femslash fanwork trope fest?

[such_heights]

So I was chatting with a friend today about how one of the sad things about the overall lack of femslash in fandom is that you get less femslash with all the awesome fandom tropes that I enjoy - bodyswap, timeloops, third party realises they're made for each other and sneakily gets them together, so on and so forth.

Gee, says I, there should be a fest or something for that.

Then, says my friend, go make something.

So! Informal polling of the masses, some questions:

1. Would you be interested in such a thing? Should it be just femslash or also female friendships?

2. What format would you like? A community with prompt claiming, a post on my journal for comments with prompts and fanwork responses kink-meme style, something else? I am definitely thinking all fandoms, all kinds of fanworks, for maximum enjoyment. And, ngl, anything that is relatively low-maintenance for me, as I want this to exist but also am busy with other things I need to finish up.

3. And, most importantly, gimme your favourite fandom tropes! What would you like to see for Amy&River, Cara&Kahlan, Toph&Katara, Gwen&Morgana or whoever.

eta: oops, accidentally 3am, should probably go to bed. Carry on, will plan some more in the morning!

eta2: update here.

Comments

[netgirl_y2k]

1. YES, PLEASE. I want to say both, but I suspect you might get more takers by limiting it to femslash.

2. I would like for this to exist in any way, shape or form, so whatever's easiest for you.

3. Bodyswap, aliens-made-them-do-it, huddling for warmth.

[such_heights]

OMG, HUDDLING FOR WARMTH, AGREEEE. Especially when they're snarky about it but secretly pleased. <3

[pocky_slash]

1) YES.

2) I like prompt claiming with maybe not a strict deadline? Sort of like, "This fest will go on for a few weeks! Claim a prompt! Write something! Informal!" Like porn battle, almost. I am also with the low-maintenance and low-pressure cause the writing thing isn't happening as often as I'd like, lately.

3) AMTDI! Stuck together (literally or with handcuffs or whatever)! "Everyone thinks we're dating!" Kidfic! Amnesia! Epistolary! Curtain!fic! Pretending to be together!

[such_heights]

Okay, low pressure, loose deadline sounds good!

And OMG, I LOVE ALL THOSE TROPES. PRETENDING TO BE A COUPLE YAAAAY. *_*

[celli]

Do I count as one of the masses? I was scrolling around my DW network and this is the best idea EVER. :D

[such_heights]

Totally - hurray! Glad to hear there's interest.

[lotesse]

I would LOVE a kinkmeme dedicated to this - there is not enough femslashy accidental!telepathy in the world.

[such_heights]

THIS IS WHAT I AM SAYING. :D

[gorgeousnerd]

1. Yes, yes, YES. I think both should be allowed, but with more of an emphasis on femmeslash, but that's just because of the mood I'm in.

2. I have no idea how this would work best, to be honest. Maybe not formal prompt claiming (that gets stressful for me, but YMMV), but brainstorming in your journal for a list of tropes to cover (which, obviously, you're doing) and possible fandoms/ships, and then putting up a post for links once people finish stories and post in their own journals.

3. Werewolves and vampires, only one bed in a hotel/house/sleep setting, sharing a sleeping bag/bundle, amnesia, crossdressing, friends pretending to be a couple until they are a couple, gay chicken that turns real.

(I'll comment again if I think of more.)

[such_heights]

Awesome, thanks! I will definitely try and come up with something that is low-stress but motivating-ish for most people, I will have a think.

AND OMG YAY, YES TO ALL OF THOSE. Crossdresing a;dlksa \o/

[copracat]

1. YES. Femslash and female friendships.

2. Whatever is easiest for you.

3. Amnesia! Stuck in a cave. Marriage of Convenience. Woke up Gay. Undercover as gay (Rizzoli and Isles did this in canon!) Regency AU. Same actor crossover. X made them do it. Turbolift! Body swap. Time travel. Mirror Universe. Groundhog Day/time loop. And all the others.

[such_heights]

oooh, Mirror Universe, that is a GOOD one, as are all the rest. :D

[havocthecat]

I am so there. Kinkmeme style is too many prompts (and usually too disorganized!) for me to scan through easily. Maybe people could just enter prompts into a gdocs spreadsheet and then we could easily sort them by fandom?

If you want favorite fandom tropes, check out alien_altars. Or, oh, what about the the Kink/Cliche challenge.

[such_heights]

The spreadsheet idea is interesting - thanks, for that and the links! I shall check them out.

[builtofsorrow]

Omg, I AM THERE. I don't really have any suggestions beyond that, but... adkjfa;kfjak;f. IRL I am making flaily hands at you, because you are BRILLIANT.

[used_songs]

This is a brilliant idea!

[ampersandand]

this would be so awesome!

either kink meme or porn battle style would be my pick - they seem to invite the most creativity & off-the-wallness, especially when anon prompting/filling is allowed/encouraged.

but maybe that's just my crazy craving for a femslash anon kink/fluff meme showing through? idk.

[sophinisba]

One possibility would be to host a kink meme here on your journal during three_weeks_for_dw (starting April 25). The downside is that that might turn off some LJ-only folks but on the plus side it could get pretty widely promoted around Dreamwidth, and three weeks seems to me like a decent amount of time after which to say, "Okay, here's the masterlist, but keep making things if you want!"

However you decide to do it though I am in favor!

[eruthros]

That's a great idea! Especially because I'd be more likely to post during that period, because I tend to feel like it's welcome and encouraged then, and I bet there are other people who would feel the same way.

