One Wank After Another

[coalcube]

A blank assignment is a funny thing, isn't it? When you have it, you don't appreciate it, and when you miss it, it's gone.

Wednesday 10 December: Default deadline (9pm UTC)
Wednesday 17 December: Assignment deadline (9pm UTC)
Wednesday 24 December: Main collection works reveals (9pm UTC)
Thursday 25 December: Madness collection works reveals (9pm UTC)
Thursday 1 January: Author reveals, end of event (9pm UTC)

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Comments

Some letters stats

[(Anonymous)]

I was surprised by how many of the 'hidden' requests in my fandoms actually turned out to have letters that just weren't posted on the letters post/in the app, and so I decided to look at the numbers.

There are currently 452 letters in the spreadsheet generated by the app, but 805 letters linked in people's sign-ups. Therefore out of 1,215 total sign-ups, 66.3% wrote a letter but only 37.2% linked their letter on the app/letters post; only 56.1% of letters are linked on the app/letters post.

So I was right: a lot of people write letters without using the app or the letters post—not much less than half of all letters are 'hidden'. I don't know how many of the 43.9% of hidden letters were unfinished at close of sign-ups (in which case they wouldn't have been allowed on the letters post) vs. how many the letter-writer just didn't feel like linking vs. how many participants write letters but don't know about the letters post.

Re: Some letters stats

[(Anonymous)]

I’m betting that there are a lot of placeholder letters in there.

Preference Rating Game

[(Anonymous)]

...has returned once again!

How to play:
1. Reply to this comment with a fandom that has more than one request. (Or a group of requests for different fandoms, organized around a shared theme.)
2. Coalies will look at all the requests/letters. You don't have to be in that fandom to play.
3. Sort them in sequential order from "would like to treat the most" to "would be least likely to treat".
4. Optional: say why you rated them where you did, aka "I like minimalist letters", "I don't write gen", "These prompts instantly inspired me", etc

People responding, feel free to narrow your criteria if there are a lot of requests for one fandom, so instead of doing ALL requests you could do all the f/f requests, or all for a single ship, or whatever.

Some threads from recent years, to get an idea of how this works:

https://coaltide.dreamwidth.org/8335.html?thread=17923983#cmt17923983
https://coaltide.dreamwidth.org/7360.html?thread=14076864#cmt14076864
https://coaltide.dreamwidth.org/6150.html?thread=12290310#cmt12290310

Re: Preference Rating Game - Cthulhu Mythos

[(Anonymous)]

https://tagset2025.web.app/#/fandom/512

how to reign yourself in without selling yourself short

[(Anonymous)]

I matched on a perfect recipient for me - we both like the same things about the fandom and want the same things from fic, but the problem now is I have TOO MANY ideas, most of which are for pretty long things that I don't have full confidence I'll be able to finish in time because yt coincides with a lot of stuff that has me really busy through the end of the year.

Is it a better idea to start with a smaller, more achievable idea and then if I have time later to work on the longer fic once I know I have something I can post, or to put all my eggs in getting through one of the longfic ideas even if it means I'm scrabbling to either finish or write a replacement short fic right before deadlines.

Re: how to reign yourself in without selling yourself short

[(Anonymous)]

If you write a small fic now, will you actually work on the bigger fic or will your brain go "Hey, you finished this task, everything else has priority now"?

[(Anonymous)]

I do live in constant fear that one year my Yuletide recipient will DNW em-dashes.

[(Anonymous)]

/coalie who said they default on DNW:italics

I think I could live with that one. I'd just have Word not replace the double dash by an em-dash.

My nightmare scenario would be DNW: present tense. Nope.

App Numbers

[(Anonymous)]

Looking at the preferences thread made me wonder how the app assigns numbers to fandoms. It doesn't seem to be alphabetical, and the ones I nominated aren't all clustered by number so probably not FIFO. Does anyone know?

Re: App Numbers

[(Anonymous)]

I think it is alphabetical but within categories, i.e. first all the anime and manga fandoms numbered in alphabetical order, then all the book fandoms numbered in alphabetical order, etc. The same sort order you get when you select "all categories".

Canon review

[(Anonymous)]

How seriously do you take it? How do you approach it? At what part of the process do you do it?

Re: Canon review

[(Anonymous)]

Extremely seriously, and I wish I didn't! Doesn't matter if I'm writing for a favorite that I've seen/read/played/whatever a hundred times before, I still feel like I must consume it again just before I start writing. Then while writing I'll continually consume parts of it over and over again, like specific scenes.

Hey, indignant Black Jewels coalie

[(Anonymous)]

are you doing OK today?

Re: Hey, indignant Black Jewels coalie

[(Anonymous)]

i have onion baguette

im fine

Plans: Week Ending Sunday November 2

[(Anonymous)]

This will be the second weekend with our Yuletide assignments!

What Yuletide-things do you plan to do or get done by the end of this Sunday or earlier?

("Nothing" is a perfectly acceptable answer, and so is scrolling past. If you're doing other fandom or non-fandom things, coalies may be interested in hearing about those instead.)

Re: Plans: Week Ending Sunday November 2

[(Anonymous)]

Start canon review, and track down the missing volume somewhere on my bookshelves.

Your stylistic quirks too precious to give up

[(Anonymous)]

En dashes? Ellipses? Single-line paragraphs? Parentheses?

Which formatting quirks would you find most unendurable to vary or forebear from using?

Re: Your stylistic quirks too precious to give up

[(Anonymous)]

Parentheses. I've been using them since the days when I wore an onion on my belt (which was the style at the time).

