ficinabox | Fic In A Box Rules & Info 2025 (Reply)

Schedule:

July 24-August 2: Nominations Pre-Gaming (participants can load tags from last year’s tagset into this tagset)
August 3-12: Nominations
August 13-16: Nominations Cleanup
August 17-August 31: Signups (Countdown)
August 20: Swap requests open
September 6: Assignments Out By This Date
September 7: Swap requests close
October 19: Assignments Due (Countdown)
November 9: Last Day To Submit Makeup Assignments
November 15: Work Reveals
November 29: Creator Reveals

All deadlines are at 10:00 PM EDT except for those in November, which will happen at 10:00 PM EST

Information

A gift exchange is an event where participants create fanworks to gift to each other. Fic In A Box is a fanwork exchange with a large minimum gifting requirement and several unique features:

All participants in Fic In A Box are requesting 10,000 words of fanfiction by default, but can opt in to other mediums (such as art, podfic, knitting patterns, and so on). Participants who work in non-writing mediums are very welcome and will get specially matched (as long as they give the mods a heads-up) so they'll have an assignment they can complete.
Participants have the option to split the 10k words (or equivalent) that they owe between several separate works (say, one fic of 3k and another of 7k) to reach 10k total.
The minimum word count per work is 1k by default, but lower wordcount works will count if your recipient has opted into receiving them.
Initial assignments are 10k for one person, but at the start of the exchange we run swaps which will give you the chance to spread that 10k out over multiple assignments for multiple recipients!

For mediums other than the written word, pretty much any medium will be accepted, as long as we can agree on a clear and easily checked equivalent to 1k of written fic. Participants who work in non-writing mediums get specially matched with participants who have opted in to receiving works of that kind so they'll have an assignment they can complete.

If you cannot complete the full 10k (or other medium equivalent) but have posted one or more smaller, 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 pinch hits or completing your original assignment.

Are you new? Or confused? Fic In A Box is a complex exchange even for exchange veterans, so we thought that if we were going to invite a bunch of new people to the exchange we should provide a space where they can ask lots of questions throughout the process. This server is open to everyone (we won't kick you out if you've been doing FIAB for years already) but its purpose is to help people participate in the exchange, so it will probably be most useful/enjoyable if you're kinda confused about the exchange. Like FIAB itself, the server is an 18+ Choose Not To Warn space.

Join the FIAB Newbie Discord! (link)

Non-Dreamwidth Links:

Dreamwidth Post Links:

Participant Expectations

An AO3 account is required to participate in this exchange, and you must be 18+ to sign up. You may sign up with a maximum of two AO3 accounts per person. AO3 accounts are free. If you don't have one, contact the mods for an invitation code that lets you bypass the waiting queue for new accounts.

Works produced for FIAB should be your own work, never before posted anywhere (even in part), and complete. Works may not be wholly or partially created by generative text or art programs (AI), including but not limited to chatGPT, Claude, or OpenArt.ai. There are more work requirements outlined in the "Assignments" section of this post.

Because assignments can be split between multiple works, all accounts that sign up must set themselves on AO3 as open to receiving gifts. You can confirm this on AO3 by going to Preferences > Collections, Challenges and Gifts, then making sure "Allow anyone to gift me works" is checked.

Official communication:

Our email: Our primary contact is ficinaboxmod@gmail.com and this is where you should contact us for anything that needs to be discussed privately.
Your email: We will contact you via the email connected to your AO3 account.

Please check that you know which email account this is and then check that email frequently.
In some cases, not replying to an email will unfortunately result in you being removed from the event.
Consider whitelisting our email.
We encourage participants not to use an email with their full name, place of work/schooling, or other identifying information included.

