Bingo Postmortem: Trope Bingo 2/Kink Bingo 6

[foobar137]

So last time I did this postmortem thing after bingos closed. And I figured I should probably do it again.

I did commentary on Trope Bingo itself last time, but really I have very little to say on either it or Kink Bingo this time. Kink Bingo is in its sixth iteration, it was run well, the kinks were diverse and interesting, no complaints. Trope Bingo fixed pretty much everything I whined about last time, the new tropes worked well, and again, no complaints.

The one thing I’d probably bring up for either of them is Trope Bingo’s au-alternate gender norms. I suggested this as an alternative to A/B/O. At this time...I think I’d say it’s a failure. There’s a total of two fics using AU:AGN in this (compare to last year, where it was the most popular trope). Both of them are A/B/O. I think, given this, the thing to do is push the square back to A/B/O and let people exclude it if they so desire. If it’s still intended to be a broader trope, ‘Alpha-beta-omega/alternative gender norms’?

So, that’s it for the overall bingos. How did I do individually?

I set myself four goals:

1. Complete a bingo for each board I take.
2. Complete at least one fill that stretches my comfort zone.
3. Complete at least one work outside my primary fandom (Phineas and Ferb).
4. Complete at least one work involving a pairing I wouldn't normally do.

I completely fulfilled three of these, and am satisfied with my results on the fourth:

1. Complete a bingo for each board I take. I completed three bingos on five boards. However, I never really meant to complete the last two boards; they were taken for use during amnesty. I’ll count this as complete to my satisfaction.
2. Complete at least one fill that stretches my comfort zone. Completed in spades. Things outside my comfort zone included my first E-rated story, my first PWP, my first requests, and various things that looked farther into my head than I’m generally willing to go.
3. Complete at least one work outside my primary fandom. I released three: one Avengers/MCU, one Gravity Falls, and one Pacific Rim/Muppet Show fusion.
4. Complete at least one work involving a pairing I wouldn’t normally do. Ignoring the ones outside my primary fandom, Tuff Enuff features Buford/Gretchen, a total crack pairing. In addition, I had my first OC/OC pairings, which I definitely am not normally a fan of. (Second-gen fics, involving Phineas and Ferb’s older daughters.)

I released fourteen works in total: twelve works that completed three bingos, one work for a postage stamp, and one that will go out in amnesty. (In addition, I finished a couple things that weren’t part of my bingos.) Breaking it down by comm, I completed one bingo with an achievement for multiple ships in Kink Bingo, and I completed two bingos and a postage stamp in Trope Bingo. (Amusingly enough, that’s exactly what I got last time in Trope Bingo.) Unlike last time, where I had works I specifically didn’t much like, I really like everything I released this time.

I had wondered if I should take an extra card again, as I felt hemmed-in by the second card last time. This time, I took the extra card and was able to make it work better than expected, tying it into the kink bingo card. (My second trope bingo and my kink bingo share three stories.) I took additional cards in both as something to poke at in amnesty, without really planning to push them before close of bingos.

One issue that I had this time was trouble making up my mind about which rows/columns to complete. While I nailed down my planned kink bingo right off the bat, I waffled on both of my trope bingo cards repeatedly. My bingo on the first card wasn’t any of the four I considered viable candidates to start with; on the second card, I completed the one I initially considered interesting then decided not to do. (Obviously, I changed my mind.)

The other issues I have with my completion this time is that I feel I stretched the fill requirements a bit more this time. While I know it technically fits, I’m really not especially happy with It’s Complicated filling ‘au: college/high school’. (A story currently being worked on, ‘Miles Away’, fits much better, as it’s explicitly an AU instead of just a futurefic.) ‘Into The Arena’ is ‘ropes/chains’ for Kink Bingo and ‘hurt/comfort’ for Trope Bingo, and feels like two story halves, one of which is about chains and the other of which is hurt/comfort.

On the other hand, I’m much more pleased with my postage stamp this time. Last time, it was fake relationship/snowed in/sharing a bed/in vino veritas; the resulting story (Storm Warning) felt like it went through the tropes in sequence instead of being a story about all of them. This time, it’s holidayfic/virginfic/reunion/futurefic, and Giving Thanks hits all the tropes all through the story.

Thoughts for next time:

1. My second kink bingo card ran into a problem where I really had a very limited range of options because of squares I did not want to fill. I may need to figure out a list of squares to filter out next time.
2. I need to be a bit more daring in Trope Bingo, I think. I think I’ll shoot for an achievement or two next time.
3. I have two months to write non-bingo things before the next round starts. Better get a move on.