dark_administrator: (chromatic yuletide 1)
dark_administrator ([personal profile] dark_administrator) wrote in [community profile] dark_agenda2010-11-13 04:05 pm

Chromatic Yuletide 2010 Resources Post

Sign-ups for [archiveofourown.org profile] yuletide are now live, and will close on Friday, 19th November 2010 (U.S.A. time).

As you sign-up on the website, we would like to remind you about a few things.

  • Our masterlist of Chromatic Fandoms and Characters (html version)! Liberally use as a reference!

  • Freeform tags! - This is a new addition to the challenge this year, and while it is optional, it can increase your chance of getting the kind of fic you want. You can only use one freeform tag per fandom, so please consider using 'Chromatic Yuletide', 'Character of Colour' or 'Fix it Fic' both in your requests and offers.

  • Please take a look at our chromatic yuletide challenge announcement, and consider signing up for one or more of its components - especially those of you who work better knowing you have formally committed to something. :)

  • Please remember that the more you limit the fandoms you offer to write in to chromatic ones, the higher the likelihood of your being matched with someone who wants them. And visa versa, because non-chromatic fandoms tend to be much more popular within the yuletide challenge - so if you offer ten non-chromatic fandoms and fifteen chromatic ones, you're more likely to get assigned the former rather than the latter.

  • When offering a non-chromatic fandom with one or few chromatic characters, consider offering those characters by name, rather than offering 'Any', which is more likely to pair you up with the more popular requests for the non-chromatic characters.

  • Please do use as many of your precious four request slots as you can to ask for chromatic fandoms! Without them being requested, the fandoms will not even show up on the pinch hits and yuletide madness lists for other people to be able to write for.

  • While writing your requests, do remember to specify the character you want written about, especially if it is a non-chromatic source with one or few chromatic characters. Your writer is under no obligation to write the character you might mention in your optional details unless you have asked for them in the 'characters' slot. If the chromatic character you want fic for is not listed in the options choose 'Any' and include an alternative character option in your request, saying how much you'd like fic focussed on that chromatic character as an alternative possibility in addition to the ones listed, and use a freeform tag like 'chromatic character'.

  • If you want fix-it fic for a problematic canon, do be open about that desire (without, obviously, making your writer feel like a horrible and worthless human being for liking the source). While remembering that your optional requests are optional, do know that other participants, especially members of this comm, might find your detailed prompt talking about the frustrating Orientalism in book X and your yearning desire for a backstory for character Y to be inspirational. Equally, you don't have to critique or be defensive of a source that you want to ask for - a simple 'I love chromatic character Z and fluffy/plotty/angsty/porny fic about them would delight me' is enough of a prompt to give your writer a chance to write them as they feel comfortable.

  • Consider making a 'Dear Author' post on your journal or at the official Dear Yuletide Writer post to let your recipient know more in general about your likes and dislikes - stuff like 'I really would prefer not to have to read about characters having to experience awful racism/transphobia/ablism' etc. Other people will be stalking reading such letters to find requests they can fill during yuletide madness - make it easy for them to find yours by linking it to the the official comm as well as adding it to our form.

  • Our Chromatic Yuletide 2010 Prompts form (spreadsheet)! As you sign up on AO3, please copy your requests and enter them into our form! This will give people an early start in finding chromatic requests that they can fill during yuletide madness, and increase your chances of receiving more than one story!

  • And finally, while many of you prudently get your sign-ups done well in time, for those who deliberately or otherwise wait till the last-minute, please do go over to the list of needy fandoms and consider requesting and/or offering a fandom that might otherwise not get represented in the challenge.


The short and simple version:
Step 1 - Officially sign up for our challenge!
Step 2 - Start signing up for Yuletide 2010. (If they seem confusing, check out these videos walking you through the process or this transcript of the videos.)
Step 3 - Use our masterlist of Chromatic Fandoms and Characters (html version) to populate your offers and requests. Use your freeform option wisely! (Suggestions: 'Chromatic yuletide', 'character of colour', 'fix it fic')
Step 4 - Scan the list of needy fandoms to see what fandoms you can rescue with a request or offer.
Step 5 - Finish your sign-ups, and wait to receive an emailed copy of them in your inbox.
Step 6 - Write a 'Dear Author' letter, post it to your journal or the [livejournal.com profile] yuletide's official Dear Yuletide Writer post. (Optionally, you can write this before you sign up and include a link to it in your requests.)
Step 7 - Enter your fandom, character and request details into our Chromatic Yuletide 2010 Prompts form (spreadsheet) along with a link to your 'Dear Author' letters.
Step 8 - Sign up at our beta resources post for whatever fandom- or culture-specific betas you think you can offer.
Step 9 - You're done! (Except for all the obligatory panicking about receiving your assignment, then writing it, then uploading it, etc.)

