ficinabox | Fic In A Box Schedule and Rules! (Reply)

Schedule:

August 9-18: Nominations
August 19-20: Nominations Cleanup
August 20 - 29: Signups
September 1: Assignments Out By This Date
October 18: Assignments Due
October 25: First Rolling PH Deadline
November 1: Last Day To Submit Makeup Assignments
November 6: Last Rolling PH Deadline
November 8: Work Reveals (Delayed to November 12)
November 15: Creator Reveals (Delayed to November 19 at 11:59pm EST)

All deadlines are at 11:59 PM EDT

Information

Fic In A Box is a 10k challenge where you have the option to split your 10k into as many works as you want! The minimum per work is 1k by default, but lower wordcount works will count if your recipient has opted into receiving them.

While this is primarily a fic focused exchange, there will be opt-ins for pretty much any medium, as long as we can agree on a clear and easily checked equivalent to 1k of written fic!

Collaboration is also allowed! Please see the Collaboration Post here (link) to see how it is allowed and what information you are required to give to the mods so that everything can be properly counted!

If you cannot complete 10k but have created one or more complete works, you can default on just the remaining wordcount. You will then be guaranteed (via pinch hit if necessary) a gift equivalent to the amount submitted (rounded down to the nearest 1k). There are also options to "earn back" guaranteed minimum amount by taking PHs or completing your original assignment.

Contact:

If you have any questions or need to contact us for other reasons, please do so by posting on the DW or emailing us at ficinaboxmod@gmail.com

Official Links:

Post Links:

Nominations

The tagset for nominations is here (link). An AO3 account is required.
Each participant may nominate up to 10 fandoms with up to 20 relationships in each fandom.
Fandoms:
- 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.
- Crossovers: Should be nominated under Crossover Fandom. If your fandom is split into subfandoms and you would like a fandom specific crossover fandom, please nominate it as "[Fandom] Crossover Fandom"
- Megafandoms, franchises, etc: Please check the here (link) to see how certain fandoms should be split or combined!
- As a general rule, if your fandom already has subfandoms nominated, please contact us before nominating a AMT type fandom.
Relationships:
- "/", "&", and "Solo:" relationship types are allowed.
- Please disambiguate your nominations. Your nominations should look like one of the following:
  - Character A/Character B (Fandom)
  - Character A & Character B (Fandom)
  - Solo: Character A (Fandom)
  - Solo: Ambiguous Group (Fandom)
  - Solo: Worldbuilding (Fandom)
  - Character A (Fandom A) / Character B (Fandom B)
  - Character A (Fandom A) & Character B (Fandom B)
  - Character A (Fandom A) in Fandom B
- For crossovers, please disambiguate on the characters and nominate them within Crossover Fandom. For example: "Varric Tethras (Dragon Age)/Nick Valentine (Fallout 4)"
- Crossovers where a character from fandom A visit canon B should be nominated like this: "Solo: Shang Qinghua (SVSSS) in Lord of the Rings" 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: Shang Qinghua (SVSSS) in Lord of the Rings (Movies)."
- Ships in Original Works should be nominated as Character Type/Character Type, with any additional details you see as essential for the ship included. If the gender of the character is important to you, make certain to include that in the tag.
- If you request an ambiguous group (eg: The [fandom] ensemble) we will assume that any member(s) of that group fulfill that request.
Opt-ins
- This is for medium or length
- You can specify any medium you want, but it must be clear to your creator and easily enforceable for the mods.
- We will only be accepting mediums after they have an equivalent to 1k fanfiction. If you're confident with us making that call or if your medium is just a more specific version of a medium which is already on the list, you can nominate and wait (we'll post on the clarifications post if we need your input). Otherwise, please post on the Mediums post (link).
- Length can be any length under 1k words and above 69 words.
- Please nominate these using "Medium Opt-In:" or "Length Opt-In:" like the following examples:
  - Medium Opt-In: Macaroni art
  - Length Opt-In: 666 minimum

