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SASO Tips & Tricks
May. 18th, 2017 08:03 pmThe Sports Anime Shipping Olympics is one of those amazing, long winded events that lasts all summer so everyone who ever liked a sports anime can go all out in creating as much content for it as physically possible. It lasts for a long time, with varying bonus rounds and two giant main rounds for your OTP of choices.
And honestly, it can be a lot. So if it's your first SASO, let me give you some tips and tricks based off my experiences to make this summer fun for you.
1. Don't get caught up in how hard everyone else is going.
For some people, having fun means doing 10 fills a day, keeping all of it immaculately organized in a spreadsheet, all while keeping tabs on everyone else to see who has the most points and where do they need to pick up the slack to make up points for their own team.
But obviously that's not a good time for everyone, and for some of us there's no way to keep up with that kind of pace. So try to set goals for yourself, and stick to them - even if you feel pressure because other people are writing or drawing so much more than you, it's okay. The points are made up anyway, no one is winning real money here.
2. Never be scared to prompt something!
You think no one will fill your request because it's too niche? No one will get the joke? No one likes your fave rarepair? Trust me - there are 300-some people in SASO. Someone out there has your back, so always prompt something! You never know what you'll get.
3. Write scenes, not stories.
The word minimum for SASO is 400. 400 words is less than a page in Word. There's no need to go make something huge and intricate, so try not to wind yourself up making something big. Think of a scene, a moment. Maybe with the prompt you can write the couple having breakfast. Texting on their phone. Keep it simple, because it's all you need. This goes for art too - just sketch comics can be more than enough to meet requirements.
"But Kat, this is someone's request, they're going to want--" SHHHHHHHHHHH. Shhh. Everyone in SASO knows the rules, they know what they're going to get is most likely a little comic or a drabble. And that's okay - it's the nature of the beast. Sure, writing or creating something enormous is fun, can be great, it would make someone really happy - but never feel crushed under the weight of making that one big thing when you can branch out and make so much more.
4. Keep track of your work (and your friend's)!
Bonus rounds can get up to 60 pages long if people post lots of prompts, and no one has time to go through that manually to find their own work, or to find a prompt they were curious about, or something their friend wrote. Make a spreadsheet, a google doc, anything where you can easily save links with your own work or work you want to check out later so you don't without worry about losing them forever.
Note: For bonus rounds it's very, very important to prompt and answer fills with the correct headers so the mods catch your fill and count it up correctly for your points, so make sure you do that so you get credit!
[Example: FILL: Team Kuroo Tetsurou/Sawamura Daichi, G]
[Example: PROMPT: Team Kuroo Tetsurou/Sawamura Daichi]
5. Communicate with your team
Unless you're on Grandstand, you are going to be with a team all summer, creating content together, sharing stories with each other, brainstorming ideas to make the biggest and best main rounds you can, trying to do the best by your team. So MAKE SURE YOU TALK TO YOUR TEAM.
Do you see a bonus round prompt someone might like? Share it so they see it! Proud of something you wrote or made? Share it so they know what you can do! What help finding a specific kind of bonus round prompt? Ask your team for help! Not feeling well? Tell your team so they don't worry about you when you suddenly disappear. Have an idea for main rounds? Share it, maybe it'll be really good! Have something cool you wanna try? Bring it up, why not! Do you not want to be a part of the main round, and focus on bonus rounds? Tell your team early, so things can change accordingly.
This is really important, because a lot of teams break down because people don't talk to each other. So please, please please PLEASE make sure you talk to your team! It's always sad to see a team burn out, or for a main round to be a little less than stellar because it was only one or two people pulling it together at the end of the race.
(**CAPTAINS - THIS IS TRIPLEY IMPORTANT FOR YOU. You'll feel a little bit like an asshole, but it's up to you to make sure your team is still together. Be that person who does 30 messages in a row in the group chat and then messages everyone on the side. It's worth it, trust me.)
6. Remember to pace yourself and REST!!
6 bonus rounds, 2 weeks each. 2 main rounds, with 1 month to work on them each. The only rest period is the break day in between bonus rounds (which is new to this year), and during the voting period for main rounds. Even though it's over the span of 3 and a half months, this is a lot. It's easy to get overwhelmed when you're trying to write 4 things for bonus rounds because the prompts are just so good but you have to make something for main rounds too.
