Now like any good academic obsessed with their niche passion I needed to organize it into a format I could digest. With no knowledge of how to use Google Sheets I made this spreadsheet over the course of a few weeks—watching YouTube videos and scouring reddit posts searching for how to use certain functions.
It is an eternal work in progress, but I wanted to flex my dashboard at the top of it all 🥴
Now this looks like a lot but let me break it down for ya’ll—it’s lovely ain’t it?
Okay so on the left we got the random BL picker. Chooses one from the spreadsheet and shows me all the relevant info on it. What tier I’ve placed it in (more on that later), it’s ranking (also more on that later), country of origin, year of publication, author, artist, status (ongoing, hiatus or completed), the genres, tags (also also also more on this later) and my own personal comments.
We got our total BL catalogued at the top (not how many I’ve read but just how many I have listed, because my section on ones I need to reread is…daunting.)
A pie graph showing the spread of genres!
A bar graph with year of publication!
A pie graph for country of origin!
And finally a section at the top with the top five most frequent tags, and bottom five least frequent tags. (Don't flame me too hard for my tags atm I swear I can explain😭) And there are some filters I can mess around with up there too teehee~!
Now onto an explanation of the Table itself!
When I read something I throw it into a few different tiers in terms of my own subjective feelings and how likely I am to recommend it to someone else.
This is the peak of literature. The Creme de la Creme. I can recommend these to fellow BL peeps without a shred pf guilt in my heart because its CINEMA.
Some examples of what resides here are:
There just needs to be one or two tweaks for my personal taste that would make it even better in my eyes. Still great, still love it, but MAN do I wish "x y and z" happened to make it timeless...
Some examples of what resides here are:
Sometimes you just gotta give things a chance ya know! You gotta let it cook in your mental theatre--Hence this tier. Got some kinks to work out but, if you give it a chance it may tickle your fancy.
Some examples of what resides here are:
Here we got the biggest tier--the guilty pleasures. Ones where I LIKE THEM but even someone as brazen as me can't always get up on my soapbox to say 'YEAH I LIKE THIS AND WHAT?!?' or maybe *objectively* it isn't that good and I only like it for a tag, a character, or some other sentimental reason and can't bare to put it in 'It's Aight'.
Some examples of what resides here are:
Dr. V and the Three Lovers
An unfortunate fate. Works at one point I enjoyed but something occurred that turned my expectations to crepe. Not bad enough to sink deeper on the list, but enough to mourn the 'what could've been'.
Some examples of what resides here are:
Sometimes ya just read one...and someone asks 'hey how was this thing?' and you go..."It was AIGHT" and that is this tier. One where its nothing to write home about but not bad ya know?
Some examples of what resides here are:
I consume, I feel nothing. No inkling of like, but right before I actively dislike it. It takes a lot for me to put ENERGY into not liking something. These don't provide me nutrients.
Some examples of what resides here are:
The bottom of the barrel. I actually actively do not like these ones and will stand on business explaining *why* that is to anyone who is willing to listen to me rant about history, anthropology, communication etc. Or maybe I'm just petty. Or too dedicated--and trust me I've read some REAL bad stuff out there but it's so hard to get me to really...HATE something. And if you like one of the ones here--more power to ya, its my opinion and that's all. Maybe some of these scratch an itch for ya, I ain't here to judge
Some examples of what resides here are:
Concealing Sacred Simplicity
This is where I put all of the rest of my BL I have yet to read or need to reread because there are too many and I get new recommendations DAILY. Also if y'all ever have any, please please please share them with me, I always want more data to add to my spreadsheet hehehe~
A ranking out of ten that I make from SIX criteria: Vibes, Characters, Plot, Smut, Art Style, and Reread ability. Of course for works without smut, I'm not counting that against them. Go check out #Cupcake’s BL Reviews for my reviews using this system~! Don’t worry I have fun with it 😂
To the best of my ability to find this information...
With links to their social media of course~
Ongoing, Hiatus and Completed~
I also have Doujinshi as a genre because I want it to be known when something is a self published work ya know! Because I enjoy reading amateur made works about ships from fandom I enjoy hehehe...
I have a crepe ton of tags--and I add to the list if I feel there is something worth pointing out for a piece of BL? My definitions on some of the tags may be different so just keep that in mind!
Other things I have as a tag are fandom because I enjoy some fandom works and one shot because sometimes you don't need a whole anthology ya know? Also animation for ones that got an animation made or maybe started as an original anime (Yuri on Ice and Sk8 the Infinity).
Where all of my unhinged commentary on a work stays. If I had some stuff to get off my chest it'll be there--unfiltered and passionate (usually because I just finished reading it and I needed to get my thoughts in writing)
Sooo yeah that's an overview of the spreadsheet! I'll probably give some updates if I add things to the set up but I love this thing with all my heart. Shout out to Champion Challander Tech's Video on making a spreadsheet dashboard (with more stuff I didn't put on mine) since that video really got me GOING on this ya know?
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