2022 Round Schedule & Rules

[genfreeformmod]

Schedule

Feb 25-March 5 11:59PM EST - Nominations
March 6-16 11:59PM EST - Signups
Mar 19 - Assignments sent by this date
May 1 11:59PM EDT - Assignments Due
May 7 11:59PM EDT - Work Reveals
May 14 11:59PM EDT - Creator Reveals

Gen Freeform Exchange is a multi-fandom exchange focused on gen fanworks, with freeform tag matching so that you can request and offer all your favorite gen tropes. We’re defining gen fanworks as works with no romantic or sexual content. Gen can focus on platonic relationships (friends, family, colleagues, enemies-with-whom-there-is-no-sexual-tension, etc), usually indicated by a & between characters rather than a /, or it can focus on a singular character with no particular focus on any relationship.

Both solo characters and gen character combos can be requested. Media allowed: fic, art, vids, and podfic.

Please follow this comm for all your info about the exchange!

Links

• AO3 Collection
• Tagset
• App of requests

Contact

• Please email genmod@gmx.com with any questions or concerns.

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Nominations:

The tagset for nominations is here. An AO3 account is required. Please check back in on this community for tagset clarifications.

Fandoms

• RPF is allowed as long as all real people nominated are famous in their own right and over the age of 18.
• Original fiction solo characters and combos are also allowed, and should be nommed under the fandom Original Works.
• Crossovers should be nominated under Crossover Fandom.
• See bottom of nominations section for info about how to nominate specific fandoms.

Relationships slot

• Both solo characters and & ships allowed. All solo and & ship noms should have the fandom at the end of the nom. This is called "disambiguation"! Tags without disambiguation may be rejected. If your tags are rejected for incorrect format, post a comment on the comm with correctly formatted tags and I will add them in manually.
• Solo character noms should be formatted “Solo: Steve Rogers (MCU)”
• & ships should be formatted “Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes (MCU)” — putting the fandom in parentheses after the ship disambiguates the ship.
• Crossover & ships should be formatted "Bucky Barnes (MCU) & Hermione Granger (Harry Potter)"
• Crossovers where a character from fandom A visit canon B are also allowed. They should be nominated like this: "Solo: Loki (MCU) in Marvel 616." If your canon has several versions (eg, Narnia, Lord of the Rings) and you care which version of canon you get, please specify when nominating.
• There’s no restrictions on the number of characters in a combo nomination, except as restricted by AO3’s nomination length limit.
• No / allowed, even in combination with an & ship. For example, “Sam & Steve/Bucky (MCU)” is not allowed.

OCs, groups, and character types

• & ships can include one or more groups of characters, but we're unable to enforce the inclusion of every character in a requested group — at minimum a creator must include one member of the nominated group.
• We think the phrasing "Creator's Choice of [group] Member(s)" is the most clear, but understand that it's long & sometimes awkward to phrase. However, the tags "Thorin & Thorin's Company (Hobbit Movies)" and "Thorin & Creator's Choice of Thorin's Company Member(s) (Hobbit Movies)" are requesting the same thing.
• Groups can also be comprised of OC characters or character types, like "Bilbo Baggins & Elves (Hobbit Movies)". They can also include any of a group of characters, for example "Bilbo Baggins & Any Canon Dwarf (Hobbit Movies)". In these cases, the requester may mention preferences about the indeterminate character in their optional details, but these preferences are not binding, and ultimately it is the gifter's choice about, for example, which canon dwarf to include. Don't request one of these types of tags unless you're happy receiving any applicable character your gifter might include in a gift!
• Character type groups and canon groups can be nominated alone using "Solo:" or "Group:"
  • Solo: Creator's Choice of Canon Force Ghost (SW) — you want gen focused on ONE canon force ghost, and you don't DNW any canon force ghosts.
  • Group: Creator's Choice of Order of the Phoenix Members (HP) OR Group: Order of the Phoenix (HP) — you want gen focused on two or more members of the Order of the Phoenix and you don't DNW any OotP members.
  • Solo: Creator's Choice of Character(s) (Fandom) — you're very open to gen about anyone in the fandom! If you DNW OCs, you should use "Canon Character(s)" instead.
  Nominators can nominate and request groups with confusing or ambiguous membership (eg, the Avengers) at their own risk.

