May 31: Discord server opens. Tag nominations open.Ā
June 7: Sign-ups open.
June 10: Tag nominations close.Ā
June 14: Sign-ups close.Ā
June 17: Creation period starts.
July 17: List of creators without gifts is shared.
July 20: The prompt collection closes to new requests.
July 31: Final creations are due. Treats can still be posted, but they will not be part of the guessing event.
August 7: Works are revealed, with all creators anonymous. Guessing period starts.
August 14: Final guesses are due.Ā
August 16: Authors and honor roll are revealed. Collection closes.
August 19: Discord server closes.
What is this event?
This is an event where you make fanworks (fanfiction, fanart, poetry, and/or podfic), but youāre trying not to let anyone know it was you! Everyone who participates will pick a fake name, and all works will be posted anonymously. Then, once works are revealed, weāre all going to try to guess who made what. So, try something different, impersonate a friend, and try to throw us all off your trail!
This event will be based on a prompt collection, so youāll get to submit prompts to an overall pool, and then choose which one(s) from other participants you want to fulfill. Everyone who makes a gift work will receive a gift work. And if this sounds confusing, donāt worry. There will be tutorials and people happy to help! And please feel free to join the Discord even if you're not sure you want to participate. There are more resources, like a glossary of terms, there.
Gift Minimums:
Fic: 1000 words, with an ending
Art: A drawing completed to the standard you would normally post as "finished"
Poetry: 150 words OR a sonnet, villanelle, cascade, ghazal, pantoum, rondeau, or sestina
Podfic: Audio of either 1000 words or the complete work, whichever is shorter
Basic Rules for Participating:
You must be 13 or older.
You must join the Discord server and follow all the rules listed there.
You must have an AO3 account, sign up through AO3, and post your gift on AO3.
You must do your best to make a gift that meets the minimum requirements, and that you think your recipient will like, within the time of the event.
You must contact a moderator as soon as possible if you need to drop out of the event.
You must keep your fake name, gift(s), and recipient(s) anonymous until creator reveals.
Links:
Discord server invite (accept the rules to see the full server!)
Request an AO3 account
FAQ
How will this event work?
You will sign up by making at least three prompts using the eventās tag set. These tags will be nominated by participants during the tag nominations period, and these prompts will go into a big pool we can all pick from.
The nominated tags will be mainly KotLC relationships, but you also have the option to use āadditional tagsā like tropes and AUs. For example, I could make a prompt for a fanfiction about Sophie/Fitz, and I could add the tags āAU - Universityā and āHurt/Comfortā as suggestions for what I want to see. This can help people find the prompts theyāre most interested in creating for. Additional tags are optional, though!
Then, when the creation period starts, people will use AO3ās āclaimingā function to anonymously claim prompts they intend to create for. This way, we donāt all create for the same prompts.Ā
At the end of the creation period, and once everyone who has made a gift has received a gift, weāll provide a list of everyone who posted and every fake name. Then, youāll guess which fake name belongs to which creator, and weāll see how close we can all get!
How do the fake names work?
Everyone who participates will choose a fake name, like Crow or Kevin. Donāt tell anyone what it is. When you post your work anonymously, youāll include in your authorās note, āBy: Crow.ā A fake name is required on the first work you post.
If you post more works after that, you can choose whether or not to include your fake name as part of the game (a lot of works about a certain character from Crow might be a clue to who they are)! However, you cannot have more than one fake name; you must use the same one for the entire event.
How many prompts do I need to sign up?
You'll need to make at least three different prompts. You will not need to offer anything, because participants are not being matched. Youāll simply pick for yourself which prompt(s) you want to fill.Ā
The prompt collection will also remain open until creator reveals. Please do not edit your prompts after signups closeāwe donāt want a valid gift to become invalidābut you will be able to submit additional prompts throughout the event, up to fifteen total.
How many fanworks do I need to make?
Youāre only required to make one gift!
Can I make more than one gift?
Yes! You can fulfill as many prompts from the collection as you like within the creation period, so long as your first one meets the minimum requirements.Ā
After that, any additional works can be full gifts, or they can be ātreatsāāextra mini gifts just for fun.Ā
What if I don't get a gift?
We won't reveal the works until everyone has a full gift. If none of your prompts have been filled, weāll post you as a pinch hit, and the exchange will remain closed until someone fills one of your prompts to the minimum requirements. Everyone who participates will receive a full gift.
What isn't allowed in the exchange?