This Dreamwidth comm: We will post announcements and updates to this Dreamwidth community. You can use the comments sections on various posts to communicate with us about anything that doesn’t need to stay secret/private, and you do not need a Dreamwidth account to do so. If you both have an account and prefer Dreamwidth over email, you can use the screened mod contact post (link) for anything private/secret.
Discord: Do not DM the mods on Discord; it's too easy for us to accidentally ignore you. You can use #event-questions to ask general event questions, but you may be redirected to email or this comm for some answers.
tumblr: You can use the ask feature to ask general event questions, but you may be redirected to email or this comm for some answers.
If you need to contact the recipient(s) you're creating for during the exchange, do not attempt to contact them directly. You must email the mods; we will pass along your question(s). Do this even if your recip has some other form of anonymous contact, as it’s important for us to have a record of things like extra DNW exceptions or opting in to other mediums than written fic.

Participant conduct:

When you are interacting with other participants and/or the mods on Dreamwidth, via email, on Discord, in AO3 comments, or anywhere else, please be respectful and kind. We're all participating in a fan event together, and we would like to foster a positive environment where possible.
The details of what you are offering to create, the details of your offer(s), and assignment(s), and information about any extra gifts you're making are secret until Creator Reveals (see schedule above for date) and shouldn’t be discussed or shared elsewhere except with a beta reader.
Works produced for Fic In A Box should be gifts prepared in good faith, to the best of the creator’s ability, in an attempt to make something the recipient will like. However, optional details are optional. Creators are not expected to follow prompts to the letter, although they are expected to avoid items listed as Do Not Wants (DNWs).
Works must be complete to be accepted into the collection. Works fulfilling an assignment must be submitted before or at their due date unless an extension has been given.
It’s considered polite to comment on your gift(s).
Fic In A Box is a Choose Not To Warn space for adults where you will likely run into discussion, prompts, and fanworks involving sensitive, dark, or potentially upsetting topics. You will likely also find people who have listed things you love as Do Not Want(s) for their gifts. Everyone likes and dislikes different things; participants are expected to curate their own online experience and avoid making value judgements over differences of opinion.
Bullying, harassment, and other asshole behavior will earn you a ban.

Nominations Pre-Gaming

Last year we accepted over 15,000 tags from more than 1,300 fandoms, which was a lot of work for us and for participants! To save us all some time, in the week before normal nominations, you can ask us to load fandoms wholesale from last year’s tagset to this year’s tagset, with a few exceptions for really chonky fandoms.

This will stop being a thing when normal nominations start, so head over to the Fandom Transfer Post (link) to get on that ASAP.

You can also use the fandom transfer post to tell us if something about your fandom’s tags needs to change or if you want related fandoms grouped differently/not grouped at all/other tagset organization minutia.

Nominations

During this portion of the exchange, participants submit tags that can be used later for Signups! Anything you want to offer or request (fandoms, relationships, etc) must be in the tagset to be used during Signups, so this is an important part of the exchange although it is technically optional.

Participants can nominate relationships, single characters, groups, worldbuilding tags, and optional opt-in mediums
There are no fandom restrictions or rarity requirements for this exchange. Original works, crossover fandom, and RPF are all allowed.
Please read the nomination guidelines before nominating (link)
We primarily conduct nominations through a google form, although the tagset is still an option for people who are confident about their tag formatting. Please check the above guidelines for a link to the form!
Two rules we would like to highlight:

Ships in Original Works should be nominated with all details you see as essential for the ship included. For example, if the gender of the character is important to you, make certain to include that in the tag. Anything not included in the tag will be considered optional details.
If you request an ambiguous group (eg: The [Fandom] Ensemble) we will assume that any member(s) of that group fulfill that request, rather than assuming that every member of the group must appear in your gift.

Signups

Signups will be here (link). Participants make offers which indicate what they are willing to create and requests which explain what kind of gift(s) they would like to receive. Offers are secret, but requests are posted publicly. You are encouraged to browse requests to see who you might like to create for!

When signups start, we will make a post explaining requests and offers in more detail in the sign ups post (link), but below is a short overview of important information & rules regarding signups.

Check your email!

Be sure to check the email associated with your AO3 account at least once per day between the end of sign ups and the date listed as "Assignments Out By This Date" on the schedule above.

