Signups Open!

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Signups are open! Go to the collection here (link) to sign up!
Signups will be open until August 29th at 11:59pm EDT
You must be 18+ to sign up.

Other links:

• Tagset
• Mediums/Lengths post, which also contains a link to the mediums spreadsheet
• Updating spreadsheet of requests
• HTML table of the requests spreadsheet (will update 5 minutes after the google sheet)
• Original Works tags in a google sheet (made for us by ba_lailah)
• HTML table of the OW spreadsheet (will update 5 minutes after the google sheet)

You are signing up to receive 10k total of fic. How this is split depends on your creator! You might get one 10k fic, or you might get ten 1k fics! You can opt into other mediums and lower minimum lengths, but will not be guaranteed to receive them.

You are signing up to write 10k total for your assigned recipient. You can write this as one fic, or you can split this up however you want as long as each fic is a minimum of 1k in length! If your recipient has opted into other mediums or lower lengths, you may also complete your assignment using those! We're offering to help creators of other mediums hand match to their medium (see offers section below).

Works you create do not have to be for the same request unless you want to! You may make separate unconnected works for any of your recipient's requests, as long as they add up to 10k+ or equivalent total. (Please post unconnected works as individual works, not as chapters to the same work).
 

Requests

Requests are for saying what you would like to recieve. They are visible to everyone. You can only select tags from the tagset.

Fandoms

• You can request 3-10 fandoms; each request can only have one fandom.
• You may request a fandom more than once, as long as you have three or more different fandoms total.
• We've tried to let everyone split their fandoms however works best, but you need to request at least three distinct fandoms.
• We will be spot-checking during sign ups and may contact you if we notice you've requested only one or two tagset 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.

Relationships

• You may select 1-20 relationships/characters per request.
• Your creator will be matched to you based on one fandom and one relationship/character; you should therefore request as if you will only get ONE of your requested relationships/characters
• Ambiguous groups are any group where the characters aren't explicitly listed, for example "The Losers Club" or "Death Eaters". If you're requesting a tag with an ambiguous group, you are guaranteed that one member of that group will be in your gift.
• Original works, original character, and Reader tags which do not mention gender are open to the creator's interpretation.
• "Any" tags and "Creator's Choice of…" tags must bake in any character types you wish to exclude; otherwise it really is the creator's choice! You cannot request "Solo: Any Jedi" and then DNW Yoda; you cannot request "Creator's Choice of Lannister(s)/Any Character" and then DNW incest. underage, or poly.
• If a tag you otherwise like is missing some detail that would make or break your enjoyment of your gift, please contact us ASAP!

Opt-Ins (the "Additional Tags" field)

• You can select 0-20 medium/length opt-ins per request.
• If you would like mediums besides fic or lengths shorter than 1k, you must opt in to them using the provided "Medium Opt-In" tags. If you do not, your creator will not be able to make you anything besides 1k-10k fic(s). This is so that your gifts can be checked against your sign up easily.
• 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!
• Please also remember that you are not matching on opt-in tags; they are optional to your creator. Be prepared to receive gift(s) that are just fic.

Letter

• 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 as long as you have something in your AO3 signup saying what you like.
• If you're using Tumblr we would like to remind you not to change your URL before the end of the exchange.
• If you're using Google Docs we would like to let you know that your letter will be much more accessible to your fellow participants if you use the Publish to the Web function.

Optional Details

• 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.
• You may not ask your creator not to make something within the default range of the exchange (for example, you cannot try to say that all fics for you must be over 5k, since 1k per fic is the exchange minimum).

Offers

• Offers are for saying what you would like to make. They aren't visible to anyone but the mods. You can only select tags from the tagset.
• You can offer 4-10 fandoms, each with 1-20 relationships/characters.
• 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 — we want everyone to be able to participate!)
• When you receive your assignment it will list all of your recipient's requests, but you are only required to create for one of them. If you would like to create for a request you didn't match on or if you would like to create for several of your recipient's requests, that's fine!

Other

• 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 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.
• 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.
• You may sign up with a maximum of one sock. (Two accounts per person).

Comments

[southerncontinentskies]

Question on the multiple fics issue, and I apologize if this is already spelled out elsewhere:

If we write, say, 10 1k fics for our recipient, do those fics all have to be related in some way? Or responsive to the same pairing/request? I.e., do our multiple fics have to be some sort of series/set/continuity, or could we write 1 "Solo: Harry Potter" fic, 1 Finn/Poe fic, 1 Steve/Bucky fic, etc., so long as the total we write for the recip is >10k?

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

They don't have to be related! Your example of "write 1 "Solo: Harry Potter" fic, 1 Finn/Poe fic, 1 Steve/Bucky fic, etc., so long as the total we write for the recip is >10k" is correct :) I'll tweak some of the wording to make that more clear.

