A Month for Gen Work

Hopefully filling June with Gen fics, art, and recs. For more detail, see pinned post. Icon I.D.: A white circle with a white dot in the centre on a green background, the AO3 relationship category symbol for Gen

[genworkjune]

Hello, welcome to Gen Work June, a month for sharing some Gen Works!

(Gen as in relationship category, not the rating)

The Goal

To do something related to a gen work during June. This can be writing something, it can be drawing something, there are some prompts below to use for that or you can make something completely unrelated to the prompts. You can make a rec list, you can share some of your old work again, you can just leave a nice comment on a gen work, set yourself a challenge, keep it nice and easy, everything counts here.

The Rules

This is a month intended for gen works- that is, works not focused on a romantic relationship- so keeping things gen is pretty much the only rule (though mentions of background romance is allowed).

Appropriate tagging for any major warnings, read mores for long posts, and image descriptions for images are also appreciated, though there is always some slack allowed for older posts being reblogged.

And, if you would like your work reblogged here, please tag @genworkjune, and there is also an AO3 collection found here.

The Prompts

(These are jumping off points- you don't need to use them if you have an entirely different idea that doesn't fit, it's up to you)

Enemies and Friends

Sacrifice

Non-Verbal Communication

Reading a Book

Complicated Past

Forgiveness

Past Prompts

Thank you! I hope you have some fun

[fezwearingjellybananas]

There are 5 Mondays this June, so let's do some Monday Fic Recs for @genworkjune! Starting with:

reaching up to touch the sky by @shrinkthisviolet, a Flash (TV 2014) series centred around Morgan Wells (an Earth-1 version of Jesse Wells) whom I love very much. There are some romantic relationships featured but the series is overwhelmingly gen

Series Description:

This series is my long-winded answer to "wait, but wouldn’t it be cool if Jesse had an E1 counterpart?"

Her name is Jesse Morgan Wells, Tina McGee is her godmother coparenting with Eobard Thawne (coparenting being a very generous term), and she's the same age as Jesse but a year behind her academically. She was also struck by the accelerator, but...you know. All in a day's work of being Eowells' daughter.

Fic ratings: G & T

[genworkjune]

Hello, welcome to Gen Work June, a month for sharing some Gen Works!

(Gen as in relationship category, not the rating)

The Goal

To do something related to a gen work during June. This can be writing something, it can be drawing something, there are some prompts below to use for that or you can make something completely unrelated to the prompts. You can make a rec list, you can share some of your old work again, you can just leave a nice comment on a gen work, set yourself a challenge, keep it nice and easy, everything counts here.

The Rules

This is a month intended for gen works- that is, works not focused on a romantic relationship- so keeping things gen is pretty much the only rule (though mentions of background romance is allowed).

Appropriate tagging for any major warnings, read mores for long posts, and image descriptions for images are also appreciated, though there is always some slack allowed for older posts being reblogged.

And, if you would like your work reblogged here, please tag @genworkjune, and there is also an AO3 collection found here.

The Prompts

(These are jumping off points- you don't need to use them if you have an entirely different idea that doesn't fit, it's up to you)

Enemies and Friends

Sacrifice

Non-Verbal Communication

Reading a Book

Complicated Past

Forgiveness

Past Prompts

Thank you! I hope you have some fun

[genworkjune]

June is here!

[ao3commentoftheday]

What constitutes a good Fic Rec list?

I’ll tell you what I look for in a fic rec list and then we’ll see what everyone else thinks is good :)

all one fandom, and if it’s shippy then all the same ship

titles of the fic link over to AO3

include the rating of the fics and a brief description (or the reason why you like it)

tag the authors so they know they’ve been rec’d

I’ve definitely seen fic rec lists with a specific theme to them as well, for example “[ship] hurt/comfort recs” but I’m personally good with just the description and picking from there. 

Do any of you make rec lists? Do you appreciate them? What makes a good list?

[sarking]

Ooh, I love rec lists, but I have fairly different preferences for them:

All one fandom is good, but it doesn’t need to be all one ship. I don’t have anything against multifandom rec lists, but the odds of me being familiar with multiple fandoms on them are slim. The important thing is to be clear about the rec list’s theme before you actually list the recs themselves (e.g. random works I liked, coffee shop AUs in small fandoms, m/m slash in Specific Fandom, etc).

The reason you like it, or the reason you think other people should read it, is absolutely 100% necessary, and ideally it consists of at least a couple sentences (unless it’s a 100-word drabble you’re reccing). Without this, and especially if I don’t know anything about your taste in fic, it’s not any different than skimming a work listing.

If there’s something that you had to overlook while reading the fic, or something that made you hesitate to rec it, mention it! If I know the reccer would usually consider a lack of empty space between paragraphs a dealbreaker, I might be willing to give the fic a go despite the fact bad paragraph spacing is usually also a dealbreaker for me. But if I just click on a link and find a wall of text, I’ll probably back button from not just the work, but possibly the rec list as well.

