Fanfic Contests/Exchanges You Can Enter TM Works In Off BL

[Prix with a Silent X]

Update regarding Not Primetime 2016:

• Sign-ups are now open through April 30th. The sign-up form on AO3 is here.
• You must request a minimum of 3 fandoms and may request up to 6 fandoms.
• Within those fandoms, you may request up to 4 characters each with AND matching.
• You may also choose Any for character requests; this means you want to receive fic for any nominated character. See post for more details.
• Each fandom request must be unique (you cannot request the same fandom twice with different sets of characters).
• You must offer a minimum of 3 fandoms and may offer up to 10 fandoms.
• You may offer up to 10 characters for each fandom or you may offer Any (nominated character).
• Please read this post carefully if you have any questions, confusion, or concerns. There are a number of useful links at the bottom.

You do not need to have participated in nominations to sign up. The only Type Moon fandom available for this particular exchange is Fate/Stay Night & Related Fandoms with this particular nominated and approved tag set:

Arturia Pendragon | Saber, Emiya Kiritsugu, Emiya Shirou, Enkidu (Fate), Gilgamesh (Fate), Guinevere (Fate), Heroic Spirit EMIYA | Archer, Illyasviel von Einzbern, Irisviel von Einzbern, Kotomine Kirei, Matou Sakura, Medea | Caster, Medusa | Rider, Saber (Fate/Prototype), Sajyou Ayaka, Tohsaka Rin

You can see the full tag set to consider your other two (or more) fandom options here.

When five or more people have signed up, you may view the Sign-Up Summary, which will show the number of requests and the number of offers. Learning to read this will help you gauge interest in any fandom you might wish to write or receive, especially if you are concerned about making sure you don't have to edit your sign-up for being too difficult for the algorithm to match. Remember that if you both offer and request the same fandom that it is going to show 1 | 1 and that it only represents you. This is another reason people post Dear Author Letters. It is a nice thing to offer fandoms near the top of the list if you're genuinely interested in writing them, and it is a good idea to request at least one fandom that is closer to the bottom of the list, even if you don't go all the way down to most-popular.

If you choose to participate, you will need an AO3 account. If you already have one, carry on, but if you are interested in participating but need an account, you will need an invite code. I have a few to give out, and I will request more if necessary. If you get an account, I believe it already comes with five or ten that you can then pass to others. Please let me know through PM or on this post for me to PM you if you'd like an AO3 invite code.

The other fun part of this is a Dear Author Letter. I wrote in the OP a bit about what a Dear Author Letter is and linked to a past example of mine. This can take other formats, too, but is your way to communicate with the person who is matched to you as a writer. It is to give your author an idea of your likes and dislikes about the fandom and characters you requested and their presentation in fanfiction. It is a good idea to be specific but not binding, as these details are optional but helpful and primarily what make this process fun as a writer. The AO3 sign-up form now has prompt boxes that you can use in lieu of a Dear Author Letter or in addition to it. (Many people copy/paste their fandom-specific requests to each appropriate sign-up box, but I opt to just use the Dear Author Letter URL blank.) Your Dear Author Letter must be a publicly accessible link.

Most people use LiveJournal or Dreamwidth for Dear Author Letters, whether they use their journals for anything else or not. You could also use any public blogging site you like. You may also use something like private posts on tumblr or another service where you can have something that is publicly accessible by link-only.

If you are a BLer who is signing up, I strongly encourage you to link us to your Dear Author Letter on this thread! If I get enough response I'll make a little list, but either way it will make it easy for us to see who is participating. You also have the option, whether you end up assigned to a fellow BLer or not, to write Treats for that person (explained on the OP) which are fics that are written just to please someone that have fewer rules. For example, most of the time they do not have to be 1000 words minimum, so you could write something very short, or there is also a very-optional option to do fanart.

Whether you are a BLer or not, if you choose to do this, just don't troll people, even if they're your friends. Maintainers/mods and other users are likely to see your trolling and misunderstand. People who do this want a reasonably pleasant experience for all, so if you absolutely have to write a troll fic for your BL friend, post it here or something.

A little note of etiquette: It is entirely alright to talk about what you requested and even generally about what you offered anywhere you like, but remaining anonymous to your recipient until after reveals is part of the fun. If you get matched to a BLer, it takes a little bit of the fun out of it to tell them you were assigned to them.

In addition to sharing it here with other BLers, you can choose to share your Dear Author Letter with all participants by posting a link to it in the indicated format on the Dreamwidth post or the LiveJournal post.