We move fast during this portion of the exchange, so we can often only give you 24 hours to respond. If you get an email from us but won't have time to sit down and give us a thought out answer before the deadline listed in our email, you can reply letting us know you need another 24 hours and we will try to accommodate you.

If there is a problem with your signup, we will email you. If we don't get a response, we will probably have to delete your sign up or use our best judgment to edit your selected tags.

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.

Requests, Offers, & Requesting/Offering Non-Fic Mediums

Requests and offers will be made on AO3 at the link above, which will lead to a form on AO3 once sign ups are open.

Fandoms, mediums, and relationship-field tags (/ tags, & tags, Solo: tags, and WB: tags) will use tags from the tagset – this is why the Nominations stage of the exchange is so important!

There will be a long textbox for optional details + Do Not Wants, plus a short textbox where you can link a Dear Creator letter. (Dear Creator letters are optional.)

Request/Offer minimums

You can request 1-10 fandoms and offer 1-10 fandoms. Each offer and each request will need 1-20 relationship-field tags. Medium tags are optional on requests and not available for offers.

If you are requesting less than 3 fandoms with distinct lore, you will go out for pinch hit, but we won't hold up reveals for you. We will hold reveals until everyone who requests 3+ fandoms with distinct lore has a gift. You may contact us to add fandoms. (Recursive fandoms almost definitely do not count as having distinct lore from the fandom the recursed fic belongs to. For example, Dreaming of Sunshine - Silver Queen (a Naruto fic) doesn't have distinct lore from Naruto.)

The last day that you can add fandoms to guarantee your gift is listed on our schedule above as "Last Day To Submit Makeup Assignments".

Non-Fic Mediums

Everyone is requesting fic by default, so there's no medium tag for it. Non-fic mediums (and length opt-ins for works under 1k) are requested by selecting opt-in tags in the "Additional tags" field. Offering non-fic medium tags is done via email; full instructions on how to do this will be in the Sign Ups post that goes up after Nominations.

Things to keep in mind when requesting non-fic mediums:

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!
Optional details can also opt you into mediums/lengths.

If your usual likes list says that you like epistolary and drabbles, you could get an epistolary work or a work of exactly 100 words even if you don't select those tags.

You can't DNW parts of tags you've requested.

If you DNW 1st person narrative fic but are requesting a medium like "Medium Opt-In: Writing - In-Universe Epistolary" then you need to add in something like "(except for epistolary)" to your DNW.

Optional Details

This field is a long text box for including likes, prompts, Do Not Wants (DNWs), and other details you want to let your creator(s) know about. These are called optional details because your creator(s) are not required to follow your likes and prompts (although they do need to avoid your DNWs) when creating your gift(s). It isn't optional to have some kind of likes or prompts, however, because creating 10k for a completely blank request is really hard.

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: These are optional details hosted off-site that allow for longer or better-formatted details than can go in the AO3 signup. These are optional.)

Do Not Wants (DNWs)

Do Not Wants (DNWs) are a list of things you absolutely don't want to receive in your gift(s). You need to use the label "DNW" or "Do Not Want" at the beginning of your list. Do not label them or anything else "Dislikes" as that's too confusing for potential creators. Only DNWs in your AO3 requests will be enforced.

If you have no DNWs, please put "No DNWs" on its own line somewhere in your requests. We expect to get a number of people new to multifandom events, so we want to make absolutely sure people without DNWs mean to be doing that without needing to email them.

DNWs should be phrased and understood to be value-neutral. For example, one might DNW dogs because...

they find dogs upsetting
they find dogs boring
they just spent the past week reading every fic about dogs in the fandom and are a bit tired of dogs now
they really like works with dogs sometimes and really hate them other times and it's easiest to just DNW them instead of asking their creator(s) to thread a needle
for personal reasons, thinking about dogs is very painful right now

It's impossible to tell which explanation above is true for any given participant with "DNW: Dogs" on their request, so the only sure thing you can know is that that participant just doesn't want dogs in their gifts. This ambiguity is a feature, not a bug.

Never explain why you DNW something, but definitely explain how to apply the DNW and if there are any exceptions.

