I am the Kat that Walks By Itself

Well, my story for deeply_horrible has been rejected by the vetting committee, because Snape isn't horrible in it. I'm not that surprised. I wrote to the prompt, which I think is only reasonable, and the prompt didn't lead me to write a Snape who was "nasty, cruel, unforgiving", but rather a Snape who was "desperate and full of self-loathing".

I am somewhat annoyed by the way the fest was run. They should have vetted the prompts rather than vetting the stories, and then just left us to write to the prompts, like any reasonable ficathon does. So if they run it again, I don't think I will participate.

I thought, going in, that it was simply going to be a Snape-centric ficathon which discouraged people from writing Snape as nice. Which I was quite happy with. When the prompts were going up, there were of course very dark-and-nasty prompts, but there were also prompts that were not so dark. So I was still hopeful it wouldn't necessarily be a fest consisting only of darkfic. Then came the post by the mod "clarifying" what they meant by "deeply horrible" and about what stories they would accept. This filled me with foreboding, and it seems that foreboding was justified.

Okay, I am more than somewhat annoyed. I am disappointed and angry. Please let me make it clear that this isn't sour grapes at being rejected. I perfectly agree with their assessment of my story, and had already considered it possible that they would reject it - expect to see it posted here in a day or two.
What makes me disappointed is that I probably won't be seeing the stories by other people that I was really looking forward to (judging by the prompts that were taken) because they would be rejected too.
What makes me angry is the whole concept of vetting stories, of not allowing people to write to the prompt, as their muse leads them. As I said above, if they were going to vet anything, they should have vetted the prompts, and allowed people to write as they want. To do otherwise is breaking an unwritten rule, that's what it feels like to me.

It's almost enough to make me want to run a competing ficathon. Which will be an utter failure because nobody will write for it. (sigh)

The annual Highlander Christmas fic exchange is open! Here's the sign-up post.

Ah, I'm so glad that Highlander fans are still around.

The SSHG Exchange rides again!
Which is good, because I love it. Which is bad, because it is overlapping with the finish-a-thon and I'm behind on that already! Aiie!

(runs around like a crazy thing)

Since many ficathons suggest an "elaboration" post as to one's likes and dislikes, and also because it is a good idea as an aid for people who might want to make gift fic; instead of having to post and re-post such a thing, I am going to make one single post, which I will link to, and which can be edited in future if need be.

So here we go.

• Things I Like
• Things I Dislike
• Things That Can Go Either Way
• Fandom-Specific
• Other Places To Look

( Things I Like )

( Things I Dislike )

( Things That Can Go Either Way )

( Fandom-Specific )

( Other Places To Look )

Don't forget to sign up for the finish-a-thon! Time is running out!

Surely more than six people want to participate?

Okay, I have done it. I have signed up for the au_bigbang. I'm doing my Draco-goes-back-in-time AU. I haven't actually finished the outline, but there's quite a bit of it done, though I have a number of important questions still hanging.

Expect panic and wittering from this direction for the next three months.

Okay, I might as well ask y'all some of my questions.
( Do Not Click on this Cut if you want to avoid SPOILERS )

Part of the reason I'm asking is that I'm pondering whether to sign up for au_bigbang and do my Draco time-travel AU for it. But in order to do that,
* I will need a detailed outline, otherwise I won't be able to manage it
* I will probably not be able to participate in the tthdrabbles birthday fest
* I will probably not be able to participate in the finish-a-thon (though I will still run it). Not unless I make my offerings quite short.

I know some people are good enough at multi-tasking to be able to do multiple ficathons at once, but I can really only count on one good hour a day to do writing, which means I will have to concentrate on one thing or another, not split my time between multiple writing projects. But I would like to try one of the Big Bangs for a change, because the lure of having art to go with the story is very alluring.

hlh_shortcuts sign-ups are open.
I am debating whether I should sign up. Yes, it's only 500 words, but last time that ended up being 2000 words because the story demanded it. And I want to write my Labyrinth story (which looks to be a long one), not be distracted by a ficathon.

Um...?

Just when I'm trying to wean myself off ficathons, I have been pounced on by a ficathon idea to run: the "Introducing the Small" crossover ficathon. (I'm tempted to call it "The Te of Piglet" crossover ficathon.) The idea is this:( details )

The reasons why I like this idea are:
1) I love crossovers
2) Small fandoms are not appreciated enough
3) Many times, one gets introduced to a fandom via a crossover with a fandom one already knows.

So, what do you think? Am I crazy? (yes, I am) What fandoms are the "big" fandoms nowadays? Obviously Doctor Who, Harry Potter and Trek, but what else? Is Stargate still considered big? Is Supernatural?

Edited to add: I've gone and looked over at fanfiction.net, and with a bit of looking around, and some calculation, the following are the fandoms there which have more than 10,000 stories for them:
( cut for a long list )

A number of these (mostly Anime) I've never even heard of.

Four hours to go on the help_haiti auction; if you want me to write you a story, bid on me here.

The auction finishes at 3 in the morning, my time, which means that if I'm outbid on those I'm bidding on, I won't be able to make another bid. Oh well.