For the comfort of the most number of participants: noncon, incest, bestiality, romantic relationships between characters who are canonically adults (over 18) and characters who are canonically minors (under 18), and NSFW are not permitted. AI is also not allowed.
Considering the series, graphic violence and major character death are allowed, but only if the recipient says they're okay with receiving them.
Can multiple people claim the same prompt?
Technically, yes. However, we ask that you first look for unclaimed prompts so we donāt have several people fulfilling the same few. Later in the event, when more prompts have been claimed, overlap is more permissible.Ā
Can I submit a prompt for a recursive work?
You can only submit prompts for recursive works (fanworks based off other fanworks, like fanart of a fic) based on your own fanworks. We want to encourage new ideas that don't require prerequisite knowledge. Recursive prompts also donāt count towards your minimum three prompts.
Podficcers are allowed to fill requests by podficcing works by anyone who has given permission, including fans outside the exchange.
Last chance to sign-up for the 2026 KotLC Guess the Creator exchange, where we'll be making fic, art, and more for each other while trying to hide our identities and trick our friends! (Full explanation here)
Sign-ups will close today at 9:59 P.M. EDT--that's in about 11 hours. If you'd like to sign up, join the discord here, which has all the links you need, mods happy to answer questions, and lots of fun!
is it too late to join guess the creator (it's 6:15 am in CDT as im sending this ask)
It is not too late! There is still time! Guess the Creator sign-ups are open until 9:59 PM EDT today, June 14th, which is about 14 hours from the time I'm answering this.
To sign-up, join the discord, where you'll find links to everything you need, mods to directly answer questions and guide you through the process, and a very hyped community to talk with :)
We hope you see you there--we have more participants than ever before, so it's going to be a very fun year!!
Sign ups are now officially open! They'll stay open until June 14th at 9:59 P.M. EDT. If you want in on the fun, join the discord to find links to everything you need to start fooling your friends!
We hope to see you there and are very excited to see everyone's creations!
There are three days left to sign up for the Guess the Creator event this summer! Instructions can be found here, and mods are available in the discord to answer any questions!
You can also take a peek at some of the prompts people have submitted so far here!
can people just pinch hit or just do bonus gifts for guess the creator? Or, could unclaimed prompts be posted after?
If you haven't signed up for the exchange, you can still fill prompts, yes! We won't have pinch hitters in the form of dropped assignments, but towards the end of the creation period, we'll be releasing the list of participants who haven't yet received a minimum gift, and we would love to have extra hands helping us with that.
For non-signed up participants, please:
Note that you and your work(s) will not be officially part of the guessing portion of the exchange
Still join the Discord, and put your AO3 username in your Discord nickname so we can contact you if needed
Put in the author's note of any works you post to the collection that you are not a participant so guessing can proceed smoothly. (Though you are welcome to include a fake name like everyone else. You just won't be officially part of the guessing.)
Wait to claim any prompts until after the first three days of the creation period, so participants who are required to make a gift have first claim.
As for later gifting, the collection will close when authors are revealed, but you are absolutely welcome to keep gifting to people after the event is over if you would like to.
I'm not super familiar with ao3 for exchanges, can you update/add prompts once you've submitted a sign up?
That depends on the exchange! For us, you can edit prompts until signups close on June 14 (8:59 CDT), and you can continue submitting additional prompts after that all the way until July 20 (8:59 CDT). So you can continue to submit prompts for most of the creation period, which is not typical for exchanges!
Sign ups are now officially open! They'll stay open until June 14th at 9:59 P.M. EDT. If you want in on the fun, join the discord to find links to everything you need to start fooling your friends!
We hope to see you there and are very excited to see everyone's creations!
Starting today, June 7, at 8:59 P.M. CDT, and until June 14th at the same time, you will be able to sign up for the KOTLC Guess the Creator 2026 event! Below is an example of how to do so. If you have any questions or need help signing up, let the mods know on Discord!
(And please remember that to participate, you must first join the Discord.)
To sign up, first go to the AO3 collection.
You will need to make at least three prompts. These are inspiration for fanworks you would like to receive, and they're made using the relationship tags and additional tags that are in the tag set. You can make up to fifteen prompts, and you have until June 14th at 8:59 P.M. CDT to sign up for the exchange.
(After your initial signup, you are free to continue submitting prompts to the collection until July 20th at 8:59 P.M. CDT. You still need to have a complete signup, including three prompts and a Google form submission, by July 14, though.)