Remember, you can always comment or PM us with any questions, or email us at darkadmn AT gmail DOT com

Yay! Thanks for doing this with us!
liviapenn: miss piggy bends jail bars (remains sexy while doing so) (Default)

[personal profile] liviapenn 2010-11-13 11:39 pm (UTC)(link)

If the chromatic character you want fic for is not listed in the options choose 'Any' and say how much you'd like fic focussed on that character in your request, and use a freeform tag like 'chromatic character'.

Actually-- I think it may be against YT rules to say "Any" and then request a character who is not listed, so I don't think it's a good idea to advise people to do this. I mean it's one thing to say "I would love a story about X, Y and Z Listed Characters, and if you would like to write about Unlisted Characters A, B and C, then I would love that too." And it's another thing to say "I would really like a story about Listed Character X's relationship to Unlisted Character A," but a lot of people look really closely at the character lists and only select "Any" if they are sure that the list doesn't include any characters that they're not confident about, or not interested in, or not familiar with-- and asking someone to write a character they didn't technically sign up for is kind of unfair.

Everything else looks great though! :)
dhobikikutti: earthen diya (Default)

[personal profile] dhobikikutti 2010-11-15 10:36 am (UTC)(link)
I don't think its any more against the rules than to ask for a cross-over with a fandom not listed, and I know you can do that. We did try to stress that optional requests are optional, and that everyone should give their writer lee-way, so I'm not sure I understand how its unfair to express a preference for something you know your writer is not required to provide.
liviapenn: miss piggy bends jail bars (remains sexy while doing so) (Default)

[personal profile] liviapenn 2010-11-15 08:54 pm (UTC)(link)

It's just the phrasing of this part specifically-- it make

If the chromatic character you want fic for is not listed in the options choose 'Any' and say how much you'd like fic focussed on that character in your request

To me this builds on/contributes to a misunderstanding of the way the "Any" selection works. If you request *any* you might get matched to someone who only volunteered to write one particular character out of all the listed characters. They may have been very cautious and specific in choosing to write only that one character. Ticking the "any" ticky box and saying "but I actually want an unlisted character" isn't really effectively different than ticking the "Character X" ticky box and saying "despite the fact that I ticked Character X, I really want Character Y."

I understand that other posts have stressed the part about optional requests being optional, but, just personally, I would have liked to see that reiterated here, specifically, in these instructions, because I don't think it's entirely clear, and just because there's been *so much* honest confusion (and a non-insignificant amount of people trying to game the system, which causes resentment) in past Yuletides about what "Any" means when you're being matched up. It wouldn't have bothered me at all if you'd said something like: If the chromatic character you want fic for is not listed in the options choose 'Any' and say how much you'd like fic about any character, including any unlisted characters, just to let your Yuletide writer know that's an option. Or something like that.
wistfuljane: portrait of mizuki from hanakimi (manga) (mizuki)

[personal profile] wistfuljane 2010-11-16 03:19 am (UTC)(link)
but, just personally, I would have liked to see that reiterated here, specifically, in these instructions, because I don't think it's entirely clear [...] It wouldn't have bothered me at all if you'd said something like: If the chromatic character you want fic for is not listed in the options choose 'Any' and say how much you'd like fic about any character, including any unlisted characters, just to let your Yuletide writer know that's an option.

But doesn't the sentence before that expressed this sentiment: Your writer is under no obligation to write the character you might mention in your optional details unless you have asked for them in the 'characters' slot.?

