What do YOU think? Fanworks exchange edition.

[apple_pathways]

You all realize that I see you as a ready pool of research subjects, don't you? I've spent far too long studying the social sciences. While I can appreciate the qualitative approach, when it comes down to it, I want DATA!

Feed me? Please???

The season of fic exchanges is upon us. This is my first year both writing fan fiction, and participating in these exchanges. While overall the experience has been fun, there's still some issues I'm trying to wrap my head around. Behind the cut I've compiled a poll about fanworks exchanges, and fic exchanges in particular. If you've participated in any at all ever, even as a spectator, I'd like to hear what you think. The results are viewable only to me, so feel free to be honest. (I'm not in a position to judge!)

Give the circle thingies a tick, and then we can have a lovely chat in the comments. :) What sort of exchanges do you do? Do you stress over them? Are you generally happy with your gifts, or do you get your hopes too high? Ever have a nightmare gift/recipient? Bad/good experiences? (I PROMISE SOME DAY I WILL WRITE A BOOK WITH ALL OF THE USELESS KNOWLEDGE I'VE TORTURED OUT OF YOU, MY DEAR FLIST! All shall not be for naught.) ;)



[Poll #1661044]



ETA: There's one more thing I'd like to get opinions on! Is MPreg something you need to warn for? I want to archive my 10, Donna, Jack fic, and warning for MPreg kinda ruins the ending. It works out fine here, where I can hide the warning under white text, and leave it up to sensitive readers to highlight for the warning if they're worried about being squicked, but that method wouldn't be an option in other places.

I know warning for MPreg is the convention in a lot of communities, but is that because it's a serious squick or because a lot of people just don't care for it? Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Comments

[alt_universe_me.livejournal.com]

I participated in three fests this year, and one of my fics that I wrote hasn't even been posted yet (I may post it myself soon if the mod doesn't show up soon, because that's what another recipient did).

As for how specific I was when giving my prompts, it depended on the fest. I was more picky about my Torchwood prompt than I was about my Doctor Who prompts, basically because there are tons of writers who write my usual pairing in Torchwood fandom and I wanted something a little different this time. For the Doctor Who fics, I really didn't care what I received as long as they had my characters. Both turned out to be awesome, btw. Here's the link to the the other DW fic you may not have seen yet. I would suggest reading it even if you don't love River as much as I do, because it's just too hilarious! http://promethia-tenk.livejournal.com/17175.html.

Anyway, for my dwsanta fic my recipient left me a very long and lovely comment, and they said they loved it 'for real', so I can only assume they were serious and not just being nice. For the Torchwood fic exchange, my recipient didn't comment at all! I was pretty disappointed by that, but I did get several nice comments from other people, so I'm not sure what to make of it. For the fics I received, I was really happy with all of them, they were wonderful! But even if they hadn't been, I would never just not comment. I think it's pretty rude for someone not to comment, especially since I had their fic beta'd and way past the word count and everything. But, you know, it's all for fun, and all in all I would probably participate again next year. :D

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

I am DEFINITELY of the opinion that you should comment and say "thank you" no matter what, but I go back and forth about the "being honest" with feedback part. (Fortunately, that hasn't come up--I haven't received anything I didn't enjoy!) I'm generally one of those people who's too honest for her own good. But I ALSO firmly believe in "being nice", and since we're all amateurs and it's just for fun, I don't think it's wrong to exaggerate a little about how MUCH you enjoyed something.

Oooh, I'm reading your fic by promethia_tenk--it is FANTASTIC! Lucky you. ;) I'm about halfway through, and I can't believe how well she writes Stephen Fry's voice, not to mention the Doctor and River! ♥

Bah, I can't wait for the dwsanta reveals so I can see who wrote what! (Though I must confess to being REALLY behind in reading the entries! Mostly I've read stuff other people have recced to me.)

Eh, that person who didn't comment is RUDE. (Or busy? Clueless? Some combination of all three? I don't know.)

[alt_universe_me.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I wouldn't lie about loving a fic (I'm a very honest person) but I'm sure there would always be some way to politely say thank you anyway. Fortunately, the fics I received were all fabulous, so I didn't have that problem either!

promethia_tenk is awesome! I laughed and squeed so much reading my fic from her.

I think I might have an idea which fic you wrote. Was it Amy/Rory by any chance? (I'm going to kick myself if I'm wrong, lol). I'm pretty behind on reading stuff too. The fic I wrote for it wasn't exactly my best work, if I'm honest, not for the lack of trying, but for the fact that I was writing out of my comfort zone. Still, my recipient enjoyed it, so that's all that matters :)

I'm hoping my other recipient is just busy or something. I'm honestly curious why they haven't responded. Mainly because I was given a hugely vague prompt and only a couple squicks, which of course I stayed away from. I really want to know why they didn't like it, especially since it was their xmas fic and I want them to have something they liked. I'd even be willing to write another fic if they hated it that much, ya know?

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Ah ha, I didn't write Amy/Rory for dwsanta! Can you believe it? ;) (No need to kick yourself...if it's the one I'm thinking about, it was be a good guess! And now that I think about it, I think I know who wrote that one...)

I will be honest and confess that I have no idea which fic you wrote! (Other than it's probably one of the 30-odd fics I haven't read. :/ )

If they gave a vague prompt without much to go on, I don't know why they would be disappointed in whatever they received! I would just write them off as flaky or shyish and leave it at that. Sure, you want them to have a gift they loved--but you wrote a good, enjoyable story, and that's all one can ask for in these things! Do you "know" the person you wrote for?

[alt_universe_me.livejournal.com]

Oh man, and here I was thinking that fic was so like you. Hmmm, now I really wanna know...

Ha, my fic was rather short and fairly silly. But, it kind of had to be, what with the sort of prompts I got, like 'Eleven being embarrassed' and 'Amy and Rory teaching him how to do regular things'. They were good prompts, I'm just not sure that I did them justice.

Yeah, it was really vague, and I don't know the person at all. I haven't even seen them comment on anything in fandom, so I don't even know what they generally like, or what they are like. We don't even have any mutual friends. I think after the reveals, I might send them a pm to ask them about it. I just don't like not knowing!