FAQ

[crantz]

Table of Contents:

1. Welcome


2. Schedule


3. How it works


4. General questions


5. Nominations

Welcome to Once Upon a Fic Exchange!


This fic exchange is for:

• Fairy tales


• Myths


• Mythological creatures (new for 2018!)


• Legends


• Rhymes


• Fables


• Tall Tales


• Ballads


• Aaand Epics

The stories and sources must be legally available online. An adaptation that is under copyright restrictions, like a Disney movie, cannot be nominated.



Time to dig up your favourite fairy-tales to share!

FAQ

Who's in charge?


Mod: Benedict/Crantz
Co-Mod: Morbane!


Contact us at: onceupon@fandom.exchange


When does this exchange run?


2018 Schedule:


Nomination Period: January 21st, Sunday to February 4th, Sunday 11:59pm
Sign Ups: February 9th, Friday to February 18th, Sunday 11:59 pm
Assignments out: February 21st, Wednesday
No-Fault Default Deadline: April 22nd, 11:59 pm, Sunday (NEW)
Deadline: May 13th, 11:59 pm, Sunday
Archive Goes Live: May 18th, Friday [no earlier than 8:59 am, may be later]
Anon Period Ends: May 25th, Friday [no earlier than 8:59 am, may be later]




(All times are in the CENTRAL/CST timezone (CDT after March 11th))


HOW IT WORKS:




Stage 1: Nominate (if you want to) during the Nomination Period: (Nomination FAQ here)
Stage 2: Sign-ups will open up on ao3 and you will choose which tales you want stories for, and which you want to write.
Stage 3: You will be assigned a recipient.
Stage 3a: You write a story for the recipient and anyone else you want to.
Stage 4: You post your story and everyone is happy.
Stage 5: Everyone reads the stories and is even more happy.






Who can participate?


As long as you have an Ao3 account (if you haven't got one, please contact a mod!), you're in! We have a community on Dreamwidth where you can talk about the exchange, post an exchange letter, and find or offer to be a beta reader, if you want. Sign ups, assignments, and posting will be done through AO3.




GENERAL QUESTIONS:




How do nominations and matching work?


You will nominate 4 tales (please be specific as to which you mean. Instead of nominating just Cinderella, please nominate Aschenputtel - Brothers Grimm or Cinderella - Charles Perrault, for instance!) and characters from them. See a more detailed nominations guide below.


Then during sign ups, you will request 4-10 tales, and offer to write 4-10 tales, with up to 8 characters each, and you will be matched up on one fandom and one character to write, and someone will be matched to you in the same way.


It'll be done on an 'Or' basis for characters for ease of matching. This means that even if you asked for Cinderella, Ugly Step-sister 1, Ugly Step-sister 2, and Wicked Stepmother, if another person only offered Ugly Step-sister 2, you can still be matched together and they will probably write you a story about Ugly Step-sister 2.


pumpkinkingmod has made a visual guide here.




Letters? Sign up form?


When you sign up at ao3, there'll be a field for additional details. You can include all sorts of things in there - pairings you like, pairings you hate, plots you like, prompts, things that give you the heebies! Use it as much as you like!


A letter is essentially the same thing, a letter to your author that contains everything you want them to know. Neither are required, but make things a lot easier on your author! Give it a try.


You can find the community letter posts on Dreamwidth under the Letters tag.




Okay, so I don't like my assignment. Can I get a new one?


If an offer in your sign-up matches a request in your assignment, I'm afraid what you get is what you get.


I cannot change your assignment once assignments are out. Please default if you are unable to write your story.


My story has errors! What do I do?


It's okay! You can edit your story well after you've posted it until the collection goes live! We ask that once the collection goes live you make only minor edits and that the story you've uploaded is a version that is good enough for your recipient to see.


The exchange is live, but I never got a story. Where is it?


Tell us immediately that it's missing so we can find out why.

What if I can't do the story I'm assigned?


Please default, if you absolutely cannot write your story. You can default by going to your ao3 profile and going to the assignments page and hitting the default button.


This allows me to assign a Pinch Hitter to your recipient in a timely manner.


However, don't let this discourage you from writing treats for other participants! If your writer posts a story for you, please comment!


Don't be embarrassed. Sometimes a story just doesn't happen, and comments are the lifeblood of writers.


If you have defaulted, and your author defaults, you will not be assigned a new author.


New to 2018: we have a default deadline! If you think you need to default, please default by April 22! If after that time you default or you don’t turn a story in, you will be banned from signing up in 2019.


My recipient listed other fandoms I'm into that I didn't sign up for. What if I want to write them?


