cinderlite | Fandom Trumps Hate

Had anyone else participated in

fandomtrumpshate at all?

Its purpose is to bring together fandom for the purpose of charity. You place your work (fic, art, etc.) up for auction and people bid on it (and all the money goes to charity!). If they win, you create a piece of work for whatever they're looking for... within reason. You get to set what you're best at and most comfortable creating. So if you don't like Dead Dove content, then you write that in your profile and people know that that's not something they can ask for from you. You get a year to create the piece and present it to them!

I bid on someone for the first time ever this year and, somehow, I actually won! I'm going to be getting a neat Homestuck fic featuring Alpha Dave/Dirk, which is one of my favorite ships. I'm such a sucker for these two, especially based on the scenario I asked for. It was inspired by a short ficlet that I'm in love with, and I'm ungodly excited to read it when it's finished!

I'm thinking about participating myself next year. Not the bidding, though maybe that too, but more specifically creating a fic for someone based on what I'm good at -- so, like, something from Harry Potter, Homestuck, or Persona 5 is most likely. I might put other fandoms up as well, but it really depends on what I'm feeling like at the moment. I'm almost always feeling those three, though, so they're easy to default to.

I do suppose that I'm a little anxious about it, though. Generally, I have to be in a writing mood to actually, you know, write. When I'm in it, I write fic in a flurry. I either write a handful at once, or I write a chunky fic, and slap it up. I want to write more consistently, though. Knowing that I had an obligation would likely push me to finish my entry ASAP because I hate having something hanging over my head. The idea of putting it off for like 6 months sounds hellish to me.

What about you? Do you think this is something you'd ever want to sign up for? Or, perhaps, just the bidding aspect? I'd love to hear any thoughts you have on it.

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I never participated in Fandom Trumps Hate but I offered fic for

sunflower_auction last year, another fandom auction than raised funds for Ukraine! It was nice. I was ready to create a fake account to bid on myself in case no one else did 😂 But that didn't happen! I knew the bidder so it was easy to arrange timelines, and like you're thinking I didn't want to wait until the last minute and have it hang over me for a year either. It went well in my opinion :D I hope you get to try and have a good experience!!

Oh, cool! I've never heard of the

sunflower_auction before, but it sounds amazing. How much time did you have to work on the fic for it? It also must have been nice to have someone you knew bidding on you! My biggest concern is that I'd get someone that ultimately doesn't like what I made and is vocal about it. I also never considered the fact that maybe someone wouldn't bid on me, either. That's a bit of a scary premise, too!

Thank you, though! I hope I have a good experience as well. I'm really excited for it!

The

sunflower_auction was a one-time thing at the beginning of the war, so it would have been easy to miss if you weren't in places where it was promoted at the time (here and Tumblr, I think). The timeline was also one year.

I wouldn't worry too much about the recipient not liking and being loud about it... It's not a commission. It's a charity for fans to come together and do something good. Anyone vocal about disliking would be a jerk. From what I understand, it seems more common that the creator never finishes their gift, but even then because it's a charity event people tend to grumble but they're not mean or loud about it. I think it helped that I participated in a few exchanges before, like the ones you see on

fandomcalendar. As long as you make a good faith effort to get their general prompt and likes right, and don't hit any Do Not Want, it's like a nice gift rather than something super tailored. Kind of like, adding more fanworks for their fandom or ship is a win for fandom overall.

Oh! Yeah, I wasn't on DW back then and I was only occasionally on Tumblr. I was mostly on Twitter, but that place is absolutely falling apart, so I recently sought refuge from it. That sounds like it was a great idea, though!

Oh, that makes sense! I guess my anxiety got a little away from me and I catastrophized a little about it. You're right, it's not a commission. I'd been kind of viewing it as one, and I guess that's where my anxiety came from. It is supposed to be about Charity though, that's the most important thing. I'd love to participate in an event like this, though. I'll definitely have to keep

fandomtrumpshate in mind for next year. Though, yeah, I can definitely see how there might be people that don't follow through on their gifts. That'd be my worst nightmare (doing that, not receiving it). I live in fear of disappointing people, so I'd probably be able to finish it if for no other reason than fear of failure inspires me to write.

I've thought about participating before, but--like you--the idea makes me a little anxious. I wouldn't want to put out something that the bidder doesn't like, or, god forbid, get stuck and have a difficult time finishing the fic. I might bid on something in an upcoming year, but only if it's a fandom that I'm really invested in at the moment. The whole event does sound fun though! I think I just need to actually go ahead and sign up when the nest round comes out.

Nest round? :O And yeah, that's my biggest fear as well. I don't want to disappoint someone. I also want to push myself to do more than I am. I want to see what I can produce! I think it would be fun, but my brain is temperamental, so I think I'm going to see where I'm at before I commit to anything. I definitely think the event is fun, though, and it's a lot of fun to bid on people. I loved brainstorming with the person I won the auction with.

I've never done it though I did do several similar ones on LJ back in the day-help_haiti (bidding), help_japan (writing) and fandomaid twice (writing).

I don't know what the requirements are for fandomtrumpshate but one of the rounds I offered twelve (one a month) 500+ word ficlets, any rating because I knew that was more manageable for me than offering a fic of 5K or more. It did help that most of the people who I either bid on or won my services were friends. I did do a few though for people I didn't know at all.

Oh, that's so cool! It's neat that you were able to participate in similar events! Did you have fun with it? How did it go? Was it difficult to work with someone and then produce content for what they requested, even if they were a friend?

Wow! That sounds like it was a real experience -- a good one, too. I think if I did it, I would only offer 5-10k in words because I know at this point that I could do that. Eventually, a few years down the line, I'd like to offer 20k! First, I need to get there on my own, though.

I think overall it was fun, yeah. Most of the people gave me either a pairing they wanted (two people it was the same pairing for all the months) or various pairings/prompt combo which is basically what I do all the time so it wasn't too much of a stretch.

The only advice I'd give is to be flexible but also make sure you're really on the same page with the person, you know? Real clear about what you're willing to do, what you cannot do because it will only make you dread the project if you agree to something you'd really rather not create. Again, not having looked closely at the current offers, something like promising 5K+ rather than 5-10K because that way when it's 6K they aren't disappointed. But totally agree with you that to offer 20K, you really have to be certain you can do it. Writing to someone else's specific desires can be tricky enough without also adding that pressure. Better to "practice" getting to that length fic without also having it be a custom project, at least IMO. But, on the flip side, maybe something completely new would help you get there. Only you know you.

That makes sense!

I think that's great advice! I would definitely want to be sure that the person I was writing for had the same vision in mind as I did. Also, offering less and potentially giving more sounds like a good way to please them because they're getting more than what was bargained for. I'm a little long-winded when I'm writing -- either commentary or fic, so I often end up writing more than I mean to. I think that's kind of a good thing, because it generally means I produce more content.

You're right, though. I don't want to end up stuck in a situation where I loathe what I'm creating. I had that awhile back and ultimately had to tell my friend that it just wasn't a ship I want into and didn't want to create for. That sucked. I would definitely want to avoid at all possible opportunities.

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to this for me! You've given me a lot to think about!

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