Now, I'm going to make my first prompt. I'd like to see some kind of cute, cozy Sophie and Fitz modern AU.
First, I'm going to select the types of fanwork I want to receive. For this prompt, I'm interested in receiving either art or fic, so I'll select those two. (Yes, these are sorted under characters; it's one of the quirks of running an AO3 exchange!)
This means my gifter could choose either of those mediums, not that they'll do both.
Next, I pick the relationships I'm interested in. I said I wanted Sophie and Fitz, so I'm going to pick every version of them I'm okay with that's in the tag set. For me, I'm fine with romantic, platonic, or queerplatonic, so I'll include all three.
Again, this means my gifter will choose which of the three they want to do, not that they'll do all of them. My relationships section looks like this:
Now, this next part is optional, but highly recommended because it helps give your gifter inspiration and a better idea of what you're interested in.
Under additional tags, I'll add what AUs, themes, or ideas I'd be interested in seeing. Since I want something cute, cozy, and modern, I think I'll use these tags:
You can add up to 20 per prompt. Your gifter doesn't have to use these, but they'll help guide them to giving you a gift you'll like.
Next, warnings. These are the AO3 archive warnings you are okay with being included. This doesnāt mean they have to or will be included. But you are opting in to the potential for them to be.
For my cozy Sophitz prompt, I don't want any warnings, so I'll only opt into "No Archive Warnings Apply"
And, the most exciting part, the free-write part of the prompt! This is where you can write any more specific ideas or inspiration you had, and where you can include your likes and DNW ("Do Not Want") list. Your DNW list includes things you do not want to receive, and your gifter is required to follow it, enforced by mods. It is highly recommended to include one.
You do not need to DNW things not allowed in the exchange. This includes noncon, incest, bestiality, romantic relationships between characters who are canonically adults (over 18) and characters who are canonically minors (under 18), and NSFW.
This is what my prompt looks like:
The goal here is to give guidance on things you'd enjoy while still giving your gifter enough freedom to create something they enjoy! If you chose art as a potential medium, don't forget to include inspiration for artists as well.
Finally, you'll see this checkbox. Leave it unchecked. We don't want prompts to be anonymous. This way, people can control who they're gifting to so we don't all accidentally choose the same two people.
Perfect! That's my first request done.
I'm going to do the same for my second prompt. This time I want a dramatic, intense Time Loop AU with Tam as the focus. I'd prefer a fic or a poem, and there are a few relationships I'd be okay with as the focus.
Notice I have multiple versions of Sophie and Tam, but only one of Tam and Fitz. That's because that was the only version of the relationship nominated. If I want Tam & Fitz, or Tam ~ Fitz, I'm going to have to nominate those myself. Tag nominations, which you can find instructions for here, will remain open until June 10th at 8:59 P.M. EDT. That's just a few more days, not the whole signup period, so plan ahead!
Okay, back to the prompt. Since this is a more intense idea, I'm okay with any archive warning. This means I might get a fanwork with graphic violence or major character deathāit's not a guarantee. I've also given some potential ideas, and I've left that last checkmark blank.
Now for my last required prompt! I'm going to be a little risky with this one. Additional tags are not required, so I'm not going to put any. All I want is something with Marella Redek/Linh Song.
This means that my gifter, if they choose this prompt, can make whatever they wantāI've opted into any medium and any archive warningāso long as it doesn't break my DNW. This is riskier because, without guidance, I might not like the tags they choose to use. It's a good idea with any request to look through the tag set and DNW any tags you don't want, but especially if you're going to make a prompt like this. You can see that I've done that here.
And with that, I'm done making prompts, so I'll hit submit at the bottom! Again, three prompts is the minimum, but you can make up to fifteen (just use the "Add another request?" button in the bottom right), and those can be submitted until July 20th (CDT).
You're not quite done signing up, though! Please now hop over to this Google Form and fill it out. We just need your AO3 and Discord usernames, then links to wherever you typically post fanwork. Here's an example form filled out by Catherine:
This information (minus the "comments for the mods" question, not pictured) will be shared with the other participants to help enable the guessing part of the game. Thanks for participating, and we're so excited to see what you make!
Bonus: Prompting Recursive Works
This is not required. You can make a complete sign-up with the above information. This is for those interested in a specific kind of prompt: a recursive prompt.
A recursive work is a fanwork inspired by another fanwork (e.g. fanart based on a fic, a fic inspired by another fic, a podfic). You are allowed to request recursive work with a few caveats.
