I made a poll!!!

[susan5124]

If I'm not mistaken, Glompfest should be coming up in a couple of months and I'm so excited! It's my favorite fest and this year I'm determined to be prepared with the best prompt in the history of prompts, so that every H/D writer in fandom will be fighting over it and wishing they had thought of it themselves. OK. That's not going to happen, but

Comments

[birdsofshore]

Personally, if a prompt is too specific, I just can't get going with it. I need something that sort of sets me off on a path, but, I only need a push to get going. I don't want someone else steering me the whole way because then there's no joy in the process for me. I like discovering for myself what it is the characters want to do next. So, if someone has mapped the entire fic out from start to finish, I would never pick up that prompt. It just doesn't work for me.

Likes and dislikes, these can be useful but I prefer not to have a whole list. Again, I feel it interferes with my ability to be creative in the writing. I personally can't make a story flow and grow in an organic sort of way if there's a checklist of things I have to include. Things like strict topping /bottoming preferences can also be very inhibiting, although I understand that people do have these and that is their prerogative. It just adds up to another part of the fic where I feel like I have no control. It can put me off choosing a prompt.

I like sign ups such as erised, where you get a lot of ideas floating around, and some likes and dislikes, but they don't tend to be really prescriptive. For instance, this year, my assignment had a list of suggested characters they would like to see. I didn't feel pressured to include them all, but the list sparked a couple of ideas off for me and took me in some interesting directions. That kind of pool of helpful suggestions is what works for me, rather than a very specific "and then I want Luna to come in, and tell Draco that there's a curse on him, and the only way he can break it is to..." kind of prompt.

I must stress this is just my preferences and I have no idea if other people feel the same way.