Pace yourself. Breathe. Your health comes first, and it always should. In the end, teams are here to help each other no matter what, so let them help you when you need it.
You're going to do great.
If you remember all that, I don't see why you wouldn't be able to totally rock SASO!!
And honestly, it can be a lot. So if it's your first SASO, let me give you some tips and tricks based off my experiences to make this summer fun for you.
1. Don't get caught up in how hard everyone else is going.
For some people, having fun means doing 10 fills a day, keeping all of it immaculately organized in a spreadsheet, all while keeping tabs on everyone else to see who has the most points and where do they need to pick up the slack to make up points for their own team.
But obviously that's not a good time for everyone, and for some of us there's no way to keep up with that kind of pace. So try to set goals for yourself, and stick to them - even if you feel pressure because other people are writing or drawing so much more than you, it's okay. The points are made up anyway, no one is winning real money here.
2. Never be scared to prompt something!
You think no one will fill your request because it's too niche? No one will get the joke? No one likes your fave rarepair? Trust me - there are 300-some people in SASO. Someone out there has your back, so always prompt something! You never know what you'll get.
3. Write scenes, not stories.
The word minimum for SASO is 400. 400 words is less than a page in Word. There's no need to go make something huge and intricate, so try not to wind yourself up making something big. Think of a scene, a moment. Maybe with the prompt you can write the couple having breakfast. Texting on their phone. Keep it simple, because it's all you need. This goes for art too - just sketch comics can be more than enough to meet requirements.
"But Kat, this is someone's request, they're going to want--" SHHHHHHHHHHH. Shhh. Everyone in SASO knows the rules, they know what they're going to get is most likely a little comic or a drabble. And that's okay - it's the nature of the beast. Sure, writing or creating something enormous is fun, can be great, it would make someone really happy - but never feel crushed under the weight of making that one big thing when you can branch out and make so much more.
4. Keep track of your work (and your friend's)!
Bonus rounds can get up to 60 pages long if people post lots of prompts, and no one has time to go through that manually to find their own work, or to find a prompt they were curious about, or something their friend wrote. Make a spreadsheet, a google doc, anything where you can easily save links with your own work or work you want to check out later so you don't without worry about losing them forever.
Note: For bonus rounds it's very, very important to prompt and answer fills with the correct headers so the mods catch your fill and count it up correctly for your points, so make sure you do that so you get credit!
[Example: FILL: Team Kuroo Tetsurou/Sawamura Daichi, G]
[Example: PROMPT: Team Kuroo Tetsurou/Sawamura Daichi]
5. Communicate with your team
Unless you're on Grandstand, you are going to be with a team all summer, creating content together, sharing stories with each other, brainstorming ideas to make the biggest and best main rounds you can, trying to do the best by your team. So MAKE SURE YOU TALK TO YOUR TEAM.
Do you see a bonus round prompt someone might like? Share it so they see it! Proud of something you wrote or made? Share it so they know what you can do! What help finding a specific kind of bonus round prompt? Ask your team for help! Not feeling well? Tell your team so they don't worry about you when you suddenly disappear. Have an idea for main rounds? Share it, maybe it'll be really good! Have something cool you wanna try? Bring it up, why not! Do you not want to be a part of the main round, and focus on bonus rounds? Tell your team early, so things can change accordingly.
This is really important, because a lot of teams break down because people don't talk to each other. So please, please please PLEASE make sure you talk to your team! It's always sad to see a team burn out, or for a main round to be a little less than stellar because it was only one or two people pulling it together at the end of the race.
(**CAPTAINS - THIS IS TRIPLEY IMPORTANT FOR YOU. You'll feel a little bit like an asshole, but it's up to you to make sure your team is still together. Be that person who does 30 messages in a row in the group chat and then messages everyone on the side. It's worth it, trust me.)
6. Remember to pace yourself and REST!!
6 bonus rounds, 2 weeks each. 2 main rounds, with 1 month to work on them each. The only rest period is the break day in between bonus rounds (which is new to this year), and during the voting period for main rounds. Even though it's over the span of 3 and a half months, this is a lot. It's easy to get overwhelmed when you're trying to write 4 things for bonus rounds because the prompts are just so good but you have to make something for main rounds too.
Pace yourself. Breathe. Your health comes first, and it always should. In the end, teams are here to help each other no matter what, so let them help you when you need it.
You're going to do great.
If you remember all that, I don't see why you wouldn't be able to totally rock SASO!!
