Roundup: Darkest Night exchange

[firecat]

darkestnightex is an exchange for dark themes. It has run annually since 2016. Around 60 works were posted this year.

I was surprised at the relatively low feedback for this exchange.

I wrote and received Greek mythology fic.


What I wrote:
The Dagger in the Flesh (5711 words) by firecat
Fandom: Ancient Greek Religion & Lore
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Relationships: Achilles/Iphigenia (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore)
Characters: Achilles (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Clytemnestra (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Agamemnon (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Iphigenia (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore)
Additional Tags: Arranged Marriage, Soldiers, Public Nudity, Non-Consensual Touching, Rape, Gangbang, Loss of Virginity, Unwilling Arousal, Oral Sex, Penis In Vagina Sex, Sacrifice, Liberties Taken With Greek Mythology
Summary: Iphigenia learns she is to wed the mighty warrior Achilles. Why does it make her so uneasy?



What I received:
water full of salt (2008 words) by AceQueenKing
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Ancient Greek Religion & Lore
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Rape/Non-Con
Relationships: Hades/Persephone (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore)
Characters: Hades (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Persephone (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore)
Additional Tags: Dark, Aftermath of Nonconsensual Encounter, Bathing/Washing, Nonconsensual bathing, Delusions, brief description of rape, Loss of Virginity
Summary: He throws her into the water, after.

Comments

[kore]

Feedback levels seem so low across exchanges now! altho I can't tell if that's really happening, or just my outsider perception of it.

[firecat]

Overall they seem lower to me than last year. This is only my second year doing exchanges, so I don’t have a lot of data.

[kore]

I do exchanges very off-and-on and have never really been part of the scene, but I've seen people who write for a lot of exchanges saying the feedback is way down. There's just so many of them now!

[firecat]

“So many of them” is part of the reason I don’t read as much as I used to. Too busy writing. So I guess I’m part of the problem… :P

[senmut]

The circles I am running in seem burned out on major dark themes. Too much living them, I guess?

[firecat]

I guess that could be part of it!