Unhelpful "why" explanation: "DNW: dogs (they're gross)" — this isn't relevant to avoiding putting dogs in a gift, and also might make people who like dogs feel bad
Helpful "how" explanation: "DNW: dogs (canonical werewolves are fine, but please no normal wolves)" — this answers a question that a creator might have about how best to apply the DNW!

In the event that a DNW is included in your gift, only reasonable DNWs noted in your AO3 requests will be enforced. DNWs cannot be used to box your creator into producing a very specific work, and should be clear and specific in scope. You cannot DNW part of something you've requested. If you believe an enforceable DNW has been broken in your gift, please email us immediately.

FAQ: DNWs

What makes a DNW "unreasonable"?

The goal of DNWs is to state, as unambiguously as possible, what specific things one doesn't want in a gift. It's not the job of DNWs to prevent a recipient from getting a bad gift (although we hope everyone will get only good gifts) or to ensure that a recipient gets exactly what they want. Requests aren't commissions, and we value the creative freedom of our participants.

An unreasonable DNW might contradict a requested relationship or medium, try to force the creator into a very narrow set of options, be phrased too vaguely or broadly or confusingly, and/or seek to prevent the creator from creating works about a large part of canon.

Example: Requesting a pirate canon like Pirates of the Caribbean or One Piece and then listing the DNW "pirates"
Example: Requesting the medium opt-in "Medium: In-Universe Epistolary/Journals" and then listing the DNW "first person POV"
Example: DNWing "OOC writing" (How is a creator supposed to ascertain what counts as OOC to the recipient? How could the mods make a decision about if something is OOC when they probably don't know the fandom?)
Example: DNWing "dead dove content" ("dead dove" has many possible meanings, so no one can be sure what this DNW means; you need to list the actual content that you don't want.)
Example: DNWing "CBT/wax play/gun kink/etc." (We can't enforce an "etc"!)

What happens if I have an unreasonable/nonspecific/otherwise unenforceable DNW?

If we notice it, we will ask you to remove it (or to remove the tag it contradicts, if it's something like the epistolary example above) or rephrase it. If we only realize you have an unenforceable DNW because you've received a gift you feel hits that DNW and would like a replacement gift, we will unfortunately have to refuse.

Why are you making such a fuss about DNW phrasing?

Broadly speaking, we think DNWs are an important and wonderful part of multifandom exchange culture and learning to create and identify good DNWs is imperative for good exchange etiquette. This exchange attracts a large number of new exchange participants, so by explaining in detail we can set our newbies up for success in the wider exchange circuit! If we could do so by just saying "list stuff you don't want in your Do Not Wants" then we would do that, but years of experience has shown that a lot of the information offered above on DNWs is absolutely not intuitive and needs to be explicitly stated for newbies.

Also, and more immediately, we will be on the hook for assuring some of you get gifts via pinch hits, including sending out emergency pinch hits if someone gets an unacceptable gift! Bad DNWs make it harder to find a pinch hitter and more likely one of those DNWs will be hit by accident. We'd prefer not to have to tell anyone that their DNW is too confusing for us to give them a replacement gift.

Help! I don't know how to phrase a DNW! / What if I think a DNW I want might be unreasonable?

Don't worry, there are people who want to help! Many people on the FIAB Newbies Discord server will be happy to help you figure out how to phrase your DNWs in the #sign-up-discussion channel.

Do Not Match Requests

If you would like to request to not match with anyone in the exchange, please email ficinaboxmod@gmail.com with the following information:

Your AO3 Username
The AO3 Username of the person you do not want to match with
If you are asking to not be their assigned creator, recipient, or both.
In the case that you are their only possible recipient, which of the following would you prefer: 1) We tell them they're DNMed by you and need to expand their offers. 2) We match them to you (We can notify you of this). 3) We remove your signup.
In the case that you go up for PH and they try to pick up that PH, which of the following would you prefer: 1) We tell them they're DNMed by you and cannot pick up the PH. 2) We allow them to pick up your PH (We can notify you of this). 3) We pull your PH (this may result in you not getting a gift).
In the case that they post a treat for you, would you like to be notified of which gift it is?