Signups

Signups will be here (link). An AO3 account is required.
You must be 18+ to sign up.
You can request 3-10 fandoms, each with 1-20 relationships/characters, and 0-20 medium/length opt-ins.
You can offer 4-10 fandoms, each with 1-20 relationships/characters.
You may request a fandom more than once, as long as you have three or more different fandoms total.
You must do your medium/length opt-ins using the provided tags for them to count towards your assigned minimum. Please remember that anything you opt into has the potential to be your entire gift! While it is unlikely you will receive 100 Drabbles if you choose "Length Opt-In: Drabbles", it is technically possible!
If you are someone who works in another medium and you'd like to guarantee you match on that medium, please contact the mods before signups close letting us know what medium and who you're matchable to that is requesting that. (Making the mediums both matchable and customizable turned out to not be reasonable, but we're happy to use some hand adjustment to make it technically matchable)
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. (Please bear in mind that DNWs cannot be used to box your creator into producing a very specific work.)
You must include something in your optional details to indicate what you like or have an unlocked letter before signups close. This can be short (For example: "I really like h/c and fluff!") or long, but it needs to be present. If you're linking to a letter which already has publicly visible information to this effect, that is also acceptable.
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 there is someone you do not want to be matched to as a recipient and/or creator, please contact us. We'll need their AO3 name(s) and how you would like us to handle it if you're their only possible assignment or they try to pick up your pinch hit.
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.
You may sign up with a maximum of one sock. (Two accounts per person).
While we're trying to let everyone split their fandoms however works best for their fandom, you need to have requests of at least three distinct fandoms. We reserve the right to ask you to add requests if you need to go out for pinch hit and are only requesting subfandoms of one fandom.

Assignments

Assignments are only guaranteed to match on one fandom and one ship.
Minimum requirements are 10k total works of fanfiction, which may be split into multiple works with a minimum of 1000 per work.
Your 10k may be split between multiple requests as long as each work matches a fandom and ship combination that your recipient requested.
If your recipient has opted into other mediums or a minimum lower than 1000, those are also eligible with a requirement of 10k equivalent submitted to complete your assignment. Please see this post for equivalents (link)
If your recipient has opted into other mediums or a minimum lower than 1000, those are also eligible with a requirement of 10k equivalent submitted to complete your assignment. Please see this post for equivalents (link)
Your assignment must focus on one of your recipient's requested characters or ships.
Your assignment must avoid your recipient's DNWs.
If your assignment does not match the fandoms/ships you offered, or if there are any other issues, contact the mod as soon as possible.

Posting

For guides on how to post your assignment or treats in their various forms, please see this post (link)
If there is anything you think may be easy to miss or that you think may make it easier to check your work, please add a note about it to the author's note at the top of your work. For example, if you have art embedded within a fic, let us know how many images. If you've posted a podfic, let us know how long the original fic was.
If you are posting parts of your assignment from different accounts, you must let the mods know what your alts names are for those works to be correctly counted towards your minimum.
Works containing excessive spelling or grammar errors (enough to hinder comprehension) will not be accepted.
As works should remain anonymous during the collection's anonymous period; do not post your work elsewhere before creator reveals. Discreet artist signatures are allowed, but no watermarks. For podfic, you may upload a version without your username, but it is not required.
Saved drafts do not fulfill assignments. Please ensure that you post your gift!
There will be a long editing period in this exchange during rolling pinch hits, but all assignments posted by October 18th should at least be complete and readable first drafts that could stand as assignments if revealed.

Defaulting

Part A: Defaulting

If you cannot finish your gift, please default
There is no penalty for defaulting
If you have not finished any part of your assignment, default by navigating to your AO3 dashboard, clicking 'Assignments', locating your Fic In A Box Exchange assignment and clicking 'Default'.
If you have completed part of your assignment, please contact the mods! You may also default the normal way, but are not required to.
If you have completed more than 1k of your assignment or equivalent, you will still be guaranteed a gift in this exchange. The amount you are guaranteed is equal to the total you have submitted, rounded down to the nearest 1k.
This means if you submit a 3.5k fic and a 1.6k fic for a total of 5.1k before defaulting, you will still be guaranteed at least 5k, which will go out according to the rules in the Pinch Hits section.
We will attempt to send pinch hits out in groups in an effort to avoid making any defaults obvious (without limiting time for writing too much either).
If your full gift is not posted by October 18th, the mods will default you.

