Info and FAQ
Exchange Info AO3 Collection | Tagset | Sign-up Form | Discord Server Invite
What is the N7 Exchange? - An exchange celebrating the Mass Effect Franchise of video games! Participants create fic or fanart of characters and relationships from the games.
What are the sign up requirements? - Participants must have an AO3 account. - The mod reserves the right to delete sign-ups that contain ship/character bashing and/or kinkshaming.
What are the minimum requirements for works in this exchange? - Fanfiction must be a minimum of 500 words, and a free-standing and completed work of a quality you would be happy to receive. - Art must be a completed lineart drawing of good resolution on unlined paper and of a quality you would be happy to receive. Art may not use elements from other pieces of art. Manips are not allowed. - There are no minimum requirements for treats.
How will participants be matched? - 1 Fandom - 1 Relationship - 1 Medium More Info under the cut
Nomination Requirement Info - For the mod's sanity this year, crossovers are not allowed. We might revisit this in later years. The only exception to this is crossovers between ME and MEA. - Participants may nominate any ship or character from the ME Trilogy or MEA. - Characters from all corners of Mass Effect are welcome. Yes, even that one NPC that was on screen for a total of like five seconds. Yes, even characters that were only mentioned and never seen on screen. - Relationships do not have to be canon. Nominate all the crack!
How do nominations work? - Nominations will be open for September 2nd 12:00PM PST to September 11th 11:59PM PST. - Nomination queries will be posted to the Dreamwidth comm for feedback. Please check the comm regularly. - Nomination limits are 1 fandom with 20 relationships per fandom. - If you would like to nominate a single character please do so under ‘relationships’ by disambiguating the character with “Solo: Character name” (Ex. if you would like to receive a fic solely about Garrus Vakarian you would nominate “Solo: Garrus Vakarian”) - For this exchange “/” will denote romantic and/or sexual relationships, and “&” will denote platonic relationships. Female Shepard/Urdnot Wrex is very different from Female Shepard & Urdnot Wrex - Threesomes/moresomes are welcome and encouraged! - The tagset for this challenge can be found above or by clicking this here link - Participants may nominate items to the tagset even if they are unsure whether they would like to include them in their sign-up - The tagset has been seeded with relationships from last year's exchange - If you have questions about the nomination process, feel free to drop me a DM or comment below!
How do requests work? - Participants must request fanfiction and/or fanart in the ‘Mass Effect Trilogy’, 'Mass Effect: Andromeda', or 'Crossover' fandom with a minimum of 3 unique relationships total and a maximum of 5 relationships per request. A max of 10 requests is allowed. - Please list any Do Not Wants (DNWs) in the appropriate field. A DNW is anything — a rating, category, headcanon, kink, etc. — that you definitely do not want included in your gift because it would ruin your gift for you. Only the DNWs included in the AO3 sign-up are enforceable. - Optional details are welcome and encouraged! Anything you are open to and would enjoy receiving in your gift. They may be listed in the sign-up box or in an optional letter that you link in the appropriate field. If you write a Dear Creator letter, please make sure it is visible to the public.
How do offers work? - Participants must offer fanfiction and/or fanart for a minimum of 3 relationships total with a max of 5 relationships allowed per offer. You may make up to 10 offers. - As soon as sign-ups close, matches will be generated. If none of your offers can match a request, you will be sent an email notification by the mod. Please reply to this email within 15 hours to change your offers so that you can match a request. If you do not reply, your sign-up will be deleted. - If you would like to not be paired with a certain person, you may list that in the 'Optional Details' section of the Offers section. Only the mod will see this. Please specify if you don't want to create for them, do not want them to create for you, or you do not want to be matched either way.
Assignment Info - Matches will be based on one fandom, medium, and relationship - Once sign-up closes and assignments go out, no changes will be made. The only instance in which you can contact the mod about changing your assignment is in the rare event that AO3 makes a matching error. - Once assignments are sent out, they will be emailed to the email address associated with your AO3 account. If you do not receive an email, please try to check spam. Assignments can also be found by going to your dashboard, and then clicking on "Assignments" towards the bottom of the column on the left-hand side. - You just need to create one work that matches one medium and relationship request that your recipient has made. It must respect their DNWs. - If your recipient included multiple mediums or characters/relationships in the request that you are creating for, you need only choose 1 medium and 1 character/relationship when you make their gift. - There are no restrictions concerning rating. - The assignment must be submitted by the appropriate time on Oct 31 (keep time-zone in mind). In order to post the work, you can select "Post New Work" in the top right-hand corner of the screen. Fill out the form as you usually would, and then tick the appropriate box for this challenge and your recipient (under the "Associations" field). - You may include creator's notes in the work. However, since this is an anonymous exchange, please ensure that the Notes will not reveal or hint at the creator's identity. Please no bashing of your recip, their ships, or your work. - For the sake of preserving anonymity, please do not directly contact your recipient. If you have questions about your assignment that concern your recipient's DNWs, contact the mod at [email protected]. The mod will reach out to the recipient, and then relay their answer back to you.
What is a treat? - A treat is an extra gift created for someone that is not your assigned recipient. Even if you want to create a treat, please make sure to complete your actual assignment first! - Anybody can make treats - you don't have to be signed up for this challenge to do so. - There are no minimum requirements for treats. Similarly, media for treats are not limited to fanfiction and fanart. - However, treats still need to respect DNWs. - In order to post a treat, you will have to manually enter the collection and recipient's name when filling out the form.
I can’t complete my assignment in time. What should I do? - You are free to change or delete your sign-up before sign-up closes. - After assignments are sent, if at any point you realize you won't be able to complete your assignment, please default ASAP so that pinch-hitters can start picking up dropped assignments well before works are revealed. - In order to default, go to the "Assignments" tab displayed on the left-hand side of your dashboard, find this challenge, and click "Default". If you have trouble doing so, then you may email the mod at [email protected] to leave a message saying that you need to default. - If you default, and are then defaulted on in turn, you will not be sent out as a pinch-hit.
How do pinch-hits works? - Pinch-hitters are wonderful volunteers who complete assignments that have been defaulted, or had no matches to start with. - Pinch-hits will be posted on the Dreamwidth community and the Tumblr blog as they appear. Please leave a comment there, send an ask or email the mod at [email protected] if you are able to pick up a pinch-hit. - To pick up a pinch-hit via Dreamwidth, please reply to the post that lists the pinch-hit you can write for - anyone can comment (you don't need to have a Dreamwidth account), and all comments are screened to maintain anonymity. In the comment, please include your AO3 username and the pinch hit # you can pick up. - Last-minute pinch-hits will likely get an extended deadline for completion. - Anyone is welcome to pinch-hit - you don't have to be signed up for this challenge to do so. - The collection won’t open until all who signed up, did not later default/not show up at the deadline, and submitted their assignment meeting the exchange's requirements (by the deadline) have at least one gift.