Please do not give any details as to why you would like to not be matched to them. We'll take all DNM requests seriously so the only thing we need to know is how to handle it.

Swaps

Participants can optionally attempt to trade part of their assignment with part of someone else's assignment. For example, you might give up 1k of your assignment to write a 1k gift for someone else. This keeps your assignment total at 10k, but lets you create for more than one person!

Non-participants who want to pick up swaps are invited to join in.

Opting out of swaps

Swaps are entirely opt-in, so it's completely optional to engage with this part of the exchange.

Ignore them completely and simply fill your initial assignment yourself if that's your preference.
If we don't hear from you about swaps, we will just assume you don't want to swap.
If you want one 10k assignment but are willing to swap from your initial assignment to a different 10k assignment, that's a swap option! But again, you don't have to if you like your initial assignment or simply prefer not to swap.

How swaps work

During Signups, a post will go up explaining how swaps work in detail and how to tell us what swaps you want, but here is a simplified explanation:

Participants browse requests and think about who they might like to create for.
Participants who are interested in being assigned multiple assignments under 10k instead of one 10k assignment give us this information via google form before or after initial assignments.
Initial assignments go out via an email for AO3. Everyone is committed to making 10k for their initial assignment at this point.
Anyone who's had a change of heart based on their initial assignment (or who was just putting off making their swaps requests) has at least 24 hours to submit updated swap information.
The mods do a big complex puzzle in a spreadsheet to figure out who can give up part of their assignment to create for someone else. Someone might keep 5k of their initial assignment for UserA and take a second assignment to make 5k for UserB. Meanwhile, the 5k that they'll no longer be making for UserA will be assigned to 1-5 other people who have also asked to swap out part of their assignments.
People who haven't been able to swap get emailed first, and then we email all successful swappers their new assignments.

Assignments

Assignments are only guaranteed to match on one fandom and one relationship field tag. When you get your official assignment email from AO3, it will list all of your recipient's requests, but you're not obligated to fill all of them. Some people (swaps participants, pinch hitters) will also receive assignments via email from the mods, which may not come with an email from AO3.

If your assignment does not match the fandoms/ships/medium you offered, or if there are any other issues, contact us via email as soon as possible.

Assignment requirements

A standard assignment fill is one or more works of fanfiction totaling 10k all together. Furthermore:

The 10k total can be split up between multiple works.
Those multiple works can fill the same request or different requests.
Each work must be complete at deadline.
All works must avoid your recipient's DNWs.
Works containing excessive spelling or grammar errors (enough to hinder comprehension) will not be accepted.
Works may not be wholly or partially created by generative text or art programs (so-called “AI”) such as chatGPT, Claude, or OpenArt.ai. This includes content which you don't intend to receive wordcount credit — AI content is not allowed in the collection.

Everyone who signs up is opted into this by default and cannot opt out. For the purposes of this exchange, fanfiction is defined as narrative fiction to distinguish it from the less usual formats that must be opted into.

Filling a request requires that your work fills one requested fandom, one requested relationship-field tag, and one requested medium. You may only create works under 1k if lengths under 1k have been opted into on the request you're filling. Please don't forget to view posting instructions!

Requested fandom

Most of the time, this will be the fandom tag on the request you're filling.

If you're filling a request with an umbrella tag like Star Wars - All Media Types or Marvel Cinematic Universe, you're welcome to fill using any fandom or combination of fandoms that fit under that umbrella.
If you're filling a request for a fandom with an adaptation, your work should stick to the canon details of the requested adaptation unless your recip has indicated they're open to other versions of canon.
If you're filling a Crossover Fandom request with an ambiguous canon disambiguation, you can pick whatever version of canon you'd like or mash them up! For example, if the relationship tag you're filling has "Susan Pevensie (Narnia)" instead of specifying book or movie Narnia, you can create a work based on either or both.
Unrequested crossovers count as unrequested fandoms, even if the fandoms involved are both requested individually. Crossovers can be requested either using Crossover Fandom or via optional details.