Since this might be your first time participating in a fic exchange, here is a general fic exchange FAQ written by the mod of this exchange who has been doing this and other exchange maintenance for years. It's probably more concise and better than my OP in some ways, but whichever one is most useful to you. I tried to explain things well, too.

If you have any further questions or concerns I can help you with, feel free to ask on this post, too.

[Seika]

Brief note:

What does the Description box in the Offers section of the sign-up form mean?

Misclick on my part. It doesn't mean anything for matching.

So don't worry about it.

Meanwhile, my Dear Author letter has suddenly tripled in size from out of nowhere. Ummm.

[Prix with a Silent X]

Brief note:


So don't worry about it.

Meanwhile, my Dear Author letter has suddenly tripled in size from out of nowhere. Ummm.

That's part of the fun! I still haven't actually started my sign-up yet, but I might do it in a bit.

But yeah, the Dear Author Letter is a lot of fun, but it can be a chore. I did something where I requested the max number of fandoms a while back, and for some of them I asked for more than one character, and that Dear Author Letter was longer than my fic or my received fic, I think. Not sure if I'm exaggerating, but I wouldn't be surprised...

[Seika]

Oh good. The AO3 form does parse HTML properly. Glad I don't have to go through and re-do those links.

Four requests, five offers. I feel virtuous.

[Historia]

I won't be participating, but if it's within regulation, would it be alright for those who are to share their requests after it's over?

[Prix with a Silent X]

I won't be participating, but if it's within regulation, would it be alright for those who are to share their requests after it's over?

It's actually totally fine to share requests from the start. Seika and I are both free to share our Dear Author Letters with anyone. It's the reverse that's rude, to reveal who you got assigned or to post what you're writing elsewhere before it's fully revealed as part of the exchange. The latter is actually against the rules. Also, as a non-participant, you can definitely look at all publicly posted letters people shared on letters posts too. You could become a pinch-hitter or just write treats to gift to the prompter. There's an option on AO3 to gift a work to a particular user.

[Seika]

Yep, after about a hundred edits, I think I've bashed my letter into a rough sort of shape.

And, yeah, I was the one who nominated and is requesting Guinevere, so Leo and Koto are now banned.

[Historia]

.

Yes. I figured the reverse was a no-no. Glad the flip side isn't.

- - - Updated - - -

Yep, after about a hundred edits, I think I've bashed my letter into a rough sort of shape.

And, yeah, I was the one who nominated and is requesting Guinevere, so Leo and Koto are now banned.

I fully support the nomination of Guinevere. Though I wonder if anyone will actually tackle her--and, you know, I'm really curious as to how. I mean, obviously I have my own take on her (and in the end if nobody takes her on, I'd be more than glad to spin something together as, well, I already am and am always looking for an excuse to write more of her). Also, Tamora Pierce, eh? I prefer the Lioness series, myself.

[You]

guin already has a canon personality. It's just how that's executed. geddit.

[Prix with a Silent X]

Seika actually linked several things that showed canon information about Guinevere in her letter (which is a great idea, by the way) but also says that it is alright for her author to disregard that. Summarizing to say that I think sometimes when canon information according to the nasuverse is relatively sparse with a character who has so many different representations in pop culture and broader cultural consciousness that sometimes I think in fanwork it's perfectly fine to step away from the box the nasuverse has constructed. I would be more reluctant to go "Well, write a totally different than nasuverse canon fic about a fleshed-out nasuverse character and call it nasuverse fanfiction," but in cases where it's someone who has such relatively-little to go on, I think it's different. Mostly because sometimes I feel like that information about certain elements of the story that I have been pointed to as "Well, this is what Nasu said about it," obviously aren't completely without value as to his thoughts on the matter, but sometimes it seems like these come in the form of interview questions or something. In those cases when it seems like it's something Nasu has never considered before, I don't really know how binding I'll ever feel like that is. But more to the point, I think that the Arthurian legend is so multifaceted in its expression in the real world that it is really unfairly limiting to consider only what has been given if you have more to go on from other sources. Unlike Artoria, Guinevere has not been expressed across basically everything to the point that it is very easy to just know pretty much every way in which she resembles and contrasts from her "typical" representation in other media.

But that is just my two cents on that kind of thing. Like, Shrapnel has done a lot of Arthurian legend-related reading, and I think that those things contributing to perception of the Knights of the Round Table is every bit as valid as things that amount to footnotes.

- - - Updated - - -

This is all fascinating. I've seen it done, but I've never participated in one before.

