coaltide | Coalway to Hell

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2020

Coalway to Hell

Yuletide Weather Forecast:

Temperatures are estimated to fluctuate between active panic and total apathy into the next weekend. Main assignments will have a minimum temperature of regret and a complete climate change once editing is complete. Expect treat writing to continue at all free hours unless the dangerous front of procrastination cropping up in the Northeast successful moves into the area, effectively killing the treat storm conditions for the season.

Yuletide Discord for Hippos. Google Group for PHs. F_F wiki for history.

yulefairy for treats you can't find a recip for.

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This is such a crazypants way to do Yuletide. Some people (hi!) aren’t good at writing letters and prompts, or had very low energy for it this year but wanted to participate anyway. If my author is like you (or is you) then I guess they must hate me, but honestly I usually prefer shorter fic anyhow, and I had fun writing my assignment, so whatever.

AYRT

It goes both ways. You can't expect your author to read your mind or pour all their resources into you when you couldn't even be bothered to advocate for your own likes or give them something to work with, especially when other people did do that for their potential authors.

Some authors (hi!) sign up to write fics based on prompts or tropes the recip seems excited by, and have very low energy to come up with an original idea that they like but might which not be what the recip had in mind. Specific plots, especially in small fandoms, aren't likely to get an audience beyond the recip, so playing it safe with them is the most likely way to make both parties happy. If my recip is like you (or is you), I assume that they aren't as enthusiastic about getting a fic as I am, but honestly I would prefer to write my interesting fic of [whatever length it needs to be] for people that showed enthusiasm and I had fun writing these fics, so whatever.

That’s great that you could write treats to fulfill your writing needs, then, and presumably the awesome letter-writing people that you are treating will appreciate them, because you sound really clever and amazing. Good for you.

And you seem like a real peach who doesn't like that exchanges are a social interaction that operates on a two-way street. I hope you don't get coal, but if ever there was a grinch that deserved it, damn.

I don’t really care that much if I get coal, was my point, but I do hope my author had fun writing the story even without loads of detailed prompts and I will comment appreciatively on it, even if it’s by you. You’re the one shitting on people for not writing the kinds of OPTIONAL letters and details that you prefer instead of just being happy you can write treats for whatever prompts you like better than the ones in your assignment.

Lol. I said a part of me hopes that the recip goes looking at the other fics I wrote and likes them. If they do, they should know it was because those recips told me what they liked in a straight forward manner. It isn't shitting on people to go "if you wanted this thing instead of the safe fic I wrote you, please read into the differences why". The other part of me hopes that my guess at what they liked was right and they enjoy the fic I wrote and don't read into what I did for other people.

You seem to have a complex over detailed prompts, which is weird, and also not what I said. I didn't write for anyone with a letter that broke 1k this year. It's about having something with a little soul or at least shows exactly what you like, even if it is "I love a man in uniform" for a military canon.

You totally seem not upset, which is good for you. I will never have a fun time writing for someone who doesn't care what they get and will comment the same way on coal as they would a fic I poured my heart into, so takes for saying the quiet part out loud on why people feel so crushed when they get a recip like you, I guess...

I didn’t say I’d comment just the same on coal as I would for a great fic. Obviously I’d give a more in depth comment to someone who really put forth an effort. And yes, I am feeling sensitive about all the hate I’ve seen for inadequate letters this year when I just didn’t have it in me to write a fantastic letter. I think it’s mean to say what sounded to me like “I hope my recipient reads my fics for people who wrote REAL letters and feels bad,” as well as kind of nonsensical from my perspective because I would never think to do that and it’s not the way I do yuletide. I was actually fine with getting a letter that left me a lot of leeway this year and had a great time writing a longish fic that I think my recipient will enjoy, and if they don’t, I won’t especially blame them for not giving me more to work with, ill just chalk it up to bad luck.

This. I prefer lighter letters to long rambling ones myself, and I write the story that makes sense based on what they ask for and what I'm inspired to do. I can write 10k on a nearly blank signup and have done so multiple times. My recips with longer letters usually get closer to the minimum because when someone is super specific with what they want, their gifts lend themselves to a shorter plot. I'm not in this to punish someone for their letter or signup. That's against the entire idea of giving a gift.

