rarepair_shorts | Winter 2011-2012 Fic Exchange

As promised, here we are: the Winter 2011-2012 Fic Exchange. We can hardly believe it's our fifth year!

In case you haven’t been around the last several years, go check out the masterlist from last year, or the year before, or the year before that, or even the year before that! (Whew!) Those will give you some idea of how things work, and how much fun this event can be!

PLEASE READ THROUGH THIS POST CAREFULLY BEFORE ASKING QUESTIONS. There is a lot of information to sift through, because absolutely everything you need to know is in this post. There have been no major changes made to the rules this year, but it's a good idea to read them through even if you've participated in this fest before, just to refresh your memory. It's especially important to remember our ratings policy, irksome as it may be!

GENERAL RULES

01. You must write a fic of at least 800 words and no more than 2500 words pertaining to your assignment. You also have the option of breaking it down into drabble form - you may write as many drabbles as you wish, but the combined total number of words must be at least 800 words as well (and again, no more than 2500). Fics should be completed and should not be sequels to or continuations of a pre-existing work.

02. Fics must not be rated higher than R. We cannot stress this enough, because we do occasionally have problems with this. Remember to please be tasteful and mindful of your recipient's wishes.

03. Obviously, you may only request/write about rare pairs. What counts as a rare pair? Anything not on this list.

04. All fics must be beta-read and spell-checked before submission. If you can't find someone to beta-read your fic(s), you can PM us (

rarepairs_mod) or email us at the mod account to beta-read it for you. We should be the last resort when it comes to beta-ing, because we don't want to beta everyone's fics. ;)

05. Upon receiving your assignment, please reply to the email to confirm that you have received it. If at any time you find yourself struggling with your assignment, PLEASE CONTACT US! We will help sort out any problems and will reassign you if need be.

06. Upon completion, send in your fics to rarepair.shorts.mod[AT]gmail.com with subject line "RPS Fic Exchange (your username)". Fics will be due by December 11, 2011.

07. Fics should be in either .pdf, .txt, .doc, or .docx format, and should include all the proper html tags. Also include the proper heading information:

Author: Your LJ name, which will be hidden until the reveal
Recipient: The LJ name of the person you are writing for
Title:
Pairing:
Rating:
Word Count:
Summary:
Author's Notes: Thank your betas, leave a note for the recipient, give any warnings for the story, etc.

If you've decided to go with the multiple drabble approach, then be sure to do one of these headers for each drabble, excluding the Author and Recipient lines.

Copy header here:
Author: Recipient: Title: Pairing: Rating: Word Count: Summary: Author's Notes:

08. If you need an extension, CONTACT US IMMEDIATELY. This year, like years before, we have decided that we will grant extensions that only last a week and a half after the deadline has passed. Frankly, we are tired of being strung along for a few weeks only to have a participant drop out.

09. As far as dropping out goes... we really hope that you don't, though we understand if real life gets in the way. Don't sign up if you know you won't have the time to write a quality fic for your recipient. If you do drop out of the exchange, you will not receive your gift - it will be posted to the community as a gift for everyone. (We will, of course, check in with writers to make sure that this is okay with them.) Additionally, if the deadline passes and we don't hear from you within two days, we will automatically assume you've dropped out, unless you've previously contacted us. We can't waste any more time and energy trying to hunt you down - it isn't fair. Those who drop out irresponsibly (that is, after the deadline and/or extensions were granted) will not be welcomed back in future rounds of the exchange. We understand that sometimes having to drop out isn't your fault; however, this isn't always the case, and we don't want to have to deal with the same irresponsible participant two years in a row.

10. This is an ANONYMOUS exchange, and it will remain as such until the time of the big reveal. So, please don't go posting your fic all over the place until after the masterlist is posted.

SIGNING UP
Reply to this post with the following form.

You
Name:
Email Address:
LJ name of someone you trust (and can keep a secret) that the person creating your gift can contact with questions about your preferences:
Are you willing to be a pinch-hitter if need be?:

Receiving
Top five (or so) pairings you'd like to receive:
Desired rating of your gift:
Situations, genres, prompts, things, etc., you want: Be specific!
Situations, genres, things, etc., you DON'T want: Again, it only helps to give as many details as you can. Include squicks.

Giving
Are you willing to write slash, femmeslash, or both?:
Are you willing to write het?:
Highest rating you will write (up to R):
Characters and genres you can or would like to write:
Situations, ships, characters, genres, etc., you CANNOT or would NOT like to write: Include squicks.
Any additional writing strengths: (optional)

(Copy the form here:)

SIGN-UPS CLOSE NOVEMBER 9. Assignments will be sent out by November 11. Fics will be due one month later, on December 11.

If you have any questions whatsoever, EMAIL US at the mod account or respond to the FAQ thread on this post. Comments are not screened, so if you need to ask about your specific assignment once you have received it, please email us.

Remember to tell your friends! The more the merrier! :D