Austen Exchange is a fanfiction exchange dedicated to all things Jane Austen—from Austen’s original works to any and all adaptations of them—hosted annually on AO3. If you sign up, you’ll be assigned to write a fic of at least 1000 words for another participant, and you’ll receive the same in return.
If that sounds up your street, you can read more about Austen Exchange here. Our 2026 schedule is below:
Nominations: 14 July to 21 July, 22:00 UTC → countdown
Sign-Ups: 24 July to 2 August, 22:00 UTC → countdown
Assignments Out: on or before 5 August
Posting Deadline: 18 September, 22:00 UTC → countdown
Collection Opens: 26 September, 00:00 UTC → countdown
Author Reveals: 3 October, 00:00 UTC → countdown
Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for updates—we hope you’ll join us!
Austen Exchange is over for this year, and the Jane Austen 250th Birthday Prompt Fest is upon us! I'll reblog the official post for the fest next, but first I wanted to properly wrap up AustenEx.
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I got two gifts this year, both written by wavytossings/@lovefool-mp3, and both very good 😊
all eyes on me (your illusionist) 🎵 by wavytossings is a sequel to my fic the rumors are terrible and cruel (but honey, most of them are true) 🎵 (which was written as a gift to wavytossings), and it's just as bonkers as my original. Both fics are set in a modern AU of Northanger Abbey (and Emma), where Catherine "Katie" Morland is a teenager obsessed with Taylor Swift expy Emma Woods (non-stage name: Emma Woodhouse) and also convinced that Emma is in fact a lesbian.
In this fic we get to follow her as she participates in a Tumblr Pumplr gift exchange where she's assigned to create a gift for woodfax-get-married (Eleanor Tilney), who Katie clearly has a crush on, even if she doesn't seem to realise it herself yet.
Its Own Reward by wavytossings is a scene from an Emma AU, told from Mr Knightley's POV. In this universe the ball at The Crown takes place on its originally planned date, and instead of saving Harriet Smith from the predicament of not having a partner for the dance, Mr Knightley comes to the rescue of Jane Fairfax – who he has never before thought of falling in love with on his own accord, but perhaps this night might change things?
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I heartily recommend both of the above, and I heartily recommend browsing through the collection because there are quite a few gems in there, but furthermore I'm also gonna heartily recommend three specific fics that I neither wrote nor received. All three happen to be epistolary works – fun! Here they are, in no particular order:
The talent of writing agreeable letters by charminglygrouped is an excerpt from the correspondence between Henry Tilney and Elizabeth Darcy, and both are perfectly in character as their witty selves, snarking, gossiping and having, and then resolving, a little tiff.
But Maybe They Were Just Good Friends by Rusakko is a pitch perfect Tumblr pastiche from a world where a genderbent Mr Darcy (here Miss Catherine Darcy) was a real historical figure, who Tumblr user queer-women-of-the-1800s thinks was obviously queer – but maybe she and Miss Elizabeth Bennet were just good friends? 🤔
In a Different Style by RuanChunXian is a series of letters, sent to and from ten different correspondents (all very much in character, except the Earl of Matlock, and that's only because he doesn't appear in canon), shortly after Darcy and Elizabeth become engaged. It's sweet and funny and charming and Lady Catherine is a menace.
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Finally, here are my five fics:
an unsuitable increase of ease and unreserve is the fic I wrote for my assignment. Elinor Dashwood suffers a momentary lapse in her famous self-control, which leads to her and Lucy Steele playing a very strange game of Edward Ferrars-based gay chicken. This sounds like an insane premise, but I tried to keep it as true to canon as possible, and I'm quite proud of it. Commenters describe the fic as "DELICIOUS," "amazing!" and "... hot."
This is how Sense and Sensibility ends, right? is my first attempt at writing a Colonel Brandon/Mrs Dashwood fic, but it turned into more of a Marianne Dashwood/Original Male Character fic, oops. It follows the style of the real ending of S&S quite closely, but takes the events in a very different direction. Commenters call it "very plausible" and "a delightful read."
Sea Change was written as a pinch hit, and is where I actually succeeded at writing a Colonel Brandon/Mrs Dashwood fic. It's in a quite different style from what I usually write (imoho), and it kind of flowed out of me unstoppably once I started writing. Reviewers call it "utterly perfect," "good," "a lovely read" and "a great variation."
One Poor Sonnet is the standout success among my fics, with more than double the kudos of my second most popular fic. It was written for the 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, and tells the story of Elizabeth Darcy finding an old poem written by her husband. It has been praised as "sweet," "funny," "utterly delightful" and "great." One commenter calls the poem itself as a "masterpiece" – hopefully in how well it mimics bad poetry, as that was what I was aiming for 😋
Miss Darcy Blushes is last and least, at least when it comes to word count. I began it as an attempt at a pinch hit, but I didn't have enough time before the deadline to come up with anything but an opening scene… so I ended up just posting the opening scene as a treat. That scene is my take on Darcy's insult towards Elizabeth (and Elizabeth's reaction) in an AU where Darcy is a woman and Elizabeth is butch. A few excerpts from the comments: "So cute!!!", "elegantly in character" and "YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Nominations for round 5 of the Austen Exchange are now open at the tagset until 21 July at 22:00 UTC (countdown).
Here are some short reminders before you nominate:
Nominate fandoms using canonicals where possible. Do not use All Media Types or Related Fandoms.
