Archive of Our Own

This is an exchange dedicated to tropes, variations on tropes, and trope subversions! This exchange matches based on fandom, character/relationship, trope, and medium, i.e. canon compliant, canon divergent, or alternate universe art or fanfic.

The Dreamwidth Community: https://multifandomtropefest.dreamwidth.org/

Tumblr feed (crossposts from Dreamwidth): https://multifandomtropefest.tumblr.com

Aug 22 - Sept 5: Nominations
Sept 9 - Sept 22: Sign Ups
Sept 23 - Sept 29: Matching / No Match Offer and Initial PH Cleanup
Sept 30: Assignments Out
Nov 2: Default Deadline
Nov 9: Assignments Due
Nov 10 - Nov 22: Pinch Hits / Treats
Nov 23: Work Reveals
Dec 1: Author Reveals

What are the minimum requirements for Multifandom Tropefest?

1. You’ll produce either a 2K word minimum fanfic of the character(s) or relationship and the trope OR
2. a minimum of a clean lineart illustration of the character(s) or relationship and the trope on unlined paper.

For both art and fanfic, you’ll need to avoid your recipient’s listed DNWs, i.e. the things they do not want, and turn in your work by the assignments due deadline. Works should focus on the requested character(s) or relationship and not just include them.

How long do creators have to remain anonymous?

Until author reveals. Do not share your work anywhere in public or where your recipient might see. If you need to ask for clarifications or details on anything from your recipient, send the question to the mod(s) and we will pass it along and get your answer. Do not contact your recipient directly.

What do all these terms mean?

1. The anon period is the time between work reveals and author reveals when all the gift works are visible but still anonymous. Do not break anonymity.
2. Your assignment is the work you are assigned to create by the mods and will arrive in the email address on your AO3 account.
3. Defaulting means you won’t be able to finish your assignment by the due date. As long as you follow the rules for defaulting, this is a normal thing and we understand completely.
4. DNWs are things your recipient does not want to receive and should be listed in the optional details of their signup and sometimes letter. Any DNWs provided in the signup form must be respected by the creator.
5. Letters are an optional extra many recipients choose to write in their own webspace to provide additional details about what they’d like to read. If your recipient has written a letter, it will be linked in their signup form.
6. Nominations is the part of the exchange where fandoms, relationships, characters, and tropes are added to the exchange’s tagset. Any fandoms, relationships, characters, or tropes that are not in the tagset cannot be used during the signup period.
7. Offers are the fandoms, relationships, characters, and tropes you are willing to write or create art for. Offers must only include things that are in the tagset.
8. Optional details include a recipient’s likes, dislikes, and often prompts, which may appear in the signup form or in a linked letter. Providing any of these details is optional for the recipient. Any provided dislikes or DNWs are not optional for the creator, but any likes or prompts are not required to appear in the gift work and are optional for both parties, a concept often shortened to ODAO, or optional details are optional. Creators should still try to create a work their recipient will like.
9. Pinch hits are when a recipient does not have an assigned creator, due to no available matches or their creator defaulting. Pinch hitters volunteer to create a fanwork for the recipient and are given that assignment.
10. Prompts are one element of the optional details, generally story ideas your creator might want to use for the requested relationships and/or characters.
11. Your recipient is the person you were assigned to create a work for. A treat recipient is someone who has received a treat. This is often shortened to recip.
12. Each fandom a recipient asks for is one request and may include a combination of tropes, relationships, characters, and prompts. Writers or artists are matched to requests that match their offers.
13. The tagset is a collection of all the fandoms, relationships, characters, and tropes eligible to be offered and requested during the exchange.
14. Treats are extra gifts that are not assigned.

Are treats allowed? Do they have to meet minimum requirements? Do I have to sign up to treat?

Anyone is allowed to create and give treats. They do not have to meet the minimum requirements but should be tagged “Treat” or “Extra Treat” to make it easier for mods to verify. Art should still be on unlined paper, and all treats should match one of the recipient’s requests while avoiding their DNWs.

Nominations

What fandoms am I allowed to nominate?

There are no rarity requirements on fandoms. You can nominate for original works, crossovers, rare fandoms, megafandoms, anthropomorphic, etc. If your fandom is especially rare or obscure, such that an internet search might not turn it up, please keep an eye on the dreamwidth community for clarification posts requesting further information until all your fandoms have been approved.

How many nominations do I get?

10 fandoms, 20 relationships per fandom (this includes both relationships and individual characters), and 20 tropes.

How to nominate fandoms:

You can nominate a total of 10 fandoms.

