my love affair with everywhere was innocent; why do you care

[frith_in_thorns]

I can't be the only person who really loves filling prompts but just cannot ever think of any to leave for other people. Like, the only "prompts" I can think of are either the equivalent of a bingo card square or an incredibly detailed plot with no wiggle-room at all. And I don't feel that either of those things are particularly helpful to drop

Comments

[littlered2]

Concussion is absolutely a plot.

[frith_in_thorns]

...I realise I don't really have any moral high ground here :P

[embroiderama]

I fall somewhere in the middle regarding comment-fic memes. I definitely think it's cool that some people are better at writing fills and some people are better at writing prompts, so I don't think there should be any pressure for any person to do both. However, I support putting limits on how many prompts a person can leave at one time. People in WC fandom seem entirely civilized about these things, but in other fandom comment-fic memes I've been a part of I've seen cases where there would be literally three pages of prompts that were all from two people, and they were variations on two or three themes. Coincidentally, people who do that kind of thing generally leave awful badfic prompts so it's really uncool. I've run a couple of fic memes and I think my rule has been no more than five prompts from each person to begin with, but if some of those get filled or some time goes by, then posting more prompts is awesome. :)

Also, yes, concussion is totally a plot.

[frith_in_thorns]

Oh yeah, I didn't really consider that aspect -- I think the (few) fic memes I've hung out on have been pretty well-behaved. Having basically the same prompt over and over would indeed get annoying fast.

I find prompts fun to read, even ones I have no intention of filling. They're a bit like tiny mini stories, except that they get posted more frequently than stories do :D

[sholio]

I don't think the prompt thing is something you should feel AT ALL guilty for! \o/ There are always way more prompts than writers in any promptfest, and in my opinion, someone who just wants to come in and fill prompts is worth their weight in GOLD. :D (Especially when they write awesome fills like the one you just wrote for me!)

Personally I kinda appreciate an occasional break in prolific promptfests (like CollarCorner) because there are usually a bucketload of prompts I want to fill, so sometimes I like to just stop and breathe and finish some of the fics that I already have started rather than having a whole new pile of prompts unloaded on me. *g* But I also have the attention span of a goldfish, and can't seem to come across a new promptfest without going "Ooh, I want to write THAT and THAT and THAT ..."

[frith_in_thorns]

Haha, I totally feel you on the goldfish-like attention span when it comes to fic-writing XD I am all SHINY NEW IDEA MUST START WRITING IT NOWWWW far too often :P But I also do really enjoy reading the prompts that people post, even ones that don't massively appeal to me.

But yeah, I think I've only posted about two prompts total to collarcorner, and one of them was pretty much exactly: "Neal is poisoned". Yeah, really not good at thinking them up :P Filling them is so much more fun for me!

(On the other hand, people who get me in fic exchanges probably hate me, since I can spend hours trying to think up required prompts and not come up with anything much better than the above...)

[doctor_fangeek]

I totally agree with sholio about someone coming in and mostly filling prompts - even in really good promptfests, comment fic memes, etc., there are always more prompts than fills, so you shouldn't feel guilty at all.

And I wouldn't worry about people hating you in fic exchanges. Different writers like different kinds of prompts, and there's totally room for a variety of styles. Personally, I'd rather get a bunch of very broad/general prompts than a bunch of "mini stories" if I'm writing for someone in an exchange. If the prompts are too specific, and I don't really connect with any of them, I find it hard to get going and worry about straying too far and disappointing the prompter. This is less of issue with promptfests and the like, as you can write to whatever prompts you want.

On a related note, what I don't understand is prompts which are so long and detailed that they pretty much are the whole story.

ETA: Here via a friend's friends page. :-)

[soteriophobe]

what I don't understand is prompts which are so long and detailed that they pretty much are the whole story.

As a person who is guilty of posting one or two of these in the past (though...they haven't been that detailed, just a general plot description, and I always disclaim that the writer can go off-prompt if they like), I can perhaps shed light? For me, I post prompts like that because I have an idea for a story in my head that like...I really want to read, but I don't necessarily want to write it, because I am lazy/busy/have too many fics to write already. So I stick it up there like...an orphan story? All, "Hai guise! Fully-formed plot here! Just add characters! Ready-to-write!" and so on?

Sometimes I feel like I'm making things too hard for the potential writer who fills the prompt - but on the other hand, I figure that nobody has to fill it if they don't want to. So...heh?

[soteriophobe]

Omg, I have the opposite problem to you. I have about 473845643756743865843657846 prompts, but I can only human fill so many at a time (especially since every time I go to write a "one shot" lately, it ends up as like...10K words or something D:). I love prompt memes because I can give away the hundreds of ideas I get that I can't use myself. :D

[frith_in_thorns]

:D I also love your prompts! Please keep posting them!! I'm trying not to start new fics at the moment because argh wcpairings and whitecollarbb (they have to be long! I tend to max out at a couple of thousand words atm, so argh), but I have not forgotten that I promised you fics. I will get around to them eventually! once I stop making a million icons of Lin Bei Fong's face

Types of hurt are indeed plots! (And I loved your concussion fic!) But possibly not when the concept was a specific type of relationship dynamic :P :P Although it's wandering off into h/c now anyway, because I have no control over my stories or something.

Hah, I have a page in my scriver file which is my favourite pieces of text that I transcribed from asw comics, and I use them as prompts sometimes. There was a fest like that a while ago, called "a softer meme", but it was general. A WC one would be awesome!

P.S. I have just seen the fic you posted and it looks WONDERFUL but I have to go out in a few minutes :( I shall read it later, with tea.

*pretends you didn't leave this comment like….3 days ago, ahem*

[soteriophobe]

Awww, TY! :D But dude, don't be sorry about no fics - any fics from you are good magic! I am excited to see your BB etc, eeee!

(also, ha, every time I see "BB" I think "Breaking Bad", which I am also pretty obsessed with - and I get confused, then excited about a WC/Breaking Bad Crossover, and then I'm like "….Ohhhhh, no, BB is that thing I have to write that huge fic for. …..ohgod." XD)

Apparently someone on collarcorner is filling two of my prompts in the one story, though, which makes me very excited. :D

And, djskdjks. I may have to create that ficfest once a couple of the big deadlines are past and WC fandom can breathe again. I could call it "a collared world"? XD

And, awwww, thank you! God, it is epic and depressing, so don't hurry. Or…like, feel pressure to read it at all. *cough*

Re: *pretends you didn't leave this comment like….3 days ago, ahem*

[soteriophobe]

Oh, and….um, my last boyfriend was kind of like a walking concussion? In that he made my head hurt really badly and I threw up a lot when he was around, and he may have caused me permanent brain damage? XD

….Okay, I do get your point. Maybe concussion is a limited-scope plot, relationship-wise.

[saphirablue]

Well, I always feel bad when I leave prompts because I can't write and therefore give back. So, I don't prompt on memes (except in my own) and inflict my "bunnies" on my f-list instead when they get too pushy.

In general I'm thinking - the more prompts the better because the writers/artists have more prompts/options to choose from. :) But I understand when big (multifandom) comms/memes say: Only x prompts per prompter please; because I think these would explode with prompts otherwise and would be even more difficult to navigate.

[frith_in_thorns]

Aww, you should definitely leave prompts! You could always leave them anonymously if you were worried :) At least in small fandoms, more prompts are definitely better, in my opinion :)