I don't know if I could dig up enough fandoms I'm really passionate about right now to list off three to five, but I wager that's part of the challenge. It forces you to roll with the punches and do things you might not normally tackle.

Yeah, that is part of the fun. I always end up waffling on whether or not I want to offer or request more than the minimum. Sometimes, I am in a mood to request everything, so then I try to offer as much as I can so as to feel like I'm being a fair participant. Other times, I can barely come up with the minimum on either side. The fewer you request/offer, as long as you meet the minimum, the more certain you can be you won't get something that was just way down there on the bottom of your interest list. The biggest mistake is offering something just because you think you might one day be able to write it. But I think most people like at least three things enough to at least commit to rewatching or rereading the ones that are less recent in terms of personal investment.

[Prix with a Silent X]

Seeing Seika's clean and classy new Dreamwidth makes me embarrassed to draw attention to mine, which is currently the a very bright and vivid mess. Maybe someday I will be classy like Seika, but there's no real competing with the class of a classicist. Anyway, here is my letter. I offered five, requested four fandoms, and generally offered more than I asked for. I feel okay about it.

If you're still interested in signing up, you have four more days - until the 30th of April.

Also, Seika, I knew that was you!

[Seika]

(I changed like one option from the default site look. )

[Prix with a Silent X]

(I changed too many and right now in going with one of the canned options it looks like an advertisement for apples.)

[Prix with a Silent X]

Today is the last day to sign up for Not Primetime 2016. I imagine that if you were gonna, you have, but just a reminder. If it's just me and Seika, that's cool, but if you signed up without saying so, you can still post your Dear Author Letter link here.

Also, I have a different, unrelated post to make in this thread, so I am either going to wait ten minutes or if someone could free me from the Updated thingie, that would be cool.

[Historia]

I think your ten minutes are up.

[Prix with a Silent X]

Every Woman 2016 (Information Post on Dreamwidth):

This exchange focuses on female characters. There is no rarity requirement, so you can nominate female characters from any Type Moon series you like. This exchange allows for a broad approach to 'female characters,' such if any reasonable person could consider a character female, they are eligible. This includes:

• Cis women
• Trans women
• Canon female versions of canonical male characters
• Characters from video games where you choose the gender
• Characters that exist but canon doesn't reveal their gender
• 2nd person works where it is not clearly stated what gender the character is
• RPF of people who identify as female
• Characters that aren't necessarily women in canon but that a person could make a case for where a reasonable person would understand why they could be interpreted as female

See the information posts for exclusions an qualifications. The above list came from that information post.

For this exchange, you can do things like list f/m ships or dynamics that interest you with the nominated female character you request in your Dear Author Letter. These are optional details for your author, but het is just as allowable as femslash within that optional range. The focal character of the fic just needs to be the female character involved, but male supporting cast is fine. It isn't a total no-boys-allowed thing. However, for the "groups" option available below, those would need to be all-female groups. However, that does not necessarily dictate ship-fic or gen-fic, etc. Those things would be clarified in your Dear Author Letter and up to your author's discretion.


Schedule

• April 30 - May 8 - Nominations (Tag Set) (Nominations Form)
• May 9 - May 11 - Clean Up
• May 12 - May 19 - Sign Up (Information Post) (AO3 Sign-Up Form) (Final Tag Set) (Letters Post*)
• June 23 - Assignments Due
• June 27 - Pinch Hits Due
• June 30 - Stories Revealed
• July 7 - Authors Revealed

*I'm not sure if I clarified this before, but this is where you can share a link to letters with the general exchange participating populace, though if you request TM stuff you are free to share your letter link in this thread, too.

Nominations

• This exchange uses OR matching
• You may nominate up to 4 fandoms with 4 characters each
• You can nominate clearly defined groups of female characters (e.g., Artoria & Guinevere or Rin & Sakura) with an ampersand. The ampersand in this case does not indicate type of relationship, only that they are grouped together. You would clarify what you would like in your letter. This makes it so that if you prefer AND matching, you can request it in a way that it will effectively be the same. If you do not mind either way, when you sign up, you can choose two independently nominated characters and say you would like fic with both or either. You can also nominated Crossover Groups, but it is a separate category.
• You should be as specific as possible and avoid using large umbrella categories. See information post for more information.

This exchange also allows fanart at a "minimum of nice sketch stage." It just cannot be on lined paper, so no notebook doodles.

The minimum word count for this exchange is just 500 words, so this might be a good start if you're interested in the subject matter but have never done this before.

Post to be updated more with more information and links as they come. Remember, if you need an AO3 account for doing this, I'll be happy to help you out.

