I love good guys

Yesterday, I learned about a new fanfic gift exchange, retrotvexchange, which reminds me of the defunct exchanges myoldfandom and oldschoolfic. Specifically, this exchange celebrates television canons that closed no later than the 2001-2002 season.* Pretty much all scripted fiction genres are eligible (an exception is variety shows).

retrotvexchange requires a minimum of 1K words or graphic-art equivalent. Participants request and offer 3-10 fandoms. They plan an accompanying prompt-challenge fest, to accommodate folks who have too few eligible fandoms for the exchange.

Schedule:

• Nominate: July 15 – 22
• Sign up: July 26 – August 1
• Due: September 19
• Reveal: October 2 (or as soon as all exchange creators have a gift in queue).

* In the US, a broadcast television "season" traditionally aligns roughly with the school year, mid-August to mid-June, especially encompassing the November, February, and May "sweeps" that were the lifeblood of broadcast ratings. July "sweeps" were omitted, from the traditional belief that folks watched too little television in the summer for advertisers to care.

How do author replies while anonymous work on the AO3? Is the anonymizing automatic, or do I need to do something? (This is my first time participating in a ficathon that stays anonymous after releasing the stories.)

My recipient kindly commented on my myoldfandom story, and asked a question. I'd like to answer, but don't want to break the anonymity.

Thanks!

MyOldFandom

myoldfandom was scheduled to reveal its stories yesterday, but hasn't yet. It looks like someone defaulted on the reveal day itself, even with a week between the due date and the reveal day... but perhaps the default was itself a pinch-hit. Things happen.

I feel on edge for the stories to release now, while I'm near my keyboard, rather than later, when I'm out and about and device-free. Ah, well. I suppose it could even be days until the reveal! And then we'll be in the middle of the work week...

FKFicFest

If you're planning to sign up for fkficfest/fkficfest as an exchange game, please try to sign up this weekend!

We don't yet have enough players (9). This will be the last week of sign-ups (deadline June 25). There may well be people who would sign up if they knew for sure that we would play exchange style, but who are hanging back in hopes that the exchange will fail and we'll play challenge style. If those who want to play exchange style wait until the last minute to sign up, I worry that then the hanging-back people will get shut out, and we'll end up with fewer total players (and therefore more difficult matching) than we might have had, if everyone had known clearly what to expect.

The FKFicFest community voted for exchange style overall, and also among the subset who said they'd "definitely" play. But it looks to be so, so close. It would great to be able to post the final promo reminders with a firm declaration of exchange style.

The mod for myoldfandom has extended sign-ups until noon on Monday, March 28 (because Easter Triduum observances might interfere with sign-ups for some).

At this time, I see few requests that I could fill, myself: a D&DC request for a no name, no lines, spear-bearer character (sadly, no other options); an HL request that seems to have listed Duncan/Tessa by mistake (the details specify that the requester wants only slash or gen); HL's Richie or Cierdwyn for ArgentumLS (I don't dare offer Duncan or Darius; the requests show that people want what I can't give); and maybe, if I stretch hard, the Tron (1982) request.

I'm still considering playing. But I'm a bit concerned.

I'm starting to think that I should instead see whether people might be up for some sort of mini events. For example, "If Malinaldarose will write me BSG78, I'll write her... something she wants." ;-) Okay, so that's where it always breaks down, at every scale, finding people who can write what the others want to read. I should probably follow PJ's lead...

#8. Interact with someone new.

Yesterday, I posted a brief reply to the anonymous moderator of the brand-new myoldfandom ficathon, which is gearing up for its first event. ("Old" = no new canon after 2005.) So far, it sounds like an update of oldschoolfic, which I enjoyed a lot. But I really know nothing at all about myoldfandom or the people behind it (and I'm just a little nonplussed by the modly anonymity).

All my own dearest fanficly fandoms qualify, of course. FK, HL, YB, BSG78, D&DC. Probably even the Buffyverse qualifies, although the comics do purport to be canon. It's not that I don't watch and enjoy new series! I'm all over Agent Carter, Once Upon a Time, Person of Interest, Poldark, Call the Midwife, etc. I loved Forever while it lasted, and Grimm and Sleepy Hollow before they jumped their sharks. But of course they aren't — for better and for worse — the same as stories loved long and long and long.

I wonder whether rarelywritten is planning a round this year. If so, I wonder whether the schedules will conflict or complement.