a few more events

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Yuletide has opened sign-ups until October 23rd, 9AM UTC. Find out all the details and links this way. Also if you would like to participate but not sign-up, details on how to be a pinch hitter are here.

rarepairficexchange has opened sign-ups until October 24th, 11:59 PM CDT for the Rare Pair Madness. More info can be found here.

I've never participated in Yuletide before, and I actually hadn't planned on signing up this year. Between the 'and' matching and the inability to see the requests, I wasn't sure it was for me. Especially since there are some shippy exchanges, like Mistletoe, that are running around the same time and I already am in neck deep with assignments. And it was working too- until I saw the summary and man, there are some appealing fandoms in there with sign-ups! Of course they would be for fandoms I haven't written for before, but they are tempting.

So far, still holding strong though! We'll see how long that lasts. :D

Comments

[brokenhighways]

STAY STRONG!! At the very least, could pinch hit but you might need to sit on your hands for now, lol

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LOL I'm trying but man, those Bollywood movie requests are just so interesting, especially since the requests for the Rare Pair Madness, which I though I would sign up for, aren't appealing at all.

I only have to hold out for another day so I am going to try to distract myself by working on some other assignments.

[brokenhighways]

The only thing that appealed to me was Superman and Lois but I haven't seen the show yet. What other assignments are you working on?

I just signed up for Rare Pair Madness, mostly to entertain myself, lol. I even offered an Original Work or two. I'm matchable but I'm pretty sure my requests will go out as PHs. We'll see! Quick Fic is the one I thought I'd do, but I wasn't inspired by anything.

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I was surprised that there were a few of those, but like you, I haven't seen the show either. And even if I had, I wouldn't know what characters they're asking about! Why you can't see people's requests, I don't know, especially in such a large exchange. Apparently 1000 people have already signed up! I do watch Ted Lasso, which seems to be dominating request wise, but I don't trust myself to write British people anyway and I like the "rarer" requests more.

Both my Multi Fandom Trope Exchange fic and the Trick or treat are due this weekend, so I'm finishing those up and I just submitted my Fic in a Box (after having to ask for, like two extensions *and* accidentally leaving it in my drafts- embarrassing) but I will have to edit over the next week, for all three likely.

Oh nice! That one has a few more days so I will lurk and think about it. And yeah, I saw the Quick Fic opened sign-ups and like you, I haven't been inspired by anything. I had fun with the Seasons of Drabbles so something shorter would've been nice.

[brokenhighways]

I wasn't surprised, but like you say, it's not just Clark/Lois on that show. It's hard to know what they're asking for. I've had a few people ask if I'd write a S&L based fic so I guess there's some demand for it.

I think the large number of sign ups is why they don't show the requests. It would be impossible to read through and this way people can't blatantly game for certain people. Lol, I read a fic where someone was talking soccer and they mentioned the halfback position and I was like ????? but it didn't throw me out of the story too much. Write the best you can. I'm not American, but I've written mostly American characters my entire time in fandom.

Wow, you have a lot going on! Good luck with all of it! Fic In A Box seemed so confusing to me. Seems like quite a few people asked for deadlines so that's not too and. Glad you were able to submit!

It was a nice idea, the quick fic, but I wonder if people avoiding the bigger exchanges gravitated there? I saw some interesting requests so I might check out PHs if there are any and go through those fandoms if I am actually writing something.

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Exactly. And true! I have definitely see some fans on Tumblr so there is an audience.

Possibly- I think considering the large number of signups is the reason I would want to at least try to game. The annoying part is the 'and' matching, because you could offer a fandom that someone requested but you don't know what they requested so there's no chance you can connect. :\ At the very least, people can post their letters to an app so you know that way but that requires having done it. Not that I'm very good at gaming anyway- I tried once and failed and the times I've ended up with who/what I want are legit by luck.

It is weird when you notice someone just being blatantly wrong! I saw someone mention in a story that the main character was commuting from Los Angeles to San Francisco, claiming it was 2 hours away, and I was like "???" too. I think I worry more about the British slang and even the title character, who is the lone American, has a difficult voice to nail down too. Oh well.

I'm not American, but I've written mostly American characters my entire time in fandom.
I definitely wouldn't have been able to tell if you hadn't told me.

I have two others but one is due till middle of November and the other not till the third week of January. I know, I have a problem. XD Thanks! This is my first year doing Fic in a Box and it's definitely a unique format, especially with the swaps. I haven't had to really get an extension before so to get multiple was awkward for me, at least until I read the FFA and saw that other people were asking for extensions on top of extensions so I was relieved that I wasn't the only one. :D

There is a lot happening so I can see it getting lost in the shuffle, especially since it wasn't really promoted much.

[brokenhighways]

Gaming just seems really exhausting, lol. I'm too lazy for such things. I'll be honest, I'm still utterly confused by yuletide. It does seem odd that you can't see requests, though. Did they give a reason why?

