coaltide | Offseason #1

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offseason

Offseason #1

Use this post for any exchanges running from January onwards into the first quarter of the year. Try to keep final Yuletide thoughts in the last coal post of 2019 for ease of conversation.

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Some of the prompts are maybe suited to longer fic than you might get in chocolate box.

It's not like people won't write longfic in Chocolate Box.

Or like they can't write a scene from what could be a longer plot. That sort of thing is what most decent short fics are like.

True.

Though I disagree strongly about those being decent short fics. I think 99% of those fics are terrible and feel unfinished, and I wish there would be a non-wanky way to DNW them.

I agree that a lot of them feel unfinished, but I think it is possible to write a short fic that has an outside plot and that feels like a self-standing scene. A lot of people try for this and the result does not achieve the aim, but it's more likely to be successful than the other type of short fic that is 1k of a plot beginning to end.

I genuinely like those better. 1k of snapshot scenes that tell a whole story is still a much better fic to me than "one short scene from a much larger fic the author will never write". The latter is inherently disappointing, even (maybe especially) when it's well written.

+10000

-1

Might just be me, but those end up feeling shallow. I get annoyed by all the telling.

Re: Chocolate Box - Letter 3T1L

(Anonymous) - 2020-01-07 11:40 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Chocolate Box - Letter 3T1L

(Anonymous) - 2020-01-07 11:58 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Chocolate Box - Letter 3T1L

(Anonymous) - 2020-01-07 12:04 (UTC) - Expand

"maybe" "might"

Of course some people will write longer fics. Some are only looking to write 300 words.

"Tripple Drabble" and not a word more.

Although to be fair, that usually requires writing more and editing down and editing again because you're constantly a bit over or under.

Yeah, but if some people wrote short fic and song write longfic, how is it a problem when some prompts are for longer fic? People looking to write 300 words can just ignore those prompts.

I don't know how to prompt for something that's only 300 words. I suppose my comments on what I like about certain relationships could lend itself to that, but I'm struggling to see plot-related prompts used like that.

+1

If someone only wants to write 300 words, they can always go ODAO.

Nobody said it was a problem. The person doing the 3T1L thing literally said they liked the letter. What is *your* problem?

No wonder nobody plays these games when someone tries to give their own thoughts and just gets jumped on.

???

3T1L invites people to share critical thoughts about letters. I'm assuming the comment about the prompts being for longer fic was a critical thought, because otherwise it would have been pointless. All I was doing was pointing out that the prompts could still lead to longer fic even in chocolate box and that was probably their purpose.

Not if they're the only prompts.

If you know there's a possibility (as there is in this exchange) that you might only get <500 words, it makes sense to give some prompts that can be quickly dealt with, if you are bothered about getting what you want in a shorter fic. If you don't care what you get in a shorter fic then sure, let the author go ODOA if they want to write something shorter.

I'd rather have 500 words of something I've prompted for than 500 words of something ODOA.

If you don't care what you get in a shorter fic then sure, let the author go ODOA if they want to write something shorter.

That's mostly me. I prefer longer fic, so I prompt for longer fic.

Re: Chocolate Box - Letter 3T1L

(Anonymous) - 2020-01-06 23:22 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Chocolate Box - Letter 3T1L

(Anonymous) - 2020-01-06 23:28 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Chocolate Box - Letter 3T1L

(Anonymous) - 2020-01-06 23:35 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Chocolate Box - Letter 3T1L

(Anonymous) - 2020-01-06 23:45 (UTC) - Expand

The longest fic I've ever received was in fact in Chocolate Box.

DC This was true for me too until recently.

I still think that if you're signing up to an exchange with a short word limit, it makes sense to include some prompts that work at a shorter length, if you can.

A writer can use the list of general likes if the specific prompts all seem too long. Write me 500 words of “first kisses” or “snarky banter” or something.

I wrote my second-longest ever fic for Chocolate Box. Tbh, it doesn’t generally matter which exchange it is - I usually write somewhere around 2-4K.

This. I always write 3-8k, no matter what the actual minimum word count is.

Same.

DA. +1. Everything I've done so far is >2k at the very minimum. I'm editing one that will be in the 5-10k range by the time I'm done.

So, yeah. Some people can't drabble or flash fic for their lives and still come into these kinds of exchanges.

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