[(Anonymous)]

have i mentioned butts today?
if not, then butts

[(Anonymous)]

If butts, then not.

Who else is overthinking this

[(Anonymous)]

Started writing-writing (as in, not just making notes/plotting) last night, and I am struggling AF to get into the right voice. I know fanfic doesn't have to emulate canon, but I want to, and I like to, and I know I can.

But every sentence I write I'm noping out of. :P

Re: Who else is overthinking this

[(Anonymous)]

Same, coalie. I’m writing in a book fandom and having trouble matching the author’s very descriptive and evocative style. The only solution, for me, is to use write what I can, no matter how flat or rough it feels, then go back and wordsmith later. I have 640 words that I don’t hate.

help me out coalies

[(Anonymous)]

canon i matched on is still airing, it has at least four more weeks to go before it's done. should i wait until then to start or start something now with the knowledge that it might get jossed before posting (recip has said either is fine so it's more about how personally annoyed i might be if something is either too close to what i've written or too far)

Re: help me out coalies

[(Anonymous)]

If you have an idea now, I wouldn’t wait. You would still have time after the last episode to decide if you needed to add or change anything.

The DNW that made you want to know the backstory

[(Anonymous)]

Most DNWs are pretty self explanatory: certain kinks, gore, etc. You know, or can guess, why they’re listed. Even ones like “No character named Larry” seem pretty self evident (knew someone with that name and didn’t want to see it in fic).

Then there’s the one I just ran across: No walnuts. In the greater scheme of things knowing why walnuts are forbidden isn’t going to affect my life, but still. Allergies? Was pelted with them as a small child? Saw that episode of the Dick Van Dyke show and was traumatized? Can’t look at the shell and not be reminded of a testicle?

Re: The DNW that made you want to know the backstory

[(Anonymous)]

if i saw this i'd probably assume that walnuts have some very minor significance in the canon but are the type of minor canon thing that the fandom has elevated to A Thing and the author hates that

Crossworks

[(Anonymous)]

crossworks

https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Crossworks2025/fandoms

Crossover/fusion art and fic just revealed if you're into that

Re: Crossworks

[(Anonymous)]

I need to brace myself for zero engagement other than my recip I guess. My fandoms are already niche, crossing them over will only make them more niche. :'|

anyone more excited over writing a treat over your assignment?

[(Anonymous)]

*

Re: anyone more excited over writing a treat over your assignment?

[(Anonymous)]

well, yes, but sometimes that's how the cookie crumbles. I won't give my assigned recipient cause for complaint.

Brainstorming help

[(Anonymous)]

Ask coal for help. It's possible coal will be helpful.

Re: Brainstorming help

[(Anonymous)]

Hey coal, what are fun things to see in a fully tropey royal court AU?

Exchanges After Dark discord

[(Anonymous)]

Link in the post body is dead, as are the links I turned up in YT discord and top google results. Help me out?

Re: Exchanges After Dark discord

[(Anonymous)]

https://discord.gg/mQHvetDf

PTSD

[(Anonymous)]

I am writing about PTSD in a fic because it fits with what the reader requested. I have PTSD myself so I can at least make it realistic. It was asked though that characters recover. I haven't recovered from PTSD so I'm a bit stuck on how a person would "cure" it. Any ideas?

Re: PTSD

[(Anonymous)]

time skip forward 10 years?

where are the wanky letters

[(Anonymous)]

im bored

Re: where are the non-con requests

[(Anonymous)]

I’m still looking!

Though in the same vein, has anyone found requests looking for non-con, I’ve run out of my own fandoms, but life has sucked recently and I’d like the write someone else getting fucked over to blow off steam.

Looking for ...

[(Anonymous)]

If you have a craving for a specific kind of prompt, name it here. If you see something here and know of a prompt asking for it, link it.

Re: Looking for ... explicit f/f

[(Anonymous)]

All my carefully curated f/f fandoms are full of people asking for no smut and fade to black. Where are the people who want explicit f/f, with or without plot? Ideally in fandoms that will take me under six hours to consume.

would you rather game

[(Anonymous)]

would you rather have this, or that, in your gift fic? or write this, or that? etc.

Re: would you rather game

[(Anonymous)]

would you rather receive a longfic that goes odao, or a shortfic that is perfectly tailored to your likes and id?

new pinch hits

[(Anonymous)]

#39-48 just got posted to the pinch hit comm.

Re: new pinch hits

[(Anonymous)]

Honestly with a blank sign-up, it would be a courtesy if the mods posted a link to the person's overall requests on the app. Joulethieves (love that name btw) has a lot of thoughts on some of their fandoms actually.

https://autoao3app.fandom.tools/#/everything/username/joulethieves

why do i do these things

[(Anonymous)]

have managed to pick a plot that is going to require me to name 10+ OCs sob

Re: why do i do these things

[(Anonymous)]

I believe in you Coalie.

Just don't temporarily name them all shit like Banana and Crusty because those names will stick.

[(Anonymous)]

https://x.com/duckgirlie/status/1983665216698364182

Wow, you're really out here talking smack under your screen name? Over innocuous things? I hope they receive unrequested poetry again, it's what they deserve.

[(Anonymous)]

And doing it on X, too! Which is embarrassing all by itself!

what are better sounding words then penis?

[(Anonymous)]

So obviously there will be sex in my fic. So I need a better word for penis just because I don't think it's the best sounding word. I thought of: c*ck (although I don't like that as much either), member, manhood (although these might sound cheesy.

Re: what are better sounding words then penis?

[(Anonymous)]

I'm a fan of member. If you are writing for me, member is good