coaltide | It was the Coal of Times

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2019

It was the Coal of Times

It was the best of assignments, it was the worst of assignments, it was the age of gaming your offers, it was the age of forgetting to remove that one fandom from your offers, it was the epoch of treat writing, it was the epoch of apocapinch-hits, it was the season of fics of your dreams, it was the season of explicit DNW spitefic, it was the spring of hope that the anon in the comment above is writing for you, it was the winter of ars_belli is your author.

Prompts revealed and Madness opens: Approx 9 November
Default deadline: 11 December, 9am UTC
Assignment deadline: 18 December, 9am UTC
Main Collection Reveals: 25 December (time tba)

Yuletide Discord for Hippos. Google Group for PHs. Fail_fandom wiki for wank history.

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2019 Collection | 2019 App | Letter Post (LJ)

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...if you got a fic which was exactly what you'd asked for but was only around 1000 words? My recip has a prompt that I can write to, but it's short and there's not much I can add to it.

Better than padded to 1500 where I can't tell what the point of the last third was. Just write it.

Of course i wouldn't. 1000 words is all that's required. Anything more is a bonus, but writers aren't under any obligation to write more than 1000 words. I know a lot of people disagree, but don't worry, coalie, and write the fic in the best way you see fit.

One of my gifts in a previous year was under 2k. It was also written perfectly to spec for one of my prompts, and pretty much incredible in every way. It remains to this day one of the only fics I reread regularly. I reckon you're fine.

If it was the fandom of my heart I would love it no matter what the wordcount. People who complain about fic length are wanky AF (unless it isn't a complete story and just sort of abruptly ends when the minimum is hit).

Not if it was a good fic and clearly not phoned in.

I wouldn't be disappointed at all if it's exactly as much story as it needs to be. Like, I might experience a twinge of sad when I first saw the word count, but reading it would make the sad go away.

I'd rather a complete 1k story than a longer story that feels like the writer added material that didn't belong because they felt bad about "only" writing 1k.

No, I know which of my prompts are likely to be epics and which are about 1k worth of idea.

I received a short treat last year for the short fic challenge (can't remember the title off the top of my head) and it was so on-point with my prompts that my enjoyment of it far exceeded that of my actual gift in the main collection.

Not at all. I even have one narrative kink that I list which I'd be surprised to see successfully stretched out much past 1000 words. If somebody decided to write me fic with a sole focus on that trope, I would be genuinely ecstatic to get exactly 1000 words of it.

If your recip prompted something they want and you give it to them, I imagine they will be happy.

Not at all. A well-crafted fic that's 1000 words is infinitely better than a mediocre one that's 3000. Some of my favorite fics are under 1000 words for just that reason, they're perfect encapsulations of exactly what I was looking for.

I only get disappointed when I get a fic that clearly just stopped where the word limit was. Earlier this year, I got a fic that was truckin' along at a pretty normal pace, but then it hit the word limit and the rest of the story was summed up in a single sentence. Imagine something along the lines of a normal fantasy story until the last line, which was "Then they got to the evil kingdom and a random genie showed up and helped them, so they all defeated the evil queen and everyone was happy. The end."

It was just like "...oh."

Absolutely not. A fic is a fic, 1001 words or otherwise. It sounds like you're writing to their prompt and doing your best to give them a gift they'd like, which is exactly what I would from my author.

One of my very favorite Yuletide gifts is 1021 words, coalie. Another is 1098. You're fine.

One of the best Yuletide stories I've ever read was exactly 1000 words! And it was a masterpiece because it stuck so tightly to that limit.

Absolutely not. A thousand words of something I want is fantastic! I tend to write long, but I get plotty. I hope no one writing for me looks at the gift stories I've written and thinks I won't like anything short.

Of course, 1k words of exactly what I asked for isn't as good as 5k words of exactly what I asked for. But 1k words of exactly what I asked for is immensely satisfying, and it's 1000% better than 5k (or 1k) of something I didn't ask for.

/recently (in another exchange) received 1.2k of exactly what I asked for, absolutely loved it

Sort of. In the way that I was disappointed when the characters in Rogue One died, meaning it was perfect and that was why I was sad there wasn't more. Which is to say it would be a good kind of disappointment.

One of my favourite ever gifts was 1300 words. It gave me everything I wanted in that grandson and I reread it all the time. Short and hits exactly what I asked for is great IMO.

Re: Would you be disappointed

(Anonymous) - 2019-11-06 09:43 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Would you be disappointed

(Anonymous) - 2019-11-06 10:12 (UTC) - Expand

Yes, a little.

But none of my prompts is of the "this is wrapped up in 1k and there's nothing to add to" variety - which isn't to say you couldn't write some of my prompts in 1000 words, but it would absolutely lend itself to expansion. If the author doesn't want to do that, fair enough, it's all they signed up for. But I'm not going to be over the moon about it.

Re: Would you be disappointed

(Anonymous) - 2019-11-06 14:38 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Would you be disappointed

(Anonymous) - 2019-11-06 15:04 (UTC) - Expand

Yes, tbh.

Depends entirely on how much I'd written to be honest.

I've received 2k fic in exchanges where I've written 2k and it was great. I've also received 1k fic in exchanges where I've written 9k and I was disappointed. I know it's no my writer's fault and that I'm being unreasonable but that's just how it be.

Re: Would you be disappointed

(Anonymous) - 2019-11-06 12:28 (UTC) - Expand

I'd be delighted if it was good. I'd be disappointed if it was badfic.

Not at all! One of my favorite exchange gifts of all time was around 1,100 words. It was tightly written, thematically rich, and about the rare pair of my heart that I never expected anyone to write in a million years. Some of the best gifts I've received this year are of a similar length and get the dynamic between my OTP just right.

On the other hand, the worst gift I've received this year was 5,000+ and ignored my stated DNWs. Another 5,000+ gift I've received in the past had SPAG issues to the point it was nearly unreadable. I've received some fabulous, super long fic in the past too, which I treasure, but I know very well that length doesn't necessarily indicate quality or care.

No, that'd be great! It's not about the fic length for me, it's about how good the fic is. A 1000 words of a well-crafted scene is better than 5000 words of bad fic.

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