AKA: Help! What does any of this mean?Some of the terms we use in exchanges might be confusing or need a bit more explaining so here's a handy post to give you a bit more about the whole process of fic exchanges, and what everything means!
(And a big thank you to the mod over at the Dreaming of Sunshine exchange for allowing us to shamelessly steal/modify these explanations xD)GeneralWho can participate?
There are no age restrictions so long as you are old enough to have an account on Archive of Our Own... but you will need an AO3 account to sign up.
What am I committing to by signing up?
All participants who sign up will produce a fic for another participant as a gift! In return, they will be gifted a fic by another participant. Creators and their recipients will at minimum be matched on one canon (BtVS/AtS) and one character or relationship (romantic or platonic). Participants won't know who their creator is until after the anonymous period ends. Creators must create a fanfic that matches one of the requests their recipient made, is at minimum 1500 words, and avoids their recipient's Do Not Wants (DNWs).
What are optional details?
Archive of Our Own has a text box where optional details can be added to your request after you add the tags you want to match on. You can use it to let your creator know what kinds of things you enjoy in the — for example, a fic author might want to know that you like canon divergence, or missing scenes from canon, or time travel, and so on. If you feel restrained by the restrictions of the text box, feel free to use the "Letter URL" field to link to a fancier or longer letter, for example, a Google Doc or blog post.
What are DNWs and how to do they work?
A Do Not Want list lets you specify elements that would prevent you from enjoying your gift. A DNW could be a trigger, squick, something you really dislike, or just something you don't want to receive. This helps creators make a better gift for you! You should put all your DNWs in your AO3 sign up; otherwise I can't enforce them. The standard formatting is simply "DNW:" followed by a list separated by commas.
Don't use your DNW section to try to force your creator to create a specific type of work.
- Reasonable: "DNW: Clowns, sickfic, second person POV"
- Unreasonable: "DNW: Fic that isn't a coffee shop AU"
Clear and specific DNWs are most helpful, although creators can ask questions through the mod if they need clarification. If you find yourself needing to clarify your DNWs in your sign up, please do so by explaining HOW the DNW can be avoided and not WHY.
- Unhelpful WHY explanation: "DNW: Angel (because he's gross and I hate him ugh)"
- Helpful HOW explanation: "DNW: Angel (one-sentence mentions are okay, but I DNW focus on him or for him to be present in my gift)"
Nominations
What are nominated tags for?
Tags in the tagset are the only things participants can sign up to offer/request and then match on — it's a way of making sure we're all consistent in the tags we use when we sign up so that half of us aren't offering Character A & Character B and the other half Character B & Character A, since those tags wouldn't be able to match to each other.
If I nominate tags, does that mean I have to participate?
No. Please nominate tags that you want to match on even if you're only vaguely thinking of signing up or treating, because otherwise you'll be stuck with what other people have nominated.
Why do we need to use Solo, Pair, and Group?
On AO3, you can't have identical tags in different sections. That's why you sometimes see tags with - Character, - Freeform, or -Relationship added on to them. We're nominating everything in the Relationships category for this exchange, which simplifies matching, but it does mean that we're definitely 100% nominating tags in the wrong category for single characters! The split between Pair and Group is solely for ease of reading within the tagset, and makes it easier to find what you're looking for (when, for example, checking if what you want to nominate is already in the tagset).
Sign Ups
What happens if there's no one I can make a fic for?
If you have no possible recipients at the end of sign-ups — meaning, no other participants are requesting any of the relationships you're offering in your selected canon(s), making you unmatchable — I will contact you via your AO3 account-associated email address. You will need to either add more offers or drop out of the exchange.
What happens if there's no one who can make a fic for me?
If you have no possible creators at the end of sign-ups — meaning, either no other participants are offering any of the tags you're requesting or that the people offering those things were assigned to other requests — you will go out to pinch hits. Pinch hits will be posted to this Dreamwidth community.
Assignments
When will I get my assignment? What will it look like?
You'll get your assignment as soon as I've run matching and made sure everyone has an appropriate assignment. This may be delayed by people being unmatchable, but hopefully not!
When you get your assignment, you'll be sent an email to the email account associated with your AO3. It will contain a copy of every request your recipient made, not just the request you matched on. You do not need to make something for all of their requests and you do not need to create for the request that you matched on. You just need to create something that fulfills one of their requests in canon/show, relationship, and lack of DNWs.
What if I can't fit my recipient's optional details into their gift?
You don't have to! Optional details are optional. You have to respect their DNWs, but otherwise it's okay if you need to ignore the rest of their optional details to complete your assignment.
What if I don't know how to avoid a DNW, or need to ask my recipient something else?
You should email me at buffyexmod@gmail.com. I will pass the question(s) along. Don't contact your recipient yourself.
Do I have to get my assignment beta'd?
No, but it would be nice if you did, since it's a gift!
What if I can't complete my assignment?
You should default as soon as possible so we can find a pinch hitter.
To default, find your assignment under "Assignments" on your AO3 dashboard and click on "default."
If you default and your creator defaults as well, you will not be assigned a pinch hitter.
You will not be punished for defaulting before the deadline!
What if I don't complete my assignment or default before the deadline?
You are required to submit a gift to the collection before being allowed to sign up for another round. It doesn't have to be for your original recipient or anyone in particular -- it just has to meet someone's request and the word minimum.
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