Gen Freeform Exchange Rules! (2020 round)

[genfreeformmod]

Schedule

Feb 10-20 - Nominations
Feb 21-22 - Nomination Cleanup
Feb 23-Mar 5 - Signups
Mar 9 - Assignments sent by this date
April 18 - Assignments Due
April 25 - Work Reveals
May 2 - 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
  
• Spreadsheet of requests

Noms:

• The tagset for nominations is here. An AO3 account is required.
  
  
• All fandoms are allowed, including RPF, 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.
  
  
• Both solo characters and & combos allowed. All solo and combo noms should have the fandom at the end of the nom. Solo character noms should be formatted “Solo: Steve Rogers (MCU).” Combos should be formatted “Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes (MCU).” There’s no restrictions on the number of characters in a combo nomination, except as restricted by AO3’s nomination length limit.
  
  
• Combos can include one or more generic or OC characters or character types, like "Kylo Ren & Ewok (SW)." They can also include any of a group of characters, for example "Kylo Ren & Any Canon Force Ghost (SW)." 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 force ghost 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) — you want gen focused on TWO OR MORE members of the Order of the Phoenix (or on the entire group) 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.
  
  
• No / allowed, even in combo. For example, “Sam & Steve/Bucky (MCU)” is not allowed
  
  
• Freeforms:
  
  • 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)”. 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 there's more than one version of the canon and you care about which version you receive, specify that version in parentheses, for example "Solo: Loki (MCU) in Narnia (BBC)."
  
  
• Marvel Cinematic Universe nominations may be nominated under the appropriate movie subfranchise (Thor, GotG, etc) or in Avengers. 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 may be nominated by title or under the name of the appropriate Marvel universe (Marvel 616, Marvel Ultimates, etc). Nominations for “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)". 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: All DC Comics nominations can go under that fandom, but please disambiguate which version of the character you want in parenthesis after each character.
  
  
• DC's Arrowverse: Please nominate characters from Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman, and Black Lightning (plus the webseries tie-ins) under "DC's Arrowverse".
  
  
• Dragon Age: Please nominate under "Dragon Age (Video Games)".
  
  
• Stargate: Please nominate under "Stargate - All Media Types"

Signups:

• You can request 3-10 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. To use
  
  
• 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, as long as you have three different fandoms total.
  
  
• Media 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.

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 and complete and should respect the recipient’s DNWs. 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.
  
  
• Vid should be at least 1 minute long.
  
  
• Podfic should be a complete recording of 1500 words or 10 minutes in length. The work podficced can be a previously existing fic that matches the recipient's request and respects their DNWs or a completely new work created for the exchange.
  
  
• Assignments are secret: do not talk in public about who you're writing/drawing 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 are fulfilling a podfic request, your AO3 post will remain anonymous with the rest of the collection until reveals. Since voices are inherently identifiable, you do not need to upload a version of your podfic without an intro.
  
  
• 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.

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.

Comments

[genfreeformmod]

Hi Anna!

You can offer or request all four mediums on each request or offer if you want! Or you can just offer/request one medium. What's most important is that you offer enough to pass the minimums for offers and requests (eg you must request at least three separate fandoms) and that you're sure you're okay with any combination of fandom, relationship/character, medium, and freeform inside each request.

In this exchange (it varies from exchange to exchange) it's possible to tick the "any" box on offers to offer all freeforms but it's not possible to do so on requests. Participants who are requesting podfic are encouraged to be mindful about their tag selection and ideally suggest existing fic(s) that would fulfill the request, although podficcers do have the option of writing new fics. Podficcers may want to be careful about their offers and only offer fandom+relationship+freeform combinations that they're certain they can find a fic for -- which may mean offering more broad genre tags like "Hurt/Comfort" over the more specific ones.

Also, since you've never done an exchange with a tagset before I assume that that means you've never done a freeform exchange before! Welcome to your first one! In freeform exchanges, participants usually have to put in a little effort to make sure that they're matchable because the large number of freeforms means it's somewhat unlikely that just offering one's favorite relationship and a handful of random tags will be effective, and not everyone is willing to roll the dice on getting any freeform as an assignment. This comes in the form of browsing the requests summary to see what people in your fandom(s) (or desired medium!) are requesting and then (assuming you think you can create those things) making sure to offer tags to make yourself matchable to them. The extreme end of this practice is called "gaming", where a participant tries to make themselves matchable to a single specific request, but most people try to be matchable to a bunch of requests and then roll the dice to see which one they get. It's definitely more work, but it does at least allow a degree of control over things — and it means podficcers can see who's requesting podfics and try to match to podfic requests that are asking for ship+freeform combinations that they know can be fulfilled.

Practically speaking, the anonymous period for podficcers only runs from assignments to work reveals, because voices are inherently identifiable and we're not going to ask you to upload a version of the podfic with no intro for yourself and then have to reupload a version later -- I mean you can if you want, but it's not necessary! Also when it comes to finding a fic to podfic obviously you're allowed to deanon yourself to ask for permission to podfic if necessary. If you need to do this communication in public (eg, the only way to contact the author is in the AO3 comments of the fic in question) then please feel free to email the mod email for help! I'd be happy to pop into someone's comments to ask permission for you in order to preserve as much of the surprise as we can.

...this got very long, sorry. Hopefully it was helpful!

[annapods]

Thanks for the in depth answers!!
I'll start planning then > >

[sophinisba]

Thanks for explaining this and having thought it all out. I really appreciate it when challenge mods make the effort to include podfic. :)