1. To nominate a fandom already listed on AO3, just select the canonical tag provided from the dropdown.
2. To nominate a fandom not already listed on AO3, just type in and save a new fandom tag. If the fandom is particularly obscure and can’t be found from an internet search, keep an eye out for clarification posts on the Dreamwidth community with any questions until all your fandoms have been approved.
3. To nominate under Crossover Fandom, just add your relationships and characters under that fandom name.
4. To nominate under Original Works, copy/paste the fandom name for the gender configuration you're nominating and nominate under that fandom name: available here at the tagset in Uncategorized Fandoms or No Media.

How to nominate relationships:

There is no exchange-imposed limit on characters in a relationship. You can do as many as the field will allow. You can nominate a total of 20 relationships and/or characters per fandom, using the relationships field.

1. To nominate romantic or sexual relationships, use the format: Character Name/Character Name.
2. To nominate platonic relationships, use the format: Character Name & Character Name.
3. To nominate mixed relationships, use the format: Character Name/Character Name & Character Name.
4. To nominate a relationship with an original character, use the format: Character Name/Original Gender Character, e.g. Edmund Pevensie/Original Female Character.
5. To nominate crossover relationships, use the format: Character Name (Fandom)/Character Name (Fandom) & Character Name (Fandom), etc., e.g. Gamora (MCU) & Cassandra Cillian (Librarians).
6. To nominate original works relationships, use the format: Gender Character Description/Gender Character Description & Gender Character Description, etc., e.g. Male Gardener/Agender Deity of the Harvest. A missing gender designation will be corrected to Any Gender.

How to nominate characters:

You can nominate a total of 20 relationships and/or characters per fandom, using the relationships field.

1. To nominate a character without any relationships, use the format: Character Name & None.
2. To nominate a character in a romantic or sexual relationship with any other character in the fandom, use the format: Character Name/Any.
3. To nominate a character in a platonic relationship with any other character in the fandom, use the format: Character Name & Any.
4. To nominate an original character in the fandom, use the format: Original Character Description, e.g. Original Queen of Narnia & None, etc. Generic original character nominations with no description will not be accepted.
5. To nominate an original works character, use the format: Gender Character Description & None, etc. A missing gender designation will be corrected to Any Gender.

How to nominate tropes:

You can nominate a total of 20 tropes using the freeforms field.

1. To nominate a trope, use the format: Trope Name.
2. To nominate a variation or subversion of a trope, use the format: Trope Name - Variation Name.

For example:

• Soulmates
• Soulmates - Happy Ending with Someone Else
• Soulmates - Platonic Soulmates

This will enable other participants to find the tropes they’re interested in more easily. Any tags not in this format will be corrected by the mod(s).

During the nominations period, the mods will post any questions they have of the nominators on the Dreamwidth community. Please keep an eye open for these posts until all your nominations are approved. The moderators have no way of seeing who nominated what and will need to be able to communicate with participants via the community.

Sign Ups

How many requests am I allowed or required to make?

You’re required to request a minimum of 3 fandoms with 1 relationship or character and 1 trope. You are allowed to request up to 10 fandoms with 20 relationships or characters and 20+ tropes. Where the checkbox is provided, you may also request Any, which only refers to things that are in the tagset.

How many offers am I allowed or required to make?

You’re required to offer a minimum of 3 fandoms with 1 relationship or character and 1 trope. You are allowed to offer up to 10 fandoms with 20 relationships or characters and 20+ tropes. Where the checkbox is provided, you may also offer Any, which only refers to things that are in the tagset.

How to request or offer fandoms, relationships, and characters:

Fandoms from the tagset are provided in the dropdowns. If your fandom doesn’t show up when you start typing, copy and paste the fandom from the tagset and your signup should save correctly.

You can only include one fandom per offer or request. Fandoms do not have to be unique, but you must request/offer at least three unique fandoms on your signup form. If your signup does not have three unique fandoms, the mods will attempt to contact you to add more via your AO3 email address. If we can’t reach you before the end of the signup period, your signup may be subject to deletion.

Relationships and characters nominated in the tagset should show up in the dropdowns for the Relationships field on the signup form. If your relationship or character doesn’t show up when you start typing, copy and paste the relationship from the tagset and your signup should save correctly.

You may include up to 20 relationships and characters in each request or offer on your signup. These should be unique. Don’t request the same relationship with three different sets of tropes. Just use the optional tags in one request to add more tropes. See How to request or offer tropes.

