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Sign-ups are open for that

unsent_letters_exchange! I did end up submitting some nominations as I was debating in my last post, so now I sit here waffling on actually signing up. I feel like I can't back out now because what if someone wants to write one of my noms and I miss out on it!! So I did go through all the noms and made a list of possible offers/requests I could do at least... (Whoever nominated The Last Binding series PLEASE reveal yourself I need to be your friend.) Now I just need to figure out the etiquette for those dear creator letters...

At this point I am highly doubtful I'll get around to doing the

snowflake_challenge in any sort of timely manner, so I think I'm crossing that off my to-do list lmao. Hopefully next year I'll give it a try on time! But I DO want to steal Challenge #10: Five Things and do a list of five of my top no-skip k-pop albums/EPs because I've been thinking about it too much not to just do it.

Fancy You by TWICE (Listen: Spotify / YouTube)

I've been a Twice fan for a while and while I love their early stuff ("What is Love?" and "TT" are of course classics), to me "Fancy" is where their sound sort of...got less cutesy? They still put out cute stuff, I LOVE "The Feels" and "Scientist"--which I JUST learned apparently people didn't like?? I cannot fathom that, "Scientist" felt like the perfect blend of their current concepts and their older cutesy stuff. Anyway, tangent! "Fancy" is what I consider the turning point into their current sound and I loved it sooo much, I was completely shook when it came out. The MV, iconic. Chaeyoung's pink hair, iconic. Their b-sides used to be...not great...and I would rarely listen to them lol but they've got a lot of really good b-sides these days too. So thank you, Fancy You!! The album is heavily dance pop/electropop/hip hop so very upbeat and fun.

Lowlife Princess: Noir by BIBI (Listen: Spotify / YouTube)

So, Bibi. She debuted as a soloist with the song "Binu" which I really liked, it was fun and unique and her voice was really nice. I kept up with her releases and none of the songs really hit the way "Binu" did. So I was like man maybe Bibi just isn't for me? HOW WRONG I WAS. Lowlife Princess is her first full-length album and it SLAPS. She released a bunch of music/performance videos to go along with half the tracks and they're amazing, she kills a lot of people in "Animal Farm" lmao. I'm so sorry I doubted you, queen. I'm loving her latest comeback "Sugar Rush" as well. The album is a mix of genres, with influences from R&B and hip hop, EDM, pop-rock/dark pop sounds.

Unforgiven by Le Sserafim (Listen: Spotify / YouTube)

This features one The Songs of All Time "Eve, Psyche & The Bluebeard's wife" and that alone would get it a place on this list, but there's a lot of bangers on this one! "Fearless", "Blue Flame", "The Hydra", "Antifragile", "Impurities", "Fire in the belly", "Unforgiven", Le Sserafim is one of the popular new girl groups that deserves the hype imo. Wikipedia has this album labeled as "experimental pop" and there's definitely a mix of influences--R&B, disco-pop/house, latin, reggaeton, hip hop, among others. Other than "Eve" I'd say give "Antifragile" a listen for max earworm power.

The Other Side of the Moon by GWSN (Listen: Spotify / YouTube)

Justice for GWSN for reallll :/ This was their last release before they disbanded because their shitty company basically went bankrupt after neglecting them for months (not paying staff wages or rent for the dorm, not providing practice space, not doing paperwork for the foreign members' visas) and the group disbanded after winning the subsequent lawsuit. But I was always a GWSN girlie and they deserved so much better!! This album is a mix of pop/dance with some more lowkey tracks that show off the vocals more, and it was kind of a departure from their previous stuff, so it's absolutely criminal we didn't get to see more of them with this direction they were heading.

28 Reasons by Seulgi (Listen: Spotify / YouTube)

The solo album debut by my Red Velvet bias. Seulgi was one of my first faves and her voice is sooo pretty. Like the velvet side of RV's discography, this album is very R&B inspired, lots of bass, with a few songs leaning into the disco/EDM realm. I don't think I could pick a favorite song off here because they're all so good. (Okay except "Bad Boy, Sad Girl" is at the bottom of the list, girls STOP putting male rappers on your songs.)