Requested relationship-field tag

This might be a / relationship, a & relationship, a Solo: character, or a worldbuilding (WB:) tag.

You are only expected to fill one relationship-field tag per work. For example, if you're filling a request that has an A/B tag, a C/D tag, and a worldbuilding tag, you're only expected to create a work focusing on one of those tags, not all three of them.

All opt-in mediums must still include a requested relationship-field tag. For example, if a recip has requested A/B and the Botanical Illustration opt-in, you must work the / ship into your artwork somehow even though the artwork also has to be mostly focused on a plant.

Filling multiple relationship field tags in one work: Please proceed with caution. Our promise to our participants is that when they request one or several relationship-field tags in a request, they will get a work primarily focused on one of those requested relationships. A work attempting to fill multiple tags at once might fail to focus on any one requested relationship-field tag enough to sufficiently fill that tag. Also, there are many participants who are not looking to receive more than one requested relationship in a single work but who would not think to DNW that type of gift because it's an unconventional way to fill a request.

Poly ships: A/B ships are considered separate from A/B/C ships in both nominations and in request fills. Even if someone has requested A/B, B/C, and C/A, their request cannot be filled by an A/B/C work unless they've also requested A/B/C or have opted in.

Requested medium

As discussed above, fic is a requested medium for all participants across all of their requests, although there's no tag for it. Other mediums are opted into on a per-request basis using tags that start with "Medium Opt-In" and then go on to specify first a ruleset and then a specific medium, such as Medium Opt-In: Art - Comics.

Do not give unrequested mediums, not even as treats. To avoid pressuring our participants into accepting gifts in mediums they didn't ask for, we will not ask your recip if they want to receive unrequested mediums.

Mediums can also be opted into via optional details. If you usually have "epistolary" in your likes, you can leave it there to opt in without selecting the tag. Unless you don't want epistolary for this exchange, in which case do remove it!

You can combine requested mediums in the same fanwork as long as they each would fill the requirements of their medium separately Example:

If your recip has requested Medium Opt-In: Art - Drawn - Fanart, you can give them a fic of 1,000 words or more plus a picture you've drawn them.
Both mediums need to include the requested relationship-field tag you're filling (if you're filling an A/B tag, the fic needs to be an A/B fic and the art needs to be A/B shippy art)
Both mediums need to fill all other length/content requirements separately, which is why the fic in this example can't be under 1,000 words.
Note that this section applies to combinations of multiple separately requested tags. For multimedia works filling a single Illustrated Text tag please see the requirements for that tag type.

Under 1k length opt-in

Length opt-ins allow you to create works under the 1k minimum. Some of them specify a new exact length, and some specify a new minimum length. These minimums are on a per work basis so, for example, it would take 100 drabbles (100 words exactly) to fill a full 10k – we suggest you only give someone 100 drabbles if they seem like they really want that, but it would fill the assignment!

How to read & interpret opt-in tags:

The section before the colon tells you if the opt-in tag is for lengths or mediums. (Examples: Length Opt-in, Medium Opt-In)

The section after the colon and before the hyphen tells you which medium ruleset applies to this tag. Length opt-ins don't have this section. (Examples: Art, Unique Rules, Video)

The last section tells you the specific length (Examples: 420 Words Exactly, One Poem Minimum of Any Nominated Style of Poetry) or medium (Examples: Podfic, Logic Grid Puzzle) that's being opted in to.

Medium rulesets can be viewed here (link). Each medium ruleset lays out how wordcount equivalents are calculated for tags in that category, except for the Unique Rules ruleset, which instead lists unique rules for every tag!

Wordcount assessment details:

Fanfiction length is assessed using AO3's wordcount. The details of assessing other mediums can be found in the medium ruleset post (link).

We only round down when it comes to assessing how much pinch hit wordcount someone is owed – more on this below, just stick with us for the explanations.

When assessing how much you've created total between several works for the same participant.

