We Die Like Fen wrap-up

WDLF5: Time Loop Edition just had author reveals. Since this was four flash exchanges rolled into one, I received and wrote an embarrassment of fics.

I received 7 fantastic gifts, some for specific fandom requests and some for Any Fandom requests with iddy freeform tags.

( Fics I received )

I wrote 6 fics:

( Fics I wrote )

A few observations in no particular order:

-This was the first WDLF round since I joined the EAD server, so I felt obligated to sign up, but the timeline of this one really didn't work for me. A week of WDLF chaos is pure adrenaline-fueled fun, but over a month of WDLF chaos is exhausting, and I ended up pretty burned out by the end. I've learned that the short turnaround is a big factor in why I love flash exchanges, which is useful info.

-That said, I'm proud of my all-eighties-song-titles fic title scheme, and would like to pour one out for the two treats I failed to finish, which would've been called "Kings of the Wild Frontier" and "Scary Monsters and Super Creeps."

-I wrote for three fandoms: two of my 2021 hyperfixations and one favorite OTP that I've been wanting to write extreme gore of for years. I'm pretty happy with my output; I only wrote two fics with the same ship (and they were vastly different arrangements of an OT7) and I got to play around with some ships, tropes, and kinks I've been wanting to write for a while. There are still several tags I wish I'd had the energy to write, but I've still got those ideas kicking around to write on my own.

As for what's next, I considered signing up for Relationshipping and/or Darkest Night, but the idea of a full length freeform exchange is exhausting (not to mention all the insane mod drama blowing up right now). I will probably do Jump Scare instead (I'm not sure if my sexy violence/torture prompts will fit there, but I couldn't request them in Darkest Night anyway because I'm too picky about which characters do the torturing). I might actually sign up for Trick or Treat again this year. In the meantime, I'll finish my rule 63 assignment and then take a very long nap.

End of summer fandom thoughts

 Here are a few random thoughts that didn't fit in my We Die Like Fen wrap-up post.

-I've been requesting Buzzfeed Unsolved in exchanges for years, but it doesn't have a big exchange presence and I don't really write or read in the fandom otherwise. But the clock is ticking: the hosts of Unsolved launched their own YouTube channel last year with another former Buzzfeed producer, and the final season of Unsolved: True Crime just finished, with the final season of Unsolved: Supernatural coming soon. The fandom peaked a while ago, but I don't know if it will survive the official end of Unsolved, especially if they don't launch a similar ghost hunting/true crime show on their own Watcher channel. It feels like I have one Halloween season left to get all my iddy spooky kinky stuff out of my brain before the show ends and nobody wants demon possession haunted house sleepover fic anymore. I really like the new Watcher content and it has plenty of Ryan/Shane ship fodder, but I'll miss watching Ryan freak out over radiator noises.

-Stranger Things had a great turnout in WDLF, but it really showed how mismatched my tastes are with both the exchange crowd and the fandom at large. I want Stranger Things fandom to be more like IT fandom: focused on the wonderfully written and acted child main characters, some of it in handwaved slightly-older-teen AUs and some of it just left ambiguous, dealing with sexuality and trauma and darkness and the deep loving bonds between the characters. The exchange crowd mostly wants innocent gen of the kids and shippy/dark fic of the older teens, and the fandom at large is very young and barely readable, with most of the well-written fic being written about the teen characters again. I also joined the fandom after the least popular season came out and everyone jumped ship, which is never fun.

-A random vagueing comment in an FFA venting thread somehow led me through the entire Red Letter Media RPF tag on AO3, a small but active tag that's dominated by one prolific longfic writer. There's something charming about tiny insular RPF fandoms, especially if the Real People aren't particularly attractive or glamorous. I've been subscribed to RLM on YouTube for years and they're a major comfort channel for me, and they've all been close friends for decades and made a career out of making weird creative projects together, which is my RPF catnip. The fic is delightfully cozy and familiar too, endless longfics of pining best friends with silly supernatural shenanigans and pining and kinky undertones. I thought it might blow up on meme's RPF threads like Gallaghercest did, but none of the threadstarters took off and it seems to have petered out.