That card looks just a tiny bit terrifying to me! But the bottom line definitely less so.

I've been trying to talk myself either into or out of signing up for one of these this go-round, myself. I sort of want a new card to play with! But, on the other hand, I still haven't finished my Gen Prompt Bingo one, and I'm busy enough for the foreseeable future that I'm genuinely worried about whether I'm going to get my Just Married story done in time, plus I still seem to have very little idea of how to write h/c that people will look at and think is actually h/c.

I'm glad you have gotten a card that doesn't freak you out this time! Not that being freaked out by prompts you're expected to write for doesn't sometimes lead to interesting results.

And, heh, I can always count on you to egg me on to these things! Although I am still making up my mind. And I did get some people -- although certainly not the mods -- kind of objecting last time I did this one, because apparently a CHOOSE NOT TO WARN label and several tags indicating angst and betrayal and hurt without any true comfort are not sufficient indication that why, yes, something actually really bad and upsetting happens in the fic. Which... does give me a teeny tiny amount of pause.

But knowing me, I'll probably end up doing it, anyway. And then blaming you for encouraging me. :)

Aargh, why are people.

I know! Although, I should say, they weren't actually complaining about the lack of comfort. It was more, "You didn't warn us this thing would happen, and it was upsetting!" Well, OK, no, I didn't, because said thing was supposed to be shocking when it happened. But all I could think was: I'm genuinely sorry you had an upsetting experience you didn't want, because I write angst for people who actually like reading angst, not to traumatize people who don't. But I did warn you that I wasn't going to be warning you! And the tags surely made it very clear that things were not going to end happily! But then, I think people often somehow seem to either not notice the "Choose Not to Warn" label or they honestly don't quite get what it means. And sometimes they pay zero attention to the tags at all. I've gotten a truly astonishing number of comments that basically said, "If I'd noticed the tags, I would never have read this." Usually they're saying they ended up liking it anyway, but still. Geez. This is why people use that "Dead Dove Do Not Eat" tag, isn't it? Maybe I should start using that one?

Anyway. That particular fic arguably did have some comfort, or at least something vaguely intended to be comforting. It just really, really didn't help. Which I admit is not so much h/c as, I dunno, some twisted subversion of it. Which I do worry isn't really in the spirit of the thing. And I find I second-guess myself on that sort of thing in a way that I don't when I'm writing Gen Prompt Bingo or Trope Bingo, where it's just "here's a prompt, do whatever you want with it," rather than maybe being supposed to write a particular kind of story. And when it comes to h/c, I fear that my brain doesn't slot into the traditional grooves for that very well. Trying it, or variations on it, still seems like an interesting exercise for me, though! But maybe not one where I'm going to deliver something anybody actually expects or wants. And reading the FAQ, it does seem like they expect at least some vague gesture in the direction of both the h and the c parts, even if they're not actually explicit in the fic.

Eh, never mind me, really. I'm almost certainly just way overthinking things. Again.

*and shakes fist at that person who thought my SwanQueen fic was too bleak while I'm at it* lol

*shakes with you in solidarity* :)

Honestly, it's probably only too restrictive of a theme in my overly anxious brain, and then only when I let it be. Even then, maybe it's not even that it's too restrictive, it's that I'm never entirely sure if I'm Doing It Right, or at least Right Enough to Get Away With It. Which, silly comments from people who don't read the tags notwithstanding, I do seem to have so far, at least as far as I can tell.

Anyway, you're right. It's not like there are high stakes. Or any stakes. :)

LOL! Well, I gave in and signed up for a card (probably to no one's surprise, as I almost always seem to talk myself into these things). I haven't gotten it yet, but I may already be regretting not taking the opportunity to exclude things. :)