Hamiathes' Gift Exchange is on!

[pendrecarc.livejournal.com]

Okay, this is happening! I'm thrilled so many people are interested.

This is the first exchange I've run, so A) I'm very open to input, but B) I may err on the side of what seems simplest this time around. I'm not an artist, so I'd particularly like input on anything to do with fanart. I'm basing those requirements on what I've seen in other exchanges.

Here's the plan. Please comment with questions and suggestions.

Based on poll results, the Sounis LJ community is the most convenient place to post announcements. I may put pinch hit posts in a separate DW community that will also include all the announcements, as I don't want to skirt too close to violating the rules about posting fanfic in this community. (Thoughts on that, anyone? I'm mostly thinking DW because I find LJ post formatting a pain.) You'll be able to get in touch with me by commenting in either place.

I'll link announcements on my Tumblr using the Hamiathes' Gift Exchange tag as well, for those of you who said that was more convenient.

Signups, matching, and posting of fanworks will be on AO3. ETA that if you don't have an AO3 account, you can sign up for one here. There's a waiting list, but it doesn't usually take more than a few days, so you have plenty of time to sign up.

Schedule (updated March 13th):

• Character nominations: March 22nd through April 1st
• Signups: April 4th through the 15th
• Assignments: April 19th at the latest. I'll also reveal all the requests at this time for anyone who wants to treat
• Default deadline: May 20th
• Fanworks due: June 12th
• Fanworks revealed: June 19th
• Artists/authors revealed: June 26th

How nominations will work:

• You may nominate up to four characters. Feel free to discuss your nominations with others, so if there are five characters you want, someone with only three characters in mind can take one of yours
• I'm skewing nominations a bit early to allow some extra time for tag wrangling

How requests will work:

• You will have to submit at least two, and up to six, requests
• Each request must include a list of between one and three characters
• You may repeat characters between requests
• Each request must specify Fanfiction, Fanart, or both
• You're encouraged but not required to include additional detail (prompts, ideas, links to a letter) with each request
• Basically, your requests are different sets of character combinations (or single characters) about whom you'd like to get fic, art, or either type of work.

How offers will work:

• You will have to submit at least one, and up to two, offers
• Each offer must be a list of at least four characters, with no upper limit
• Each offer must specify Fanfiction or Fanart
• Basically, your offer is the total list of characters you're willing to write or illustrate. If you're only offering Fanfiction or only offering Fanart, you only need one offer. If you're offering both, you would include two offers with the list of characters for each type of work, in case (for example) you're willing to draw but not to write Attolia.

What you're signing up to do:

• You'll match on at least one of your recipient's requests by offering both the type of work they specified for that prompt and all the characters they specified for that prompt
• You may choose to fill any one of their prompts, even if it's not the one you matched on
• If that prompt requests fanfiction, you'll write a complete, standalone story of at least 500 words, featuring all the characters specified in that prompt, and post it by the deadline
• If that prompt requests fanart, you'll produce an original illustration measuring a minimum of 500 by 500 pixels, featuring all the characters specified in that prompt, and post it by the deadline

Please spread the word. I'm so looking forward to this!

Comments

[drashizu.livejournal.com]

Ooh, this sounds fun. I've never done one of these before, but I'd love to participate. Will you post a reminder about signups and whatnot when it gets closer to the date?

Also, how do character nominations work? Does that just mean there's a pool of characters that people choose from for step 2 when they request character combinations?

[pendrecarc.livejournal.com]

I'm planning to post regular reminders when we reach each step of the exchange (for example, when nominations open) and a day or two before deadlines (for example, just before nominations close).

Yes, that's how nominations work--anyone with an AO3 account can submit up to 4 characters to a tag set. I'll post the link on the 22nd. The characters get reviewed to make sure they have the right spelling, etc., and then when it's time to sign up, you'll be able to select from the characters in the tag set for both requests and offers.