Nominate relationships as ‘Character A/Character B (Fandom)’ for ship fic and ‘Character A & Character B (Fandom)’ for gen, alphabetised by surname. Groups of three or more characters may be nominated in the same style.
Nominate individual characters as ‘1: Character A (Fandom)’.
Disambiguate your nominations to make it clear what canon you’re interested in. A disambiguation is the parenthetical addition at the end of a tag that identifies the appropriate fandom. Think ‘(P&P - Austen)’ and ‘(P&P 1940)’ rather than ‘(P&P)’.
You can read more about nominations and eligibility in the rules post. As always, please feel free to leave a comment or email us at [email protected] with any questions you may have.
Thanks for reading, and we look forward to seeing your nominations!
Sign-ups are now open on AO3 until 2 August at 22:00 UTC (countdown).
Before you sign up, here’s a summary of what your sign-up will include:
You must make a minimum of 2 requests, but you are able to make up to 10. Fandoms may not be repeated between requests. For each request, you may add
1 fandom (required);
1 - 20 relationship tags (required);
Request details (optional), for details such as prompts, likes, and DNWs. Authors are required to respect their recipients’ DNWs, but they can only be enforced if indicated in your sign-up;
Prompt URL (optional), linking to any further information about your requests, such as a ‘Dear Author’ letter.
You must also make a minimum of 2 offers, but you are able to make up to 10. Fandoms may not be repeated between offers. For each offer, you may add
1 fandom (required);
1 - 20 relationship tags (required);
Offer details (optional), for matching requests.
If you’re still planning your sign-up, you can browse the tagset here. If you would like to make any late additions to the tagset, you may request them in the comments of this Dreamwidth post, in an ask, or by email until 48 hours before the close of sign-ups.
You can read more about sign-ups and matching in the rules post. As always, feel free to leave a comment or email [email protected] with any questions.
The sign-up period will be ending at 22:00 UTC on 2 August (countdown), one day from time of posting.
Until then, you can sign up or edit an existing sign-up on AO3 through this link.
As a reminder, if there’s anything you want your writer to avoid in your fic, you must clearly identify it as a Do Not Want/DNW in the requests section of your sign-up form. Please also remember to complete and unlock any letters linked in your sign-up.
If you have a moment to spare, consider browsing requests to confirm your matchability. If you haven’t the time, no worries; once matching has been run, you’ll get an email to let you know if you need to add offers.
As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us with any questions.
Assignments are out! You can view yours on your assignments page, via the AO3 collection sidebar, or in your email. If you have not yet unlocked your letter, please do so at your earliest convenience.
Remember that works will remain anonymous until author reveals on 3 October. Until then, please refrain from talking about your assignment in a way that might reveal your identity.
Assignments are due on 18 September by 22:00 UTC (countdown). If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
There is one initial pinch hit, also due by the assignment deadline of 22:00 UTC on 18 September, with requests for Crossover Fandom (P&P - Austen/S&S - Austen) and The Other Bennet Sister (TV), viewable under the read more. Pinch hits may be claimed in the comments of the Dreamwidth post or an email to [email protected]
PH 1 - Crossover Fandom (P&P – Austen/S&S - Austen), The Other Bennet Sister (TV)
Wants: Crossover Pride & Prejudice and Sense & Sensibility
DNW: Sex, affairs, modern setting, horror, icky things both physical and moral as they apply to canon (like blood/gore, making abhorrent behavior considered righteous, etc.).
Pairing Preference: Focus on Bingley/Elinor please
Likes: first meetings, unique plotlines brought about from the crossover pairings, fluff, happily ever after, fluff and angst, light angst, quiet heroics, heroes don't always wear capes, romance
Request 2 by Ravenswood1
The Other Bennet Sister (TV)
Relationships:
Mary Bennet/William Collins (TOBS TV)
Wants: Canon divergence between The Other Bennet Sister and OG Pride & Prejudice
DNW: Sex, affairs, modern setting, horror, icky things both physical and moral as they apply to canon (like blood/gore, making abhorrent behavior considered righteous, etc.).
Pairing Preference: Even though it's not officially part of this exchange, I'd love to see a background pairing of Kitty/Tom Hayward
Likes: first meetings, unique plotlines brought about from the idea that Collins chose Mary instead of Lizzy or Charlotte and how that affects the rest of P&P, fluff, happily ever after, fluff and angst, light angst, quiet heroics, heroes don't always wear capes, romance, POV Mary
Sign-ups are now closed, and everyone is matchable! Participants can expect to receive their assignments within the next two days. You’ll hear from us once more after assignments have been sent; any initial pinch hits will also be shared at that time.
While you wait, you’re welcome to browse the requests app to brainstorm ideas for your potential assignment or for treats.
On that note, if you are interesting in receiving treats and created your AO3 account after February 2022, I encourage you to check your gift settings on the ‘Preferences’ page. In order to receive gifts outside of an assignment, you must select the box labelled ‘Allow anyone to gift me works.’
Thank you to everyone who submitted nominations to the tagset over the past week—as always, it’s been a delight to see what you’ve all come up with. Now that nominations have closed, we’ll be going through the tagset to ensure that everything is as and where it should be. There are no nominations queries at this time.
If you have any tags you were unable to get in by the nominations deadline, you may submit up to five late nominations through a comment on the Dreamwidth post, an ask to this Tumblr, or an email to [email protected] until 22:00 UTC on 31 July (countdown), 48 hours before the end of sign-ups.
Sign-ups will open later this week. As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.
