queer_scribbling | Fandom Snowflake Challenge (Reply)

Challenge #8: Talk about your creative process.

As mentioned in the comments on the DW Icebreaker entry, I'm in a fallow period between active creation. So, this post is going to go through the process of cross-posting someone's post about a fandom event to the Pillowfort Fandom Calendar community.

There's really not much different in cross-posting from a Tumblr post or the Dreamwidth Fandom Calendar community. Sometimes, I need to figure out which event has the closest sign-up deadline or submission deadline if I have several from the DW comm I need to cross-post, but that's usually not going to impact this process much. Pillowfort is more of a slower platform; people don't check in every hour, sometimes not even every day. This means that I usually pass on an event post if there's less than 24 hours to sign-up, but I might put that info in a draft to see if it happens in a future round.

Example: Soulmates 5 is the oldest post in the DW Fandom Calendar comm that I need to cross-post, but it does not have deadlines for claiming prompts or filling prompts. The closest sign-up deadline is for Casefic Exchange.

Check the PF community to see if this event has been cross-posted there before.

Events aren't exclusively picked or prioritized if they've shown up before. It can just be easier to copy and paste from a previous post, such as Casefic Exchange. Then, I double check that rules haven't changed, update the schedule, update the links, update any tags, and it's a faster cross-post.

In a post draft for the PF community: I usually try to fill in tags first.

See: my tagging process post. That should already tell me if the event is multi-fandom or for a specific fandom, what kind of event it is, what type of fanworks are accepted, when sign-ups are, the submission deadline, and if any other tags should be added.

Example: A post for 5 Soulmates would get tagged: multifandom, prompt fest, format: fic, fic, no signups, no deadline, open prompts, 5 Soulmates.

For the body of the post, I usually try to have three sections: Description, Schedule, and Links.

Description:

I'll probably open up any links to a rules post, AO3 profile, or a Dreamwidth community to help with filling in each section. The description often doesn't change a lot from whatever event post I originally came across, but looking at the rules can provide more info.

-- Is the event only for those age 18 and over?

-- Does the event allow more fanwork types than the initial description might suggest? For example, 5 Soulmates was "created with fic in mind, but if you feel you can do art for your prompts, a clean sketch or outline is fine too", so the tags would need to be updated - format: fic and art, fic, art.

-- What are the minimums and maximums for entries?

-- Is this an event where you're required to comment or face being banned from future rounds?

- Example: 5 Soulmates is a multi-fandom prompt table event that's focused on the theme of soulmates. Soulmates in this event can be romantic or platonic. Fic and visual art are accepted. Minimums: a complete and new story of at least 100 words for fic, or a clean sketch or outline for art.

Since there's a posting template for the Dreamwidth Fandom Calendar community, most people tend to hit on roughly the same info. I usually have to do some more rearranging and trimming from, say, Tumblr posts. I rarely copy over images, I usually get rid of emoji, I remove capslock, and I try to reduce banter and humor, especially if it seems fandom-specific.

Schedule:

This can be a sentence within a paragraph for some events that just have posting dates, but some events need a bullet point list.

There's no definite template here. Some events have prompt claiming without sign-ups, or I split some layered schedules for big bangs into a writer schedule and an artist schedule. I usually skip temporary closures for mods to clean up nomination tags, especially if the full event schedule lists that out and it's only a day.

Links:

If I haven't already, I open up and double check the hyperlinks provided in the DW Fandom Calendar post or the DW community's rules post go the post or AO3 collection they're supposed to go to. I usually try to include:

-- Any applicable Rules or FAQ post, or an AO3 profile if that's been filled out with rules or answered questions.

-- AO3 collection. Sometimes a SquidgeWorld Archive collection.

-- Accounts for the event: Carrd, Discord, Dreamwidth, Tumblr, or any other provided pages by the event mods.

Also: Some events have specific sign-up posts with info, nomination guidelines, provide a prompt list, or give an email address to send questions. For cross-platform events, I usually try to note if there's a preferred method of contacting the mods (such as an event that only wants Tumblr asks). If it turns out that an event is Dreamwidth exclusive, I do also make a point of giving that heads up.

I know it seems like extraneous information when there's date info automatically in the top header of a post on Pillowfort, but I specify the date that I'm posting at the bottom of my PF Fandom Calendar posts and I try to indicate where in the schedule the post is. Example: The Casefic Exchange post notes that I posted during sign-ups.

Originally posted on Pillowfort on 15 January 2026 and revealed on 28 January 2026.