2023 Schedule, Rules, FAQ

[keita52]

 

2023 Schedule

Nominations: February 25-March 7
Signups: March 8-24
Assignments: No later than March 28
Creation Period: March 25-May 8
Works Due: May 8 at 8 PM EDT (UTC-4)
Work Reveals: May 15 at 8 PM EDT (UTC-4)
Creator Reveals: May 22 at 8 PM EDT (UTC-4)

Mod email: sufficiently.advanced.ex@gmail.com

Rules

1. You must be at least 18 years old to participate.
2. Absolutely no kinkshaming. Remember, Your Kink Is Not My Kink And That's Okay.
3. Participants who cannot complete their assignments on time must either email the mod for an extension or hit the default button as soon as possible. Participants who are no-shows at the deadline will be banned from next year's exchange.
4. All gifts must respect the recipient's DNWs. Bad faith attempts to violate the spirit of the DNW while adhering to the letter of it will be treated as DNW violations. If you are confused about your recipient's DNWs or feel they are unenforceable, please contact the mod at sufficiently.advanced.ex@gmail.com
5. Maintain anonymity until creator reveals. Do not contact your recipient with questions; email the mods instead. Do not post your art/fic, in part or in whole, anywhere but Ao3 and your beta's inbox until reveals. Avoid talking about your assignment or even which fandom you're writing for on social media, Discord, etc., even if you don't think your recipient will see it.
6. Participants are expected to be civil to one another. Mods will deal with infractions on a case by case basis but reserve the right to ban participants for mean-spirited behavior including (but not limited to): harassment on any platform, release or abuse of personal information (doxxing), deliberate spitefic, egregiously bad faith participation, or derogatory remarks in summaries, author's notes, or comments.

FAQ

What is this exchange about?

This is a multifandom exchange for science fiction, fantasy, and horror book canons. This includes novels, novellas, novelettes, and short stories. Examples of eligible canons:

• "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. LeGuin
• "Folding Beijing" by Hao Jingfang
• "The Lifecycle of Software Objects" by Ted Chiang
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton

Series are also eligible; please nominate series as series instead of nominating individual novels. Exceptions will be made for large meta-series where individual book sequences are not necessarily connected to the others.

 

Examples:

• Provost's Dog instead of Tortall - Tamora Pierce
• Cyteen Series - C. J. Cherryh instead of Alliance-Union - C. J. Cherryh

Exceptions will also be made for single books that, while technically part of a larger series, are sufficiently distinct from the greater series and can stand on their own. A post will be forthcoming to make the case for these exceptions.

Canons must have been published first as books in order to be eligible. A book that was later adapted for another medium is still eligible as the book canon. Use the book fandom tag; do not use an All Media Types tag.
Tie-in novels or novelizations of tv shows/movies/video games (etc.) are not allowed. Mythology and folklore, by themselves, are not eligible. However, a self-contained fairy tale retelling or a story inspired by mythology would be eligible.

Eligible canons:

• The Magicians - Lev Grossman
• Dune Series - Frank Herbert
• Ella Enchanted - Gail Carson Levine

Ineligible canons:

• The Magicians (TV)
• Dune - All Media Types
• Cinderella (Fairy Tale)

What are the requirements for participating?

You must have an Ao3 account and be at least 18 years old to participate. When you sign up, you are committing to creating one fanwork within the creation period. The minimum for a fanwork is a story of at least 1,000 words or a clean, finished piece of art.

What are the different stages of this exchange?

Nominations

 

You may nominate up to ten fandoms, with ten relationships per fandom. Please use canonical tags for fandoms where possible. A list of fandoms with known exceptions (e.g., large meta-series such as Tamora Pierce's Tortall and C.J. Cherryh's Alliance-Union) will be posted with the nomination guidelines.

Relationships

You may nominate either platonic (&) or romantic (/) relationships. You may also nominate single characters; use the format "Solo: Character". Crossovers are permitted under the "Crossover" fandom.

For crossovers, both canons must be individually eligible for this exchange. You must include the original fandom in parentheses after each character's name. The fandom name may be shortened or abbreviated, provided it is still clear which fandom you are referencing.

Sample acceptable nominations:

• Dracula/Jonathan Harker
• Solo: Temeraire
• ART (Murderbot) & Deep Thought (Hitchhikers' Guide)

You may also use "any [group]" in nominations, provided that this is something that is clearly understood within the context of the canon. For example:

• Temeraire - "Solo: Any Male Dragon" or "Any Dragon & Their Captain"
• Provost's Dog - "Beka Cooper/Any Provost's Guard Member"

Please note that "any" nominations will only cover named canon characters.

You may also nominate original characters, provided that the description for the original character is clearly understood within the context of the canon. For example:

• Temeraire - "Original Dragon & Their Female Captain"
• Provost's Dog - "Solo: Original Nonbinary Provost's Guard Member"

Nominations that are simply "Original Female Character" or similar will be rejected as being too broad.