Part B: Earning back your minimum after defaulting

You may earn back up to the amount that you defaulted, for a maximum owed amount of 10k. The amount you earn back will be the total sum of what you have submitted to your assignment both before and after defaulting, rounded down to the nearest 1k.
There are two ways to earn back the minimum wordcount you are guaranteed to receive in this exchange!
Earn your minimum back via completing pinch hits
- Any pinch hits you pick up will immediately add however much you picked up to your minimum. (So if you defaulted after writing 5k, then pick up 1k, your new minimum is 6k)
- After October 25th, you may only pick up one PH chunk at a time.
Earn your minimum back via completing your original assignment
- If you need to default early on and then things change and you are able to complete your assignment, you may do so without penalty.
- The last day to post your original assignment to earn back minimum is November 1st, 11:59pm EST.
- If your recipient goes out for pinch hit again after you have submitted post-default works for them, those works will be counted when calculating the amount they still need for pinch hit.

Pinch Hits

Pinch hits will be posted to the Dreamwidth community.
Pinch hits will not always be for 10k. If a pinch hit's original creator has partially submitted their assignment, the pinch hit will go out for 10k minus those submissions, rounded up to the nearest 1k. For example, if the original creator gave them 3.5k, the pinch hit will go out for 7k.
Pinch hits can be claimed in increments of 1k. For example, if a pinch hit is out and needs 6k, you can offer to pick up 6k, or you can offer to pick up any amount of that in 1k increments (1k, 2k, ect).
Please reply to the pinch hit post to claim, including your AO3 username. If you are not posting from a signed in account you will also need to include your email. If you are assigned the pinch hit, the mods will contact you.
Since each recipient only comes with one AO3 assignment only one person will be assigned through AO3. Everyone who doesn't get an AO3 assignment will still be getting officially assigned in our spreadsheet. We will let you know whether or not you will be getting assigned to the pinch hit on AO3 when we contact you.
You can claim a pinch hit even if you aren't signed up for the exchange, but you will need an AO3 account.
If you submit more than the amount you claimed and that recipient is still out for pinch hit when you submit (or if they later need to go out again), the amount you submitted rounded down will be what is used to calculate how much they still need.
If you have treated your recipient prior to picking up their pinch hit, any treats you have given them that meet the assignment requirements will be automatically counted towards your assignment! This is a side effect of how we're automating the tracking for this exchange. If you have given your recipient a treat that you do not want to count towards your assignment, please let us know when you post to the DW to claim the pinch hit.

Editing Period and Rolling Pinch Hits

From October 18th to November 6th, we will be in an editing period. Due to the modular nature of everything in this exchange, we expect to get new PHs during this time period!
If by some miracle every single assignment is complete and submitted on October 18th, we still will not be revealing until November 8th.
Extensions will be possible during this period. Please contact the mods before October 18th if you need one!
During this period we will be trying to avoid giving away information about a recipient while also sending pinch hits out as fast as possible. Early in the editing period this may mean delaying shorter pinch hits to post in groups.

When your assignments will be checked

Due to the nature of this exchange, we are going to be checking the amounts for the assignments several times! These checks are going to be very basic "how long is this, what medium is it, did that recip opt in to that medium, does it hit one fandom and pairing" type checks.
- All works, both assignments and treats, will be checked when initially submitted. This is why the collection is moderated! It will be recorded in our spreadsheet with all relevant information and a link to make it easy to check the work after this. We won't be checking for completion at this point.
- All assignments will be checked after October 18th. All checks after this point will also check for completion.
- If a recipient goes out to PH, all assignments gifted to them will be checked at that time. Only complete works that fulfill the basic request (fandom, pairing, fanfiction or other opted-into medium) will be counted.
- If someone defaults, all assignments they submitted will be checked at that time. Only complete works that fulfill the basic request (fandom, pairing, fanfiction or other opted-into medium) will be counted.
- If someone has defaulted, everything submitted to their original recipient will be checked after November 1st in case they have earned back minimum.
- Every assignment in the collection will be checked in the days leading up to reveals. These will be very quick checks (basically just to make sure nothing was deleted).
- If you make major changes to a fic and aren't sure we'll check them, or want us to know about them ahead of one of the above points in time, please let us know! Similarly, if you need to delete something please tell us!
We unfortunately won't be able to check every work for DNWs. We may spotcheck if something immediately looks off, but due to the amount of checking needed for this exchange please do not assume we will catch everything. If you shake a work and it's tagged with a DNW or in such a way you're worried about a DNW, please let us know and we will check it for you!