However, [community profile] dark_agenda could edit the discussed sentence to If the chromatic character you want fic for is not listed in the options choose 'Any' and say how much you'd like fic focussed on that character in your request, and use a freeform tag like 'chromatic character'. Remember, however, to offer alternative character options from the ones that are listed. Or something along that line if that would help?
Edited (added suggestion) 2010-11-16 03:26 (UTC)
liviapenn: miss piggy bends jail bars (remains sexy while doing so) (Default)

[personal profile] liviapenn 2010-11-16 04:55 am (UTC)(link)

But doesn't the sentence before that expressed this sentiment: "Your writer is under no obligation to write the character you might mention in your optional details unless you have asked for them in the 'characters' slot."?

Yes, I believe dhobikikutti added that after I commented, so it's much clearer now.
wistfuljane: portrait of mizuki from hanakimi (manga) (mizuki)

[personal profile] wistfuljane 2010-11-16 05:08 am (UTC)(link)
Actually, it's always been there:

While writing your requests, do remember to specify the character you want written about, especially if it is a non-chromatic source with one or few chromatic characters. Your writer is under no obligation to write the character you might mention in your optional details unless you have asked for them in the 'characters' slot. If the chromatic character you want fic for is not listed in the options choose 'Any' and say how much you'd like fic focussed on that character in your request, and use a freeform tag like 'chromatic character'.

The paragraph hasn't been edited since as far as I know, speaking as one of the co-mods.
liviapenn: miss piggy bends jail bars (remains sexy while doing so) (Default)

[personal profile] liviapenn 2010-11-16 05:22 am (UTC)(link)

Okay, I guess I didn't remember seeing that part.

You suggested: "If the chromatic character you want fic for is not listed in the options choose 'Any' and say how much you'd like fic focussed on that character in your request, and use a freeform tag like 'chromatic character'. Remember, however, to offer alternative character options from the ones that are listed."

This is better too, but the part of the instructions that I keep sticking on is: "say how much you'd like fic focussed on that character in your request" specifically, because it implies that you should choose "Any" and then make your request ONLY about an unlisted character.

But the thing is, requesting "Any" doesn't mean you're getting matched to someone who *offered* "Any," so selecting "Any" isn't necessarily going to give a participant a better chance of getting the chromatic character they want if they're not listed. Advising people to choose "any" as if it *does* give them a better chance of getting what they want may lead to some really bad matching.

Again, I might suggest something like, "If the chromatic character you want fic for is not listed in the options choose 'Any' and, in addition to the already listed characters, give your author permission to write about any unlisted characters that you would like," etc. Acknowledging that you shouldn't *primarily* request an unlisted character.
wistfuljane: portrait of mizuki from hanakimi (manga) (mizuki)

[personal profile] wistfuljane 2010-11-16 05:35 am (UTC)(link)
Okay, how about this: If the chromatic character you want fic for is not listed in the options choose 'Any' and include an alternative character option in your request, saying how much you'd like fic focussed on that chromatic character in addition to the ones listed, and use a freeform tag like 'chromatic character'.

(Btw, I'll have to discuss with the rest of the mod team before implementing any changes though so this is just brainstorming possible changes.)
liviapenn: miss piggy bends jail bars (remains sexy while doing so) (Default)

[personal profile] liviapenn 2010-11-16 08:37 am (UTC)(link)

That's good. Maybe "fic focussed on that chromatic character as an additional possibility?" But, yeah, that's much better.

Whatever happens, thanks for listening, I appreciate it.
littlebutfierce: (fen of color)

[personal profile] littlebutfierce 2010-11-14 02:05 pm (UTC)(link)
This is all really super & useful! Thanks for putting it together. I'm enjoying seeing the prompts spreadsheet get populated. & whenever the summary page goes back live again, I will excitedly check to see what's needy.

Question

[identity profile] ghostonfilm.livejournal.com 2010-11-21 05:24 am (UTC)(link)
I looked through the most recent post and didn't see this addressed, I apologize if it has been already! - but does "Region" on the spreadsheet refer to the region the work is set in (w/in the story) or the region that produced it? For now I've put the former, but I'll go back and change them if necessary. Thanks!

Re: Question

[identity profile] ghostonfilm.livejournal.com 2010-11-21 06:13 am (UTC)(link)
Oops, I missed that. Thanks for the clarification, going to fix now.