If you turn in a 1,001 word fic, 1001 is the number we put down in our spreadsheet.
We will add up your actual wordcount between all the works you created for your recip to decide if you've filled an assignment, so if you turn in one work worth 1,001 words and one work worth 8,999 words, you've submitted 10,000 words total and your assignment is filled.
We never round up, so if you submit one work worth 1000 words and one work worth 8,999 words, you've submitted 9,999 words total and your assignment is not filled. Because we promised all participants they'd get 10,000 words total, not 9,999! This is where we round down.

If no one else has made anything for your recip, they'll be sent for a 1k pinch hit – pinch hits only go out in 1k increments, so getting 9,999 words is the same as getting 9,000 words flat.
If your creator(s) fully default, you'll only go out for a 9k pinch hit because – for pinch hit purposes only – 9,999 words is only worth 9k.
(Okay actually, we would email you and ask you to add 1 word before sending a pinch hit. But if you refused or didn't reply, it would be 1k pinch hit time for your recip over one missing word.)

The above assumes you've only got one 10k assignment for one recip. If you have more than one assignment, the assessment works the same but with smaller math for your smaller assignment minimum.

Additionally, wordcount overage does not transfer between recipients. If you owe 5k for UserA, 4k for UserB, and 1k for UserC…and you turn in 5k for UserA, 5k for UserB, but nothing for UserC…we would only be able to send you for a 9k pinch hit because, although you'd have submitted 10k in fanworks, you only filled 9k of your 10k assignment.

Posting

For guides on how to post your assignment or treats in their various forms, please see the Posting Guidelines (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.
As works should remain anonymous during the collection's anonymous period; do not post your work elsewhere before creator reveals. Some mediums have exceptions such as signatures or identification within recording, please check the rulesets (link) for these.
Saved drafts do not fulfill assignments. Please ensure that you post your gift! You can find/check drafts and works in collection by going to your statistics page.
Treats are welcome! All treats must meet the same minimum requirements as works that count towards assignments, including length. Opt-in mediums and lengths must be opted into by the recip.
Gifts to the collection are allowed.

Pinch Hits

Pinch hits are participants who are without creators, in whole or in part, either because no one offered anything that matched any of their requests or because their assigned creator was unable to complete their assignment and defaulted. Pinch hitting is the practice of volunteering to make a gift for a pinch hit.

Pinch hits will be posted to the Dreamwidth community. We will attempt to send pinch hits out in chunks in an effort to avoid making any defaults obvious (without limiting time for creating too much either).

Claiming pinch hits

You can claim a pinch hit without a Dreamwidth account as long as you follow the instructions on the pinch hit posts.
You can claim a pinch hit even if you aren't signed up for the exchange.
You will need an AO3 account to post your completed gift.
Since each recipient comes with limited AO3 assignments, not every PHer will be assigned through AO3. Everyone who doesn't get an AO3 assignment will be emailed and will still be officially assigned in our spreadsheet.
Pinch hits can be claimed in increments of 1k. For example: if a PH 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, etc.).
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. Swaps and defaults on swaps also sometimes create pinch hits that are less than 10k.

Posting pinch hits

All the usual posting rules for assignments apply to filling pinch hits.
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 or shoot us an email.

Defaulting

If you cannot finish a full 10k for your assigned recip, please default. You will still be sent out to PH up until October 20th. The only penalty for defaulting is not being guaranteed a gift (or, if you partially defaulted, only being guaranteed the total sum of the amount you completed rounded down to the nearest 1k increment) during this round. There is no year to year penalty.

There are two kinds of defaults in this exchange: full defaults and partial defaults.

Full defaults:

A full default is a default that lets us know you won't be able to complete any of your assigned word count. This is the kind of default you should do if you haven't finished any part of your assignment.
If your assignment was given to you via AO3, default by navigating to your AO3 dashboard, clicking 'Assignments', locating your Fic In A Box Exchange assignment and clicking 'Default'.
If you need to default on an assignment that you don't have on AO3, you can do so by either emailing the mods or using the google form (link).

