A Bicyclette Blog Series I: new initiative to read neglected and unjustly downvoted stories · 7:40am Dec 25th, 2023
blog
heya! welcome to the first of my regular blog series, which i will hopefully do every Sunday! keeping it informal so that i think of this more like spilling my thoughts on the page, rather than like a polished thing that i have to spend a bunch of time and effort writing every week.
so i won’t make a secret of it. i have been very burnt out on FimFic for the past several months. as time goes on, just being around here feels less and less pleasant? to cut to the chase, there are a good number of people on this site who specifically have it out for stories with M/M pairings, or with trans characters. and they seem to be sticking around, while fewer and fewer people in general are reading and commenting on new stories at all.
i don’t want to contribute to that trend, so i am committing myself to keeping an eye out for such neglected stories, and reading and commenting on each one as they come into the queue. i can’t fix an unjust ratio, but i can give my eyes and words. if you want to follow along with me, you can keep track with this group folder, or this bookshelf. "The Buried" is a placeholder name for this particular thing. better suggestions are certainly welcome!
and this, along with all my other endeavors, will be something you can keep up with in the Café Hay Discord server. do hope you stop by!
contests
i have no active ones at the moment, with the M/M Shipping Contest III currently in judging.
writing
nothing to announce here, unfortunately. but i can tell you that i have several gift stories in the pipeline to be ready by the end of the year, so hopefully i will have a lot more to say with next week’s blog!
reading
finally completed Tranche X which has been literal months in the making, and holy crap, i almost regret my story choices here because there were so many amazing ones that picking just one to highlight was simply heartbreaking.
but i decided my thing here would be to pick one to rave about a little each week, so here is my choice:
[Adult story embed hidden]
between the gore and the torture and the sex, the M rating is certainly merited, be warned! augh, i am regretting my commitment to this whole stream-of-consciousness thing because i feel like i need to write well to communicate how good this is in the way that it deserves, but maybe i’ll write a full review later. for now what i will say is that i am normally very wary of “dark, twisted” ships and AUs and such but this work really manages to thread the needle with its charms. there are so many character moments here that are just sublime, and i love the contrast between the horrificness of the situation and the love that there is within it, and the inextricable entangledness between the two, and augh.
outro
that’s all for now. merry Hearth's Warming and happy holidays!
Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and glowing Hearth's Warming!
Based, you're doing great work with this.
Yay blog! I do agree that the bigots are very persistent which is a true shame, but glad you're still fighting.
Happy holidays to you and all those you love n_n
OOF, yeah I felt that. The double standard is so blatant that it isn't funny anymore.
But thank you for at least giving these stories some love and attention! And Happy Holidays!
I feel you there. For all my drafts, I go through phases of wanting to write pony words. Taking time off to recover is healthy. Don't worry if stuff is belated; take care of yourself sometimes. I got unwell today, so I can't work. I must rest. Hope you are alright this next week and further infinitely!
Merry Hearth's Warming, happy holidays, and good luck!
You're doing admirable work to uplift stories that have gone unrecognized, Bike. From what I've seen of your longform line-by-line comment style, it's evident you put a lot of care into helping writers feel recognized for their work and I'm sure it's very appreciated!
I've felt just as disheartened by the intense, out of hand bigotry toward stories representing gay and trans characters and themes. After all, fanfiction has historically been a substantial avenue for representing rich LGBT+ centric narratives that are otherwise suppressed by traditional publishing. I love how much good work you're attempting to do through the M/M Shipping Contests, alongside the additional donation pool from the consistent downvotes the entrants received on their comments. It's a great way to push back against that behavior, and makes it a bit easier to stomach for a while, but I can only imagine the burnout that comes from seeing it continue to happen. I hope you're able to take care of yourself and find the bright spots on this site where they exist. I'm sure that isn't always easy when you're putting in the effort to cultivate them.
Thank you as well for creating and sharing "The Buried" folder. (If you're still looking for suggestions, I wonder if something like "The Uplifted" or "The Underrated" might better represent your aspiration for these neglected stories?) Similarly, I've been working to comment on the stories from the M/M contest entrants that haven't been given much attention and would also like to contribute to changing some of the neglectful trends you've noted.
I hope you're keeping well; happy belated holidays and Merry Hearth's Warming!
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thank you so much for saying this, and for your part in commenting on the other M/M Shipping Contest entries! seeing other people do their part in making this awful place a little less awful is what helps in keeping me going the most. i appreciate it more than i could ever express
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You're doing a hella good job with these M/M shipping contests. They get people's creativity moving - there's a ton of good stuff in the latest contest stories right there - and inspire them to do stories they might not otherwise write, or post. I know I wouldn't have done any M/M fics without your influence!