How to request or offer tropes:

Tropes from the tagset are provided in the dropdowns under the Additional Tags field. If your trope doesn’t show up when you start typing, copy and paste the fandom from the tagset and your signup should save correctly.

You may request or offer up to 20 tropes in the Additional Tags field or, for offers, select the checkbox Any. If you need more than 20 but don’t wish to match to any trope in the tagset, copy/paste the rest of your additional tags from the tagset to the Optional Tags field. These will be counted as Additional Tags during matching. (Please limit this to approximately 20 more tropes in Optional Tags, as larger numbers may cause problems with the matching code.)

How to request or offer art or fiction:

The sign up form allows you to select canon compliant, canon divergent, or alternate universe art or fiction (in the Characters field). You may select any combination of checkboxes or Any. You are required to select at least one medium.

How to specify DNWs in requests (things you do not want to receive):

The things you do not want to receive, or your DNWs, must be included in the sign up form to be enforceable by the mods. Please list them clearly and separate from your likes. If you receive a fanwork that includes a DNW, please report it to the mods so we can get you a fanwork that matches your requests.

How to link an optional letter in requests:

Some people want more room to write their requests than is available in the sign up form. You may link to a publicly available, unlocked letter on another site to give yourself more room to write. Your letter is not enforceable by the mods as it is subject to being edited after sign ups are closed.

If your recipient’s letter is still locked, unavailable, or a placeholder a few days after assignments go out, feel free to contact the mods at [email protected] to check in with the recipient.

How to fill out optional details in requests:

Optional details is a field to put in the things you’d like to not receive, your DNWs, and the things you’d like to receive, e.g. details you like about the characters or relationships, how you want them portrayed, fic/art ideas or prompts, general things you like in fic or art.

You should avoid threatening your creator or bashing any characters/ships/fandoms. You are not allowed to request romantic ships in the tags then specify you only want gen in your optional details, nor to request gen relationships in the tags then specify you want shipfic or art.

Matching

What are we matched on?

Participants are matched on at least:

• one fandom
• one relationship or character
• one trope
• one medium

This means your gift will include at least one of your requested relationships or characters with one of your tropes in one of your requested mediums. This is called OR matching. Your gift is not guaranteed to include all relationships and characters or tropes requested under the fandom.

Creating and Posting

Fulfilling your assignment:

You do not need to write or create art for every one of your recipient's requests! You also don't need to write or create art for the request you matched on. You can choose any one of their requests and create a fanwork that matches one of the Relationship, Character(Medium), and Trope tags for that request.

How to ask questions of your recipient:

If for any reason you would like to contact your recipient while the collection is still anonymous—for example, to clarify a DNW or another detail in their request—you can do that by emailing us privately at [email protected], and we will pass the question along. Please do not contact your recipient directly, even anonymously.

Am I allowed to create a fanwork in an alternate format, such as podfic or interactive fiction?

Interactive fiction must meet the requirements of the exchange: at least 2K words and matched to your recipient’s request. Ideally, you should believe your recipient would enjoy receiving interactive fiction, and if there is no indication either way, perhaps ask through the mod.

Podfic or anything that moves it from a written textual or two dimensional art medium is not allowed.

How to post your assignment or pinch hit assignment:

Go to your assignments page on the AO3 collection, click the Fulfill button. This should automatically populate the collection and recipient fields. If they’re missing, click the checkbox next to your Multifandom Tropefest assignment.

Save your work as a draft first by clicking Preview before you post your work to the collection. On the preview page, verify that the collection information is still in the header of the work. If it’s missing, click Save Without Posting, then edit the work to re-add collection info before publishing the story. This will prevent your work from being revealed immediately instead of staying anonymous and unrevealed.

How to post treats:

Go to the AO3 collection, click the Post to Collection button, and in the recipient field on the work, make sure to add your recipient’s name. Please tag the work with “Treat” or “Extra Treat” to make it easier for mods to verify everyone has received their assigned gift work.

Save your work as a draft first by clicking Preview before you post your work to the collection. On the preview page, verify that the collection information is still in the header of the work. If it’s missing, click Save Without Posting, then edit the work to re-add collection info before publishing the story. This will prevent your work from being revealed immediately instead of staying anonymous and unrevealed.

How to default:

If you’re unable to complete your assignment, go to your assignments page on the AO3 collection, and click on the Default button. This will email the mods that you are unable to complete your fanwork and they’ll know to send your assignment out to pinch hits.

The default deadline is November 2. If the assignments due date passes and you have not submitted your fanwork to the collection or you have uploaded a placeholder, you will be considered a no-show defaulter and will be banned from the exchange for the next round.