The Happy Star by Lexie Liu (Listen: Spotify / YouTube)

My honorable mention! This isn't officially on the list because Liu is a Chinese singer (apparently classified mandopop according to Wikipedia) but I have been obsessed with this album lately and wanted to share it. While "The Magician" is hands down my favorite track, again this is an album full of bangers, with dance/electropop/EDM songs mixing with some more R&B stuff.

This definitely isn't all my fave albums, for example Itzy and Dreamcatcher never put out bad b-sides, and a lot of good singers never do anything other than singles (Sunmi, my love, album? Full album?? Please?) so I could definitely go on about a thousand other songs/groups lmao. A lot of these are fairly recent too so clearly a recency bias happening but I already put too much time into this so I am stopping here sjhfskdjsf.

I think I only have like, 2 k-pop fans on my friends list, but what's everyone's favorite albums? Of any genre/country of origin! K-pop recs not required haha.

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Regarding dear creator letters, the most basic advice I can give is 1) make your dnws list 2) replicate it in your signup and letter 3) as long as you're factual when stating your dnws and not shamey, you have done your due diligence in courtesy. It is also great if when formulating your dnws you take a moment and think about whether you're dnwing something present in canon and how you would like that handled, whether references to canon incidents are okay, whether you just don't want any mention at all, or something in between.

DNWs = do not wants btw. Sorry if you know all this already!! It's not clear to me how far you are into the scene.

Sorry if I already mentioned this before, but if you're looking for more k-pop people to add to your circles,

adore shared a nice list a few months ago :)

Good luck with the maybe signing up!

Other people's letters are a great way to get ideas for your own. If you don't sign up for unsent letters, you can always treat if someone's request catches your eyes!

Those are all wonderful K-pop albums! I have a particular love for Seulgi's debut solo album <3 the artbook is beautiful and her voice is just amazing.

Keeping with the genre of K-pop, my top five albums are:
1) Flip That - LOONA
2) Purpose - Taeyeon
3) House on a Hill - Eric Nam
4) Bare&Rare, Pt.1 - Chung Ha
5) & - LOONA

I'll have to give these albums a listen! I wasn't too impressed with Twice or Le Sserafim when I first listened to them, but maybe I picked the wrong songs?

Some of my K-pop faves:
BoA - Hurricane Venus
G-Dragon - Kwon Ji Yong
Taeyang - White Night
Taeyang - Down to Earth

not k-pop but J-pop!
Koda Kumi - heart

I have a few album reviews in this tag on my journal (which I should probably add to lol)

It's good info to have, thank you! I've seen people's letters around for various exchanges but I never figured out what kind of 'rules' people seemed to all just know to follow haha. Some people's letters look extremely in-depth and I'm over here just like uh nothing super dark I guess? But I don't want to make it harder for whoever gets paired with me to figure out what to write! I wasn't sure if those detailed letters are the norm or if people are okay with some loose guidelines.

🤔 I'd start with the major archive warnings for DNWs where they are applicable to what you actually don't want. Also, no letter you write is gonna please everybody, so imo it's just better not to try. Write the letter that comes naturally. My old exchange letters are in this tag if it's any help! Also happy to workshop DNWs you come u p with

Thank you for the link! I'll take a peek at your letters and see if they give me any ideas.

I don't think you have, so thank you for the link! :D

sushiflop was nice enough to link their letters tag for me to take a look at so I'll definitely skim through them!

I don't buy physical albums but I was super tempted to get a copy of Seulgi's...I never did go through with it but I think about looking again for a copy every so often lol

I actually considered that Chungha album when I was typing up this entry haha, there's a lot of good tracks on there but ultimately I went with a different album. "California Dream" and "Love Me Out Loud" are probably my fave b-sides on that one. And LOONA is always good, I love "Flip That" and "PTT" as title tracks but I honestly haven't listened to a lot of LOONA b-sides and I probably should remedy that...

