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yuletide2017-10-03 09:54 pm
macrocosmica) wrote in yuletide2017-10-03 09:54 pm
Entry tags:
Crueltide 2017
Credit to for_sorrow for the following text! This is a mere C&P.
Not every story is pleasant. Not every story has a happy ending, and not all happy endings come without a dark and painful journey. And sometimes, those are the kinds of stories that we really, really want to read.
If you're one of the many people interested in either writing or receiving darkfic, then Crueltide ishere to devour your soul the Yuletide-extra for you!
The short version
The long version is beneath the cut.
Why Crueltide?
Because darkfic isn't to everyone's taste. By making it easier to identify darkfic prompts and people open to receiving darkfic in yuletide, we can all indulge our preferences without placing undue pressure on our assigned writers or risking gifting unwelcome fics to our recipients. (And also: the name was the least cutesy of those being thrown around in 2014.)
What is darkfic?
Depends on your definition. But here's a (non-exhaustive) list of darker tropes to get you started:
(White text used as some content may be triggering to some - highlight to read.)
Addiction - Amputation - Animal Abuse - Apocalypse - Betrayal - Body Horror - Brainwashing - Cannibalism - Character Death - Child Abuse - Claustrophobia - Conspiracy - Degradation - Disease - Dystopia - Gaslighting - Hauntings - Humiliation - Hypothermia - Insanity - Invasion of Privacy - Lovecraftian Cosmic Horrors - Medical Experimentation - Mind Control - Monsters - Murder - Mutilation - Non-Con - Paranoia - Poisoning - Prison - PTSD - Sadism - Slavery - Suicide - Torture - Unhappy Endings - Violence
Does a darkfic story have to have an unhappy ending/some other specific trope?
No! Not at all. Just because a story is packed with darkfic tropes doesn't mean there's no light at the end of the tunnel.
Also, just because you like one trope, it doesn't mean you like all of them. Feel free to specify your do-not-wants alongside your wants.
Great, how does it work?
-- If you end up writing a darkfic story, just tag it with Crueltide when you upload it to the collection, and that'll help readers find more of what they like. It would also be good to tag any particular tropes you've used, to help readers find/avoid them.That's all you need to do!
-- If you would like to receive a darkfic story in one of the fandoms you've requested in your yuletide sign-up, you can advertise that here by replying to this post. (The template below is merely a suggestion of what to include - the level of detail in prompts/tropes is entirely up to you. But please do limit yourself to fandoms on your Yuletide sign-up - the Yuletide mods need to be sure you get a fic in one of those, and a treat in an unexpected fandom could make that awkward. )
AO3: ao3 username
Letter: dear yuletide writer (URL)
Fandoms: fandom details here
Happy Endings Preferred?: yes/no/don't mind
Wanted tropes: list any of your favorite dark tropes, themes, or prompts here.
Unwanted tropes: list your darkfic do-not-wants here.
If you want to advertise your requested fandoms as being particularly dark and of potential interest to others, feel free to comment along those lines too.
Alternatively, if you only want your assigned writer to know what you're into, just make a mention of darkfic/crueltide in your optional details as part of your signup.
for_sorrow for the following text! This is a mere C&P.Not every story is pleasant. Not every story has a happy ending, and not all happy endings come without a dark and painful journey. And sometimes, those are the kinds of stories that we really, really want to read.
If you're one of the many people interested in either writing or receiving darkfic, then Crueltide is
The short version
- Read the comments to find people to treat with darkfic.
- Tag your yuletide darkfic with 'crueltide'
The long version is beneath the cut.
Why Crueltide?
Because darkfic isn't to everyone's taste. By making it easier to identify darkfic prompts and people open to receiving darkfic in yuletide, we can all indulge our preferences without placing undue pressure on our assigned writers or risking gifting unwelcome fics to our recipients. (And also: the name was the least cutesy of those being thrown around in 2014.)
What is darkfic?
Depends on your definition. But here's a (non-exhaustive) list of darker tropes to get you started:
(White text used as some content may be triggering to some - highlight to read.)