Signups

Requests

You will sign up with 1-10 requests, with 1-10 relationships per request. You may repeat fandoms with different relationships. You may also select "any" for relationships, indicating that you are open to receiving a fanwork for any of the nominated relationships for that fandom.

The minimum number of fandoms is one, but if you request fewer than three unique fandoms, you're not guaranteed a gift, and we won't delay reveals for you. Three sub-fandoms within the same larger fandom (e.g., Tortall) are considered unique fandoms in this context.

If you go to pinch hits with fewer than three fandoms and your pinch hit lingers for more than a week (or more than 24 hours past the general assignments due date), you may contact the mods to add more fandoms.

You may request either fic, art, or both.

 

If you have a letter at an external site (Dreamwidth, Tumblr, Google Docs, etc)., provide a link to it in the relevant box. Please ensure that your letter is complete by the time signups close.

 

If you have any Do Not Wants (DNWs) that you wish your creator to respect, they must be in the Optional Details box of your signup. DNWs that are only contained in an outside letter cannot be enforced by the mods.

 

The mods encourage all participants to use clear, specific, and reasonable DNWs for this exchange. DNWs for specific characters in "any" ships will not be enforced. If you have questions about the best way to phrase your DNWs, please contact sufficiently.advanced.ex@gmail.com for assistance.

Offers

 

You will sign up with 1-10 offers, with 1-10 relationships per offer. You may repeat fandoms with different relationships. You may also select "any" for relationships, indicating that you are open to creating a fanwork for any of the nominated relationships for that fandom.
 

If you offer a specific "any" ship, such as "Any Dragon & Their Captain", you only need to be able to write one ship that fits the criteria. 

 

You may offer either fic, art, or both.

 

Matching

 

Matching works on an OR basis. Your request will be matched to a creator based on just one fandom/relationship/medium combination.

 

If you do not have a potential recipient, you will be contacted and asked to edit your sign up. If you do not wish to do that, or if you do not respond within 24 hours, your sign-up will be deleted.

 

Assignments

 

You must create one new, complete, stand-alone fanwork that includes at least one requested fandom/relationship/medium combination. You can use any of your recipient's prompts as a starting point, not just the one you matched on.

 

Fic must be at least 1,000 words and must include a beginning, middle, and end. Authors should avoid stopping mid-scene.

 

Art must be one finished piece of clean lineart on unlined paper, or digital equivalent.

 

Works must avoid the recipient's DNWs. If a recipient has an unenforceable DNW, please email the mods ASAP so we can try to resolve the problem early.

 

If you need clarification about any part of your assignment, please contact the mod, who will query your recipient if necessary. Please do not contact your recipient directly, even if you are friends. Please also avoid talking about your recipient or assignment outside private DMs and emails, even if you don't think your recipient is present. This includes Tumblr, Twitter, fandom Discords, the Exchanges After Dark Discord, etc.

 

If you find you need to default on your assignment, please email the mods or hit the "default" button on Ao3 as soon as possible so that the mods can have time to find a pinch hitter. There will be no penalty for defaulting before the deadline of May 1.

 

Pinch Hits

 

Pinch hits will be posted to the Dreamwidth Community and will be assigned on a first-come, first-serve basis. You do not need to be signed up for the exchange to claim a pinch hit.

Treats

Treats are allowed and definitely welcome. You may write treats for a specific person or for the community at large. If you write a treat for a specific person, please ensure that it avoids their DNWs. If you decide to write a treat for the community, you can gift it to the collection without a recipient, provided it features a fandom & relationship in this year's tagset.

 

Ao3 recently introduced the ability to block gifts from users other than your assigned creator. This means that if you want to be able to receive treats, you need to ensure that this option is enabled. To do so, go to "My Dashboard" on your Ao3 account, select "Preferences" from the sidebar, scroll down to "Collections, Challenges and Gifts," and make sure that the "Allow Anyone to Gift Me Works" box is checked. You are encouraged to state in your signup whether you are or are not open to receiving treats, to better facilitate treating.

 

If you would like to treat someone and are unsure if they are open to receiving treats, email the mods and we will be happy to inquire on your behalf.

 

Treats may be of any length or medium (for art), but should still be complete, stand-alone works at the time of posting.

 

Comments

[lirazel]

If we're happy to receive fic about any character and/or worldbuilding from a given text, is it alright to leave the relationship fields blank?

Re:

[keita52]

The relationship field will be mandatory, but there will be an option to select "any", which means anything in the tagset. The "worldbuilding" tag will cover all worldbuilding and I am allowing "Solo: Any Character" nominations.

Re:

[lirazel]

Great! And if I'm nominating a fandom, is it okay for me to just nominate worldbuilding and not any specific characters?

Re:

[keita52]

Yes, you can do either Worldbuilding (for general) or WB: [some specific in-universe aspect].

Re:

[lirazel]

Great, thanks so much!

[morbane]

Hello! For the sake of easy clicking, could you please put a link from the AO3 profile to this Dreamwidth community? (Sorry if there's already one and I missed it.) Thanks for considering it!

Re:

[keita52]

I've added it in, thanks for pointing out the oversight!