"They run off eckeltricity, do they?"

[torino10154]

Getting us started a few minutes early!

Welcome to the Dad Bod edition of firewhiskeyfic! We, your Mods - sdk and torino10154, are so glad you could make it. We love everyone tonight. Feel free to friend us on DW. We promise not to stalk you... much. :D

Your challenges for this month are:

Arthur Weasley

Ottery St Catchpole

Misuse of Muggle Artifacts

Plugs

Tinker

NEW - Dad

Quick clarification for newbies: you don't have to use all the prompts--though that does make for a fun fic!--but since one of the categories for voting is "Best Use of Prompt" we do recommend using at least one. Also, we added 'Dad' as one of the prompts to help with anyone not doing Harry Potter. LOL In future we will try to have 2-3 prompts each round that are not HP-specific.

As you know, this is the Official Discussion Post. If you feel like chatting, and we hope you do, pop in here and let us know how it's going. Please do not discuss your fic/art. You can discuss ideas, drinks, how wasted you are, your favorite Hogwarts classes, best/worst 'Dad' moments from the books/movies, what you'll do if COVID is ever actually over, or whatever floats your boat. Just don't discuss your fic/art. This is an anonymous fest until after the reveal, and we don't want hints being given as to what you're writing about. :)

And just so we're clear, you don't have to write pr0n, though it definitely makes for interesting reading when characters change right in the middle of shagging because you're too drunk to remember who you're writing about. ;) You can write for any fandom (including original), but keep in mind the majority of our players are HP people. Anything goes!

Once you are semi-conscious, send your UNBETA'D UNCORRECTED fic to this email: fwfdrunkmods@gmail.com Trust me, we can tell if you've messed with it, so don't do it, okay?

You will receive an email from us confirming that we got it. If you don't get an email, we didn't get it. Your fics/art will be due by midnight on Monday, January 24th. Voting will begin on January 25th and last until Saturday, January 29th.

HERE IS THE HEADER! You can put this in the email body or the fic body. Whatever!

(please fill this out to the best of your ability. If you're unable, we will try to complete it for you)

<b>Title:</b> <b>Author:</b> <b>I am of legal drinking age in my region:</b> (yes/no) <b>Pairing(s)/Characters/Fandom:</b> <b>Challenge/Prompts used:</b> <b>Summary:</b> <b>Rating/Warnings:</b> <b>Word count:</b> <b>Author's Notes (if any):</b>


In order to make things easiest on your poor, likely hungover mods, please put your DW username and (if you can manage) the title of your fic/art into your subject line or at least somewhere in the body of the email. Thank you!

Torino is getting us started before rushing off (returning shortly with rum) and Shelly will be along in a bit with her usual bottle of Jack. (Don't worry. Not drinking the whole bottle.) How about you folks? What's the drink that's got you through the last year or the one you look forward to having the next time you're out with family or friends?

Let's get our drunk on!

Comments

[ride_4ever]

I actually had a bad fic exchange experience in 2021, which made me reconsider the kjnds of fic challenges for which to sign up. And Firewhiskey Fic is perfect!

[paulamcg]

So sorry you had such an experience! I guess I've never had anything truly bad, just disappointments with the reception of my fics. So wonderful you've now found the perfect fic challenge!

[ride_4ever]

Yeah, that was a pretty bad experience. No one commented on that fic -- it was a pinch hit -- so I was really bummed that I made that special last-minute effort and got zero response.

Anyways, here I'm happy and writing.

[paulamcg]

Oh, that can be the worst feeling (as far as I've experienced, as I've never received active hate - only been ignored)! Zero response happened to me (for instance) at the first fests I did after a long hiatus (at a fest that wasn't an exchange and then when I wrote treats). Behaviour at fests seems to have changed in this way: giftees don't always comment. What's important is that we keep writing and it keeps us happy, and we can find some friendly corners in fandom!

[ride_4ever]

Yes, I am hearing this a lot recently about "changes in fanworks exchange culture". *sigh*

Anyways, I have finished my Firewhiskey Fic and sent it off to the mods at 4:15 AM local time.

Going AFK and to sleep now.