Addiction - Amputation - Animal Abuse - Apocalypse - Betrayal - Body Horror - Brainwashing - Cannibalism - Character Death - Child Abuse - Claustrophobia - Conspiracy - Degradation - Disease - Dystopia - Gaslighting - Hauntings - Humiliation - Hypothermia - Insanity - Invasion of Privacy - Lovecraftian Cosmic Horrors - Medical Experimentation - Mind Control - Monsters - Murder - Mutilation - Non-Con - Paranoia - Poisoning - Prison - PTSD - Sadism - Slavery - Suicide - Torture - Unhappy Endings - Violence
Does a darkfic story have to have an unhappy ending/some other specific trope?
No! Not at all. Just because a story is packed with darkfic tropes doesn't mean there's no light at the end of the tunnel.
Also, just because you like one trope, it doesn't mean you like all of them. Feel free to specify your do-not-wants alongside your wants.
Great, how does it work?
-- If you end up writing a darkfic story, just tag it with Crueltide when you upload it to the collection, and that'll help readers find more of what they like. It would also be good to tag any particular tropes you've used, to help readers find/avoid them.That's all you need to do!
-- If you would like to receive a darkfic story in one of the fandoms you've requested in your yuletide sign-up, you can advertise that here by replying to this post. (The template below is merely a suggestion of what to include - the level of detail in prompts/tropes is entirely up to you. But please do limit yourself to fandoms on your Yuletide sign-up - the Yuletide mods need to be sure you get a fic in one of those, and a treat in an unexpected fandom could make that awkward. )
AO3: ao3 username
Letter: dear yuletide writer (URL)
Fandoms: fandom details here
Happy Endings Preferred?: yes/no/don't mind
Wanted tropes: list any of your favorite dark tropes, themes, or prompts here.
Unwanted tropes: list your darkfic do-not-wants here.
If you want to advertise your requested fandoms as being particularly dark and of potential interest to others, feel free to comment along those lines too.
Alternatively, if you only want your assigned writer to know what you're into, just make a mention of darkfic/crueltide in your optional details as part of your signup.
no subject
Letter: https://geckoholic.dreamwidth.org/523094.html
Fandoms: Grayson (Comics), Castlevania (Cartoon), Psycho-Pass, In These Words - Guilt Pleasure, Midnighter | Midnighter and Apollo (Orlando), 비밀의 숲 | Secret Forest | Stranger
Happy Endings Preferred?: I don't mind them, but I don't need them.
Wanted tropes: Psychological horror, gore, torture (both physical and mental/emotional), PTSD and related issues, trauma recovery (that's actually my favorite thing about dark fic, the fallout and the dealing with that stuff afterwards), kinky sex as an instrument to deal with past trauma, child abuse (if referenced or implied in canon), character death, dystopia and apocalypse, captivity and restraints, body horror (except anything involving eyes), permanent injury (preferably both inflicted and dealt with onscreen), mindfuck and manipulation, unreliable narrator, humiliation and degradation, invasion of privacy, altered perception (for whatever reason) and its consequences, involuntary nudity, coercion, intimacy without love. Incest if it's treated as unhealthy and terrible, soulmates (or most other usually happy tropes) gone wrong, enemies to lovers/lust, power imbalance that is addressed as such and/or skewed in favor of the seemingly weaker party.
Unwanted tropes: I'm picky with consent-related issues, especially when it comes to women -- actually, I'm always pickier when it comes to women, I prefer my guys to do the suffering. Victim blaming, even implied or referenced, is a huge no, though I can be fine with it if the narrative recognizes and acknowledges that the victim isn't actually at fault. Graphic and descriptive non-con is a hard no. Forced nudity and threats of rape or sexual violence, especially in the context of torture, are okay, as long as a rescue happens before said threats are actually followed up on. I don't like feminization of male characters or sexist/gendered slurs, and racism is also a total nope. Please avoid permanent injury. Also, actual slavery, mpreg bestiality, medical experimentation, and anything involving bodily fluids and excrement. I can deal with vomit if it's not graphic, and watersports is okay if it focuses on the desperation and humiliation and not on the fact that it is, well, pissing. Underage below the age of sixteen, and age gaps of more than fifteen years (physically and/or mentally) or with one party below, say, twenty -- meaning, for example, twenty-two and thirty-seven is okay, fifteen and thirty is definitely not. A/B/O is out, so is any kind of kink-based AU universe.
And generally, don't go overboard and keep it in character and in the context of the source fandom, even if you go for an AU.