Star Wars Rare Pairs - Ao3 Exchanges 101

We've put this FAQ together for people who haven't done an exchange on Ao3 before, (or who have, but still have some questions they might be embarrassed to ask!). We'll talk about exchanges, nominations, sign-ups, and assignments. Huge thanks to The Dreaming of Sunshine Exchange FAQ, which did such a good job with their FAQ that I stole most of it!

General

Who can participate?

Anyone who wants to participate and has an account on Archive of Our Own. Keep in mind that our exchange does allow explicit fic, violence, and other possibly disturbing content. While you can request that this content not be created for you specifically, if it would disturb you to even see it mentioned by somebody else, this isn't the exchange for you. Aside from that, we'd love your participation in any form — writing, drawing, vidding, podficcing, betaing, cheerleading, commenting, etc!

What if I don't have an AO3 account?

Because this is an AO3-based exchange, you'll definitely need an AO3 account for nominations, sign ups, and posting your assignment. You can sign up for an invite here.

If you're reading this near the end of nominations or sign ups and won't have time to get an account, email me at sassysnowperson@gmail.com.

What am I committing to by signing up?

All participants who sign up will produce a fanwork for another participant as a gift! In return, they will be gifted a fanwork by another participant. Creators and their recipients will at minimum be matched on one medium (fic, art, podfic, or vids) and one relationship. Participants won't know who their creator is until after the anonymous period ends.

Creators must produce works that match one of the requests their recipient made, including:

the correct medium
at least one relationship tag in the correct fandom

Creators must avoid their recipient's Do Not Wants (DNWs) and all participants must include the DNWs they want enforced in their AO3 sign up.

What are optional details?

Archive of Our Own has a text box where optional details can be added to your request after you add the tags you want to match on. You can use it to let your creator know what kinds of things you enjoy in the fanwork type you're requested — for example, a fic author might want to know that you like canon divergence, or missing scenes from canon, or time travel, and so on.

What are DNWs and how to do they work?

A Do Not Want list lets you specify elements that would prevent you from enjoying your gift. A DNW could be a trigger, squick, something you really dislike, or just something you don't want to receive. This helps creators make a better gift for you!

You should put all your DNWs in your AO3 sign up; otherwise I can't enforce them.
The standard formatting is simply "DNW:" followed by a comma-separated list.
Don't use your DNW section to try to force your creator to create a specific type of work.
- Reasonable: "DNW: Clowns, sickfic, second person POV"
- Unreasonable: "DNW: Fic set anywhere other than modern-day earth; art that isn't a coffee shop AU"
Your DNWs shouldn't contradict your requests. For example, if you nominate Luke/Leia and DNW incest, that is not a DNW we will hold your creator to. That is either a contradiction, or it's an unreasonable request. Your creator is not obligated to write you an unrelated AU, and we will not give you an emergency pinch hit if they do.

Clear and specific DNWs are most helpful, although creators can ask questions through the mod if they need clarification.

If you find yourself needing to clarify your DNWs in your sign up or to me via email, please do so by explaining HOW the DNW can be avoided and not WHY.

Unhelpful WHY explanation: "DNW: Palpatine (because he's gross and I hate him ugh)"
Helpful HOW explanation: "DNW: Palpatine (one-sentence mentions are okay, but I DNW focus on him or for him to be present in my gift)"

Nominations

What are nominated tags for?

Tags in the tagset are the only things participants can sign up to offer/request and then match on — it's a way of making sure we're all consistent in the tags we use when we sign up so that half of us aren't offering Character A/Character B and the other half Character B/Character A, since those tags wouldn't be able to match to each other.

If I nominate tags, does that mean I have to participate?

No. Please nominate tags that you want to match on even if you're only vaguely thinking of signing up or treating, because otherwise you'll be stuck with what other people have nominated.

My nomination(s) haven't been accepted! Why?

