Schedule & Rules (2020)

[thenostalgicmod]

Welcome to Multifandom Horror Exchange! This is a gift exchange in which participants create and receive fic or art focused on elements of horror. Open to all fandoms, including original works!

Schedule:

All times are 8:30pm EDT.

Nominations: April 30-May 14
Sign-ups: May 17-May 31
Assignments sent: June 3
Writing period: June 4-July 19
Works due: July 20
Works revealed: July 27 July 29
Creators revealed: August 3 August 5

Links:

AO3 Challenge Profile
AO3 Tagset

Optional Letters Post

Additional Information:

If you have questions about this challenge that are not answered by the information listed below, please feel free to comment on this post, or contact the mod at implodinglittlehearts@gmail.com.


What is Multifandom Horror Exchange?

• A gift exchange in which participants create and receive fic or art containing elements of horror. Open to all fandoms, including original works!


• Note that the fandoms themselves do not have to be horror-centric - only the works created in the exchange!


• RPF nominations will only be considered if the people are famous in their own right, and at least 18 years of age.

What are the minimum requirements for works?

• Fiction must be a free-standing, completed work of at least 1,000 words.


• Art must be a completed work of good resolution that does not use elements from other pieces or manips.


• There are no minimum requirements for treats.

How will matches be made?

• Participants will match on the following:


• 1 Fandom


• 1 Medium


• 1 Relationship


• 1 Additional Tag (Horror Type)

What is the Additional Tag (Horror Type)?

• Matches will be based on 15 horror types, listed below. While this is not a definitive list and there may also be overlap, these are the tags that will be used for matching in this exchange.


• Please be sure to check for some tropes of each type, guidelined in this stickied post below.


• Dark Fantasy


• Gothic Horror


• Cosmic (Lovecraftian) Horror


• Institutional Horror


• Psychological Horror


• Killer Horror


• Body Horror


• Medical Horror


• Violent Horror


• Survival Horror


• Science-fiction Horror


• Folk Horror


• Religious Horror


• Paranormal Horror


• Monster Horror

How do nominations work?

• Nominations are open from April 30 8:30pm EDT to May 14 8:30pm EDT.


• Any nomination queries will be posted to Dreamwidth for feedback from the community. Please check the comm.


• Nomination limits are 10 Fandoms and 20 Relationships (per Fandom).


• When nominating, lone or single characters must be nominated under “Relationships” by using the format "Solo: [Character Name]".


• For this challenge, "/" will indicate romantic and/or sexual relationships, while "&" will indicate platonic relationships.


• The tagset for this challenge can be found above, or by following this link.


• You may nominate items for the tagset even if you are not completely sure whether you want to include them in your own sign-up.


• Please see this post for more details about nominations.

How do requests work?

• Participants must request fanfiction and/or fanart in 3-10 unique fandoms, with 1-20 relationships. Repeats allowed, as long as there are at least 3 unique fandoms. A max of 10 requests is allowed.


• Participants must also choose at least 1 horror type per request.


• Please be sure to list any Do Not Wants (DNWs) in your sign-up box. A DNW is anything - a rating, category, headcanon, kink, etc. - that you absolutely don't want to read or see because it would ruin a gift for you.


• Optional details are welcome. They may be listed in the sign-up box, or as letters that are linked. If you write a letter, please make sure that it is visible to the public. Please also keep in mind that only DNWs listed in the sign-up box are enforceable.

How do offers work?

• Participants must offer fanfiction and/or fanart in 4-10 unique fandoms, with 1-20 relationships. Repeats allowed, as long as there are at least 4 unique fandoms. A max of 10 offers is allowed.


• Participants must also choose at least 1 horror type per offer.


• As soon as sign-ups close, matches will be generated. If none of your offers can match a request, you will be sent an email notification by the mod. Please reply to this email within fifteen hours to change your offers so that you can match a request. If not, your sign-up will be deleted.

How do I submit my assignment?

• Matches will be based on fandom, medium, relationship, and horror type.


• Once sign-up closes and assignments go out, no changes will be made. The only instance in which you can contact the mod about changing your assignment is in the rare event that AO3 makes a matching error.


• Once assignments are sent out, they will be emailed to the email address associated with your AO3 account. If you do not receive an email, please try to check spam. Assignments can also be found by going to your dashboard, and then clicking on "Assignments" towards the bottom of the column on the left-hand side.


• You just need to create one work that matches one medium, fandom, and relationship (and horror type!) request that your recipient has made. It must respect their DNWs.


• If your recipient included multiple mediums, characters/relationships or horror types in the request that you are creating for, you need only choose 1 medium, 1 character/relationship and 1 horror type when you make their gift.


• If the medium you match on is fic or art Emphasizing Sexual Content, then the work you create must contain sexual content that would be considered either M- or E-rated in such a manner that the sexual content ties into the horror type tag being used in some way. The work may also be rated M or E for other reasons, depending on the creator and the recipient's DNWs.


• If the medium you match on is fic or art Not Emphasizing Sexual Content, then the work you create must not contain sexual content that would be considered higher than T-rated. The work may still be rated M or E for other reasons, depending on the creator and the recipient's DNWs.


• Other than the above, there are no restrictions concerning rating.


• The assignment must be submitted by the appropriate time on July 20 (keep time-zone in mind). In order to post the work, you can select "Post New Work" in the top right-hand corner of the screen. Fill out the form as you usually would, and then tick the appropriate box for this challenge and your recipient (under the "Associations" field).


• You can include creator's notes in the work. However, since this is an anonymous exchange, please ensure that the Notes will not reveal or hint at the creator's identity.


