a friendly fandom exchange of ace (and aro) ideas!

keep an eye out for 2020 info!

[fandomaspecfest]

Hello again, folks!

It's that time of the year where I start seeing if there's interest in a fest this year! How is everyone feeling about writing?

There are no definite details yet, but more might come soon!

[arowrimo]

About AroWriMo

What is AroWriMo?

AroWriMo (Aromantic Writing Month) is an event taking place in February, encouraging people to explore aromantic/arospec characters and themes, and celebrating aro writers of all kinds. Works are to be created in the lead up to February, and will be submitted and posted throughout the month.

Can alloromantics participate?

Absolutely! However, alloromantics should use the tag “AroWriMo Allies”, and note that they’re alloro above the work.

I’m questioning, should I participate as an ally?

You can participate normally - you have a different perspective as someone who’s questioning as opposed to an alloro ally. If you wish and feel it relevant, you can note that you’re questioning above the work. Of course, you can participate as an ally if, for whatever reason, you’re more comfortable doing so. I want people to feel comfortable using the challenge to explore thier possible as much as definite aromanticism.

How does it work?

Works will be split into categories, each with a broad theme, and there will also be two little prompts per week. These themes and prompts will be released at the beginning of December, so people can start working on their writing as soon as they need. The respective works will be posted to this blog on the week of the prompt you’ve used. As the themes and prompts are just a suggested extra challenge, works created without using them will be posted on specific days.

How do I participate?

You’ll be able to submit your works to this blog, post it in the “AroWriMo” or “AroWriMo Ally” tags, or even email. You’re also free to post it on another website and share or send the link. You can also include links to any websites/social media, but it’s possible posts with links may not appear in tags. You don’t have to be following this blog, or apply in advance.

What kind of writing can we submit?

Anything! Short stories, novels, poetry, ballads, song lyrics, epic poems, comics, plays, fanworks, non-fiction - any form of writing you can think of! You can submit audio or video of your work being read, or even act it out if you want! For works submitted through video, audio or images, it would be ideal if you can include captions, transcripts or image descriptions for accessibility reasons.

Can I submit more than one work?

Absolutely, as many as you like! I’m sure everyone in the community will agree the more the better.

What do we have to include in our works?

The only requirement is that they include aro characters and/or themes. It’s great if you can work with the theme and prompts, but if they’re restrictive or uninspiring then do what you can!

How do we suggest or vote on prompts/themes?

You can suggest prompts and themes through email, asks, submissions, reblogs or replies through to October 10th. There will then be polls put up, in which people can vote until November 20th. The chosen prompts and themes will be announced at the beginning of December.

Can I make a suggestion or express a concern?

Absolutely! I want this event to be community guided and enjoyable for all. Share your views in any way, and I’ll happily engage with them.

If you to my /polls page you can see what votes I’m putting to you currently.

[fandomaspecfest]

Posting time!

The collection is in ao3, and is called

FandomAspecChallenge2019.

Here's a link!

If you have any difficulties, let me know!

[fandomaspecfest]

I had a bit of a delay, but I'm working in getting the collection up.

In the meantime, please feel free to post your stories or art if you want to!

[fandomaspecfest]

It's October!!

Posting is officially THIS MONTH!

there are 43 people signed up. In the next few days, I'm going to gently nudge everyone who signed up as a reminder

[fandomaspecfest]

Hey can I still signup for Fandom Ace Fest 2k19? I had a ton of sun last year and would love to do it again!

Yeah, absolutely!

[fandomaspecfest]

Sorry, I'm not sure what Inversion trope means. Can you please explain what that means?

So, i just reblogged the post I made about the theme, but I’ll try to go over it really quick with some different words to see if that shakes anything up in your brain :)

basically, trope inversion means taking a common trope in fanfiction (bed sharing, woke up married, accidental baby acquisition), and somehow defy the expectation that the reader has about that trope.

so, if you’re writing a bed sharing fic, the expectation is that the two characters are going to have that moment where they wake up cuddling, mostly asleep but warm and comfortable, and their brain says they have feelings for the other character. If you invert the trope, maybe they wake up together, cuddling, and one character freaks out because they can’t handle physical content. maybe they realize they have sexual feelings but no romantic ones. 

[fandomaspecfest]

Trope Inversion

So, what does the theme “trope inversion” mean?

There are so many common tropes in fanfiction that we all love… but don’t quite work when you’re writing an asexual, aromantic, or aspec character. 

Bed sharing is phenomenal, but what about an asexual character who feels uncomfortable with that moment of sexual tension instead of an allo character who embraces it and suddenly realized they like their bed partner?

Enemies to friends to lovers is a classic, but a lot of times fics rely on the idea that anger can lead to sexual tension easily. What if you’re writing a repulsed character who tries to avoid the confrontation because their counterpart keeps trying to turn it sexual and/or romantic? An acearo character who isn’t able to read the signals that the other person is trying to give off? What about an aromantic character whose enemies to friends to lovers doesn’t have the romantic aspect to lovers?

How about a fake/pretend relationship or woke up married fic with a demi character, who doesn’t realize their feelings, but instead develops them as they get closer to their partner? A grey character who is trying to figure out what these new feelings are that they’ve never experienced for someone before. 

A kidfic with two aromantic queer platonic partners coparenting, instead of the characters falling in love as they raise a child. The character trying to explain to nosy neighbors that no, they’re not dating, and actually mean it. 

Get creative! Play with those regularly occurring tropes and make them work with your favorite aspec headcanon!

[fandomaspecfest]

Hello! Are we allowed to submit chaptered fics that are publicly posting over time? (but will be/should be finished by the due date?) Thanks!

