#calhoula

How will the exchange work?

The SVU Ship Swap will begin with a ’ship nomination period of two weeks. Approved ’ships will then be eligible for requesting and offering during the sign-up period. Requests and offers will be matched using AO3’s gift exchange software and assignments then sent out.

You will have at least six weeks to create and post your work to the AO3 collection for the exchange, where it will not be revealed to other participants until the reveal date. A week after works are made publicly viewable, the creators of all works will be revealed (unless you choose before then to orphan your work for any reason and remain an anonymous gifter.)

What is an eligible ship for this exchange?

Ships which will be eligible for the exchange include:

Ships featuring canonical SVU characters who have appeared in any episode. Regular, recurring and guest characters all qualify. The ships themselves do not have to be canon, so pairings such as Olivia Benson/Brian Cassidy and Olivia Benson/Amanda Rollins would both be equally eligible.

Ships featuring a canonical SVU character in a relationship with an original character (OC). (However, requests can not be made for specific OCs previously written, either by the requestor or the offering author.) You can specify in your request if you want an Original Male Character (OMC), Original Female Character (OFC), or are fine with either or prefer a non-binary Original Character (OC).

Crossover ships featuring at least one character from the SVU universe. Participants will be limited in how many crossover ships they request/offer vs. non-crossover ships, to ensure fewer matching problems, but this year there will be no restrictions on which characters can be requested in a crossover ship. (So, requests like “John Munch & Lennie Briscoe (Law & Order)” and “John Munch/Jack Harkness (Torchwood)” would be equally allowed.)

Are threesome ships eligible?

Yes, you will be able to nominate, request and offer threesomes for this exchange (example: Mike Dodds/Sonny Carisi/Rafael Barba).

Are Real Person Fic (RPF) ships eligible?

No. While the organizer of this exchange has no problem with RPF in general, this exchange is exclusively for the characters of SVU, not the actors involved in its production. So Elliot/Oiliva is fine; Chris/Mariska will not be approved.

If a request is for a “/ ” ship, does it have to feature romance and/or explicit sex?

A romantic/sexual relationship is the implied default for “/” ships in this exchange.  If you match on a “/” request that you offered, the requested relationship should be the focus of the work in some fashion and in a romantic/sexual context. It does not have to feature explicit sexual content, however.

Likewise, if you match on an “&” ship, there should be NO romantic or sexual relationship implied in your story.

So, the request for “John Munch/Odafin Tutuola” would be for those characters in a sexual/romantic relationship. “John Munch & Odafin Tutuola” would be a request for friendship/partnership-only works.

Can other SVU ships appear in what I write or the art I create?

Yes, you can include or reference other ships as long as the requested ship is the central focus of the story. Also be mindful of requesters’ “Dear Author” letters or optional details, to see if there are any ships they explicitly do not like/are NOTPs for them and would prefer not to see mentioned at all in the background of their gift.

What are the nomination limits, and why must ships be nominated before they will be eligible?

Everyone will be allowed to nominate eight (8) ships for the exchange (although only TWO (2) of those requests can include a crossover character.) You will need an AO3 account in order to nominate ships, but participating in the nomination process does not commit you to participating in the exchange.

Once a ship has been nominated and approved once, it does not need to be nominated by anyone else. The list of accepted nominations will be publicly viewable so you can check that list before submitting your own nominations.

Nominations are required in order to:

Make sure all pairings are listed in a consistent format for matching purposes—full character names in a certain order instead of ship “smushnames”, for instance. (Rafael Barba/Olivia Benson, not “Barson”).

Make sure all requests meet the eligibility requirements of the exchange.

Limit requests and offers to ships within a defined tag set.

How many ships must I be willing to request during sign-ups?

You must request a minimum of three (3) and up to a maximum of ten (10) ships in order to ensure we’ll be able to make matches. That means if there is well and truly only one ship in SVU that you are interested in, this may not be the exchange for you. We cannot guarantee that you will only receive works for that one ship of your heart.

One out of every three requests you make can be for crossover ships. So if you make 9 requests, 3 of them can be crossover ships. If you make 6 requests, 2 of them can be crossover ships.