Well, for one, the tagset approval process is kind of wonky and disorganized, so I can only see so many tags at once. Maybe I just haven't gotten to yours yet! There might be other tags to go to first, or I went to bed, or something. You should also check out the nomination clarification posts to see if I've asked you to correct your tag or explain why you think a character should be eligible or something.

My nomination(s) were rejected! Why?

Maybe you nominated a platonic relationship, or a relationship with too many works to qualify.... or maybe I made a mistake! Rejected tags should be listed in the nominations clarification posts. If you don't see anything that explains your rejection, comment on the most recent clarifications post to ask me about it.

My nomination(s) were accepted but I just noticed an error/typo. What do I do?

This happens to all of us. Please comment on the most recent clarifications post so that I can fix it. There will also be a period of tagset clean up to look for errors and duplicates before sign ups open. If sign ups have already opened and someone has already used the tag, I'm sorry to say it's basically too late.

Why do we need add fandoms in parenthesis?

Two reasons! For our crossover fandoms, its a chance to express which version of which character you want. Second, sometimes tags get separated from the fandom they're supposed to go in. Having the fandoms in parenthesis helps mods know where to put them. This is explained in more detail in the Nominations Guidelines.

Sign Ups

What happens if there's no one I can make a fanwork for?

If you have no possible recipients at the end of sign-ups — meaning, no other participants are requesting any of the relationship/group/worldbuilding tags you're offering, making you unmatchable — I will contact you via your AO3 account-associated email address. It's a requirement of participation that you're willing to create for at least one person in the exchange. You will need to either add more offers or drop out of the exchange.

What happens if there's no one who can make a fanwork for me?

If you have no possible creators at the end of sign-ups — meaning, either no other participants are offering any of the relationship tags you're requesting or that the people offering those things were assigned to other requests — you will go out to pinch hits. Pinch hits will be posted to this dreamwidth community.

How do I sign up? What should I put in my DNWs and Optional Details section?

Once sign-ups are open for the year, you'll be able to sign up from exchange page on Ao3. There will be a dreamwidth post letting you know when. DNWs are discussed above, and should go here. Other optional details might be prompts, reasons why you like the pairing, favorite tropes/kinks, whatever you’d like. They are there so that your creator knows how they can tailor their gift to you specifically. While your creator does need to honor your DNWs, the rest of the details are optional and your assigned creator does not have to include them.

What are Dear Creator letters?

"Dear Creator" letters are letters posted to tumblr/dreamwidth/LJ/or another space that often includes the information listed above, but expanded or in more detail. You may give your creator a bit more information about why you picked the relationships you did, what your likes and dislikes are, dynamics you enjoy, more detailed prompts, and so forth. If you are posting your letter to tumblr, please do not change your tumblr URL until after creators are revealed.

Letters are entirely optional. You don't have to write one, and while they are good guidance for creators, creators are free to ignore their recipient's letter. The only guidance the creator must follow are the DNWs in the "DNWs and Optional Details" box. DNWs found only in a dear creator letter will not be enforced.

People who choose to write a letter can put the link in their sign-up, so their creators can find it easily.

Assignments

When will I get my assignment? What will it look like?

You'll get your assignment as soon as I've run matching and made sure everyone has an appropriate assignment. This may be delayed by people being unmatchable, but hopefully not!

When you get your assignment, you'll be sent an email to the email account associated with your AO3. It will contain a copy of every request your recipient made, not just the request you matched on. You do not need to make something for all of their requests and you do not need to create for the request that you matched on. You just need to create something that fulfilled one of their requests in medium, relationship, and lack of DNWs.

What if I can't fit my recipient's optional details into their gift?

You don't have to! Optional details are optional. You have to respect their DNWs, but otherwise it's okay if you need to ignore the rest of their optional details to complete your assignment. In this exchange, freeform tags are considered optional details.

What if I don't know how to avoid a DNW, or need to ask my recipient something else?

