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FAQ:

What is this?

It’s a fandom secret santa. Participants sign up to create and receive one creation about R3 of 97poets that’s as tailored to their tastes as possible. Prompts are submitted privately through Google Forms and, after sign-ups end, matched to another participant, so that every participant will have one assigned recipient known to them and one assigned gifter who will remain a surprise. The works are posted on AO3 and ultimately revealed on December 25th for a merry Elysium!solsticesomethingsomething in La Cage. The way things have been going, the exact Elysium holiday will probably have been leaked by then anyway.

Important: the deadline is ten days before the works are revealed. We need ten days to ensure that everything will run smoothly on the actual reveals. Everyone’s works need to be ready ten days before they’ll be revealed.

 

When does it run?

Signups open: now
Signups close: one week after we get the pics, date TBA
Assignments go out by: mid-October, hopefully earlier
DEADLINE: December 15th
Works are revealed: December 25th

all at 23.59 UTC

 

How do I sign up?

By filling this here form!

 

Can I default after I've signed up?

Of course, but please tell me in DMs as soon as possible. Real life happens. We’ve all been there. But please try not to disappear without a trace at the last minute. There’s really no shame in saying “sorry, turns out I can’t do this” as soon as you realize it! We'll find a substitute.

 

What do I offer in my signup?

The offers are simply a multiple choices list of everyone in La Cage + the place itself, mark as many people as you can – no maximum – while being happy and comfortable about the prospect of creating some type of art about them.

 

What can I request in my signup?

Request #0 is all about your character. Please tell us anything you want about them, to make it easier for creators – who may have interacted with you for all of one scene and a half, while chasing mold, on drugs – to nail what made that resident of La Cage themself (ideally without the scripted big secrets and reveals in case your author wants to play them in the future yada yada, you know how it goes). This description can include their attitude, hopes and dreams, some bonds with others of any type, their main Unseen, did they end up alive, what have you. Give us the R3 character pitch specifically.
Or you can use this field to explicitly opt out of receiving a work about your character. Especially in this case, please try to be a bit broad in your other prompts!

The other requests are 3 to 10 freeform fields where you can write in some more specific ideas you’d like to see realized. These can be about your character, others, or general ideas. Think like “The bond between Lian and Tai”, “weirdest scenario you could picture Billie in”, “BVC shenanigans (9 dead 27 wounded)”, “SUPREME (spins wheel)”, “Ace Attorney AU”, “the morning after the battle for the Maiers”, “remembering the Busker”, “the block council has authorized showers”, "raaaaaaats", "north wing slammers vs south side crew as a splatoon turf war", and so on. Or more detailed scenarios! Anything that you'd like to see.

 

What are DNWs?

Short for Do Not Wants, it’s a freeform field for stuff you absolutely don’t want to see in your gift. The general tone of a recipient’s prompts can already work as a broad guideline, but authors should absolutely make sure not to include their recipient's DNWs. Common examples which may apply here include character death, infidelity, romantic relationships altogether, pregnancy, violence...

 

What do I do once I get my recipient’s requests?

You look at their requests and do your best to create a work that you believe they will enjoy!
I’m not setting a hard minimum for length/complexity here, personally I’ll be aiming for >800w if I write and a fully coloured piece if I draw. Unusual formats/mixed media/songs/etc are absolutely welcome too and even harder to regulate, so I'm just not gonna do that. Make art.

If an author wants to ask for details (“what was Casey’s opinion on the three relevant Innocences again?”), they can ask me and I can relay the question to whom it may concern while preserving the author’s anonymity.

 

What do I do once I finish my assignment?

When you’re done, post your work on AO3 as part of the event’s collection (I'll post a guide on the server for AO3 newcomers). Annnd that’s it. I’ll know that your recipient has a gift, and the work will remain unrevealed to everyone else until the big day, when I’ll press the button that makes the works all visible at once but keeps authors anonymous for a few days more. And then ultimately the authors reveal button.