Thanks to both of you for this pretentious mini-wank.

I'm shipping it. Hatesex, or enemies reluctantly moving to "friends" and then "oh no they're hot"?

I'm the same—I have a hard time writing those long letters everyone always seems to gush about. On the flip side, I don't mind at all if my author sort of does their own thing. I do mind if they have the kind of attitude where they actively hope I feel bad for my letter which, yes, is optional. That sounds like such a mean attitude to have and I genuinely can't relate.

NC

I get you, coalie. There's something that seems so spiteful about that attitude. I think you're doing fine, and I would be fine with writing for a letter like yours.

I think there's a difference between somebody who writes very short details/no letter and a completely blank signup. Even if you're bad with that stuff it's not that hard to write "I'm happy with anything you write for me" or "I like either shipfic or gen for these characters" or "AUs are cool, so is canon" in your signup. I agree that dumping on people who do something like that sucks.

A completely blank signup with literally nothing is a lot harder. It gives your writer absolutely no idea what you are expecting. You are going to have a frustrated writer and either a safety fic or one that deliberately makes no effort to make you happy. And a placeholder letter leaves your writer even worse off. A blank signup and placeholder letter is the worst of both. Most of the real dumping I've seen on coal this year has been about blank signups and/or placeholder letters.

DC

There's nothing wrong with blank signups, either, though. Some people like writing for them, some people don't, just like most other kinds of letter/signup types. They're not inherently "a lot harder" just because some people really don't like them.

However, placeholder letters are super frustrating. I agree with you there.

NA

I think the argument is that if you have a letter or sign up that doesn’t provide clear or any guidance then, in the case where you get a fic you dislike or you see other people getting fics they do like, you may be able to increase your odds of a fic you actively like by including those things.

The argument does not apply for those who are happy with anything or like the fics that their sign up nets them.

If you dislike the fic or want more but also believe that authors are not entitled to guidance, then you are in an equal battle of the wills with authors who dislike recips with those sign ups and do not believe they are entitled to gifts that (insert definition of the kinds of fic they make for sign ups they like).

CYRT

I think the argument is that if you have a letter or sign up that doesn’t provide clear or any guidance then, in the case where you get a fic you dislike or you see other people getting fics they do like, you may be able to increase your odds of a fic you actively like by including those things.

Well, sure. That doesn't mean your writer gets to be mad at you for not doing it. "This could improve your exchange experience" =/= "This is required and people are justified in being pissed off if you don't." All this is predicated on the idea that the people with blank signups are unhappy with the gifts they receive, and AFAIK there's no clear evidence that that's the case?

I mean, it's within the rules, but last year I had a signup that basically said "I have no idea how to write fic for this fandom, I hope you do, go for it" and that was a great writing experience. This year I have literally nothing and it's been incredibly frustrating.

If you leave your signup blank you're basically putting onto your writer not just coming up with an idea, but also guessing, based on absolutely no evidence, things like what you consider the edges of opt-in/opt-out. You requested two characters and nothing else, does that mean you think this is a shipping fest? You have no characters in your request, does that mean you are okay with any characters in the character set, or any characters at all, or no characters, or you just didn't know how the signup worked? Etc. So if you want to do a good job you're stuck trying to write to a very narrow interpretation of the YT rules and assuming anything anyone has ever considered opt-in is off the table, which generally means a boring safety fic. You can't even really ask the mods because with nothing to ask questions about it's going to either come out as "Does recip like this very specific idea I had?" or "Could recip please give me any optional details at all?" and with a blank sign-up it's even odds you get no answer anyway. Or you just throw it out and write whatever and don't think about the recip.

CYRT

You are make this way too hard. If you get a blank signup, write whatever you want that fulfills the request, leaving out things you would NORMALLY leave out unless requested (probably snuff, scat, etc). That's all you have to do.

You have no characters in your request, does that mean you are okay with any characters in the character set, or any characters at all, or no characters, or you just didn't know how the signup worked?

It means you get to write any character nominated. That's how "any" works. This is not a mystery.

Yep, that's the "follow YT rules strictly and write for yourself" option I mentioned. That's what a lot of people who've been saying they got no signup are saying they did, and that it serves the prompter right. Which it does.

NC Well, you seem delightful and not at all up your own ass.

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