You should email me at sassysnowperson@gmail.com. I will pass the question(s) along. Don't contact your recip yourself.

Do I have to get my assignment beta'd?

No, but it would be nice if you did, since it's a gift!

What if I can't complete my assignment?

You should default as soon as possible so we can find a pinch hitter.

To default, find your assignment under "Assignments" on your AO3 dashboard and click on "default."

If you default and your creator defaults as well, you will not be assigned a pinch hitter.

Treats

What are treats?

Treats are a gift given to someone that is not their assignment. It's extra bonus gifts! We encourage treating in this exchange.

Do treats have the same requirements as a gift?

Nope! There are no minimum requirements for treats. Which means they can be under 1000 words, smaller than 500,000 total pixels, shorter than ten minutes for podfics and shorter than one minute thirty seconds for vids. However, if you're writing a treat for someone you do still have to respect their DNWs

If you want to create something for a ship that is in the tagset, but no one has requested it (or the only requests have DNWs that you want to include in your creation), you may create a treat for the collection. Treats to the collection do not need to follow any particular prompts or DNWs.

How do I post treats?

Post treats to the collection by going to the Ao3 page for the exchange, hitting 'Post to Collection'. If you're treating somebody, copy and paste their username into the recipient page. If you want to post to the collection, then do the same thing and don't fill in a recipient name.

Art

I don't draw, but I do graphics/photo manipulation/icons/mood boards/etc. Can I sign up to be an artist?

Unfortunately, no. Art for this exchange is expected to be drawn, except if someone opts-in to receive something else. However, you are welcome to treat these things, as long as it doesn't cross your recipient's DNW.

How do I post my art on AO3 anonymously?

To post an image on AO3, use this code:

To post anonymously, avoid these things:

Signing your work. However, if you're worried about theft, you may sign your work. The anonymous period is a fun part of exchange culture, so another option would be to make a blank Ao3 post, copy the link, and then add the AO3 work URL to the art as a watermark. Once it's uploaded with your watermark, then you can submit it to the exchange.
Posting your work publicly before the anonymous period is up.
Using a image link that has your username in it.

Podfic

I've written a fic for a rare Star Wars Pair I want people to be able to podfic it, how to I let you know?

We don't have an exchange-specific database of rare pairs fic at this time. You can add a Blanket Permissions Statement to your Ao3 profile if you haven't already. You can also mention in your sign-up if you have fics that you are okay with being turned into podfic for this exchange.

What if I don't want my fic podficced? You can list that in your Ao3 profile as a general preference. Beyond that, just don't mention podfic in your sign-up; this is opt-in.
What if I only want my fic podficced by certain people? Sadly I cannot accommodate that because fanwork creators need to stay anonymous.
What if I only want my fic poficced if it's as a gift to me in the exchange? Then list specifically in your sign-up that you give permission, and which fics you give permission for (if applicable).
All of my 'fics' are just short snippets on the forums, though. You can still mention if you're okay with it. A podficcer could combine more than one snippet, as long as their overall work is more than ten minutes long.

If I sign up to receive podfic, what kind/length of podfic will I get?

If you sign up to receive podfic, you'll get a podfic that's either 10 minutes long or based on a fic that is at least 1000 words.

When you make your request, you'll be selecting one or more relationships that appeal to you. Your podficcer may find or create a story that matches these requirements.

I want to sign up as a podficcer but what if I can't find a fic to read and I don't want to write one?

You control your offers, so I would suggest only offering tags that correspond to fic you know you want to read/that you know exists.

How do I post my podfic to AO3 anonymously?

If anonymity is important to you:

don't use a hosting service that has your username in the file embed URL.
don't say your name/username at the beginning of the podfic.

But of course, there's nothing anyone can do about your voice being recognized! Plus, rerecording/reuploading to replace your name/username after creator reveals would be a lot of effort. So, please feel free to do your intro as you normally would and leave concerns about anonymity behind if you're doing podfic.