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)]

some people don't always write exactly the kind of fic you do

I get that, but unless coalies are same anoning, it sounds like y'all write the kind of fic that needs background characters, which is totally wild because I think I received that maybe three or four times in two decades of Yuletide. (And one of that was 20+k, so that makes sense for a fic that size.)

There's a difference between "the characters think about their friend/brother/kid back home" and "the plot needs a unnamed guard and a named OC barmaid and a scene with Ernie's father to work".

Re: Unpopular Opinion Time

[(Anonymous)]

We're definitely offering and requesting different kinds of fic, yeah! I've never written pure two-people-in-a-box for yuletide. I've gotten it I think twice; once was very odao and not in a good way (I requested three characters interacting, they wrote me their otp in a box and the third is mentioned in passing) and once wasn't odao but was objectively bad in other ways (like if your fic is pure dialogue learn how dialogue punctuation works bad.) That is probably influencing my opinion, sure.

But also like yes, I agree with your second paragraph! Most of the people talking about how they would find it difficult to avoid all unrequested characters are talking about the "can't even mention in passing" version. Unfortunately that's what the dnw (and, apparently, "new drinks must appear from thin air" coalie) actually mean. And, even then, a lot of times you're going to end up with a story that has at most a few references to other canon characters. It's just for most people it feels really unnatural to have to shape your story around that first and foremost, characters turn up where they're needed to make your story work and sometimes you need them.

That said, yeah, my natural writing length has been trending longer the older I get; my fics are usually 5-9k these days, and that generally means at least a couple scenes and a minor setting change.

Re: Unpopular Opinion Time

[(Anonymous)]

It's just for most people it feels really unnatural to have to shape your story around that first and foremost, characters turn up where they're needed to make your story work and sometimes you need them.

+1000
That's exactly it. And I may add that unnatural = unfun in this context. I can make it work but it's just not an assignment I'll enjoy writing.

Re: Unpopular Opinion Time

[(Anonymous)]

Most of the people talking about how they would find it difficult to avoid all unrequested characters are talking about the "can't even mention in passing" version. Unfortunately that's what the dnw (and, apparently, "new drinks must appear from thin air" coalie) actually mean. And, even then, a lot of times you're going to end up with a story that has at most a few references to other canon characters.

The bartender in the example does appear as a character in the fic, through - a very minor background character, granted, but not just someone the characters talk about. I would also understand a "DNW: unrequested characters" to include her. I would not understand an "unrequested characters" DNW to include requested character Ernie mentioning his brother in a conversation with requested character Bert.

That said, yeah, my natural writing length has been trending longer the older I get; my fics are usually 5-9k these days, and that generally means at least a couple scenes and a minor setting change.

My natural habitat is 3-6k, but it rarely includes more than two characters actively appearing on the page, unless I write the kind of canon that needs a view faceless goons one of the protagonist kills off, or a third canonical character I like enough to give a cameo. I just checked my last ten fics like the other coalie below did. They range from 1.5k to 5.5k, and 3 of them have more than two characters in the fic - one of them is an ensemble piece, two have one or two line appearances of nameless OCs. The three longest ones have neither, so even in that word count range, I think it just depends on what types of fics you prefer. After a certain wordcount, including more characters is probably par for the course, but I'd put that well beyond 10k.

Re: Unpopular Opinion Time

[(Anonymous)]

sa

And, perhaps more interesting, of my last 10 exchange gifts:

1 has a background canonical character
2 have unnamed OC villains
1 alludes to the past relationships Ernie/Big Bird and Bert/Cookie Monster so heavily that they are tagged as relationships, but neither Big Bird nor Cookie Monster actually appear in the story, so I wouldn't really count them

The rest only star my requested characters.

Re: Unpopular Opinion Time

[(Anonymous)]

See, I would say "the waitress dropped off another drink" is not a character appearing in the fic, because she's literally just a shadow puppet who does nothing but set the scene. Whereas Ernie and Bert having a conversation that is substantially about Ernie's brother is. If someone specifically DNW'd Ernie's brother that would absolutely be a DNW violation.

Re: Unpopular Opinion Time

[(Anonymous)]

Huh. Interesting. For me it would be on-page appearances vs. mentions, so "waitress dropping off another drink" would feel more substantial and ping my 'another character is in the fic' whereas "protagonists talking about their brother" would not feel like the extra character was actively in the fic. If it was in a movie, the waitress would be credited, the brother would not, and that's how I handle it with fic too.

For an actual DNW, I might ask through the mods if mentions are okay if the prompt called for the type of fic that needs or is significantly improved by that mention.