[happydork]

Ee! Huddling for warmth and pretending to be married are my two favourites -- both, I see, already mentioned in comments. How about some old school soulbonding, too?

[eruthros]

Some of my favorite cliches have already been listed, but I'd also like to mention:

age regression/aged down (or whatever people call that)

evil twin/alternate universe self/etc

body transformation (for all the wingfic and turned-into-a-[blank] and sudden superpowers)

trapped in a closet! (or Canadian shack or wevs)

[adalger]

1) I'm trying to write more, and this would be a nice excuse. 1b) No opinion.

2) Abstain

3) Having Sex to Save the World; "Accidental" touch starts something (esp. when both are "accidentally" copping feels)

[pocketmouse]

I vote for femslash and female friendship.

[arch]

YAY THIS

Tropes I want to see: Toph/Katara college roommates AU!

[sophinisba]

Toph/Katara college roommates AU!

This needs to happen so much.

[xtricks]

I'd like to see both femslash and female freindship -- I mean, one of the major flaws of most mainstream media is the total lack of women interacting with each other (except to occasionally comiserate over some male co-worker/secret love object).

[charmax]

1. Yes to femslash and female friendships!

2. Any way you want to run this.

[secondsilk]

This sounds very cool.
I would definitely read and want to write for.

You could do a thing where it is for femslash and also friendship. No, wait, that's not fair. But I think it would be great to focus on female friendship to the exclusion (for the purposes of the fic) of the men in their lives, rather than a friendship that is about one or the other's romantic attraction to a man. (But you could still write Kaylee&Inara where Kaylee is love with Simon, as long as Simon wasn't a part of the fic, for example.)

I like the idea of maybe having a list of all the tropes that 'qualify' for the fest and people can just produce any suitable pairing to a prompt and put a link in a comment, but then there could also be a post for people to put in prompts that relate to a trope and pairing.

Perhaps for a deadline have regular making-of-list. So that people who like deadlines can work to make the list, but people who don't can just wait to be on the next list. An ever rolling amnesty period.

Tropes: huddling for warmth, having to babysit, Amnesia, having to teach someone something (which is like informal student/teacher).

Hmm, a list of tropes might be too unwieldy, in which I like the kink meme format because there's no pressure on claiming and then being responsible or having used up a prompt.

Also: I am totally for always-been-a-girl femslash or friendship, too. (I just read an awesome Hawaii Five-0 one and was completely sold.)

[walkthegale]

1. HELL YES. Either would be AWESOME although obvious personal preference for just femslash. ;)

2. I like prompt claiming!

3. Most of my favourites have already been mentioned! I shall have a think for more...

[ineptshieldmaid]

My needs are simple: moar epic bromance. Except with ladies. Like, the ridiculous everyone-in-denial and/or all-parties-utterly-clueless angsty dopey BFF trope. *nods happily*

I don't even have any femslash pairings at the moment. But I feel this ought to exist anyway.

[snorkackcatcher]

Prompt claiming sounds good -- I always used to like that in omniocular> You had a large number of possible plotbunny suggestions to look over, and you could pick one that you could actually see the outlines of a story for, rather than having to crank out something for a random prompt.

Also, low pressure where you don't have to come up with something if you don't have any ideas is good. (For that matter, claiming your own prompt would be OK. I can think of a couple of at least slightly trope-y ideas -- thrown together while hiding out or needing to work together -- that I've been mulling over but never had the energy to write, given that they would inevitably be quite long fics.)

Would help to build a list of tropes as well though! Probably there are other fests (single ship or whatever) which have them that could be nicked?

[sophinisba]

Perhaps The Big List of Clichés at cliche_bingo might be adopted for femslashy purposes.

I like the idea of having a big list of tropes and some guidelines in a post, and then in comments people can either give specific prompts and respond to them or just directly post fic or art or things.

[theoret]

*flails* I have no idea how it had never occured to me until now that I really need to read a bunch of femslash cliche fic.

Tropes wise, I second soulbonding, physical bonding (in the "Whoops, we handcuffed ourselves together and lost the key" sense), telepathy and animal transformation, because those are some of my favourites.

I'd also like to add bodysharing (my favourite slightly more obscure cousin of bodyswap), truth or dare, strip poker (or whatever. Strip prime-or-not-prime! Strip three dimentional chess! Strip card games on motorcycles!), characters finding fanfiction about themselves, and truth spells/curses/serum.

[theoret]

ALSO: SEX POLLEN.

[sunnyrea.livejournal.com]

I would be so all over that!

I like the "A community with prompt claiming" fest type thing. I'd be willing to help you out too with organizing if you need.

[sunnyrea.livejournal.com]

But seriously, any way this happens would AMAZING! omg so many good tropes mentioned!

[thingswithwings]

1) Yes indeed I would! I think it might be better to limit it to femslash, but of course be generous in your definition of that term - ie, if a person says this is femslash, then it's femslash.

2) Kink-meme styles seems like the easiest for you? I do not care much about the format, but I do love other peoples' prompts.

3) I'm going to second (or, er, 18th) bodyswap, and also crossdressing, undercover gay, undercover straight, undercover as lovers, post-apocalyptic survival, sudden superpowers, telepathy, amnesia, adorable slow courtship/dating, high school AU, epistolary fiction, fuckbuddies, fuck or die, I'm-transforming-into-something, roadtrips, robots, and time travel.

4) Yay!