August Intimacy, year two: low-energy version, now with secondary theme!

[zaniida]

Last year, I got encouraged to host my first writing event, August Intimacy, which led to 33 works between the main collection and the stragglers.

Focus: Nonsexual Intimacy

The whole point of the event is to remind authors that intimacy doesn't equal or even imply sexuality -- that characters (and people) can be intimate without wanting to get in each other's pants. That's why I created the fic form (Five Moments of (Nonsexual) Intimacy) and hope to see it find widespread use across fandoms (similar to the "Five Things" fic form it draws from).

Anything that focuses on nonsexual intimacy and is posted during August or September of this year is eligible for the AO3 collections (that I should make near the end of the month). I encourage the use of the Fic Form, but it's not necessary.

This year's theme is Time -- more details on that in a minute.

Also, I am critically low on energy/focus, so I'm probably not going to make Bingo Boards specifically for this year; last year's still give plenty of variety, and can be found here. The folder includes several variations, including a spreadsheet and some comma-separated lists; if you need greater accessibility, alexseanchai made a simplified spreadsheet that's basically just all the prompts in five columns. (I give blanket permission for anyone to post modified versions of my Bingo Boards / prompts / etc. in any way you think would help.)

Overview of Last Year

The collection includes work from eight authors. Ysabetwordsmith posted five (most for Polychrome Heroics, one for the MCU), Signamino posted three (two in the MCU, one for The Witcher), AQuietThinker posted three (two in the MCU, one for Star Wars), and Cornerofmadness posted two (for Prodigal Son). Siberianskys managed a blackout (MCU). Crazy_Cat_Lady and idrilhadhafang each posted one (MCU and Star Wars, respectively). I posted 16 pieces (mostly short and random), plus a podfic and two pieces of Original Work (one of which is from the point of view of a pair of socks).

(Dialecticdreamer also made blackout, with a bunch of stories posted on this site instead of AO3.)

The most common fandom for the AO3 collection was the Marvel Cinematic Universe (for the dreamwidth-only stuff, it's Polychrome Heroics). I tried to show that the fic form is fandom-independent, so I ranged all over the place: Person of Interest, ElfQuest, Welcome to Night Vale, Disney's Recess, Stardew Valley, Recettear, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, the SCP Foundation, even Octodad. Nine of my pieces (more than half) are WIP, including my main piece, Turtles in a Bottle, which hit nearly 7000 words before I hit a road block. (I hope to update Turtles this month.)

For being my first time, I was surprised by the amount of participation. But then, maybe that's just that Ysabetwordsmith pulled me into a prolific group ^_^

(Incidentally, I also hosted my second event here, during April, focused on Genderplay AUs, which I also hope to make a yearly event. Feel free to combine the two!)

Year Two: Time

Last year, "nonsexual intimacy" was the sole theme, but starting this year I figure I'll throw an additional theme into the mix, for those who'd like a greater focus. So let's start with Time.

Time Travel, Time Loops, the Groundhog Day plot, those are possible (and fun). Could also try Ageing or De-ageing (due to time travel or some other mechanic, one character's age changes compared to the other; how does this affect (or prompt) intimacy?).

If you'd like an interesting challenge, consider the Paradoxical Romance: Bob and Alice are in love, but thanks to time shenanigans (or cross-dimensional shenanigans, if you prefer), each fell in love because the other already loved them. So where did the love begin?

More mundane choices include (but are not limited to):

Change Across Time

e.g. a relationship that grows more intimate (or less) as the years go by

Time Moves Too Fast

e.g. not much time left to enjoy/strengthen the relationship (since partner is dying or must leave)

Time Slows Down

e.g. a moment of intimacy stretches out as though time does not exist

e.g. treading water until X happens (e.g. waiting out a quarantine), which leads to intimacy in the meantime

Deadline(s)

e.g. barriers to intimacy break down as two people struggle to meet a goal in time

e.g. must achieve a certain level of intimacy before a certain time (like "true love's kiss within three days" but not necessarily romantic)

Memories / Nostalgia

e.g. a visit to a place where their intimacy began, and a recollection of the little fumbling steps that started it all

Feel free to mention other ideas in the comments!

So that's the prompt. And, of course, if you found a way to mesh it with Hot Summer Writes, all the better! Off the top of my head: An intimacy that develops over several summer vacations to the same spot, e.g. meeting the same tour guide or vendor each year, or getting a minor injury each vacation and getting treated by the same doc/EMT/person with first aid training. Or, inverse: Every year, most of the group heads out for vacation or camp or whatever, leaving behind two characters who don't usually get to interact much, but get to enjoy the relative solitude each year and spend time together that they wouldn't otherwise spend.

Cheers!

Comments

[fuzzyred]

I am going to take a look at the cards in the morning, but this seems intriguing, and I feel a little more up to attempting than I did last year.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

If someone could make copies of the cards and the prompt lists in Dreamwidth, that would be very helpful. The spreadsheet document keeps crashing every few minutes and Pillowfort is iffy. It doesn't have to be zaniida who is busy enough already.

Re: Thoughts

[fuzzyred]

I can make copies of the prompt lists in Dreamwidth, but copying the cards is probably beyond me right now, because that would involve type them all out by hand; I can't copy-paste them from google docs.

Is there a particular way that would work best for the lists, or is having them labeled but all in the same post fine?

Re: Thoughts

[zaniida]

You can't copy-paste from the Simplified Spreadsheet version? (It should have all of the boards that I'd made into graphical versions.)

(I just tried copy-pasting into Notepad and it worked for me, but of course I don't know what device or software you're using.)

Re: Thoughts

[fuzzyred]

Whoops. I forgot about the spreadsheet. I can copy from there, but I don't know if the format will carry over. I'll have to give it a try when I'm off work.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

I could copy individual phrases from the spreadsheet. The problem is that it crashed every few minutes.

Try copying whole columns, or if that doesn't work, block by block within each column. The blocks were taken from the cards, so if you put them together laterally, you can reconstruct a card. If you can copy columns, then those can be posted as standard DW prompt lists, because each column is one FMI header list -- that is, the physical prompts are all together in a column. The headers are at the top of the spreadsheet.

Re: Thoughts

[fuzzyred]

I will give that a shot in the morning; work used up all my energy and I'm off to bed soon.

However, I did make a post with all of the prompt lists copied, so those are accessible at least. If the format is not good, let me know and I'll make adjustments as appropriate.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

This is a big help, thanks!

Re: Thoughts

[fuzzyred]

I can copy columns of the cards very easily; trying to copy rows is a formatting night mare. Is it useful if I copy all the columns from each card, with appropriate headings, even though they won't be in grid form?

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

Yes, it's useful to copy columns per card. That way, people can reconstruct cards by hand if they wish. At least the prompts will be visible.

Re: Thoughts

[fuzzyred]

Perfect! That is how I copied them, and I included the little blurb underneath the title that gave more information about the card. Mixed Cards and Fluff card, the first 5 themed cards, and the Inversion and Dramatic cards.

I think that should be all of them. I made three posts, because fifteen cards is a lot and I didn't want the posts to be too cluttered.