Chromatic Character Anthology III

[averytree]

The third annual Chromatic Characters Anthology just posted on Sept 30, and once again I contributed the maximum amount of stories (5). I really love this anthology, I think it's a wonderful and important concept, and I remember listening to the original Podficcers of Color roundtable episodes on Behind The Pod where this anthology was dreamed up. It's been really cool to see this anthology grow from spitball idea to third year!

I also love this anthology because the very short length requirement (the fics recorded for this series can't be over 1500 words) makes it both manageable and pretty welcoming to newcomers. I have been podficcing SO MUCH LESS this year than 2020 or 2021, in huge part because I have been writing fic so much more. But it felt really good to dip my toes back in for these short stories.

This anthology is modeled very closely after the Awesome Ladies Podfic anthology which I have also contributed in the past. Both anthologies aim to address the ongoing fandom issue that the majority of the works on AO3 still focus on characters that are white and characters that are male. I have definitely at times thought "there should be a trans/nonbinary version of this anthology series as well" followed by "if I want that, I probably have to moderate it, huh" which is tempting but also something I EXTREMELY do not have time for in my life right now. I feel like I already moderate a wonderful fic fest, it's the Fic Clique anniversary multi-media fest and it's run two years in a row now and it's probably going to run as long as the FC podcast runs, so my moderating skills are taken, lol.

Anyway, if you want to check out any of the stories I made for CCA this year, here they are:

The Only One I was Looking For by MerryofSoul, EXO, Chanyeol/Baekhyun, 7 minutes

two pinches: a modern witch's guide to love by okamiwind, EXO, DO/Sehun, 7 minutes

feel the rush by Ester, TXT, Soobin/Yeonjun, 7 minutes

to hold it against your bones by Ester, SVT, Jeonghan/Seungcheol, 7 minutes

한바라기 (only looking at you) by tullycat, SVT, Jeonghan/Minghao, 9.5 minutes

Comments

[fensandmarshes]

If you ever hear anyone else expressing interest in running that trans/genderqueer anthology, could you send them my way? I don't feel confident organising that on my own, but if someone else wanted to I would love to offer my help.

[averytree]

I haven't specifically put out feelers, but if I hear anything I will let you know. I would also genuinely love to be involved in something like this someday, but the way my job is right now I cannot commit to anything that big, I just know I'd end up dropping the ball.

[fensandmarshes]

Yeah, I totally get that! I'm kind of counting down the days until I have some free time and can actually commit to Doing All The Things, so maybe I'll put out some of those feelers myself in a month or two, if you're okay with that ... 🤔

[fensandmarshes]

Just a sort of update - this year's ALPA is going to be the last one, and I was considering maybe trying to step up and run a trans/gender-diverse podfic anthology on the same sort of timeline next year as ALPA has been in the past. If you want to be part of that it would be super cool, but obviously no expectations - I just wanted to let you know in case you were interested (and still OK with me stealing your idea lol)!

[averytree]

I had the same thought!! I think running a Trans/nonbinary/gender fluid characters anthology with the same format and length requirements as Awesome Ladies starting next year in the same time in the podfic calendar is a great idea. Please please do steal my idea and run with it. I am potentially also interested in being involved. I think if we started chatting about it again in like, November of this year (so, 2-3 months ahead) I'd have a better sense of my work schedule and how much time I'd realistically be able to contribute. I also think there are a good handful of other podficcers that might be up for helping moderate as well.

[fensandmarshes]

:D I really like the idea too! Sure, I can totally get back in touch Novemberish :] and yes, blackglass and klb have both mentioned they might be happy to help moderate (even if that's just sharing spreadsheet templates etc) so there is no shortage of support available!