being seen by people who are there for a different thing can't be all that useful ...

I totally understand your spite, LOL. And your Lin Jing icon is very apropos!

[delight]

Now I can't get the idea of Aurel/sin x² out of my head!

[extrapenguin]

It's a wonderful ship, despite its short pagetime! I really do have to catch up with the canon so I can request it in exchanges again.

[hamsterwoman]

I'm very pleased to hear "Sinusoidal Elegy" is still bringing enjoyment! :D (funny thing, I actually linked someone to it the other day, who's read the series in the last year.

The rhyme scheme of that thing was an interesting exercise! Beyond the same-length lines within a half-period rhyming and the extrema rhyming within a period, I remember I was putting in some rhymes/echoes between the periods to make it sort of cohere, but had to give up on that after a few. And damn if I can even find the ones that are there anymore XP It's probably in my notes from when I first posted it...

(Revenant Gun was good! I didn't love it quite as much as the first two books, but there are some really great revelations in there, about people and about the universe, and I was satisfied with the conclusion.)

[extrapenguin]

It is a gift that keeps on giving joy! I'm glad others can appreciate it, too.

Ha, it took me a year to realize that any lines rhymed! I see that it was an interesting exercise, and now that I spotted it, I can say that it worked.

(Revenant Gun was good! I didn't love it quite as much as the first two books, but there are some really great revelations in there, about people and about the universe, and I was satisfied with the conclusion.)
Ah, good! With ends of series, the one thing I really need is a satisfying conclusion; it's very frustrating to get invested only for the ending to be unsatisfactory.