[paulamcg]

*joins in the sighing*

Well drunk and written, and sleep well!

[ride_4ever]

And thanks for being one of the "late-stayers" who was still there to chat with me when I finished my fic.

♥

[oldtoadwoman]

I think my worst actual fandom challenge experience was a collaborative things where I was doing the art for someone else's story... and they bailed and never posted the story.

But every challenge experience has felt like a bad experience (with the obvious Firewhiskey exception), because of the stress to hit a deadline and fit a prompt that I'm not quite feeling and that nagging sense that it's not good enough. In hindsight, I quite like a few of the stories I've written for challenges, but at the time I was hitting "submit", I was convinced it was the worst thing I've ever written.

Oh, and then there was the time I accidentally offended someone who wrote a story for me because I was expecting one story and I promptly read and commented on it and then a few days later noticed that someone else had written me a bonus story. So there were a few days there where the author was bound to assume I hated their story since I'd gushed about the other one and ignored theirs. (I tried to reassure myself that they'd understand and even made sure to explain, "Oh! I just saw this! Sorry I didn't comment sooner!" but... when reveals happened it turned out to be the exact fandom friend that I know is most neurotic about checking how many comments and kudos she has. And... she kind of quietly stopped interacting with me at about that time. It wasn't the only reason we drifted apart, but it was an unfortunate final straw I think.)

So, yeah, never ever getting involved with anything with designated recipients again. Way too much social anxiety involved.

For Firewhiskey? I really wasn't feeling this story (the last couple years have sapped away all my creativity), but I have zero worries about it disappointing anyone. Like, if I make one person giggle, job well done. It's so nice to write without over-analyzing what other people might think about it.

Re: ♥

[sdk]

This is what I love about FWF because it allows me to get out of my head and not care and all that anxiety about what I'm writing and if it's *good enough* goes away and yeah, I am definitely responsible for a few terrible, terrible fics in FWF history, but I've also written things I've loved here, some of my very favorite things, and they wouldn't have happened without this community and the complete lack of giving fucks. XD

Re: ♥

[torino10154]

Perfectly stated, bb. <3

Re: ♥

[oldtoadwoman]

"the complete lack of giving fucks" is indeed the best part

Re: ♥

[ride_4ever]

I find it very reassuring to have shared these thoughts about fanworks exchanges and challenges with you. It's really helping me with my own decision-making about where to put my fannish energies and where not to put them. I did not like how stressed out I got about some of the fic-writing commitments I was making, but because I did like much of what I ultimately wrote I though I "needed" that pressure in order to get writing done. Firewhiskey Fic has shown me what it's like to just relax and let the words flow as they will and ENJOY the process...AND enjoy interacting in comments with my fellow participants.

And as for what you said about collaborative work -- yes, that can be so tricky -- I've had a few good experiences there and a few bad experiences there. At this point I think I'd only do a collab again with someone with whom I've already done one that went well.

Re: ♥

[torino10154]

Piggy-backing on this with regard to the fests I participate in. These days it's not many BUT they tend to be very low pressure, run by people I know/have worked with before. I kinda do need the small bit of pressure that a deadline brings and doing fests can bring me out of my shell a bit, trying new pairings, etc. But both as a participant AND a mod, fandom should be fun and a relaxed atmosphere, in my opinion, makes for a good experience and keeps people coming back as participants. I'm sure I'm not everyone's cuppa but there are mods I know have scared people off with how they run things.

As for collabs, I've not done many, but Shelly and I have done a handful together for a comm we both used to write for. That was a good time.

Re: ♥

[ride_4ever]

Oh, I agree about how a little bit of deadline pressure can be helpful *looks askance at my over-crowded no-deadline plotbunny hutch* -- just that now I'll be doing fests that have a deadline but don't have a penalty if you end up still-a-WIP-after-deadline (example: the "Psychic Wolves for Lupercalia" fanworks fest that I do every February is like "if you can't post it this February, come back and post it next February").

[torino10154]

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that too. :(

[ride_4ever]

Well, at least in that exchange I wrote some stuff that I liked having written even if some things in that exchange were not a good experience -- plus that kind of bad experience just makes me appreciate Firewhiskey Fic even more!