Hurt/Comfort Bingo Card 2022

[thisbluespirit]

hc_bingo is open again, and so, having made some progress on my exchange fic, ahem, I asked for a card and got this:

mutation	locked in a box	cuddling	gaslighting	caught in a robbery
backrubs / massages	skeletons in the closet	dungeons	unexpected consequences of planned soulbonding	loss of hearing
drowning	torture	WILD CARD	grief	purgatory
desecration	hostages	abandonment issues	serial killers	forced body modification
atonement	taking care of somebody	destruction / natural disasters	drugged	shipwrecked

At the moment, I think I'm eyeing the bottom horizontal line, but it's an interesting card, and didn't immediately terrify me. What to write, and who/what for????

Comments

[astrogirl]

That card looks just a tiny bit terrifying to me! But the bottom line definitely less so.

I've been trying to talk myself either into or out of signing up for one of these this go-round, myself. I sort of want a new card to play with! But, on the other hand, I still haven't finished my Gen Prompt Bingo one, and I'm busy enough for the foreseeable future that I'm genuinely worried about whether I'm going to get my Just Married story done in time, plus I still seem to have very little idea of how to write h/c that people will look at and think is actually h/c.

[thisbluespirit]

It definitely has some awkward squares in awkward places, but the second vertical line looks okay as well as the bottom line and I've had some far more disturbing ones before!! Like, this is my favourite bingo but nearly every year I get my card and look at it and go OMG why. what. 0_o And I didn't this year! XD

I've been trying to talk myself either into or out of signing up for one of these this go-round,

Doooo iiitttt!! lol. I mean, you have till January, their definition of h/c is hurt or comfort or hurt/comfort and they've been putting up with my weird takes on it for so long, I can't see them objecting to your weird takes on it! There are no penalties! Fun amnesty rounds! Who needs rl/sanity/whatever.

But, I mean, yes, obv. you should do whatever is most sensible, really. (no, no, just get the card! /looks innocent)

[astrogirl]

I'm glad you have gotten a card that doesn't freak you out this time! Not that being freaked out by prompts you're expected to write for doesn't sometimes lead to interesting results.

And, heh, I can always count on you to egg me on to these things! Although I am still making up my mind. And I did get some people -- although certainly not the mods -- kind of objecting last time I did this one, because apparently a CHOOSE NOT TO WARN label and several tags indicating angst and betrayal and hurt without any true comfort are not sufficient indication that why, yes, something actually really bad and upsetting happens in the fic. Which... does give me a teeny tiny amount of pause.

But knowing me, I'll probably end up doing it, anyway. And then blaming you for encouraging me. :)

[thisbluespirit]

Not that being freaked out by prompts you're expected to write for doesn't sometimes lead to interesting results.

Sometimes the best ones! I think I've just got accustomed to the fact that the list of prompts is just Like That by the nature of the bingo.

ind of objecting last time I did this one, because apparently a CHOOSE NOT TO WARN label and several tags indicating angst and betrayal and hurt without any true comfort

Aargh, why are people. *head!desks and sobs* But then, some shippers just seem to be like that, don't they, regardless! And the rules specifically say it can be hurt OR comfort OR hurt/comfort, so if they're coming from the fest, I'd point them back to there or to the mods, because that's really not on! *shakes fist at them* *and shakes fist at that person who thought my SwanQueen fic was too bleak while I'm at it* lol)

But knowing me, I'll probably end up doing it, anyway. And then blaming you for encouraging me.

Absolutely, you can blame me for everything, especially if someone starts demanding the comfort again. XD

[astrogirl]

Aargh, why are people.

I know! Although, I should say, they weren't actually complaining about the lack of comfort. It was more, "You didn't warn us this thing would happen, and it was upsetting!" Well, OK, no, I didn't, because said thing was supposed to be shocking when it happened. But all I could think was: I'm genuinely sorry you had an upsetting experience you didn't want, because I write angst for people who actually like reading angst, not to traumatize people who don't. But I did warn you that I wasn't going to be warning you! And the tags surely made it very clear that things were not going to end happily! But then, I think people often somehow seem to either not notice the "Choose Not to Warn" label or they honestly don't quite get what it means. And sometimes they pay zero attention to the tags at all. I've gotten a truly astonishing number of comments that basically said, "If I'd noticed the tags, I would never have read this." Usually they're saying they ended up liking it anyway, but still. Geez. This is why people use that "Dead Dove Do Not Eat" tag, isn't it? Maybe I should start using that one?

Anyway. That particular fic arguably did have some comfort, or at least something vaguely intended to be comforting. It just really, really didn't help. Which I admit is not so much h/c as, I dunno, some twisted subversion of it. Which I do worry isn't really in the spirit of the thing. And I find I second-guess myself on that sort of thing in a way that I don't when I'm writing Gen Prompt Bingo or Trope Bingo, where it's just "here's a prompt, do whatever you want with it," rather than maybe being supposed to write a particular kind of story. And when it comes to h/c, I fear that my brain doesn't slot into the traditional grooves for that very well. Trying it, or variations on it, still seems like an interesting exercise for me, though! But maybe not one where I'm going to deliver something anybody actually expects or wants. And reading the FAQ, it does seem like they expect at least some vague gesture in the direction of both the h and the c parts, even if they're not actually explicit in the fic.

Eh, never mind me, really. I'm almost certainly just way overthinking things. Again.

*and shakes fist at that person who thought my SwanQueen fic was too bleak while I'm at it* lol

*shakes with you in solidarity* :)

[thisbluespirit]

Yeah, I suppose if you want a complete lack of comfort, you'd be better off with Whumptober or something like it! But honestly, I do think our takes on h/c aren't a million miles apart and I know they were very sweet and reassuring about it when I was worried about mine not counting years ago. (I don't recall now whether I asked, or someone else handily asked a very similar question at the right time, but I haven't worried again since - they seem to be ok with my very weird and restrained takes on it!) But equally if it's just too restricting a theme, there isn't any point in bothering, really. I've picked up a bingo like that before, and just kept finding myself frustrated by every idea I had not being in-keeping with the theme. Gen prompt is a very lovely one, for just being able to go any way you like on it.

(Although, hey, it's just a bingo, I'm all in favour of what the hell, just get a card and if it doesn't go well, just stand there and plead other commitments/unreasonable set of prompts, lol. But you know that by now. XD)

[astrogirl]

Honestly, it's probably only too restrictive of a theme in my overly anxious brain, and then only when I let it be. Even then, maybe it's not even that it's too restrictive, it's that I'm never entirely sure if I'm Doing It Right, or at least Right Enough to Get Away With It. Which, silly comments from people who don't read the tags notwithstanding, I do seem to have so far, at least as far as I can tell.

Anyway, you're right. It's not like there are high stakes. Or any stakes. :)

[thisbluespirit]

There could be stakes! You could stake someone by mistake and then have to patch them up with ambiguous comfort. XD

[astrogirl]

LOL! Well, I gave in and signed up for a card (probably to no one's surprise, as I almost always seem to talk myself into these things). I haven't gotten it yet, but I may already be regretting not taking the opportunity to exclude things. :)

[thisbluespirit]

If you haven't got it yet, you could presumably edit to add exclusions? Otherwise, you're a brave soul, I salute you! XD