Insanity is catching

[kerravonsen]

astrogirl2 signed up for another ficathon, the Bad Cliche's Made Good ficathon. This is no surprise.
The surprise is, I caught insanity and signed up too.
Now I have to hope that more people sign up, because most of the requests are for smut, which I won't write, and in fandoms I don't write in...

Comments

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

I am planning to sign up, assuming my Jarriere story is done before signups end. However, a quick perusal of my stories will in fact demonstrate that I wouldn't know a bad cliche if it snuck up and gave me a wedgie.

[kerravonsen]

Well, this is the one ficathon where you don't have to worry about not writing cliches. (grin)

Or are you worried about thinking of requests?

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

Well, this is the one ficathon where you don't have to worry about not writing cliches. (grin)

But you have to try to do them well, right? Which requires some knowledge of when they're bad.

Or are you worried about thinking of requests?

Yes, some. More worried about the fact that I don't think there are any possibilities for requests that can't be turned into smut by the writer, though the writing is more important to me than the reading.

[kerravonsen]

Yes, some. More worried about the fact that I don't think there are any possibilities for requests that can't be turned into smut by the writer, though the writing is more important to me than the reading.

I hadn't really considered that, I guess because I was expecting my fandom-requests to rule out most of the people requesting (and therefore likely to write) smut. Like, for example, so far it's only been me and astrogirl2 requesting B7 and Doctor Who, and I wouldn't have expected her to write me smut, even though she does write smut, but she knows I don't like it, so...

Or else I'm just naieve, expecting that a request that doesn't require smut (such as "long lost relative") is rather unlikely to have smut in it.

But if someone is bound and determined to write smut, worring about it isn't going to change their minds. Just like some people see slashiness everywhere.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

It seems very strange to me that there wasn't any way to stipulate maximum ratings or do-not-wants in the signup forms. Pretty much every ficathon I've participated in has had something like that. Anyway, yeah, of course I wouldn't write you smut, 'cause I know you. But...

Or else I'm just naieve, expecting that a request that doesn't require smut (such as "long lost relative") is rather unlikely to have smut in it.

I think you are, yes, as there are people whose concept of fic sort of defaults to smut, and, judging by the fact the most of them seem to have taken "cliche" as "smut cliche" it looks like that's sort of the mode people are in.

Still, with luck you'll get something acceptable to you!

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... how about long-lost spouse character doesn't remember having - is that a cliche? Though I suppose it lends itself to smut too easily.

[kerravonsen]

how about long-lost spouse character doesn't remember having - is that a cliche?

Well, I don't remember having seen it before. It's a bit hard to get married without knowing it.

Some non-smutty cliches (not, as I said above, that someone who is bound and determined to write smut couldn't turn them into smut):
- amnesia (requested by both astrogirl2 and me)
- long lost relative (i requested this one)
- fantasy AU in which at least one character is an Elf (i requested this one)
- characters regress (emotionally or physically) to childhood
- character goes blind, hurt/comfort ensues
- cave fic (I don't think any of the b7friday ones that time were smut)
- "A Christmas Carol" redone in that universe
- "It's a Wonderful Life" redone in that universe

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

Actually, I can think of several ways it can be done - I've seen it in fiction several times. But probably not a fanfiction cliche if you haven't seen it.

[kerravonsen]

Well, I do recall one Lois & Clark AU fic where they wake up the next morning in the "pheremone" episode after having gotten married (in Vegas) under the influence...

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

Yep. There's getting married while drunk/drugged/under a spell; getting married in a foreign country in a foreign language thinking it's some customs thingy (has actually happened, IIRC); a pretend ceremony actually being a real one; a divorce not having been properly filed; getting married prior to amnesia (which relates to the character's life *before* we meet them); a false spouse; or, of course, Blake could have one, being mind-wiped. I think I'd thought of a couple more, but they escape me at the moment.

[ladyslvr.livejournal.com]

What we really need is a clichés challenge that is specified as gen only.

[kerravonsen]

Well, this time I just had to settle for invading.

Gen pride!

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

Mmm, I need a Gen Pride! icon. :-)

[kerravonsen]

Hmmm, not a bad idea at all -- but what/whom would one use for the picture?

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

I'm pondering this--I mean, it would be nice to have something fairly simple. The only really cool supporting-genfic icon I've seen is fernwithy's: a series of images featuring characters from Harry Potter, labeled with their relationships (friends, brothers, parents, classmates), and then the text "Genfic. Because there are all kinds of love stories."

But that's so convoluted.

I will see if I can come up with something tonight, because this is just bugging me now. :-)

[kerravonsen]

Actually, I just looked at fernwithy's icon page, and she has a few other good "genfic" icons -- the "love" one you mentioned, plus, "genfic: not just 'everything else'" which is about genres like "drama, history, horror, mystery", and another one which points out that there are other emotions like "rage, fear" etc.

Now I really want a genfic icon!