I think of recs as being for potential readers, not authors, so if I were making a rec list, I wouldn’t tag them. (But I would try to comment on the fic!)

[kiragecko]

Ooh, I always want the authours tagged if possible! Mostly because if a tagged authour I follow reblogs it, I get to see other authours that the reader considers similar enough to rec together with this person I love!

Since I love Gen recs, it’s usually about a single character, instead of a ship, or about a bunch of fic with a similar tone. (Agree it should all be one fandom, unless you’re dealing with fandoms that have a huge overlap of fans.) Lists with similar tones are actually my favourites. “Ten fic with haunting prose”, “my favourite dramatic fic about siblings from 2025”, “dark-ish fic with hopeful endings”, etc.

I like a brief summary/teaser (usually a sentence or less) and then some of the reasons the reccer enjoyed it. The goal is to interest the reader just enough that they click through and read the actual fic’s summary and tags, not tell them everything they need to know.

I often include warnings in my own recs, but rarely ratings, since I find that information about tone and major warnings will usually provide more information. It doesn’t have to be the usual AO3 warnings either - I used to target my recs at aroace fans, so I’d include the amount of icky kissing in the warnings section.

If you’re going to include a wide range of ratings, people often start with the lighter ones and end with the higher ratings. They also often separate Gen and shippy stuff if they’re including both.

But the absolutely best thing you can include is bias! The more I learn about what you like and dislike, the more valuable your recs become. Praise fic for being canon compliant, or having great worldbuilding, or for the writing style, or how steamy the sex is - things that show me how you’re judging what’s on the list. I’ve followed several people because they cared about elements of fic I also cared about, to the point that I could trust their recs without even having to read the blurb.

Basically, I think your recs should focus on the elements you care about, because those are the things where your opinion will actually tell us something. I don’t include ratings, because I have nothing to say about them that the fic doesn’t say better. I do include information about how many times I needed to take a break and calm down, because that lets the readers know I like emotionally intense stuff, and this one rated highly on a emotional intensity scale!

[genworkjune]

It's June tomorrow! Remember to tag the blog if you want things reblogged here

[genworkjune]

Hello, welcome to Gen Work June, a month for sharing some Gen Works!

(Gen as in relationship category, not the rating)

The Goal

To do something related to a gen work during June. This can be writing something, it can be drawing something, there are some prompts below to use for that or you can make something completely unrelated to the prompts. You can make a rec list, you can share some of your old work again, you can just leave a nice comment on a gen work, set yourself a challenge, keep it nice and easy, everything counts here.

The Rules

This is a month intended for gen works- that is, works not focused on a romantic relationship- so keeping things gen is pretty much the only rule (though mentions of background romance is allowed).

Appropriate tagging for any major warnings, read mores for long posts, and image descriptions for images are also appreciated, though there is always some slack allowed for older posts being reblogged.

And, if you would like your work reblogged here, please tag @genworkjune, and there is also an AO3 collection found here.

The Prompts

(These are jumping off points- you don't need to use them if you have an entirely different idea that doesn't fit, it's up to you)

Enemies and Friends

Sacrifice

Non-Verbal Communication

Reading a Book

Complicated Past

Forgiveness

Past Prompts

Thank you! I hope you have some fun

[genworkjune]

It's June next week! I hope everyone with plans is getting on ok with them (though June's 30 days long, there's still plenty of time)

[genworkjune]

Outlining my fics right now and i'm so freaking excited

I'm excited to see what you've come up with!

[genworkjune]

Hello, welcome to Gen Work June, a month for sharing some Gen Works!

(Gen as in relationship category, not the rating)

The Goal

To do something related to a gen work during June. This can be writing something, it can be drawing something, there are some prompts below to use for that or you can make something completely unrelated to the prompts. You can make a rec list, you can share some of your old work again, you can just leave a nice comment on a gen work, set yourself a challenge, keep it nice and easy, everything counts here.

The Rules

This is a month intended for gen works- that is, works not focused on a romantic relationship- so keeping things gen is pretty much the only rule (though mentions of background romance is allowed).

Appropriate tagging for any major warnings, read mores for long posts, and image descriptions for images are also appreciated, though there is always some slack allowed for older posts being reblogged.

And, if you would like your work reblogged here, please tag @genworkjune, and there is also an AO3 collection found here.

The Prompts

(These are jumping off points- you don't need to use them if you have an entirely different idea that doesn't fit, it's up to you)

Enemies and Friends

Sacrifice

Non-Verbal Communication

Reading a Book

Complicated Past

Forgiveness

Past Prompts

Thank you! I hope you have some fun

[jackabbot]

i know i say this often but i cannot say it loud enough: people who comment on fics, people who reblog posts and engage with fanworks are the people who generate community and without them fandom would be nowhere, so truly thank you for your presence, you make the world go 'round <3

[the-bar-sinister]

That fic you wrote?