I hope you'll be able to join us! I'm really excited about this. :)

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for a great idea! It's been too long since I've written any QT one-shots, so I'm game to participate.

The ban on fanfic in Sounis is more of a soft ban, so all fanfic is organized in one place with it's own set of search tags. That way reprobates (that's us) can read, write, and discuss fanfic more conveniently. Sign-ups and announcements for fanfic events are fine to be posted here, as long as the actual fics are posted somewhere else. I agree that AO3 should work well, as you can post fanfics, art, and videos there. (I also love their tag system.) You can get in touch with our Moddess, checkers65477, if you have questions.

Also, one suggestion and a couple of questions:

(1) You probably already have something like this in mind, but something that I always thought was a good idea during our holiday exchanges was listing trigger warnings.

So, anything you're not comfortable seeing, writing, or drawing: graphic violence, mature rated content, etc (or even if you just really hate a particular pairing) is information that is available for making matches.

(2) Does fanart extend to icons and fan videos? I've made book trailers in the past for QT, and that might be something I'd be interested in gifting if anyone requested it.

(3) One thing I'm still a little confused about: are prompters being assigned to an artist or are we picking them ourselves from the ones available?

Sorry, that got long-winded fast. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help! :)

[canonisrelative.livejournal.com]

I'm such a ditz about this kind of exchange (nominating characters.... o_o) But I SO WANT IN ON THIS YAY!

The Queen's Thief fic exchange!

[livejournal.livejournal.com]

User canonisrelative referenced to your post from The Queen's Thief fic exchange! (http://canonisrelative.livejournal.com/82002.html) saying: [...] who want to sign up for a fic exchange happening over at ... Livejournal [...]

[pendrecarc.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're in!

Re: the ban - my understanding when I joined the comm lo these many years ago was that fanfic should be posted either on the queensthief-fic comm or, if posted here, should be friendslocked. I seem to remember came up because MWT occasionally stops by, though I've no idea if she specifically requested it. But as I said, that was ages ago, I may be misremembering, and fic prompts aren't quite fic anyway, so I may ask for the mod's opinion.

[pendrecarc.livejournal.com]

Re: the rest (and I've been fighting a losing battle not to be too longwinded myself, it's all good!):

1) Excellent point! The last couple of AO3 exchanges I've taken part in have asked people to include a list of Do Not Wants in their request, for exactly the things you're thinking of--triggers, pairings you're not interested in, etc. Authors/artists are then expected to avoid those things. I was thinking of going the same route with this exchange.

2) I love the idea! Things to work out before we could move forward include what requirements make sense for other types of work, to be the equivalent of 500 words of fic or a 500x500 pixel drawing. Do you have any thoughts on that? I know vids particularly are very time-intensive.

The other question would be matching, and whether icons or vids would be a separate tag for people to request. This may wind up being slightly more complicated and therefore something I might skip this time around, but I'm open to discussion!

3) AO3 does the matching automatically, and you won't even know who's creating work for you! When fanworks go live on June 19th, they'll appear as anonymous, and then a week later the authors/artists will be revealed.

Everyone who signs up will get an automated email with a link to the person they're assigned to. The exceptions are any pinch hits, where the author/artist will volunteer to sign up for a particular person in need of a match, or any additional "treats" people may decide to produce.

[pendrecarc.livejournal.com]

YAY INDEED! I'm planning to make regular announcements as various dates approach, along with guidelines for each step of the process. Is there anything specific I can do to help?

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think part of the reason for the ban (along with organization) was to accommodate Mrs. Turner's visits, so she didn't have to worry about absorbing any of her readers ideas through osmosis. Prompts are probably fine as long as they're under a cut. Checkers is a good person to ask about it.

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

(1) I figured you probably had something like that in mind. I just wanted to double check as I know Sounis has a number of young members, people who aren't interested in mature stories, and those with very specific NO OTPs. I'm looking at you, Audrey. ;)

(2) I agree videos may be too time-intensive and overly complicated for prompting, upon further reflection. Maybe, I could think of making one as a treat.

