Chocobo Down: November Round-Up and December Theme!

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Here’s a summary of the Chocobo Down posted in November for our Small Fandom Appreciation Month!



Settling Somewhere In-between (4980 words) by Katmillia

Understanding (1756 words) by valentineninja

[Art] Protect (0 words) by justira

Fades to Red (5119 words) by seventhe

Swept Up (1311 words) by Stealth_Noodle

[Art] Lesson Interrupted (0 words) by justira

Footsteps (555 words) by FireEye


Team Tonberry got 36 points this month and Team Cactuar got 67. The cumulative scores going into December are:

• Team Tonberry: 94 points
• Team Cactuar: 205 points

As for December’s theme: We realize that December is a busy month for many fans, with the many fannish or creative projects that take place at the end of the year, plus general holiday activities for many. So instead of having a theme based on the creation of fanworks, December’s bonus theme is going to be based on the recommendation of fanworks. That’s right: December is Rec Month.

So in December, there will be two ways to earn points for your team:

1. Create Chocobo Down! As always, any fanwork created to fill a Chocobo Down prompt will give your team 5 points. Eligible prompts include anything from:
   • the Chocobo Down Master List
   • the October Prompt-a-Thon DW | LJ
   • the November Small Fandom Appreciation Prompt-a-Thon DW | LJ
   Work should fit the simple Chocobo Down Expectations, and can be posted into the LJ community ff_exchange, the DW community ff_exchange, or our Chocobo Down 2011 collection on AO3. If posting to a community, please use the header guidelines; if posting to AO3, please tag as needed - and make sure you post to the right collection!


2. Rec Fanworks! Sharing recs for Final Fantasy fanworks will earn your team 5 points per post/comment. You can share your recs in one of two ways:
   
   • Make a rec post into a journal of your choice, and then leave a comment to this entry, linking to your post. We’d prefer that you make your rec post in your own journal or in a rec community — since the point of recs is spreading the word about fanworks to a new audience — but if you don’t have a suitable place, you can post to the LJ/DW communities for FF Exchange. Then, leave us a link to your rec post in a comment on this entry. We suggest using one of the following templates for your comment so that fellow fans can enjoy the work you’re recommending:
     • 10 recs: 5 fics (FFX, FFXII), 5 arts (FFI, FFII, FFV)
     • 1 rec: FFVII fic
     • 4 recs: FFIV (fic, art), FFVI (art)
     We will not be following personal journals, so, if you do make a rec post, you will need to link us to it!
   
   
   • If you prefer, you can leave a comment directly on this post, with your recs in it. It’ll count just the same as a separate post!
   Each rec post/comment you make will be worth 5 points. For multiple rec posts to count, we’d like you to have at least 3 recs per post (no cheating and making one post per rec to rack up points~!). The maximum number of points you can earn for your team through rec posts is 15 points, although by all means, please continue reccing if you’d like!
   
   Your recs can be any format you’d like, although we have some suggestions below.

Never done a recommendation post before? Not sure what to do? We aren’t enforcing any rules about rec posts (besides how to make multiple posts count for points!), but we’ve included some suggestions below, if you need a place to get started.

Posting recommendations is as simple as gathering up a selection of fanworks you’ve enjoyed - fic, art, vids, discussion; anything is fair game here - and telling the world what you liked about it. That’s it! It’s simple to do, and it’s a great way to spread love for your favorite fanworks. And other fans’ rec posts are a great way to find more things you love! So where do you start? Well, it’s pretty easy.

1. Find some stuff you like! Maybe you have a cache of artwork you look at when you’re having a bad day; maybe you have a collection of links for your favorite ship. Maybe you want to make a post dedicated entirely to your most beloved minor character. Maybe you just want to share some stuff that you think is good! You don’t have to have a theme, but sometimes it’s easier to start with one; your call! Wherever it comes from, come up with a couple fanworks you think are awesome.
   
   If you haven’t had time to check out any fanworks recently, our past collections are a great place to start. Browse the official DOINK 2011, Moogle Fluff 2011, and Chocobo Down 2011 collections, or feel free to browse our entire AO3 collection of works. You can also check out our official group on deviantArt: DOINK!-ffex. You definitely don’t have to rec Doink work, though - it’s just a starting place! Yuletide includes some of the smaller Final Fantasy fandoms and will post in December, if you’re looking to rec new work, and there are many excellent Final Fantasy groups on deviantArt, such as Final Fantasy Infinity, as well as tumblrs focused on FF items, such as Final Fantasy Collective.


2. Put some links to the stuff you like in a post! Please include the creator’s name/pseud - credit is polite! You can link to whatever version of their work you find most convenient for you and your followers.


3. Tell us a little about the stuff you picked. Fandom, characters, relationships if appropriate. Including a rating is usually helpful, as well as any content flags, warnings, or kinks you think fellow fans may be looking for or looking to stay away from. For fic, word count can be helpful too; for art, a SFW/NSFW label is nice, if it isn’t evident from the rating.


4. Tell us what you like about this particular stuff! Some people write a couple sentences per work; others write long flailing paragraphs. Some people just give a brief spoiler-free summary; others leave a detailed list of things they liked. Whatever you decide to say is up to you - just take the time to tell your audience what it is you liked about the work you’re reccing.
   
   The use of constructive criticism in a rec post is completely up to the reccer. Some fans are more comfortable leaving concrit in a comment/review to the artist/author, and discussing mainly positive points in a rec; others are more comfortable pointing out a work’s strengths and weaknesses together in the recommendation itself. You may choose whichever is more comfortable for you! In the end we simply ask that everyone remember that recs are meant to be about things you love, and to be polite.


5. Post it, share it! There are two ways to point the mod team towards your recs: you can leave them directly in a comment on this post, or you can post them as a separate entry (either in your personal journal or in the ff_exchange LJ/DW communities) and leave us a link in a comment.

Happy holidays to those who celebrate them, and Happy Recommendation Month to everyone! May we all find some new excellent fanworks this month. The December Chocobo Races are on... Ready, Set, Rec!