Rules and Schedule

[galadriel1010]

AO3 Profile
Freeform tagset
2023 Relationships Tagset

What is this exchange about?
How do I participate?
What is the schedule for this exchange?
What are the different stages of this exchange?
Rules

What is this exchange about?
This is a multifandom exchange for works with a focus on cats of all kinds. This includes housecats and other felines, as well as cat-people and persons transformed into cats. Participants must create a story of at least 1,000 words or a clean, finished piece of art.

How do I participate?
You must have an Ao3 account and be at least 18 years old to participate.

What is the schedule for this exchange?
Nominations: 24 July-7 August
Signups: 7-13 August
Assignments out: 15th August at the latest
Works Due: 10th September
Works Revealed: 17th September
Creators Revealed: 25th September
All times are 11am UTC.

What are the different stages of this exchange?
Nominations
You can nominate your cats as either individuals or as part of a group. Please distinguish individuals by prefacing with Solo. All nominations should go into the "Relationships" box.

Examples:
Solo: Cat!Bucky Barnes
Cat!Bucky Barnes & Human!Steve Rogers

Real life cats should be famous in their own right, and should be nominated under the fandom Real Cat Fanfiction.
Examples:
Solo: Larry the Downing Street Cat
Maru & Hana

All nominations must contain at least one cat character. The following are considered cat characters:

• Original cat (can be entered as simply 'Cat')


• Canonically non-cat character transformed into a cat. Freeforms should be used to specify the nature of this transformation.


• Big cats such as lions and tigers (but not bears)


• Cat-people of all types


• Fictional cat-like species

When nominating catperson characters, please nominate as Catperson! and add qualifiers as needed, e.g., Original Female Catperson or Original Nonbinary Catperson.

Examples:

• Solo: Cat!Bucky Barnes


• Solo: Catperson!Bucky Barnes


• Cat!Bucky Barnes & Steve Rogers


• Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers & Cat


• Catperson!Bucky Barnes/Original Female Catperson


• Original Nonbinary Catperson & Steve Rogers

Freeforms
Freeforms can be used to specify scenarios and tropes that you are interested to see in a cat-focused fan work. Examples include:

• Accidental Cat Acquisition


• Adopting a Cat


• Temporarily Transformed Into Cat


• Character Has Always Been A Cat


• Shapeshifting Character Messes With Others

The moderators reserve the right to reject any scenarios and tags that are related to controversial real-world themes; for example, Nazi concentration camps.

Signups
Requests
You will have 10 fandom slots for requests. You may repeat fandoms with different ships/tags, but you must request at least 3 unique fandoms. For each fandom slot, you may request 1-20 relationships and 2-20 freeforms.

You may request either fic, art, or both.

If you have a letter at an external site (Dreamwidth, Tumblr, Google Docs, etc)., provide a link to it in the relevant box. Please ensure that your letter is complete by the time signups close.

If you have any Do Not Wants (DNWs) that you wish your creator to respect, they must be in the Optional Details box of your signup. DNWs that are only contained in an outside letter cannot be enforced by the mods.

The mods encourage all participants to use clear, specific, and reasonable DNWs for this exchange. If you have questions about the best way to phrase your DNWs, please contact for assistance.

Offers
You will have 10 fandom slots for offers. You may repeat fandoms with different ships/tags, but you must offer at least 3 unique fandoms. For each fandom slot, you may offer 1-20 relationships and 2-20 freeforms. You may offer "any" for relationships and/or freeforms. If you choose this option, please be sure that you are prepared to create for whatever relationship and/or freeform your recipient has requested.

You may offer either fic, art, or both.

Matching
Matching works on an OR basis. Your request will be matched to a creator based on just one fandom/pairing/freeform combination.

If you do not have a potential recipient, you will be contacted and asked to edit your sign up. If you do not wish to do that, or if you do not respond within the appropriate timeframe, your sign-up will be deleted.

Assignments
You must create one new, complete, stand-alone fanwork that includes at least one requested fandom/pairing/freeform set. You are required to include at least one freeform tag, though you may certainly include more if you like. You can use any of your recipient's prompts as a starting point, not just the one you matched on.

Fic must be at least 1,000 words and must include a beginning, middle, and end. Authors should avoid stopping mid-scene.

Art must be one finished piece of clean lineart on unlined paper, or digital equivalent.

Works must avoid the recipient's DNWs. If a recipient has an unenforceable DNW, please email the mods ASAP so we can try to resolve the problem early.

If you need clarification about any part of your assignment, please contact the mod, who will query your recipient if necessary. Please do not contact your recipient directly, even if you are friends. Please also avoid talking about your recipient or assignment outside private DMs and emails, even if you don't think your recipient is present. This includes Tumblr, Twitter, fandom Discords, the Exchanges After Dark Discord, etc.

If you find you need to default on your assignment, please email the mods or hit the "default" button on Ao3 as soon as possible so that the mods can have time to find a pinch hitter. There will be no penalty for defaulting before the deadline of

Pinch Hits
Pinch hits will be posted to the Dreamwidth Community and will be assigned on a first-come, first-serve basis. You do not need to be signed up for the exchange to claim a pinch hit.

Treats
Treats are allowed and definitely welcome. You may write treats for a specific person or for the community at large. If you write a treat for a specific person, please ensure that it avoids their DNWs. If you decide to write a treat for the community, you can gift it to on AO3.

Treats may be of any length or medium (for art), but should still be complete, stand-alone works at the time of posting.

Rules
1. Participants must be at least 18 years of age.

2. Absolutely no kinkshaming. Remember, Your Kink Is Not My Kink And That's Okay.

3. Participants who cannot complete their assignments on time must either email the mod for an extension or hit the default button as soon as possible. Participants who are no-shows at the deadline will be banned from next year's exchange.

4. All gifts must respect the recipient's DNWs. Bad faith attempts to violate the spirit of the DNW while adhering to the letter of it will be treated as DNW violations. If you are confused about your recipient's DNWs or feel they are unenforceable, please contact the mods.

5. Maintain anonymity until creator reveals. Do not contact your recipient with questions; email the mods instead. Do not post your fic, in part or in whole, anywhere but Ao3 and your beta's inbox until reveals. Avoid talking about your assignment or even which fandom you're writing for on social media, Discord, etc., even if you don't think your recipient will see it.

6. Participants are expected to be civil to one another. Mods will deal with infractions on a case by case basis but reserve the right to ban participants for mean-spirited behavior including (but not limited to): harassment on any platform, release or abuse of personal information (doxxing), deliberate spitefic, egregiously bad faith participation, or derogatory remarks in summaries, author's notes, or comments.