Merlin's M/A & B/C Glomp fest Prompting is open!

[marguerite_26]

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, glomp fest is a way to celebrate those of you in fandom that do not get enough thanks. Writers and artists are blessed with a lot of feedback in this fandom, in exchange fests we are given the opportunity to receive gifts from other writers and artists that was made just for us.

But the readers, commenters, reccers and lurkers in this fandom make our world go round. This is a way to give back to you, in a way that we usually don't get the opportunity to.

So if your primary contribution to Merlin fandom is not as an author or artist and you'd like to receive something special about Merlin/Arthur or Bradley/Colin, just for you - sign up! don't be shy!

A few months ago, we did this in HP fandom and it was a HUGE success.

Comments

[woldy]

Writers and artists are blessed with a lot of feedback in this fandom Huh, I'm surprised to hear that's your perception. I'd have said that there was a low level of feedback in Merlin fandom this year, certainly relative to HP & also compared to smaller fandoms I'm involved in, e.g. Discworld & Devil Wears Prada. Both camelotsolstice and merlinfemfest are happening at the moment & getting very few comments, and at camelotremix on A03 there were a hundred times as many views as comments on many of the entries.

[woldy]

After following the link I see it's not a Merlin glompfest, it's an Arthur/Merlin & Bradley/Colin only glompfest. Maybe worth mentioning?

[marguerite-26.livejournal.com]

Oops! sorry. I forgot it had become B/C & M/A specific!

[marguerite-26.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... I've always said that Merlin fandom is blessed with a lot of feedback. When I first got into this fandom, I was shocked at the amount of comments I was getting. It was WAY more than I received on similar style/similar length stories in HP. It took years in HP before I ever 'flipped a page' in comments. (I remember that moment, that fic, very clearly).

When I wrote my first few Merlin fics, all tiny little ~1k fics, I kept flipping pages! And while some commenters were HP folks just being nice to me by reading, most were Merlin fans who I'd never heard of.

So, my personal experience from Merlin fandom has been very positive. It's possible that I've just been blessed (and I am grateful for that!)

However! I will admit that in the last month I've been shocked at the lack of comments on the fest. Merlin_holidays (outside of the first fic) was getting reasonable to luke warm comments, but solstice!!!! *cries* I'm just shocked at the lack of comments. I honestly wish I had more time to read and rec from there (because I know people are just waiting for recs). It's hard to look at an anon fest and see 3-6 comments on fics and know where to begin. :(

I will try to make a point of reading a few more.

As for the femfest, I have to admit I haven't been paying attention, only because my tastes don't lean that way.

But outside of fests (which seem to get shitty comment counts - as oppose to HP who seem to adore anon fests) do you find non-fest posting to get similar crappy comment counts? :/

oh god, this is so tl;dr. sorry!

[woldy]

My perception is that for fanworks of a comparable quality Arthur/Merlin and Bradley/Colin receive more comments than other pairings, & certainly the Merlin stories I got most comments on were B/C. However, in early 2009 or 2010 comment levels seemed to be consistently higher, and it seems to me as though the level of feedback in Merlin fandom has died off in the communities I follow.

I don't think it's just an anon fest thing, although maybe that's exacerbating the problem, because it seems as though there's a lot of ill-feeling within the fandom now and a lot of people are either leaving or reducing their involvement. I'm shocked by the lack of comments at solstice too, but I can't figure out what - if anything - can be done about it.

[anna-unfolding.livejournal.com]

Just wanting to chime in about the success of the HP Glompfest. I am writing more than ever these days, but for a very long time I was mostly a reader and deep commenter/meta writer. It felt amazing to have the value of people who read and participate that way lifted up in a fest. There are a lot of roles in fandom, and it was nice to have it acknowledged that being a fan of fanfic was, indeed a role, even if overall it requires less commitment than say, a mod. I still took my reading and thinking and commenting very seriously, even if I wasn't involved in planning fests or writing for them directly.

Anna

[marguerite-26.livejournal.com]

I think being an avid reader and commenter is a huge commitment. And yes, something that should be thanked. I think that's why we saw so many authors and artists devoted to making sure that every single of the ~70 prompts got completed.

I had a wonderful time writing for it; I'm glad to hear you had a great time on the receiving end. ;)

[faynia.livejournal.com]

I love the idea of this. I just wish it was getting more people. I don't know how widely it was promoted or how well it was explained (or where all the A/M, B/C fans have gone because it seems they have melted into the shadow realm in the past month)

[marguerite-26.livejournal.com]

The idea is fabulous. Though I do think the dynamic of Merlin fandom is very different than HP fandom. Readers and commenters can get their prompts written on KMM and a lot of prompt driven mini fests, where as HP is a lot of exchange fest which isolates the writers/artists from the readers.

I have no idea what's happened to all the A/M, B/C fans. :/ COME BACK!!!