Recursive prompts cannot count towards your minimum three required. And they must be prompts for your work (i.e. requesting something based on a fanwork you made, not someone else).
(Though, note: Podficcers can fill prompts by podficcing any work on the platform that has a permission statement. Otherwise, the requests they would be able to fill would be really limited!)
To make a recursive request, I'm going to first, like normal, select which mediums I'd be okay with receiving.
Then, in the relationships section, I'm going to put in the associated recursive tags for the mediums I chose. I chose all four, so I'm going to use all four. They are: Art Based on My Work, Fic Based on My Work, Podfic Based on My Work, and Poem Based on My Work.
Then, in the additional tags section, I'll put any additional tags for what I'd like the new work to haveānot what is already in the work we're recursing. There may, however, be overlap.
I'll also mark the archive warnings I'm okay withāagain, this is for the new work, not what the already existing work has.
Now, the prompt description. This is the most important part here, because this is where you list what work you're interested in having recursed, alongside your ideas for the new work.
These are similar to normal prompts, just slightly to the left! They're harder to fill because they require the gifter to have read/seen an additional source (your fanwork), so we recommend limiting your recursive prompts to 2-3 at most.
Thanks again for your interest in the eventāif you have any questions, please feel free to ask us over in the discord!
I'm assuming this will be explained in a post soon, but how will we know who we are making a gift for?
This year, you're not being assigned to a specific person. Everyone who signs up will submit prompts for works they'd like to receive (e.g. a Marella/Linh mermaid AU with a secret relationship)--the tutorial for this will be posted tomorrow.
These prompts go into a publicly visible prompt collection. You will browse this collection of everyone's submissions and pick which prompt(s) you want to create for, and then claim them. Then, you make and post the gift for it.
So, you pick! And you're not limited to one. This event encourages creating multiple gifts for multiple people--though we ask you to claim and work on prompts one at a time so you don't accidentally overcommit :)
Join now as we begin the excitement and preparation for our annual fun! If you aren't certain you'll participate, you're still welcome to join to cheer everyone else on. And if you plan to participate, you'll definitely want to hop on in; tag nominations have opened now too. We hope to see you there!
(Make sure to accept the rules so you can see the full server!)
Welcome to the 2026 KotLC Guess the Creator exchange! We're so glad to have you!
The first phase of preparation is tag nominations, which open May 31 at 8:59 PM CDT and remain open until June 10 at 8:59 PM CDT. To participate, you need an AO3 account, so make sure to request an invite if you haven't before.
Tag nominations will determine what relationships and additional tags are included in the exchange. These will be the ONLY ones included, so you want to nominate tags, especially if you have niche taste!
With that said, please:
Only nominate if you plan to sign up.
Only nominate tags you plan to sign up with (not tags you just think should be included).
Join the Discord server (here) and put your AO3 username in your nickname before nominating (so we can communicate with you about your nominations).
Okay! Further instructions are below the cut! Please read the whole post before nominating.
Nominating Relationships
Go to the tag set on AO3. Here, you can see what has already been nominated. Make sure you're not repeating!
Click āNominateā in the upper right.
If you use pseuds, select the pseud you will be participating in the exchange under. If you donāt use pseuds, you can ignore this.
Okay, now youāre going to start nominating! Iām going to start by nominating Sophie/Fitz. The slash means that this is the romantic ship between these characters.
(On AO3 at large, the slash can also refer to sexual relationships, but this exchange doesn't include NSFW. So it's only romantic for our purposes!)
This relationship tag already exists on AO3, so it appeared in the dropdown menu and was easy to select.
Next, Iām going to nominate Sophie & Fitz, which is the platonic form of the pairing. I want to prompt both forms of the dynamic, and since they don't overlap, I have to nominate them separately.
Just like that, Iām going to continue down the line, entering all of the relationships I want to nominate.
Untilā¦ hold up! Iāve hit a pairing that doesnāt have a canon tag. I want to nominate Tinker & Elwin, but itās not an option in the dropdown. So, Iām going to need to make the tag myself.
The proper way to do it is:
Alphabetizing by last name. Tinker doesnāt have a known last name, so Iāll just use āTinker,ā but Iāll use āHeslegeā for Elwin. So Elwin Heslege will go first!
Using the correct relationship indicator (&, /, or ~). In this case, I want an ampersand (&) for platonic.
Excluding titles like Lord, Lady, Councillor, etc.
And since Iām creating a tag, putting the fandom in the second box.
