Archive of Our Own ^beta

Touch Pass is a fanwork exchange.

The theme of the inaugural round is gen, and the exchange will include both fanfiction and fanart.

1. What is your definition of "gen"?

We define "gen" as fanwork that does not feature an explicitly romantic and/or sexual relationship among its characters. You are still welcome to request and create fanfiction or fanart that focuses on the interactions between certain characters in a romantic context. However, we encourage participants to both request and create gen fanworks (or fanworks that could be interpreted as gen), in the interests of promoting more gen fanworks in this fandom.

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2. I don't have an AO3 account! Can I still participate?

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3. What is a "Dear Creator" letter, and do I need to write one?

In many fic exchanges, there's a tradition of writing a letter that expands on one's requests and provides additional information about what one likes and dislikes in fanwork. This letter is entirely optional, but if you choose to write one, please feel free to link the URL in your sign-up.

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4. How does matching work?

You will be assigned to a recipient who has a request that matches one of your offers for at least one character and type of fanwork. (In other words, you won't be assigned to someone who only requests "fanfiction" if you've only offered "fanart"!)

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5. Do I need to fulfill all the details of my recipient's request?

You should include at least one of the characters and create one of the fanwork types that the recipient specified for the request that you choose to fill. However, we also encourage you to try to match the prompt given in the request as much as possible, in the spirit of a gift exchange.

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5. How do I submit my gift to the collection?

Go to the Post New Work form on AO3, and make sure to fill out the following fields:

Gift this work to: [recipient's name]
Post to Collections / Challenges: touchpass

All submissions are due 2013 September 21, 11:30 PM U.S. Eastern Time.

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6. How do I post fanart to AO3?

You will need to upload your image to an external host and embed it with the <img> tag in the Work Text field on the posting form.

Because we require all participants to remain anonymous, you cannot post the image to your Tumblr/LiveJournal/Dreamwidth/Pixiv/deviantART account before the creators are revealed (though you are welcome to do so after the challenge is over). We recommend using an image sharing service like imgur or Photobucket.

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7. Can I submit more than one fanwork for my recipient?

Of course! Please follow the instructions above on submitting to our collection. The deadline for all additional gift fics is 2013 September 28, 11:30 U.S. Eastern Time.

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8. What do I do if I can't finish my submission in time?

You can default on your assignment by going to "My Assignments" and clicking on the "Default" button. We encourage you to default by 2013 September 7 if possible, to give us enough time to find pinch hitters.

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9. I missed the sign-ups! How can I still participate?

All requests will be publicly available on AO3, and everyone is welcome to peruse the prompts and submit additional gift fanfiction or fanart to the collection. Please follow the instructions above on submitting to our collection.

All pinch hits and additional gifts are due 2013 September 28, 11:30 PM U.S. Eastern Time.

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1. The theme of the inaugural round of Touch Pass is gen-oriented fanfiction and fanart. Romance-oriented requests and submissions will be allowed, but are not the main focus of the exchange.

2. Sign-ups will open on 2013 August 4 and close on 2013 August 17, 11:30 PM U.S. Eastern Time. You will need an AO3 account to sign up. If you do not have an AO3 account, please contact the mods for an invite code.

3. To sign up for the exchange, you must make at least three (no more than five) requests and offers. Each request should specify at least one (no more than five) characters and provide a prompt. Each offer should specify at least one (no more than five) characters.

4. If you wish to let your writer/artist know in more detail about what sort of gift you would enjoy receiving, you are encouraged to write a "Dear Creator" letter and link to it in your sign up.

5. Fanfiction submissions should be at least 1000 words long, standalone, and complete. Fanart submissions should be completed to a good standard.

6. All submission are due 2013 September 21, 11:30 PM U.S. Eastern Time. If you think you will not complete your submission by the deadline, please try to default before 2013 September 7 or as soon as possible, to give us enough time to obtain pinch hitters.

8. The full list of requests will be available publically on the AO3, and everyone is welcome to create additional gifts for any of the participants, regardless of whether they have signed up for the exchange. The deadline for such additional gifts is 2013 September 28, 11:30 PM U.S. Eastern Time.

9. Gifts will be revealed to their recipients on 2013 September 29, as soon as we have verified everyone has received a gift. We ask that all participants leave a comment thanking their writer/artist for the gift.

10. All participants should maintain anonymity in public spaces until creators are officially revealed on 2013 October 6. (We recommend that artists should use an image hosting service like imgur or Photobucket to preserve anonymity.)