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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2020 App (Easter Eggs) | Letters Post

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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.

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