British slang is all regional, so depending on where Ted Lasso is based, it might not be too out there for you. The best thing to do is read a bunch of fics and build up from that point. At least that's what I try to do when writing a new voice. I recently had to write cowboy dialogue/a 6th century knight narrative voice. It was cringey at first, but then I got used to it, lol.

I think it's easier for me to write American characters because we're exposed to them fairly often here. So, I know the differences from watching and reading US media and books, literature, etc. Sometimes I switch between the spellings, like colour/colour, but for the most part I can remember the major differences. I remember a beta asking me what CCTV was once and getting really irate, but I just find it interesting to see the differences. Fandom definitely has an Americanisation slant to it at times. I remember an old comm called 'drop the U' all about whipping Briticisms out of fic, lol. I should write more British characters. I think the only one I've written is Eames from Inception. I want to write about fish and chips, dammit! 😂

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I think it's probably easier in smaller exchanges, like up to maybe 30 people. If only one or two other people are asking for your fandom, it's simple but when it comes to bigger fandoms, it is probably more complicated. Then again, I'm definitely going to attempt to game for Mistletoe so we'll see how it goes. And I totally caved and signed up for Yuletide btw so I will let you know how it works out. I don't know why they don't let you see requests. I saw the 2020 and there are like, 300 pages so maybe it is just too many. I never asked or found out. This is my first time. I wasn't in the Exchange scene when I was in fandom last and I only knew of Yuletide after when I saw people on Tumblr posting their letters. There is an app and a place where you can post your letters/requests early but you still probably only get a small sample size.

Makes sense. That is true around America too. Ted Lasso is set in London (Richmond?) but there are players from different backgrounds. One character is from Manchester and there are others from Nigeria, etc. I have such a paranoia about just going off others fics because I worry about copying by accident but that is good advice, thank you. LOL that is definitely a different style but I'm glad you were able to work it out!

For sure. You do see them a lot and from different parts too. As a reader, I honestly rarely even notice the spellings- the only thing that usually stands out to be is the mum/mom word choice. And it is interesting for sure! You're right about fandom having an American slant and also a lot of Americans tend to assume others are also from here. Wow, I didn't know that a comm like that existed but I'm not surprised. I remember with Harry Potter, there was definitely some advice out there on how to write British characters but I never got around to writing fic for that fandom so it wasn't relevant.

You should definitely write more British characters! I've only written one, with Peggy, but there's no time like the present lol

[brokenhighways]

Lol! Good luck with Yuletide! I don't know how you do all these exchanges at once, lol. I'm signed up for one at the moment and I've barely worked on it, can't imagine having 3-4 all at once!

I might not bother with the mistletoe exchange after all. So far, I can only write for one thing that's been requested and nobody is offering anything I'd want to read so far.

Ted Lasso seems like a mixed bag character wise. I would just wing it, lol. Practice makes perfect!

[ultra_fic]

Oh, I love Yuletide! :) I have a few small fandoms that I like to dip into every once in a while, so it works out pretty well for me. I've also tried writing for fandoms I've never written before thanks to Yuletide and that's always cool too. Hope you join us Yule-folks this year, though I do understand if you decide not to - not being able to see the requests is a little daunting and you clearly already have a lot going on!

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I can tell it's very popular! I was hearing about it even when I got out of fandom. It is nice that you are able to have a chance to get some of your more rare fandoms. And it is definitely also a good opportunity to try something new, which was why I was tempted. We'll see- now mistletoe sign-ups have opened and well, I'll think about much I regret not doing it versus the work that will pile up in the next month or so. I have a few more hours to decide, I guess lol :D

[ultra_fic]

I'm intrigued to know if you gave into temptation or not! lol I looked at the Quick Fic Exchange because I thought that might be fun, but there wasn't much in the tagset that appealed, and even less in the actual requests. It's a shame because I love writing short fics - it's why I enjoy the drabble exchanges so much :)

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I'm such a failure- I totally signed up. I couldn't resist. I told myself I finish certain things *and* can get my letter done before sign-ups closed, I would do it. I just kept staring at some of the letters already linked and it just looked so interesting! And true, I felt the same way. The Quick Fic one looked very appealing (even though I'm not the greatest at writing short fics- they're actually pretty hard!) but like you, I didn't find any interesting requests. Oh well, at least Seasons of Drabbles will show up again in Januaryish. :D

[ultra_fic]

Well, I for one am glad to have you amongst our noble rankers of Yuletiders - welcome to the madness! ;)

I forgot the new drabble exchange was going to be once every season - that's very cool. Definitely something I'll be looking to play every round, if I can. As for Christmas-related things, I meant to look at the mistletoe one and can't remember what happened with that... must go and check now, because I know I haven't signed up yet, but I might. After all, I've pretty much decided against the Timeless Secret Santa that I was originally going to participate in, so I can just swap one out for the other.