Usually, when icons are given as gifts, there's a predetermined number you're suppose to give to your requester like five or six. Prompts for icon sets could be things like quotes from the books or a particular character or an actor as a particular character.

However, that could get too complicated as well... Icons might work better for treats, as I don't think a single icon is too time consuming to make. Plus, It's a way for people to participate who don't draw or write. Icon making usually just requires a knowledge of computer software and some creativity.

(3) Ah, I've seen exchanges hosted on AO3, but I've never participated in one, so I wasn't sure how that worked. Sounds great!

[an-english-girl.livejournal.com]

Will have to go and get an AO3 account, but I'll see ya'll there!
E.G.

[canonisrelative.livejournal.com]

Nah, if you're planning to post guidelines for each step that should be good :-D For now, basically, I should be thinking which 3 characters I most want to see fic written about?

[pendrecarc.livejournal.com]

If you're thinking about nominations, you can choose up to four!

If you're thinking about your actual requests, you'll have to make at least two different requests, and each must contain at least one (up to three) characters you want in the same story/artwork. Here's an example:

Request 1: Nahuseresh (for a story/illustration featuring Nahuseresh, other characters optional)

Request 2: Nahuseresh and Akretenesh (for a story/illustration about the two of them, and potentially other characters)

Request 3: Heiro, Agape, Phresine (for a story/illustration including all three of them, and potentially other characters)

Does that make sense? I'm planning to include examples in the signup, so if there's a better way to present it, that would be helpful to know.

Amount of fanfic/fanart?

[jessre.livejournal.com]

Sorry - just want to make sure I've got this correctly - everyone involved posts requests and things they are willing to write/draw. AO3 matches people. Is this two-way, as in I and one other person will write/draw for each other, or is it more of a web (A draws for B who writes for C who writes for A)?

And does each person make one story or one piece of art, or if I put down 3 possible scenarios I am willing to write about, might I end up being commissioned to do all of them? (Sorry if that's the wrong term.)

This is going to be so cool. I can't wait.

Re: Amount of fanfic/fanart?

[pendrecarc.livejournal.com]

1) It's a web, so A draws for B who writes for C who writes for A (or someone else). Though it's possible that there could be some two-way matches, just due to chance.

2) You'll be matched on at least one scenario from your recipient's requests, but you could choose to write or draw for any one of their scenarios. (You're welcome to do more than one, of course, but it's definitely not required!)

I'm working on longer explanations of the signup and matching process, but hopefully this clarifies your specific questions. :) I can't wait, either!

Re: Amount of fanfic/fanart?

[jessre.livejournal.com]

Got it. Thank you!

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Lady Jane and pendrecarc have summed it up nicely. The fanfic ban was also for others who wanted to keep sounis as a discussion site, with fic posted elsewhere.

So, you all's idea of putting announcements and prompts here and fic elsewhere is perfect.

This sounds like fun!

[pendrecarc.livejournal.com]

Thanks for confirming! This should be a great time. :)

[canonisrelative.livejournal.com]

I just made my character nominations, was I right in thinking that the list of characters I saw here (http://archiveofourown.org/tag_sets/1150) are all characters already nominated so if I wanted to offer one of them I didn't need to nominate him/her myself? And just to double-check (so I know if I just sit back and relax or I need to be ready to jump at a certain time), does submitting a nomination mean I'm signed up, or do I do that somewhere else?

[pendrecarc.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's correct--all those characters will be available when you sign up. If you're the person who nominated Aristogiton, by the way, it looks like he was nominated twice. You can edit your nomination if you want to include someone else, but don't worry about it if all the characters you want are already in the list.

The sign-up part of the process will begin on April 4th. I've filled out the FAQ at the exchange page on AO3 (http://archiveofourown.org/collections/HamiathesGift2016/profile) if you want to have a look. Hopefully it explains things well, but let me know if you have follow-up questions!

[pendrecarc.livejournal.com]

Hope to see you there!