• For the sake of preserving anonymity, please do not directly contact your recipient. If you have questions about your assignment that concern your recipient's DNWs, contact the mod at implodinglittlehearts@gmail.com. The mod will reach out to the recipient, and then relay their answer back to you.

What is a treat?

• A treat is an extra gift created for someone that is not your assigned recipient. Even if you want to create a treat, please make sure to complete your actual assignment first!


• Anybody can make treats - you don't have to be signed up for this challenge to do so.


• There are no minimum requirements for treats. Similarly, media for treats are not limited to fanfiction and fanart.


• However, treats still need to respect DNWs.


• In order to post a treat, you will have to manually enter the collection and recipient's name when filling out the form.

I can't complete my assignment in time. What should I do?

• You are free to change or delete your sign-up before sign-up closes.


• After assignments are sent, if at any point you realize you won't be able to complete your assignment, please default ASAP so that pinch-hitters can start picking up dropped assignments well before works are revealed.


• In order to default, go to the "Assignments" tab displayed on the left-hand side of your dashboard, find this challenge, and click "Default". If you have trouble doing so, then you may email the mod at implodinglittlehearts@gmail.com to leave a message saying that you need to default.


• If you default, and are then defaulted on in turn, you will not be sent out as a pinch-hit.

How do pinch-hits work?

• Pinch-hitters are wonderful volunteers who complete assignments that have been defaulted, or had no matches to start with.


• Pinch-hits will be posted on the Dreamwidth community as they appear. Please leave a comment there, or email the mod at implodinglittlehearts@gmail.com if you are able to pick up a pinch-hit.


• To pick up a pinch-hit via Dreamwidth, please reply to the post that lists the pinch-hit you can write for - anyone can comment (you don't need to have a Dreamwidth account), and all comments are screened to maintain anonymity. In the comment, please include your AO3 username and the pinch hit # you can pick up.


• Last-minute pinch-hits will likely get an extended deadline for completion.


• Anyone is welcome to pinch-hit - you don't have to be signed up for this challenge to do so.


• The collection won’t open until all who signed up, did not later default/not show up at the deadline, and submitted their assignment meeting the exchange's requirements (by the deadline) have at least one gift.

Overview of Rules:

1. Participants will create one work based on a request that they are assigned.

2. The gift must match the medium, fandom, and relationship (and horror type!) of the request.

3. Minimum requirements for gifts are either standalone fanfiction of at least 1k words, or completed fanart on unlined paper, of good resolution, that does not use elements from other pieces or manips.

4. Any DNWs in the AO3 sign-up box must be respected. No exceptions.

5. Be respectful. No shaming, hate or spite.

6. While it may not be feasible to definitively pin down horror types, it is expected that participants will adhere to the horror type tag they matched on with good faith when creating as well as receiving works. More information and discussion about horror type tags can be found in the stickied post below.

Comments

[fayharley]

Hi! I was thinking of running a horror themed flash exchange and the dates I'm considering would be smack dab in the middle of your nomination period. I don't want to step on any toes here, would you be okay with me running something on an overlapping schedule?

[thenostalgicmod]

Oh sure, that'd be chill. No need to ask, but I appreciate it all the same.

[fayharley]

Great! I just wanted to be sure.

[aunt_zelda]

Hi! This looks really fun, I'm very excited! (sad I missed the nominations by a day, but ah well, a lovely spread of options here.)

I have a question about matching. If one of my requests was like this:

Request 1: Fandom: Character A/Character B; Character C/Character D; Character D/Character B

does that mean I'd only match with someone who offered ALL of those relationship options, or I could match with someone who offered only one of them? Should I break the requests out into one relationship per request listing?


Similarly if one of my offers was like this:

Offer 1: Fandom: Character A; Character B; Character A & Character B; Character A/Character B; Character C/Character D

will I only match with someone requesting ALL of them, or can I match with someone requesting only one of those? Should I break out my offers into one relationship per offer listing?

Basically, I want to make it easy to be matched, clear that I'm ok writing any of the relationships/characters I list on an offer, and ok receiving any of the characters/relationships in a request.

[thenostalgicmod]

Glad to hear you're excited about the exchange!

For Request 1, you could match with someone who offered only one of the relationship options.

Breaking the requests out into one relationship per request would depend on your preferences:

For example, if one request has ships A/B, C/D, E/F as well as the horror type tag Dark Fantasy, then that would imply you’d like only Dark Fantasy, for any of these 3 ships. Then the creator would pick 1 of those ships to use along with Dark Fantasy.

For example, if one request has ships A/B and C/D, as well as the horror type tags Dark Fantasy and Body Horror, then that would imply you’d like any of the following 4 combinations: A/B Dark Fantasy, A/B Body Horror, C/D Dark Fantasy, and C/D Body Horror. Then the creator would pick any 1 of those 4 combinations of ship and horror type tag.

For Offer 1, you could match with someone who requested only one of the relationship options. Again, though, you might have to keep horror type tags in mind when offering.

I hope this answered the questions, please let me know if there is anything else I can help clarify.

[aunt_zelda]

Excellent! That does clear things up for me about matching. Thank you!

One more question. Does the "relationship" category mean "Character A/Character B" as well as "solo character" nominations? I think it does, but the wording on the profile confused me a little.

[thenostalgicmod]

Yep, the relationship category includes solo characters as well as actual ships!

[tally]

Will we do a Letters post? :D

[thenostalgicmod]

Sure thing! I'll set one up in the next few hours.

[aunt_zelda]

Quick question about treats.

Works are due July 20th, but work reveals are on the 27th. Does this mean we can upload still treats until the 27th?

[thenostalgicmod]

Yep, treats can be posted at any time, even after reveals :)