Sign-Ups, etc.

Type Moon Characters Eligible for this Exchange After Nominations

Nominations have now closed, so you may only choose the Type Moon female characters who were nominated. Both Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms and Kara no Kyoukai are nominated, so if you like both of those you only have to come up with one other nominated fandom that you'd like to request and two more that you'd like to offer to meet the minimum of 3 requested and 4 offered.

Eligible Tag Sets are as follows:

Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms

Arturia Pendragon | Saber, Irisviel von Einzbern, Kishinami Hakuno, Matou Sakura, Nero | Saber (Fate/EXTRA), Rani VIII, Tamamo-no-Mae | Caster (Fate/EXTRA), Tohsaka Rin

Kara no Kyoukai

Aozaki Touko (Garden of Sinners), Kokutou Azaka (Garden of Sinners), Ryougi Mana (Garden of Sinners), Ryougi Shiki (Garden of Sinners)

[Prix with a Silent X]

I updated this with finalized Tag Set information in case that might make anyone interested in this one. It looks like someone took the initiative to nominate Fate/Extra characters this time among the Fate characters, so that is different than last time. See the above post.

[Prix with a Silent X]

Trick or Treat 2016 (F.A.Q.) (Schedule)

This is a Halloween-themed exchange, but fics do not have to be about Halloween. Instead, the fic should be a trick (scary, angst, dark, etc.) or a treat (fluffy, sexy, sweet, light, etc.). This year, recipients can choose if they would like to only receive a trick or a treat. This is a new condition and is being experimented with and may or may not be the same next year.

This is the exchange for which, last year, I wrote my Waver story which was my first posted on BL, for better or worse. That one was a bit sad, so I think it qualified as a "trick," but it was also meant to provide some emotional satisfaction. I bring this up both as an anecdote and to say that unless a person has explicitly ticked from one box and not the other, last year drawing elements from both was acceptable, especially if your recipient indicated they would like that.

There are a few typos in the schedule post, I imagine from it being adapted from last year, but it is listed as:

Sept 1 – Nominations Open (Nominations Form) (Tag Set)
Sept 8 – Nominations Close
Sept 11 – Sign-Ups Open
Sept 18 – Sign-Ups Close
October 24 – Assignments Due
October 31 – Reveals
November 7 – Author Reveals

Nominations

Up to 6 fandoms and 6 individual characters from each. Anyone with an AO3 account can nominate, whether you want to participate or not.

Sign Ups

You must make 3-10 requests. Each request has one fandom, 1-10 characters, and 1-2 mediums. You must make 4-10 offers. Each offer has one fandom, 2-10 characters, and 1-2 mediums. Any can be selected for characters and medium. Any means any nominated not any character in the fandom. If only one character is nominated for a fandom you want to offer then just select any to make sign ups work.

Fanart of at least a "nice sketch" quality which is NOT on lined paper is a possible request and offer for this exchange. A person can request/offer both or either fic or art. A person can request only one but say in their optional details that they are okay with receiving the other medium with no guarantee.

Which Type Moon Characters are Eligible for this Exchange?

Literally any unless the mod says no for some reason, until nominations close. This exchange runs on characters, not relationships, so it's individual people being nominated.

As usual, any questions and I'll try to answer them if the answer isn't freely available in two or three clicks of looking yourself.

- - - - -

Early Announcement: I will try to make it its own post, but Yuletide nominations are coming up very soon. Yuletide is by far the most well-known fic exchange among people who know about fic exchanges and is often the model for any which are developed. It is a fic exchange for rare fandoms. The criteria for these rare fandoms is on the Yuletide Admin livejournal community. I originally made this thread with this kind of in mind. Lots of you don't like that there are only Fate fics, so here is your chance! There is a good chance that Fate might not be eligible this year, and even if it is deemed eligible, all other Type Moon properties should definitely be eligible and will be prioritized as small fandoms. There is a vetting process you can read about on the comm as well if you would like to learn more.

[Seika]

Hm, let's see what character tags have already been nominated. Ah, yes, this exchange allows original work ...

Jaded Immortal, Lesbian Superfoe, Lesbian Superhero, Librarian, Male Secret Agent, Male Soldier, Male Space Traveller, Man-Eating Plant, Mutant Penguin, Original Alien Character(s), Original Space Marine Character(s), Posessed Laptop, Possessed Penis, Princess, Secret Agent - Character, Sentient Black Cat, Sentient Vagina Dentata

Mmm, as expected.

[Five_X]

Ah yes, the classic Possessed Penis / Sentient Vagina Dentata plot.