rarewomen
| Journal Community | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Rare Women Fic Exchange (official), rarewomen (LJ comm name) |
| Date(s): | 6th November 2011 - 17th January 2015 |
| Moderator: | aphrodite_mine, jenn_calaelen, prozacpark |
| Founder: | aphrodite_mine, prozacpark |
| Type: | gift exchange |
| Fandom: | multifandom |
| URL: | rarewomen at LiveJournal Rarewomen collection at AO3 |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
rarewomen (official name, "Rare Women Fic Exchange ") is a LiveJournal community. It is not dedicated to any one particular fandom, but runs a panfandom gift exchange. The community was established in late 2011 and as of January 2013 had 167 members.
Unlike Yuletide, eligibility for Rarewomen is determined by the rarity of the character rather than the fandom. Thus, an eligible fandom may be large or small. However all stories need to feature female characters centrally within the story; and only those characters who feature in relatively little fanfic are eligible. The official community description states, “With the increased difficulty of finding stories about women, this community was born. Featuring rare women from big and small fandoms in het, femslash, poly, and gen stories, rarewomen is an annual Spring exchange.”[1]
The community’s first fanfic exchange was held in Spring 2012, modelled on the kind of exchange operated by Yuletide. Thus, possible eligible fandoms and characters are first nominated by people who are considering participating in the fic exchange. Nominations are then followed by sign-ups in which participants both indicate which fandoms they are prepared to write and also request which fandoms they would like to receive. A matching process is done by the moderators; and writers have a deadline by when to write/upload their story.
The first year of the exchange was held largely through LiveJournal. In 2013 the moderators announced the exchange would be held completely through AO3.
In the inaugural year of this fic-exchange, participants had to choose fandoms from two lists: small (in which any female character could be nominated); and medium-large (in which only rare female characters could be nominated). The requirement to choose something from smaller and larger fandoms was dropped in 2013 and the number of possible requests increased.
In 2015, the community moved to Dreamwidth and changed its title to rarelywritten, for underappreciated genders and sexes.
Rarewomen 2012
133 fanfiction stories were written for the Rarewomen exchange in 2012, although not all works were posted to A03 in this first year. Within the A03 collection there are 126 works spanning 140 fandoms. The most popular single fandoms within the 2012 collection were: Doctor Who (7 works), Doctor Who 2005 (6 works), The Hunger Games (6 works), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (5 works), Supernatural (5 works).
Notable Works
- Subject to Change by zarabithia. Avengers fanfic; day-in-the-life fic for Natasha with Natasha/Steve as the pairing.
- A Dream You Dream Together is Reality by lady_ragnell. Inception fanfic; Mal-was-right AU focused on Mal & Philippa's relationship.
- Five Strays Elizabeth Naismith took in (and One That Got Away) by Minutia_R. Vorkosigan Saga fanfic; five things epistolary fic spanning the entire series.
Rarewomen 2013
230 fanfiction stories spanning a total of 217 fandoms were written for the Rarewomen exchange in 2013. The most popular single fandoms within the 2013 collection were: Homestuck (7 works), Avatar - The Legend of Korra (6 works), The Avengers 2012 (6 works), and Fullmetal Alchemist (5 works). Marvel Cinematic Universe (9 works) and Greek and Roman Mythology (6 works) also proved popular; but as they are collective categories which arguably encompass more than one fandom, this is not completely comparable.
Notable Works
- Games We Don't Play by igrockspock: Elementary fanfic; developing Joan/Marcus relationship with strong Joan and Sherlock friendship.
- Keep Calm and Carry On by tielan: Avengers fanfic; Maria Hill character study.
- pick apart the day by Vintar: Homestuck fanfic; for the prompt "Give me. All the Porrim. You have."
Rarewomen 2014
170 fanfiction stories spanning a total of 187 fandoms were written for the Rarewomen exchange in 2014. The most popular single fandoms within the 2014 collection were: American Horror Story - Coven, Agents of SHIELD, and A Song of Ice and Fire with four works each; Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Welcome to Night Vale, The Hobbit, Final Fantasy IX, and Doctor Who with three works each.
Notable Works
- On Leave (The World Keeps Spinning) by Evandar: Avengers fanfic; Maria Hill character study focusing on PTSD.
- Five Gifts for Holly White (And One She Gave) by heyjupiter: Breaking Bad fanfic; five things fic spanning "Twenty years in the life of Heisenberg's daughter."
- Red over Green by greerwatson: Vorkosigan Saga fanfic in which Cordelia contemplates Ekaterin's Barrayaran garden.
Collections
Rare Women FanFic Exchange Parent Collection
Community: rarewomen tagged on AO3