Length Opt-In Question

[(Anonymous)]

Ah! I'm sorry if this has been asked, I am a bit confused when opting in for length's. So, say, my recipient puts in "500" for their wordcount opt-in, do I write:

1. Only ONE fic then? Like one 500 word fic and that's it?

2. 10x 500 Word fic's to equal up to 10,000?

4. Just one 500 word fic and one other fic (or more) that equals up to the remaining 9,500?

Thank you! :D

Re: Length Opt-In Question

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

The Length Opt-Ins just lower the minimum per work! You'll still need to write 10k total and that can still be split however you want as long as it's either over 1k or matches a Length Opt-In.

In all cases you can write as many of the opt-ins as you want. So for your example with 500, you could write twenty 500 word fics, or one 10k fic, or something in between as long as it adds up to 10k and each work is either over the per work minimum or follows an Opt-In for that request. Previous works will not affect whether or not a new work is accepted.

The big difference is if the tag says "500 minimum words per fic" or "500 words exactly"

500 minimum words per fic: This just lowers the minimum length fic that's eligible to count towards your 10k. When I check for length, instead of going "Is this fic at least 1k words?" I'll go "Is this fic at least 500 words?"

500 words exactly: This gives a specific exception to the 1k minimum. When I check for length, I'll go "Is this fic at least 1k words OR 500 words exactly?" If it's either of those then I'll count it towards your 10k. If it's 501-999 words then it won't count towards your 10k (unless they had another Opt-In that it was hitting).

Re: Length Opt-In Question

[(Anonymous)]

Ooo! Ok! Got it!! Ty so much!

Re: Length Opt-In Question

[(Anonymous)]

(And I just realized I put 10x instead of 20x 🤦‍♀️. I can’t math.)

One more question! I know with drabbles you’d want to put 100 of them in 100 chapter or whatever story (I saw that post, haha) because separating them would be a lot of work, but am I allowed to combine different stories into one submission as long as it fits the 10K and length opt-in if requested as long as each chapter is specified instead of breaking them up into different story submissions?

Thanks!

Re: Length Opt-In Question

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

I would be easier on my end if works for separate pairings/fandoms were posted as separate submissions, but I'm not requiring you to break them up if you don't want to :) Just definitely make sure they're in individual chapters so that it's easy to check the lengths.

Re: Length Opt-In Question

[(Anonymous)]

Gotcha! Ty!!

[aearis]

If we opt in to something like maps or technical drawings, do we also need to request the worldbuilding tag? Or if we don't, will our creator have to somehow tie them into our requested relationships (through captions/annotations/other supplementary text)?

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Your creator will have to tie them in to your requested ships/characters. What you suggested here (and marginalia) is exactly how I've been suggesting people deal with that for some of the mediums that aren't easy to make shippy :)

If you do want to request the worldbuilding tag you can also do that. If any fandoms don't have that tag already just ask and I can add it.

[aearis]

Another question! Would "DNW 1st person POV except for [MEDIUM OPT-IN]" be reasonable? For example, in most cases I don't want a 1st person POV fic, but I'd be okay with it if it was a mission report.

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Yes, that would be reasonable!

[aearis]

Great, thanks for both your replies!

[aunt_zelda]

Hi, how should we contact you about not wanting to be matched with someone in particular? I'd rather not post that publicly if possible.

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Email would probably be best for that (ficinaboxmod@gmail.com).

I'll need their AO3 name(s), your AO3 name, and how you'd like me to deal with it if you're their only possible recip or they try to pick up your PH (if you aren't sure there's a few different ways and we can talk through it).

[aunt_zelda]

Ok, will email you. Thanks!

[liryian]

Question: for mediums that could be conceived of as covering multiple forms of media but are not explicitly "any nominated X" can we clarify in a letter/signup that we mean that more broadly?
e.g., "Script" seems like a reasonable parent tag for screenplays and all the theater varieties; more dubiously, there's "Epistolary" which could be (and I assume would be, unless otherwise specified) treated as the traditional form, which is correspondence, but it could also be the broader form which can include other in-universe documents as well.
Would allowing that via sign-up be acceptable?

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Yes, you can! I don't see any reason why that would be a problem with tags like those which are already very broad. If you want a broad tag like that for something that doesn't have it please let me know and I can add that, but for existing broad tags that sort of explicit opt-in to a wide interpretation is fine. I suspect that there are a lot of edge cases I haven't even thought of and making things clear for your creator is always a good thing.

If I think something might be a little out of scope for a tag, my first stop will be the recipient's details/letter to see if there's a good reason why so having that in your signup will make that easy.

where to contact?

[(Anonymous)]

I have someone I don't wish to be matched with, where do I need to contact you? Via this page?

Re: where to contact?

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Please email us at ficinaboxmod@gmail.com !