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

Re: Unpopular Opinion Time

[(Anonymous)]

CYRT

Because we use "limit" differently here. People who say "these DNW limit me" have repeatedly said that they mean that this is something that impedes their creativity and spoils their fun, whereas saying "exchange fic sets limits as to what the writer is allowed to write" is a neutral statement.

And either way "where is the line for too many limits" is not something that's possible to answer when it comes to DNWs because how limiting DNWs are is subjective and depends on the author's own preferences. Personally, I'd find a single "DNW: A/B" or even a "DNW: italics for emphasis" much more limiting (but still valid!) than a laundry list of "DNW: darkfic, smut, original or unrequested characters, character death, any mentions of children, semicolons, AUs, fic set before the end of canon, kink". Someone else will probably feel differently and might find "DNW: original characters" terribly limiting and everything else easy to accommodate.

Re: Unpopular Opinion Time

[(Anonymous)]

DC

I disagree that we can't discuss where the line is for too many limits just because it's subjective. (And now we're getting somewhere interesting!) For one thing, we already do view some DNWs as too restrictive, officially or unofficially. "DNW: AUs" and "DNW: anything" other than a coffee shop AU" in a request would be seen very differently.

I just think it's a courtesy to allow some leeway. You might not match to someone who wants to write that specific thing, and that's ok.

Re: Unpopular Opinion Time

[(Anonymous)]

CYRT

Except your example isn't subjective. "DNW: anything other than a coffee shop AU" is the very definition of railroading. Regardless of whether I personally like coffee shop AUs (I do) and would find this limiting myself, it's a railroading DNW.

And there's a massive difference between that and a DNW like "no requested relationships". That's what some of us have been saying all along. Railroading is not subjective (and generally not enforcable). Whether a DNW is limiting for you personally and might get in the way of you having the best time writing your assignment on the other hand is subjective (and a reasonable DNW).

Re: Unpopular Opinion Time

[(Anonymous)]

CYRT

Coalie, why do you think I used the very definition of railroading as my example. Seriously.

You keep using the word "subjective", I do not think it means what you think it means... I guarantee you that if you had this exact conversation now about whether "DNW: anything other than a coffee shop AU" is unreasonably railroady or not, without it already being enshrined in the rules as an unenforceable DNW, there would be coalies piping up in favor of how if can't write a coffee shop AU, then you're an inflexible writer and should probably default. Come on. You know there would be.

The point is that while some DNWs are on the official list of examples of railroady DNWs by mod consensus, that does not actually mean it's a complete or comprehensive (or even reasonable!) list, WTH. We absolutely can discuss which ones are railroady even though it's subjective.

Re: Unpopular Opinion Time

[(Anonymous)]

SC

That was needlessly condescending of me, I'm sorry. I should take a chill pill and not get so worked up over stupid shit.

Tl;DR of the above post: all DNWs are subjective, some DNWs being on the mod-approved list of shit they won't enforce doesn't really mean much when it comes to other DNWs.

Re: Unpopular Opinion Time

[(Anonymous)]

I can't remember the last time I encountered italics in a fic so I'm really struggling to wrap my mind around how they could be integral to someone's fic writing style.

Re: Unpopular Opinion Time

[(Anonymous)]

"You never encounter fic that heavily relies on italics for emphasis," coalie asked. "Huh, that's so weird."

They wondered if the other coalie was in very different fandoms, or if they were just the type whose eyes skipped over formatting when they read and they simply didn't notice the italics use in the fic they read.

Re: Unpopular Opinion Time

[(Anonymous)]

NC

Italics is so weird to me for emphasis when it doesn’t really stand out that much and ALL CAPS or bold is right there.

Re: Unpopular Opinion Time

[(Anonymous)]

I think that's pretty much the point, though, that it adds emphasis without throwing the reader out like more dramatic formatting tricks can do, since people are used to italics as the standard form of emphasis in published fiction, whereas bold in the middle of a block of text stands out far more but in a 'WTF are you doing, author?' negative way, like using underlining or coloured text.

Re: Unpopular Opinion Time

[(Anonymous)]

Honestly, I’ve always felt that italics under emphasizes, it just looks like somebody is whispering to me.

Then again, I read a lot of comics so I’m really used to RANDOM words being BOLDED! And much more outlandish and bazar typography.

Re: Unpopular Opinion Time

[(Anonymous)]

I think comics have actually trained me to tune out bold completely because the emphasis is usually so weirdly placed that if you try to incorporate it in any way into your reading the text becomes too bizarrely stilted to read.

Re: Unpopular Opinion Time

[(Anonymous)]

Totally valid.

Re: Unpopular Opinion Time

[(Anonymous)]

Ngl it's because of this that I don't read comics.

Re: Unpopular Opinion Time

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks, I hated that.

Re: Unpopular Opinion Time

[(Anonymous)]

I think a lot of people in audiovisual or voice-acted fandoms get overly fixated on trying to capture every little nuance of how the actors pronounce things by using italics for emphasis instead of just trusting the reader to be able to hear the voices in their head as they read. (Similar to how some fic writers will go overboard trying to describe every little detail of body language all the time instead of just a few representative actions.)

Re: Unpopular Opinion Time

[(Anonymous)]

I feel twice called out by that!

/coalie using lots of italics AND describing every detail of body language

Re: Unpopular Opinion Time

[(Anonymous)]

You don't even have to be in an audiovisual canon's fandom for it, OTL. I'm glad I've been branching out into style pastiches for some assignments, because trying to emulate a specific written style really made me aware of how much I overuse italics. If every other word is emphasized then nothing is you dum-dum!