You can count both the “&” and “/” versions of a ship as two separate requests. Example: “Amanda Rollins & Olivia Benson” and “Amanda Rollins/Olivia Benson” could count as two of your three requests, if you would be happy receiving either friendship or romantic fic about them.

With each ship you request, you will be able to indicate if you are interested in receiving fic, art, or either. You will also be able to include optional details such as specific prompts you might have in mind, story or art ideas, and general likes/dislikes, or you can link to an external “Dear Author” letter (just be sure it is publicly viewable!) 

Please keep in mind that optional details are optional, and the person assigned to create a work for you is only required to

fulfill your basic ship request

honor any specific “Do Not Wants” you list

How many ships must I be willing to offer during sign-ups?

You must be willing to offer a minimum of four (4) and up to a maximum of ten (10) different ships. Part of the fun of participating in an exchange like this is to challenge or push yourself to create outside of your usual comfort zone. If there is only one ship you are at all comfortable writing or creating art for, this may not be the exchange for you. However you might wish to submit treats for requestors (see below for more information).

With each ship you offer you will be able to indicate if you are able to create fic, art, or either for it and that will be included in the matching process.

What are the matching requirements?

You will be matched on at least one ship, and the medium requested/offered for it. You have the option to create for any of your match’s requests, whether or not you originally offered it.

You only have to create a work for ONE of your assignee’s requests. If your assignee requested five (5) different ships, you do NOT have to write five different stories. However, you can do so if you really feel inspired! Extra treats are always welcome.

What if no one requests the ships I’ve offered in my sign-up?

Then I will contact you directly to ask if there are any other ships you are willing to offer. If not then regrettably I will have to remove your sign-up from the exchange and you will not be able to receive a gift.

Can I edit my gift after the submission deadline?

Yes, you can edit it even after you have uploaded it to the AO3 collection. But, you must still have a complete gift posted by the submission deadline that meets the minimum word count (or is a finished work of art). I will go through the collection to make sure placeholders are not simply uploaded without sufficient content.

What if I can’t finish my gift by the deadline?

If you cannot finish then you will be in default. If you know before the deadline you will not be able to complete the assignment then please let the admin (that’s me) know immediately so I can send out your assignment to a pinch hitter.  If your gift is not uploaded by the deadline then your assignment will be sent out for a pinch hit as well. The goal is to make sure everyone has some kind of gift that meets minimum requirements by the time the collection goes live.

If you default on your assignment and the person you were assigned to has also defaulted, then your assignment will not go out for a pinch hit.

What is a pinch hit, anyway?

Pinch hits are assignments where either the author/artist has defaulted, or were not matchable to begin with. Pinch hits will be posted to this blog such that anyone who wishes can offer to take on that assignment (either in addition to their initial one, or without having previously signed up for the exchange.) Pinch hitters will not receive a gift for their contribution (beyond whichever gift they may have initially been matched on.)

I defaulted last year. Am I still able to sign-up this year?

Yes. Because we made no specific rules last time regarding bans/make-up assignments for those who defaulted, everyone gets amnesty this year :)

I’m not sure I want to commit to participating, but I’d like to try to offer some extra gifts to participants. Will “treats” be allowed?

Yes! All requests made will be publicly viewable at A03 as soon as sign-ups open. You will be able to browse through them, and if you choose, submit “treats” of whatever kind you wish, be it more fics (of no word count minimum), art, graphics, vids, etc. Consider this a fest to celebrate all possible shippy goodness on SVU!

I don’t have an AO3 account!

The admin has several invite codes she would be happy to give out to any interested participants who might need one. You can also put in a direct request for an invite code at http://archiveofourown.org/invite_requests and you should receive one within several days’ time.

Anything else I should know?

One thing the admin would like to make clear from the start: NO SHIP HATE WILL BE ALLOWED. This exchange is to celebrate popular ships, rare ships, controversial ships, new ships, old ships and all ships in between on SVU. Please do not sign up just to write fic bashing another person’s ship or somehow troll the exchange and its participants. If you do you will be permanently banned from any current or future participation in the SVU Ship Swap.

I’m confused/still have a question not covered here.