If it's a fic that you've already started to write and want to publish the multiple chapters within the submission week, that's totally cool! If it's a fic that you've already started publishing and want to finish for the fest, unfortunately that won't qualify to be a part of the collection.

If you're writing a piece specifically for the event and it's multiple chapters (separately), the best way to go about that is to publish all of the chapters within the week. So, if it's 14 chapters, publish 2 a day for the week. You can also publish the multiple chapters all at the same time

[fandomaspecfest]

is there anyway to make sure our stuff went through the submission thing for this years fest? i'm sorry to ask but i'm terribly anxious about things 90% of the time and i have zero brain cells!

I totally get it, no problem!

You can message me with your name so I can confirm, if you want :)

[fandomaspecfest]

So, I jumped the gun a bit and submitted for only one fandom fic...but I've already written another one in addition to the one I mentioned on the form :P In this case (and in case the muse continues to chime in with new ideas), should I submit another sign-up form for each fic separately? Or just keep track and submit a message or something closer to the date of posting? (And thanks for hosting this fest again, I haven't been so inspired to write in quite a while!)

Just message closer to the day, to make sure that all of your pieces get added to the ao3 collection!

Of course! I love hosting it, and seeing how excited folks get for more apec representation in fandom :)

[aromagni]

Aro-blog Recommendations!

I’ve been seeing a lot of new or lesser known aro-blogs, so I figured I’d do another round of blog recs! These are all blogs which primarily have aro content, though some have ace content as well: @aceofdragon (Just found/went through their blog, several great original posts that deserve more recognition :) @a-french-aro (New blog!) @aroquestionstotheworld (Lots of neat original content!) @aro-corvid (I think they’ve been around a while, good mix of reblogged content and original posts which are big aro moods) @aro-ollie (relatively new blog from someone who’s been an awesome fixture in the arocalypse server :) @aro-awesome (An awesome new blog lol :) @aroidek (a pretty new blog but already some great original content!) @arocyanide (Lots of variety, someone I know from the server but I think their aro blog is fairly new :) @zemathememequeen (She posts like 100% aro memes, she’s also known as the queen in our aro server lol) @ora-na (a great blog by an aro poc :) @aro-love (Lots of good positivity stuff, good mix of moodboards & serious posts) Miscellaneous  @aroacezine (specifically a blog working on making a zine, so check them out if you’re interested) @raiseafuckingglass (Isn’t exclusively an aro blog, but they make some awesome original posts that I often see when browsing the aro tags) @aggressivelyarospec (runs aggressivelyarospec week which encourages arospec fanworks, and is coming up in late June) Some awesome though better-known aro blogs that a lot of y’all are likely already following/that I’ve previously recommended: @arokaladin @aroacearborvitae @aro-momo @aro-soulmate-project @far-too-aro-for-this @too-spicy-and-too-queer @arotaro @aroworlds @maybeacearo And you can find me at: @aromagni This is by no means a comprehensive list and I encourage people to add more, but here’s a bunch of great aro blogs to follow! (because lbr, we’re always on the hunt for more aro content :)

[fandomaspecfest]

I signed up with the wrong blog on accident, is that ok or should I re-submit?

You can just send me a message with the account name you signed up with and the one you intended to :)

[fandomaspecfest]

I apologize if this question is odd but does this event have a concept of "bad" characters. By this I mean are there certian characters this blog deems "bad" and should never be written about in a positive light even in AUs? My main fandom has a fairly sizeable portion of morally questionable/grey characters and character that swap sides.

Not an odd question at all! But I actually don't have a real answer for you, unfortunately.

Because this isn't a bang type event where you are paired with another creator, I'm going to lean on the side of anything you want to write is okay. If folks don't want to interact with your work, they don't have to.

That being said, if you plan to join the discord, I can't promise that folks will want to talk about your work, depending on the character, plot, fandom, etc. Obviously, conversations should be kept civil, but people don't have to agree with your interpretation, y'know?

[fandomaspecfest]

Hey, just a moment - if you really Are inclusive of all aspecs, and aros are actually welcome (non-ace aros amongst them), I'd suggest removing the parenthesis around (and aro) in your title. It's very alienating having something that's marked as all-aspec that has aro ideas as an addition, not an equal part. Same note for your icon - adding an aro flag, maybe split half and half would go a long way.

Hey there, I definitely hear what you're saying.

Someone actually messaged me a while ago to help me with being more aro-inclusive (and a world of thanks to him; I'm not sure how he feels about tagging him so I'm going on the safe side and not doing it). Having aro in parentheses was actually his idea, because it maintains the pun on ace but doesn't completely exclude aro by keeping it out entirely. I totally understand where you're coming from and how it could feel like the focus is on ace and aro is an after thought. I'm more than happy to hear suggestions.

I also know that the icon needs to be changed (along with the banner). Those are hold overs from last year's fest. I have very, very limited time actually on my computer (because I have a toddler and there's only me actually running things), so those are both on the top of my list of things to do when I can get online. The intention is to have a 50/50 split of the ace and aro flags.

We also discussed the icon for the ao3 collection, which flags are current, the language in the trope inversion post, and aro language in general. Like I mentioned in a previous post, I'm 100% always here to listen about inclusion and where I may have gone wrong.

Thanks for the ask.

[fandomaspecfest]

i hate to be stupid but the discord server link isn't working and i'd really love to join? sorry to bother. unless sign ups are done then i extra apologize.

That's weird!

Here's a new link. The server actually exists all year 'round, separate from the fest!

https://discord.gg/hkCQ3gF

[fandomaspecfest]

Hey! I'm the anon who asked if sign ups were open and I'm Jared, 19, and can't read apparently. Sorry for bothering you! I just have no brain cells and was kind of stressed and rushing to do things! I apologize!

Not a problem!