Freeforms (the "Additional Tags" slot)

• This is your opportunity to specify what kind of gen fanwork you would like! These can be tropes or themes (snowed in, hurt/comfort, rivalry), AUs (post-apocalyptic AU, coffee shop AU), settings/time periods (wilderness, pre-canon), or any other gen prompt! Feel free to get specific: "Stuck at the bus stop in the rain with no umbrella" is a fine freeform tag!
• Not eligible: anything explicitly sexual or romantic; matchmaking freeforms; marriage or getting together freeforms unless they are explicitly non-romantic, non-sexual takes on usually shippy tropes. For example “marriage of convenience that stays platonic” would be allowed.
• Freeforms specific to a particular fandom are allowed and should be formatted as like this: “FANDOM - FREEFORM.” For example, “MCU - Cleanup after the Snap.” However, fandom-specific freeforms should still be general enough that they could conceivably pertain to more than one character or relationship. For example, "Star Wars - Han Solo is a Force ghost" would be allowed, because many different relationships could use it. However, "Star Wars - Han Solo and Chewie are marooned on an ice planet" would be difficult for anyone to use unless they specifically requested Han Solo & Chewie, so it would not be approved.

Nomination info for specific fandoms:

• Crossovers will be nommed under the fandom “Crossover Fandom”. They should be formatted as “Character (Fandom A) & Character (Fandom B)”. If there's more than one version of the canon and you care about which version you receive, be specific!
• Original Works should be nominated under the fandom "Original Works".
• Marvel Cinematic Universe nominations may be nominated under the appropriate movie subfranchise (Thor, GotG, etc) or in Marvel Cinematic Universe. If nominating in a subfranchise (for example, Thor (Movies)), all characters in the nom should have appeared in a movie from that subfranchise. Agents of SHIELD, Agent Carter, and the Marvel Netflix universe of shows are also all separate fandoms. The Marvel Netflix shows should be nommed together under The Defenders (Marvel TV).
• Marvel comics: Please nominate by universe, eg Marvel 616, Marvel Adventures. Nominations to "Marvel (Comics)" will not be accepted.
• Star Wars nominations may be nominated under the appropriate movie, trilogy, TV show, etc (eg, Rogue One, Sequel Trilogy). “Crossover” noms between different parts of the Star Wars universe may be nominated under “Star Wars - All Media Types.”
• Naruto, Boruto, and Dreaming of Sunshine should be nominated separately. Please nominate Dreaming of Sunshine as "Dreaming of Sunshine - Silver Queen (Fanfic DFE)". Relationship nominations that involve one or more DoS character and one or more Naruto/Boruto character should be nominated under the fandom "Crossover".
• Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and Angel: The Series will both be nommed together under “Buffyverse (TV).”
• Star Trek is divided by show and the Alternate Original Series is alone. Movie characters from the Original Series or Next Gen movies may be nominated under the respective shows.
• DC Comics: Main-continuity DC comics, including pre-Flashpoint and New 52, will be under "DCU (Comics)". Other DC universes such as Bombshells will be separate by universe.
• Arrowverse: Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Constantine, Batwoman, Black Lightning, and Legends of Tomorrow tv shows will be nominated together as "DC's Arrowverse." In regard to the Crisis on Infinite Earths Event, characters from other DC properties who appear in the event are also allowed. For example, you may nominate the Ezra Miller version of Barry Allen as DCEU!Barry Allen (DC's Arrowverse) or Starfire from Titans as Titans!Starfire (DC's Arrowverse).
• Dragon Age: Please nominate under "Dragon Age (Video Games)".
• Stargate: Please nominate under "Stargate - All Media Types"

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Signups:

• You can request 1-10 fandoms with 1-20 characters/relationships, 2-40 freeform tags (20 under Additional Tags, 20 under Optional Tags), and a choice of fiction, art, vid, or podfic.
• You can offer 4-10 fandoms with 1-20 characters/relationships, 2-40 freeform tags (20 under Additional Tags, 20 under Optional Tags), and a choice of fiction, art, vid, or podfic.
• Optional Tags: An additional 20 freeform tags can be put here if you so desire. This field pulls from all tags on AO3, not just the tagset for this exchange, so please be sure that you copy/paste tags exactly as they appear in the tagset if you use this field. Do not select tags that are not in the tagset. If you do, they will be deleted.
• You may request a fandom more than once.
• If you are requesting less than 3 fandoms and are out as a pinch hit after the deadline, I will email you asking if you would like to add request(s) in additional fandoms. If you are unable or unwilling to add additional fandoms, your pinch hit will stay up, but we won't hold up reveals for you. We will hold reveals until everyone who requests 3+ fandoms has a gift.
• Mediums are fic, art, vids, and podfic. If you request vids, be sure to request freeforms that a vidder will be able to find canon footage for. If you request podfic, it might be helpful in your optional details to link to fic available to be podficced that satisfies your request.
• Please include anything you absolutely don't want to receive (Do Not Wants) in the Optional Details field in your AO3 signup. In the event that a DNW is included in your gift, only reasonable DNWs noted in your signup will be enforced.
• Optional details may be included in your signup in order to give your gifter further details on your likes and dislikes. This is optional. Dear Creator letters may be linked to in your signup in order to give your gifter further details on your likes and dislikes. These are optional.
• If you are unmatchable as a creator (i.e. no one is requesting anything you are willing to create), the mods will contact you when signups close and ask you to add more offers. If you do not reply within 24 hours, your signup will be deleted.
• If you are unmatchable as a recipient (i.e. no one is offering anything you are requesting), your requests will be posted to the Dreamwidth community for claiming as a pinch hit.

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Assignments

• You are only guaranteed to match on one character/relationship and one medium (fic, art, vid, or podfic), and one freeform.
• You must create a fanwork that matches your recipient's requested medium (fic, art, vid, or podfic), one of their requested solo characters or relationships, and one of their freeform tags. You are expected to respect your recipient's Do Not Wants as stated in their signup on AO3.
  • Fic should be at least 1500 words long. It should also stand alone and not be a continuation of a pre-existing work.
  • Art should be a finished piece of drawn art - this may be done by traditional or digital means, but should be original art, inked and/or colored. Art must be an original work created entirely by you. Graphics and manipulations cannot fulfill an art request.
  • Vids should be at least 1 minute long.
  • Podfic should be either: A) a complete recording of an existing fanfiction that's either 1500+ words or 10+ minutes in length or B) a complete recording of a new fanfiction that's at least 750 words. Do not podfic WIPs or otherwise incomplete fanfiction.
• Assignments are secret: do not talk in public about who you're creating for until author reveals (you can of course discuss it with, for example, a beta reader). Do not repost your work elsewhere (e.g. on tumblr) before reveals. Do not link to your tumblr or other personal account in the notes to your work. If you're fulfilling a podfic or vid request, your AO3 post will remain anonymous with the rest of the collection until reveals but you can include your usual credits with the work and host the media wherever usually works for you.
• If you cannot finish your work, find your assignment under "Assignments" on your AO3 dashboard and click on "default". If you want to default, it's better to do it sooner rather than later, because it gives us longer to find a pinch hitter for your assignment. If you default and your creator defaults as well, you will not be assigned a pinch hitter.

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FAQ

What if I want to request a canon couple doing things that aren’t romantic or sexual (like casefic). Can I nominate them using the / relationship tag?

In short, no, / relationship tags won't be allowed even if they're canon and/or even if you want fic with no sexual content about the ship that focuses on plot/mystery/action/other non-romantic genres or tropes.

To explain this a little more:

1. We don't want to privilege canon relationships over non-canon relationships, nor would we want to have to investigate and decide if the relationships are canon.
2. We do understand the urge to want characters you ship to go on adventures that don't focus on their romance! Wanting that makes a lot of sense. However, "gen" doesn't mean just "for general audiences" — gen as a genre is notoriously hard to pin down, but you could definitely have gen fic that's M- or E-rated for violence. The focus of this gen exchange is to explore characters and their relationships without a sexual or romantic focus, and ultimately that means producing works where either A) no particular relationship is focused on over any other relationship or B) the relationship(s) in focus are neither sexual nor romantic. Therefore, this exchange won't be appropriate for fics focused on / ships.

If you like your ship(s) as both / and &, then we certainly don't see anything wrong with nominating them as & pairings and won't be making any rules about letting your creator know that you also ship those characters, as that can definitely be useful information! However, when nominating and requesting you should remember that no one will be writing shipfic for this exchange and it's likely that you'll be matched to someone who will write the characters you're requesting as just friends (or enemies, or strangers) without any hints to anything more, even if the characters are canonically in a relationship. If that's a dealbreaker for you, they're probably not the right relationship for you to request in this exchange.