You can write any fandom your recipient has requested in order to fulfill the assignment.


My recipient is into a lot of fairy-tales that they talk about elsewhere that wasn't in their sign up. Could I write one of those instead?


Not instead - but possibly as well as, if they like crossovers. Your story must include one of the fairy tales that is requested in the form by your recipient, and can contain others if your recipient has said they like that idea.


Does it have to be beta'd?


We'd appreciate it if it was, and we'll even help you find a beta! There'll be a post on the Dreamwidth community where people will offer to beta stories. Or contact the mods directly if you want extra help!


Can I request a crossover?


You can suggest one in your letter, but your writer is not obligated to do that. Optional details are optional.


Can I ask my recip for more details?


Please do not contact your recipient, even anon. You can tell me if their letter is still locked or somesuch and I'll see what I can do.


Do I have to write exactly what they asked for?


Optional is optional. You're only required to write one of the fandoms your recipient requested, and one of the characters they requested in it. But if the recipient has included in either their additional details or dear author letter a list of things they hate, do not write those into the story.


My story isn't 1000 words. Can I still post it?


If this is your assignment, you will be considered as having dropped out. If this is a treat, yes you can. Treats don't have to be 1000 words.




MISC
How do I tag my story's fandom/nomination?


First, see if it's already in the archive. If it's not, please make your tag as clear as possible for ease of archiving.


In this instance, simply use the common English name or Ao3 tag (if it exists) of the tale along with any story-specific characters you want.


If your story doesn't have a common name, choose something descriptive (Medusa and Athena (Greek Myth) for example) and go with that. If you're stuck, consult a mod for help.




How secret is this?


You'll be anonymous until author reveals! Check the schedule for when that is. Don't let your recipient find out who you are until then!


I really love these prompts from another person who is NOT my recipient and I think I can fulfil them AND my assignment. Can I do that?


Go for it! It'd be a nice treat for them! ALSO you may end up being able to take them on as a pinch hit, so keep an eye out for that once assignments go out.


I hate my story. What do I do?


Please be kind to your author, they tried their best. We do not condone rude comments to authors.


If you mean the one you wrote, I think that's normal and you should take a few minutes to think about the various ways you're a cool person.


NOMINATIONS:


How many nominations do we get?


You get:


4 tale nominations
0-4 character nominations per tale.




What is eligible?

• Fairy-tales - examples:
  
  • Cinderella - Charles Perrault
  
  
  • The Moonchild and the Bamboo Cutter | Kaguyahime (Fairytale)
  
  
  • The Snake Who Became The King's Son-in-Law (Fairytale)


• Nursery-rhymes - examples:
  
  • Little Boy Blue (Nursery Rhyme)
  
  
  • Three Little Kittens Have Lost Their Mittens (Nursery Rhyme)
  
  
  • Jack Be Nimble (Nursery Rhyme)


• Tall tales - examples:
  
  • Paul Bunyan (Tall Tale)
  
  
  • Johnny Appleseed (Tall Tale)


• Legends - examples
  
  • Holy Grail (Arthurian Mythology)
  
  
  • El Dorado (Legend)
  
  
  • Robin Hood (This may be better served with 'The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood - Howard Pyle')
  
  
  • Atlantis - Plato
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend#Legends_in_folklore)


• Myths - examples:
  
  • The Labours of Heracles (Herakles - Euripides)
  
  
  • Thor's Wedding (Edda - Snorri Sturluson)
  
  
  • Isis reassembling Osiris (De Iside et Osiride - Plutarch)
  
  Because this section is religion focused, the mods will not allow anything that is considered secret or restricted to practitioners only


• Mythical Creatures - examples:
  
  • The Caladrius (Aberdeen Bestiary)
  
  
  • The Chupacabra (Central Americas Urban Legend)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Please be as specific as you can.
  
  
  'Cinderella - Charles Perrault' versus 'Perrault's stories', ‘Gawain and the Green Knight’ versus 'Arthurian Mythology.'
  
  
  If your story doesn't have an AO3 canonical name, choose something descriptive (Medusa and Athena (Greek Myth) for example) and go with that. If you can refer to the source (ie, author, larger titled work) that is very helpful. If you're stuck, consult a mod for help. You may find the names of your nominations changed to more specific versions. Please contact us immediately if we've chosen wrongly.
  
  
  You may want to nominate an individual story or episode from a very long work. In that case “Descriptive name of story (Longer Title of Work)” may be a good format. Discuss it with us!
  
  
  The sources should be legally and freely available online. If your fairy-tale comes from a country, language, or culture whose literature isn't well-represented freely online, please contact the mods and we will see what we can do.
  
