Archive of Our Own ^beta

The Multifandom Drabble Exchange was originally conceived of as a simple low-stress way to test the Imzy platform for running gift exchanges. While Imzy is now gone, my love for drabbles remains. So here we are again. This is an exchange for stories of exactly 100 words. All fandoms are welcome, no matter how small or large, including original works.

The comm is here: https://multifandomdrabble.dreamwidth.org

About Drabbles

How are you defining drabble?

Exactly 100 words of story.

Do titles count in the total word count?

No. I expect to see 100 words for the body of the work, give or take a couple due to the differences in word counting methods around hyphens and dashes, etc.

Can I write more than one drabble?

Yes! Please do! We want all the treats. :D

Can I write a drabble series and post it as one work?

If your recipient has signed up with that as an option. So long as each drabble clearly stands alone. It can't simply be 400 words masquerading as four drabbles in a row. Please place each drabble in its own chapter or use clear separators.

Can I write a double or triple drabble (i.e. a work of exactly 200 or 300 words)?

If your recipient has signed up with that as an option. Please clearly tag your work "Double Drabble" or "Triple Drabble".

Participating and Communication

For the duration of the exchange, the mod will post announcements, schedule changes, rule clarifications, etc. on the Dreamwidth community. Please keep up to date there.

During the sign-up and writing period, any issues specific to your signup, assignment, or questions from your writer will come to the email address attached to your AO3 account. Please check your email during the exchange and reply to any mod emails.

This year, I will be contacting people whose signup doesn't seem in good faith. If I can't reach them, I'll either edit the signup or boot it. I don't expect this to be necessary, but I reserve the option.

Nominations

How many nominations do I get?

You can nominate twenty fandoms at the tagset here.

Can I nominate original works or anthropomorphic fandoms?

Yes.

Can I nominate crossovers?

Yes. Just use a slash between the fandom names, i.e. Fandom 1/Fandom 2.

Sign Ups

How many requests/offers do I get when I sign up?

You can request 3-8 fandoms and offer 3-10 with a bucket list option for additional fandoms.

How do I request my favorite characters or preferred ships?

Include your optional/preferred characters and ships in the request details box. This exchange uses hand-matching, so these preferences will be taken into account as much as possible.

Can I request/offer any characters or ships?

Yes. If you request or offer Any, this means you're open to anything and have no particular preferences. Your DNWs will still be honored.

Can I post a letter with more details for my writer?

No. Your signup information needs to be in your signup for this exchange. This keeps it easier for the mod to hand-match and handle any issues that come up with signups or assignments.

Why do I have a details box for offers? What am I supposed to put in it?

Preferred characters, ships, canon installments you prefer to write or avoid, writing DNWs and likes, such as kinks, genres (fluff, angst, crossovers, etc.), or tropes. As this exchange is hand-matched, those offers will be compared to requests to find good matches.

Assignments and Treats

This was a bad match. I can't write that! What do I do?

If your assignment looks like the mod seriously misread something, please contact the mod immediately at [email protected] and we'll get it fixed as quickly as possible.

Do I have to include all the ships and characters requested by my recipient? What about their prompts?

The fandom, the drabble type, and anything stated as a DNW is mandatory and non-optional. Characters, ships, and prompts are optional, but please try to create something you believe your recipient will love.

How do I post my assignment?

Go to your assignments page on AO3 and click on the fulfill button.

How do I post drabble treats?

Click on Post to Collection at the top of this page. Be sure to enter your recipient's AO3 username in the recipient field.

Do treats have to be exactly 100 words?

Treats must follow the same rules as assignments. Double and triple drabbles must be clearly labelled as such. Drabble series must be clearly divided or chaptered.

Can I treat the exchange rather than an individual recipient?

If you've written a drabble and it doesn't quite hit the mark of what you think your recipient would like or your drabble matches several recipients' likes, you can opt to post the treat to the collection without a recipient name. Please tag it as a treat.

How do I default?

Go to your assignments page on AO3 and click the default button before the end of the assignment writing time period. There is no penalty for defaulting on your assignment.

Miscellaneous

Is there an anonymous period where works are revealed but authors aren't?

No. Authors are revealed when works are.

Will the collection ever reveal early?

No. Nominations and signups may close a little late, and assignments due may receive a few hours grace at the mod's discretion, but assignments will go out on time or early (barring catastrophe and a comm announcement), and the collection will never be revealed early.

Are there any banning offenses?

Do not write your recipient's Do Not Wants. Don't be abusive or a jerk to your recipient or other participants. That's pretty much it.

General Exchange Questions

What is a treat?

A treat is any work you write from the requests in the collection that you were not assigned to write. They are extras and most recipients want to have them! See above for how to post treats.

If the prompts inspire you but your drabble might not exactly please the person who wrote the prompt, go ahead and add it to the collection without a recipient as a treat for the collection as a whole.

What is a pinch hit?

For various reasons, there are usually unmatched requests where no writer is available to be assigned as writer. These will then be posted in the Dreamwidth community with a request for writers to volunteer as assigned writer. These requests are called pinch hits.

What does banning refer to?

It means you did something wrong and the mod(s) have decided you can't participate in the exchange again.

What is defaulting?

Defaulting means you won't be able to finish your assigned story on time. This is a low-pressure exchange, so defaulting is not a banning offense, even if you default more than once.