Hug fest?

[sholio]

I'm having oral surgery in a couple of days (it's minor, it's just going to be painful and annoying) and between that and, well, everything else, I was thinking about running a hug-themed multifandom commentfic fest. Because EVERYONE could probably use a hug right now. Does that sound fun? :D

I'm currently poking at a possible set of instructions. I think both gen and ship should be allowed, but I'm not sure whether to let people specify it in the prompts, or leave it up to the people filling prompts. I was thinking about using this system:

character & character = gen
character/character = ship
character + character = either is good

Because there are some where I don't care, and some where I have REALLY STRONG FEELINGS about it. XD On the other hand, I don't want to hobble writers, or make the system so unnecessarily complex that lots of people end up doing it wrong because I didn't make the instructions clear enough. And maybe just providing the characters and letting the writer decide if they want to make it shippy or not is the best thing, since most hugs by default are most likely not going to be shippy, so sudden!surprise!incest! or whatever is probably a situation that is unlikely to come up.

What do you think?

Comments

[elrhiarhodan]

Sounds good. We can all use as many hugs as we can get.

[muccamukk]

That icon is gorgeous.

[elrhiarhodan]

Thank you!

[schneefink]

Those instructions seem clear enough to me.

[muccamukk]

I hope your surgery goes well.

I think that system works well. It's simple, and easy to understand. ETA: I'd like to be able to specify in prompts because I'd notp some thing I love as friendship, and the other way around.

[recessional]

...not sure why the assumption most hugs wouldn't be shippy?

System seems simple enough. (Tho I'm kinda gunshy on this issue atm, so I can't promise participation.)

[veleda_k]

Sounds fun!

I don't see anything wrong with letting prompters specify gen or shippy. And the system seems clear.

[chomiji]

I wish you the best in your procedure.

I think the directions are clear enough. And I can easily see reasons for non-shippy hugs.

I'm not doing Fandom Stocking, so this would be a good plan for letting me write some Cherryh or Leckie shortfic.

[monanotlisa]

Or just leave out the +?

character A character B

Might be easier. Some people are so confused by ampersands and slashes already. :)

[sheron]

Yeah and in some fandoms "+" between pairings actually has a meaning (i.e. gundam wing 1+2 vs 1x2).

[gwyn]

I like it--I think, because AO3 ended up using the slash to denote any ship rather than just slash ships, people have gotten confused. When I was looking for Kings fic a few years ago, I ended up skipping a bunch of stories where the author clearly didn't understand the difference between an & and a / and tagged her fic as basically incest. I found out later it was meant to be just a regular old nonincesty brother and sister relationship. So I think that people might still get confused, but there's not necessarily much you can do about it. Or just say "list character A and character B" and they can specify if there's a DNW.

Either way though I am excited!

[genarti]

I like it! And I definitely like being able to easily specify shippy or gen or either, and having a system for that laid out so that you don't run into confusion between different punctuation assumptions.

[arianna]

Hey, hope the surgery goes well. Let us know how you're doing when you're feeling up to it. ::sending lots of virtual hugs your way::

[brightknightie]

I'm torn on whether to use my "hug" or "medicine" icon. :-)

I shall go with "medicine," to wish you all the best of your oral surgery! May it go smoothly, easily, and quickly, and accomplish all it's supposed to, with minimal pain and annoyance!

I skipped even Fandom Stocking this year because I've just been so very, very overwhelmed for so long. So I'm not sure I can commit to anything, even a little thing. But I will be very interested in the parameters (wordcount? duration?) and will try to contribute, and will surely read!

Gen hugs would be so, so wonderful...

[rachelmanija]

Good luck with the surgery!

Your system sounds good to me. It's simple and covers an issue which is huge in fandom, so I think people would find it easy to do and intuitive.

The & and / are already in common use, so that's also intuitive. I guess the + might confuse some people, but hopefully not since it would be both explained and coupled with symbols most people will already know.

[kore]

ARGH I thought I had replied to this (have flu right now).

I would be up for this! Definitely!

I think as long as the + symbol is explained it should all be good.