If you've only heard Twice's early stuff (like pre-Fancy) I would recommend giving them another listen! Granted, I tend toward EDM/dance/bubblegum pop so they still may not be your vibe if you don't. Maybe try Fancy, I Can't Stop Me, The Feels/Scientist? (The Feels is an English release that came out the same time as Scientist so they're linked in my head also it's SO catchy.)

The only person on your list I've listened to is BoA, tbh I'm definitely a girl group stan. Taemin is my honorary boy bias because Shinee is a classic and his solo stuff is so good. But I'll have to give those albums a listen! I really liked BoA's most recent EP, Forgive Me, I think? Yeah, that was it. Breathe and Forgive Me were my fave tracks I'd say.

And I used to listen to a lot more Japanese music (mostly like, J-rock back in high school haha) but I've actually never listened to Koda Kumi, which I should rectify soon honestly.

In regards to exchange letters: I'm going to give a firm +1 to

sushiflop's advice to you! Being clear and nonjudgemental about DNWs is 100% the most important aspect. Otherwise, there's really no one true way to write an exchange letter. Personally, I just try to write the kind of letter I enjoy seeing. (Also, if you want help workshopping clear DNWs, I'd be happy to help!)

okay I attempted to write something up! I looked at the requests submitted so far to the exchange and sort of copied what other people were doing. It was a lot harder trying to figure out what I like/don't like off the top of my head than I expected sjhfskjdhf so I'll probably add more when I think about it. I wasn't sure if I should add more to the DNW list for stuff that feels like, self-explanatory? Like for dead dove don't eat kinda content people would usually assume was opt in rather than opt out.

Thank you! copypasting my reply to sushiflop:

okay I attempted to write something up! I looked at the requests submitted so far to the exchange and sort of copied what other people were doing. It was a lot harder trying to figure out what I like/don't like off the top of my head than I expected sjhfskjdhf so I'll probably add more when I think about it. I wasn't sure if I should add more to the DNW list for stuff that feels like, self-explanatory? Like for dead dove don't eat kinda content people would usually assume was opt in rather than opt out.

Oh also, do you know about the app? I can't remember if I linked you that. I think it's a great idea to go through other people's requests for your fandoms and see how they structure things and what they DNW (a lot of authors won't write things they think are opposite of your likes, but there are some assholes and trolls in the scene and some others who are just a bit oblivious)

An initial skim of your DNWs seems good! They're pretty clear and not judgmental (it is fine to DNW whatever you want, but some people get really... judgmental with their dnws and this is a faux pas)

Here's a few questions that come to mind when considering your signup details and further DNWs:

- would a reference to your ship's past romantic relationships bother you? It's okay to DNW "mentions of past romantic relationships/unrequested ships for the requested characters." I phrase it this way bc if you dnw "unrequested ships" some people will not write background canon couples, or will second guess references to a character's parents...
- do any of your canons involve fr example, hunting or animal death? Would it be ok to include canon typical levels of that in your fic? Do you not want animal harm or death at all for any reason?
- how would you feel about fic where a character is pregnant? DNW? Want for some ships? Love for all ships?
- what about kidfic, where a character is deaged OR where characters accidentally acquire a baby for a while through shenanigans OR where OC kids appear?

This isn't meant to be an exhaustive list of what to think about, or like, to make you uneasy that someone might write you one of these things out of the blue if your likes don't seem fitting with it. If none of your canons involve survival stories in the wilderness or animal harm already there canonically, I'd be pretty surprised if you received a fic with animal cruelty, for example. Just stuff to consider.

me right now:

you did link me that app last time, thank you! I tried it out and it definitely helped sorting through the fandoms.

and thanks for the advice! I'll think it over/browse through more requests to see what people are putting but honestly any of that would be fine if it fit the fic/canon haha. mostly what else I can think of to add is like, dark stuff/hard kinks/whatever that I can't imagine anyone would randomly write unprompted anyway so I didn't bother listing it all out

HAHA

I feel like I'm saying the same thing to you over and over again! I'm sor ry for redundancies, days are long and start early and I get tired, lol.