Partial defaults:

A partial default is a default for when you've completed and posted one or more works for your recipient, but you haven't reached your assigned word count.
Whether your assignment was given to you via AO3 or if you received your assignment from us via email, you will need to either email the mods or use the google form (link) to let us know you're defaulting on part of your assignment.
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.
If your full gift is not posted by October 20th, the mods will default you on whatever wordcount you haven't yet submitted. If you were given a different deadline then follow that deadline.

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're guaranteed as a gift will be the total sum of what you have submitted to your original assignment before defaulting plus the total amount you submitted to the methods below, rounded down to the nearest 1k.

There are four 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)
The deadline for earning back your minimum by picking up pinch hits is noted on our schedule as Last Day To Submit Makeup Assignments. The exact date can be found on our schedule at the top of this post.

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.
If you swapped, your original assignment may always be completed for up to 10k, and any swaps may be completed for up to the assigned amount of the swap.
The last day to post a defaulted assignment to earn back minimum is noted on our schedule as Last Day To Submit Makeup Assignments. The exact date can be found on our schedule at the top of this post.

Earn your minimum back via completing a gift for a pinch hitter request

If you post a completed gift for a pinch hitter request (link) that will count towards your minimum amount.
The deadline for earning back your minimum by gifting to a PHer request is noted on our schedule as Last Day To Submit Makeup Assignments. The exact date can be found on our schedule at the top of this post.

Earn your minimum back via posting a workskin and tutorial

Many works in the exchange will use AO3 workskin templates in order to display documents, social media sites, and a lot of other things! There are a lot already out there, but there's always more that are needed and an exchange like this is likely to expose some of those gaps.
You can earn up to the full 10k by creating new workskins, writing tutorials for those templates, and posting them to the collection with no recipient. Each workskin/tutorial will be worth 2k of your minimum.
These workskins will be revealed immediately (still anonymous until creator reveals) so that the rest of the participants may use them!
In order to count towards making up wordcount, the workskin and tutorial you create should be something that doesn't already exist. You can check with us ahead of time if you want to be sure.
The deadline for earning back your minimum by posting a workskin and tutorial is noted on our schedule as Last Day To Submit Makeup Assignments. The exact date can be found on our schedule at the top of this post.

Extensions

Assignments and PHs with due dates of October 19th:

May ask for an extension to October 26th, or November 2nd!
If you ask for an extension to October 26th and need more time, you may ask for an additional extension up to November 2nd.
The absolute last extension date is November 2nd. The only exceptions for this are PHs that were assigned with an initial due date of later than October 19th. If you had a normal assignment or a PH with a deadline of October 19th then you will not be given an extension past November 2nd for any reason.

PHs with initial due dates after October 19th:

May ask for an extension to October 26th, or November 2nd!!
May ask for extensions past November 2nd as we get closer to that date, these aren't guaranteed and will be handled on a case by case basis.

Extension Defaults:

Anything not turned in by your extension deadline will count as a full or partial default. If you need to confirm your extension deadline, please contact us!
We will be automatically defaulting extensions that are not turned in by their deadline, even if they could have been extended further.
If you default before your deadline then there are no consequences.
If you are no show defaulted by the mods on an extension this round you won't be able to request an extension the next year's round. This applies only to the next round and only to extension requests! This does not affect normal defaults, only no shows. You will receive an email letting you know if this applies to you.

Delays

To make things easier for us and more predictable for everyone, we're setting rules for exactly how any potential delays will go this year!

The absolute latest due time for a PH will be 12 noon Eastern before reveals. If a PHer needs to bump their due time into the afternoon we'll delay a day to avoid down to the wire announcements and give us plenty of time to do a final check of everything.
If there are still PHs up on the Wednesday before scheduled reveals then delays will happen in one of two ways:

If there's a PHer ready to pick up the final PH who needs up to a week of extra time, then the exchange will be delayed based on their timeline.
If the PH needs to stay up then the exchange will be delayed a week to the following Saturday. We will reassess the following Wednesday if the PH is still up at that point.

Fic In A Box Rules & Info 2025