So my nomination will look like this:
You can also nominate tags with just one character, or more than two characters. If you want to prompt ideas that focus on just one character, you can do that by nominating "Solo" tags like this:
Or if you had an idea that really focused on Sophie, Edaline, and Grady as a trio, you could nominate them as one:
You can nominate up to eight characters in one relationship. But gifters will be required to include every character in a relationship, so be mindful of what you ask for! Gifts only have to be an equivalent of 1000 words.
With all that knowledge under my belt, Iām going to finish my relationship nominations! I'm going to nominate 11 relationships total, but you can nominate up to 20.
And now I can nominate additional tags!
Nominating Additional Tags
These are more open-ended. You don't have to include them in your prompts, and your gifter doesn't have to include them when they make your gift. BUT, they can still be a great shorthand for prompts, make them easier to search for, and help inspire your gifter with familiar ideas.
We're looking for tropes, genres, and themesāshort-form tags that you would put on a work on AO3. Tags should either be canon to AO3 or four words or less. For the sake of conciseness, please format AU tags as "[name] AU."
We may not accept every additional tag that is nominated, but we will do our best to communicate when this happens so that the slot can be re-used!
Here are some example nominations:
That's about it for additional tags! Once again, you have 20 nomination slots, in addition to your 20 relationship nomination slots.
Make sure to hit "Submit" at the bottom of the page so your nominations go through, and you're done! Moderators will go through and "process" your nominations by approving them, as well as editing and distinguishing them from other tags as needed.
Once your nominations are approved, you won't be able to edit them anymore. But you can still go back and use the rest of your slots! Here's what that looks like:
You may notice that "Coffee Shop AU" has been changed to "Coffee Shop AU (DFE)." That means "disambiguated for exchange," and I tacked that on there because AO3 defaulted to capitalizing the tag as "coffee shop au," which I didn't want. So, nothing to worry about on your end, but a useful trick when wrangling AO3's tag system!
That's everything! Thank you for your time. Please let us know if you have any questions, and we hope you have a great time!
Quick Reference
(A summary of key points to refer to to refresh your memory after reading the whole post)
There are two types of tags: Relationship Tags (e.g. Marella Redek/Linh Song) and Additional Tags (e.g. Fairy AU)
You can nominate up to 20 of each
Relationship Tags can have up to 8 people--but the creator will have to include every single person in it, so please be considerate!
We accept 4 kinds of relationship tags: Romantic, which uses the / (e.g. Marella Redek/Linh Song); Platonic, which uses the & (Marella Redek & Linh Song); Queerplatonic, which uses the ~ (Marella Redek~Linh Song); and Solo, which focuses on a single character (Solo: Marella Redek).
Relationship Tags do not overlap. If you only nominate the romantic pairing, only the romantic dynamic will be allowed in the event.
Additional Tags should either already exist on AO3 or be four words or less
Are the prompts anonymous/can people see who submitted what prompt?
We ask that you don't submit your prompts anonymously (though AO3 allows it). We want people to be able to spread out who they gift to, we want to be able to moderate more effectively, and we want people to be able to avoid gifting to people who they would normally put a DNM (Do Not Match) request in for.
Claiming IS anonymous, though! In our test, it looked like this:
is there a reason we have to join the server to participate? i only have access to tumblr atm so is it necessary to join?
You do have to join the Discord; we have to have a way to communicate with participants reliably, and Tumblr isn't reliable because of rate limiting. (You can only send so many Tumblr DMs in a certain amount of time.) Sorry!
(If you get deeper into the exchange scene, you'll find that many older/more established multifandom exchanges run over email. But I [Catherine] chose to run this way because I know a lot of the KotLC fanbase is newer to exchanges and won't necessarily have an anonymous email set up.)
hi! I'm interested in participating this summer but I'm not sure if I will be able to, can I join the server even if I won't be participating?
Absolutely you can! If you're unsure, or if you just want to hang out, cheer all the creators on, and support all their works, you're more than welcome to do so.
The discord is currently in hibernation, so you won't be able to do anything more than join until we open back up on May 31st, but here's the link!
Once signups open, there will be two steps: Making prompts and filling out a quick form! The main thing will be making a few (anywhere from 3 to 15) prompts in our AO3 prompt collection, so that people have ideas for what to make you as a gift. The form will just be giving us a few pieces of information (like where you usually post your work, if you do) that we can provide to people guessing who made what, to help people out. There will be a signup tutorial once signups open, too!