  
  Participants! Please be prepared to include links to your preferred version of a tale. There's a huge difference between, say, Perrault's version of Cinderella and the Brothers Grimm. As well, huge works like Ovid's Metamorphoses and 1001 Nights are acceptable to nominate in parts!
  
  
  There will be links provided for each story nominated!
  
  
  Hey! What about mythological creatures?
  
  
  New this year - we're allowing in mythological and legendary creatures! When you nominate one of these, you must provide a source in the public domain. Appropriate sources might be: a translation of an original text; an article that cites multiple sources; a book about the subject (or possibly just a chapter in such a book). Here are some examples of acceptable sources:
  
  
  
  
  
  • The Aberdeen Bestiary - a medieval Christian bestiary, with pictures, transcription, and translation
  
  
  • A set of public domain bestiary texts - one of these may have a creature that intrigues you
  
  
  • A public-domain scholarly work on Japanese and Chinese dragons, published in 1913 (you could nominate a specific dragon or type of dragon from this book)
  
  
  • The Wikipedia article on the Chupacabra - this is fine as it is well-referenced and not a stub article
  
  
  
  
  
  Speaking of wikipedia, this post contains a good start for using wikipedia categories to find/source animals! As well as several starting points for looking up fairy-tales and legends.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  • 2015's spreadsheet of sources for the fics that year.
  
  
  • 2016's spreadsheet of sources for the fics that year.
  
  
  • 2017's spreadsheet of sources for the fics that year.
  
  
  
  
  
  

  ---

  
  
  
  
  
  little book graphic by Heatphones
  
  
  FAQ UPDATED 27 Jan 2018

Comments

[foxinthestars]

Would you include ballads over 100 years old and with text easily available (eg the Child Ballads)?

[crantz]

Yep! They sound like they'd fit in perfectly. I'll put them in the links section soon.

[foxinthestars]

Thanks!

(Whee! Tam Lin! Willie of Winsbury! Etc.!)

[xenomantid]

Is A Princess of Mars eligible for this exchange? It's availalbe publicly, and it is over a century old. And what about works that are a hundred years old, no more or less?

[crantz]

No, it is most certainly not a fairy tale.

[crantz]

my cranky response aside, thanks for pointing out the problem with the faq. I've cleared it up.

[xenomantid]

You're welcome. I didn't think anything by Edgar Rice Burroughs fit the criteria; I just wanted to make sure.

And I meant "available," not "availalbe."

[wildandfreehearts]

Would we nominate myths under the AO3 tags (like simply 'Greek Mythology') or should we try to differentiate which specific myths?

[wildandfreehearts]

Also, I was wondering if folklore is eligible? Like The Pied Piper of Hamelin and Till Eulenspiegel?

[crantz]

And yes! Folklore is totally eligible.

[crantz]

Ooh good question.

Here's what ao3 support has to say:

The best summation we can give is: "be as specific as possible". While your tag set can use whatever terms you prefer, using specific terms, including country of origin or source language if applicable, will make categorization on our end easier.

Now, after some searching of ao3 I found this page with a good example:

http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Jocasta%20%28Greek%20and%20Roman%20Mythology%29



Greek and Roman Mythology <-- we won't use this, it's too general
Oedipus Cycle - Sophocles <-- much better
Ἰοκάστη | Jocasta (Hellenistic Religion & Lore) <-- canon for jocasta and what I will recommend for putting in myths for people who have only one story. Whereas other ones would be Perseus and Medusa (Hellenistic Religion & Lore) when it refers to a specific incident.

[flo_nelja]

Hello! Thank for doing this exchange!
What if a non-English version of the original mythical text is available on the Internet, but no English one, only detailed summaries? Can we nominate it?

[crantz]

If you can provide me with the detailed summaries, I'll let it in.

[flo_nelja]

Thank you! Unfortunately, I didn't find even the summary for the one I wanted. Next year i'll do it myself in advance :-)

[crantz]

Aw, I'm sorry to hear that!

[flo_nelja]

Oh, just to ask for next year, would Faust count in account of being based on an urban legend/christian myths, or is it too much of a literary myth?

[crantz]

Me and Morbane shall discuss!

[flo_nelja]

Can people who didn't suscribe to the challenge write treats?

[flo_nelja]

I'm sorry to insist, I'm asking for a friend?

[crantz]

Oh damn! I'm sorry, I let this slip.

Yes! It's totally allowed. The easiest way to make sure it goes to the right place is to go to the collection on ao3 and choose the 'post to collection' button instead of doing the fill in from the post new works page.

I'm sorry again.