If you post a request for a fandom gift exchange and someone fills that request, whether it's fic or a pod or art or whatever, you ought to acknowledge the gift in some manner. Even if you don't like the gift! As long as the giver fulfilled your request and didn't violate any DNW's, this kind anonymous person has taken time out of their lives to create art YOU REQUESTED.
"But it was badly done," you say. I don't care! That's not the point. I would love to receive literary masterpieces when I request a gift, but a gift is a gift. It's free, something someone volunteered their time and effort to fulfill. That alone is a kindness worth acknowledging.
"But it wasn't exactly what I was looking for," you whine. I care even less! If you want something specific, then you should have been more clear in your request. Also, stop being a brat. *You* should have been more specific. The blame lies on your shoulders. It goes right back to the simple fact that a person volunteered their time and effort to fulfill a request for you, most likely a total stranger. That is kind and kindness deserves some manner of acknowledgement.
A kudos. A like. A reblog. A brief comment. Something.
Someone saw and/or was assigned your request, said "Yes, I can and will do this," then expended the time and mental and emotional energy to give you a present *you asked for*, so maybe, just maybe, you ought to thank them.
It feels pretty crappy to work your ass off on a gift, only to be met with radio silence by a giftee who is otherwise very active online.
The sheer joy of realizing somebody has written you something as a gift!!! :DDD
So I have already gone rummaging through the tags but there is at least one mystery fanwork in every fandom I requested DARN IT. 😂 My detective work foiled and I will have to wait until reveals! My bet is on a Kate Daniels fic though! *Goes and gleefully shakes her gift some more because she has the patience of a three year old*
Hey y'all! I wanted to boost an event that's happening right now over on Dreamwidth that anyone can join! If you have no idea what Dreamwidth is, that's okay! The gist is that it is a journaling/semi social media site. It's based off of LiveJournal (which you may have been a part of or missed completely).
To participate, you will need to join the site. It's easy! And then once you've joined, you can be easily lured into participating in even more and more events there. There's been a lot said by people better versed than I on how to get acclimated to using Dreamwidth, so I won't get into detail here. You just need an account to be able to follow the event community & to submit your comments.
So what's this event?
Probably should get into that, yeah!?
Fandom Giftbox is a multi-fandom, anyone is invited event where people will gift you drabbles, icons, fanart, or anything else under the sun. Of course you should also be gifting to others as well. It's a nice, warm feeling to drop off a few fills and then open up your own "box" on the reveal day to see what others have thoughtfully given to you! There are just a few stages to the event.
I just want to emphasize, this is open to literally any fandom. Including Original Works. Want more cryptid/cryptozoologist action? You can request it here.
1. Sign Ups
Enter a comment on the 2020 Sign Up post. Be sure to include the General Signup and as many Fandom Signups as you feel like filling out. Three fandoms is the minimum. I've seen people put in as many as 10-12.
2. Fill Giftboxes
Once the boxes are opened, you can browse through the tags on the lefthand side of the journal or on that year's Request by Fandom posts (once they've been created). Look for at least one where you can create something for the recipient. But by all means go hog-wild and fill as many as you'd like. Again, the more that people gift, the more that everyone gets!
Fills are submitted by adding comments to the person's box. They will be "moderated" which just means that the recipient won't see them until they're revealed.
Fun fact! Mods will monitor to see if any giftboxes are "Needy" and empty. Towards the end of the fill stages, a list of these Needy boxes will be available. The goal is for everyone to get at least one fill.
3. Giftboxes revealed!
You get to look through all the fills on your box (and anyone else's). The warm and fuzzies, they are so nice.
So like... what can I give? Or what am I going to get?
Fills will have to follow the "Wants" and "DNWs" (Do not Wants) that are included in the sign-up phase. DNWs have to be followed. Prompts are just suggestions though. So if you ask for Harry/Draco with a prompt for an Auror AU, you may not get the AU. But you would get Harry/Draco.
Same logic follows for the type of fill. There's a sample list of media on the sign-up sheet for what are common fills - "Any, Fanfiction, Fanart (Drawn/Digital), Graphics (Icons, Wallpapers, Manips, Banners), Fanmixes, Fanvids, Meta, Recs, Podfic, Fan Music". If you really don't want to get anything other than fanfic, you are more than welcome to say just that. Just note it might make it harder for people to fill if you are too picky.
What's the timeline of this?
You can see the official timeline on the Fandom Giftbox page, but here's the schedule as of 4 Jun 2020:
Sign Ups Open: May 31st, 2020
Sign Ups Close: June 21st, 2020 (No earlier than 11:59pm EST)
Giftbox Posting Begins: June 7th, 2020
Giftbox Posting Finished: on or before June 26th, 2020
Request Spreadsheet Finished: on or before June 28th, 2020
Fandom Entries Up: on or before July 5th, 2020
Empty/Underfilled Giftbox Requests Begin: by Sunday, July 19th, 2020
AO3 Collection/DW Comments Revealed: Sunday, September 6th, 2020 (No earlier than 11:59pm EST)
What should I do while I'm waiting for the event to start?
What a great question. Why don't you check out the DW Fandom Calendar and see if there's anything else up your alley happening soon? You can also try out some of the neat features on DW like Access-Locked journals for only close friends to see your updates, finding new people via Interest Search, or checking out Latest Things to see if anyone's journal is interesting enough for you to consider Subscribing too. Don't forget to Subscribe to Fandom Giftbox, too, so that it'll show up on your Reading Page (which is like a very slow moving Dashboard).
And don't forget to give a wave to me on there if you'd like! I give access to most people so long as we're from the same circles :)
A quick study of Cheedo the Fragile and Toast the Knowing from Mad Max: Fury Road using a pose from a 2017 Kickstarter by Senshi-Stock and Sinned-Angel-Stock. The feel of this pose seemed to work with these two.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien, TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Tar-Telperiën, Tar-Ancalime's granddaughter
Additional Tags: Númenor, Family, Female Protagonist, POV Female Character, Childhood
Summary:
The future queen Tar-Telperien asks her aunt about her refusal of the Sceptre.
Fandom: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars - All Media Types
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Additional Tags: Established Relationship, Dysfunctional Relationships, Enemy Lovers
Summary: “Tell me, Poe, do you always romanticize your own destruction?”
Poe knows he shouldn't keep meeting with Kylo Ren. There is nothing of Ben Solo left in him. But he's never known when it's time to accept defeat.
So I signed up for the fandom giftbox! Is like uh fandom stocking but it’s happening now instead of at the end of the year :D
So if you want you can drop by and leave something on my page haha. If not you can always look around the other pages and see if a prompt inspires you.