The one about the ship no one else cares about, or the deeply unpopular character, or the extremely unusual AU?

The fic that got no comments or kudos when you posted it?

Months or years from now, that fic might be exactly what someone is looking for in the sea of fics about all the popular characters, ships, and AUs.

Your fic might be the only fic out there that has what someone is looking for. The only fic that scratches the itch that it turns out you and that reader share.

And that's awesome.

[herssian]

online numbers can really fuck you up when it comes to your creative work because you're sharing something you worked on with all your heart but it's very important to remember there's actual people behind those numbers. even if it's 1. that's one whole actual person. that's a human being who said "haha nice". that's a connection with a REAL person with a REAL life and REAL thoughts and feelings and experiences. like. damn. that should mean something

[yyyyddmmsupremacy-deactivated20]

one person's "ugghh this trope is so overdone" is another person's "oooooohohohohohohohoho"

[monthly-writing-challenges]

June Challenges Alert

June is coming soon, and there are plenty of writing challenges to keep you busy! Want whump—try @juneofdoom, or @ladywhumpdiaries for something specific. Give writing interesting relationships a try with @genworkjune or @swoon-june. If you're eager to churn out some writing focusing on original characters in bad situations—and can manage the NSFW/adults only content—head on over to @unwholesomeocweek. And @thepromptfoundry has already posted their June prompts for Juicy June! (As always, check out the actual blog if you want to know the full list of prompts!)

Happy writing, and if you've got any other writing goals, good luck!

[genworkjune]

Hello, welcome to Gen Work June, a month for sharing some Gen Works!

(Gen as in relationship category, not the rating)

The Goal

To do something related to a gen work during June. This can be writing something, it can be drawing something, there are some prompts below to use for that or you can make something completely unrelated to the prompts. You can make a rec list, you can share some of your old work again, you can just leave a nice comment on a gen work, set yourself a challenge, keep it nice and easy, everything counts here.

The Rules

This is a month intended for gen works- that is, works not focused on a romantic relationship- so keeping things gen is pretty much the only rule (though mentions of background romance is allowed).

Appropriate tagging for any major warnings, read mores for long posts, and image descriptions for images are also appreciated, though there is always some slack allowed for older posts being reblogged.

And, if you would like your work reblogged here, please tag @genworkjune, and there is also an AO3 collection found here.

The Prompts

(These are jumping off points- you don't need to use them if you have an entirely different idea that doesn't fit, it's up to you)

Enemies and Friends

Sacrifice

Non-Verbal Communication

Reading a Book

Complicated Past

Forgiveness

Past Prompts

Thank you! I hope you have some fun

[genworkjune]

how much can a background romance be involved and it still count as a gen fic

I think it's subjective- some people might say gen can't even have romance mentioned, some might say canon ships only, some people tag their ship fics as also gen because there are also platonic relationships involved. Allowing background romance for this event was actually originally so anyone reccing fics or sharing their own old fics who had used the less strict no romance at all definition of gen knew those did still count.

Personally I lean to the romantic relationship is for Context rather than Content rule. I do not use the canon only rule, but I do think it is useful to compare.

So, let's say I am writing a DC fic (because usually I am writing DC fic), and let's say I am writing about Wally West and Barry Allen working out how to be nephew and uncle. Canon gives me the context that this situation has come about because Barry and Iris are in a romantic relationship, so I probably wouldn't feel the need to tag Barry/Iris because the assumption is whoever is clicking on that fic knows that relationship exists already.

Whereas if I were to write a fic that is functionally the same but instead of Barry it's Hal Jordan, I would want an Additional Tag of Hal/Iris to provide the context of this is not a canonical relationship to anyone who might want to read it, but if this fic is still just Wally, Hal, and that uncle-nephew relationship forming, it would probably still be gen.

Or let's instead write a fic about Wally and Iris on Wally and Linda's wedding day. If the fic is about Wally and Iris' platonic relationship, it's gen, we probably don't need to tag canonical relationships.

If the focus of the fic were to shift to Iris talking about Barry, Wally talking about Linda, it might shift to there is enough in here you probably should tag the ships then that probably wouldn't be gen.

But I do think there is a grey area and different people will have different opinions on where the line between Gen/Not Gen falls, and all that really matters for the purposes of this event is do you believe it is a Gen Work. I personally would put queerplatonic relationships in their own category rather than call them gen, but if you think they're gen, that's your opinion and that is all that matters.

[cookiedough77]

write that self indulgent fic, you would be insanely surprised how many people are waiting for THAT Fic™