Also I think... one of the keys to exchange happiness is having broad tastes and being easy to please tbh. So if something that might be (I say this affectionately) a little out there would make you happy, I find it very likely you will have a nice time!

no no I appreciate the help! exchanges have always been one thing I never learned much about in terms of etiquette and stuff because they always seemed kind of intimidating to me so I would rather go in over-prepared than under lmao

same with the letter I'm not super picky but I don't want anyone who has to write for me to look at it and be like "argh why didn't they give me more direction" sfjhsfkjfs

It looks pretty good! I liked your clarification on what you mean by "unhappy endings"; that's the kind of detail I find useful when looking at DNW lists.

In regards to your concerns about opt-in/opt-out content—that's always a tricky needle to thread. It depends on what your concerns are! Since you've DNWed the major archive warnings (outside of canon-typical references), you should be fine when it comes to content related to violence and noncon, for example.

Is there anything in particular you're concerned about? If there's something specific that's a hard squick/trigger/would absolutely ruin a fic for you, I would DNW that. Particularly if it's something that other people might not think twice about!

But otherwise, most people do try to make something that would make their recips happy, and try to follow the vibe of the letter when creating. Of course, that doesn't always work, because we're all different people & intrepret things differently (side note: this is why broad DNWs like "hard kinks" are pretty much useless—everyone has a different idea of what that means!), but participants are generally creating in good faith.

Unrelated to DNWs: since you mentioned being open to treats, I would recommend mentioning what fandoms/relationships that you're requesting in your letter. When treating, I (and some others) generally open up many letters in my tabs as I go through the requests, so by the time I get to looking at the letters, I'd have no idea of what fandoms each letter was for. If it's not listed in the letter itself, I'd usually end up closing the tab and moving on.

In regards to likes, one thing I find useful is looking at other people's likes lists! Here's a link to my exchange letters tag in case that's useful. (Though note that I am very much the type that enjoys writing long letters; don't feel like you have to do the same if you don't want to.) (Also, the most recent letter on there is for Fic in a Box, which is a weird exchange, so don't get confused by the mentions of medium opt-ins, etc. if you happen to look at that one; that's just some stuff specific to that particular exchange.)

Edited (clarification; possibly over-clarification) 2024-03-07 07:55 (UTC)

Thanks so much for the tips and looking over the letter! I'll definitely browse your letters for reference.

I don't have any major squicks/triggers that people might find "unusual" and thus wouldn't second-guess using, which was part of why I was having trouble writing a concrete DNW list; like you said, making it broad like "hard kinks" wouldn't really help, but I don't want to bother listing out everything people probably wouldn't even consider adding normally, like vore or whatever sjdfhskjf

But you and sushiflop have been a great reassurance! I'll probably just make a few tweaks and then bite the bullet and put in my signup so I stop fussing with things lmao

California Dream and Love Me Out Loud are my faves on that album too — I'm looking forward to Chung Ha's new album next week; she's got a new sound now she's with her new agency and the teasers already look so good.

Ah, if you get the time definitely recommend LOONA's b-sides from any of their albums, but I may be a bit biased towards LOONA, ahah :D

You're very welcome! And feel free to hit me up if you find that you have more questions at any point (regardless of if it's regarding the letter or any other aspect of the exchange process); I'm very happy to help. Doing exchanges were my main form of fannish engagement for many years, so I'm very familiar with them, and they're near and dear to my heart.

I just listened to her new single/b-side and I think I like them lol. I'll have to give them a few more listens but it's very interesting musically. Not as good as Bare & Rare imo but also the vibe is very different SO probably can't really compare them either sjhdfksjfs

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