Hello and welcome to
rarewomen 2013!
If you are new to the exchange, we are a 1k fic exchange centered around the women characters forgotten in large fandoms and all women characters in small fandoms. If you are returning this year welcome back, and don't expect too many changes. The few things we have tweaked should make things easier and more streamlined!
This year we will be running the exchange through the AO3 (archiveofourown.org). That means everything from nominations to sign ups to posting and feedback will be hosted on the archive -- though you are of course welcome to promote, cross-post, and discuss on LJ and DW -- or wherever you make your digital home. For those who wish to participate in
rarewomen and don't already have an AO3 account, drop a comment at
this post and a mod will give you an invite code.
Speaking of mods, we're both happy to be joining you again this year! If, after reading this entire post you have questions or concerns, feel free to contact
prozacpark or
aphrodite_mine via comment in
this post. [Note: this is a different contact post from last year. We don't want questions/solutions to resolved issues to confuse anyone!]
So you are ready to celebrate rare women of all sorts, you have an AO3 account... what's next?
2013 Timeline:
Starting NOW! - nomination discussion at
THIS postFebruary 1-7 - nominations through AO3 [Please do not nominate before this date even if you hunt around and find the collection! :D]
February 7-13 - nomination clean up*
February 14-28 sign ups through AO3
Early March: assignments go out
April 28 - stories DUE to AO3
May 4 - stories & authors revealed after much scrambling for pinch hits; authors may cross-post their stories; there is much celebration and commenting
*We certainly hope that nominations clean up won't need so much time, and we MAY act in favor of granting a few more days in the nomination period... but please, err on the side of caution and nominate/promote EARLY rather than late. We promise to keep you informed of any changes in the schedule as soon as we know about them. We don't anticipate any other schedule changes, but as always, we will communicate any changes or issues as necessary.
The Rules
1) Nominating and nomination discussion are open to anyone. These steps do not require the user to participate in the exchange.
2) The exchange is open to anyone (who did not simply disappear in a previous year) with an AO3 account. You may request an invitation
here. By signing up, the user agrees to:
* request three to four rare women drawn from the nomination set
* offer at least four rare women drawn from the nomination set he stated offer/request of three/four women is incorrect. On the AO3 request/offer page, each user will be asked to select a fandom from those nominated, and from that fandom select "any", or up to six names from those nominated. Each user should request in three to four fandoms with at least two women in each fandom, and offer in at least three to four fandoms with at least two women in each fandom. We apologize for any confusion caused by the previously worded rule.
In the case of fandoms with only one woman, these are allowed but with the word of caution that listing them may make you harder to match.
* write a story of at least 1,000 words (1k words) based on at least one rare woman listed in the generated assignment
* in the event that the user CANNOT complete a story, they must:
~~ in case of dropping out, use the AO3 function
~~ in case of an assignment that was generated in error, contact the mods as SOON AS POSSIBLE
~~ in the case of seeking an extension, contact the mods as SOON AS THE NEED IS SENSED
And no information post would be complete without a few FAQ!
1) What fandoms or women are eligible to be nominated?
The short answer is: all fandoms are eligible, and if a female character generates FEWER than 500 hits for complete fit on a single website (and does not generate greater than 500 hits on another site) then they are ELIGIBLE! The long answer is explained at the
nomination discussion and promotion post.
2) Last year we had to worry about big and small fandoms. Are we doing that again?
Nope! As explained in question #1, eligibility is based on a character by character basis, and not by fandom.
3) How do you define "woman" for the scope of this challenge?
If, during the scope of the canon (or author's explanation) the character self-identifies as female, then they are, potentially, eligible for rarewomen.
4) How will nominations work?
The pre-nomination discussion will help participants and mods learn which women may be eligible for
rarewomen. Nominations themselves will be held on AO3 this year. Anyone with an AO3 account will be able to nominate in up to five fandoms (up to five women per fandom) to the
rarewomen 2013 tag set.
5) How will sign-ups work?
Sign-ups are being run through AO3 this year. When they begin, we will post a step-by-step guide to requesting and offering the rare women you want to! Requests and offers will be chosen from the characters and fandoms approved from nominations into the
rarewomen 2013 tag set.
6) What sort of stories can I request?
While remembering that aside from at least ONE match on ONE character, optional details are optional (but encouraged), you may request gen, femslash, het, poly, incest, RPF... it's all good. You can note that you'd like to see your rare woman/women paired with NON-rare women, or men, as long as the requested rare woman is the CENTER and FOCUS of the request and resulting fic. While background men, male narratives, and slash are not forbidden by any means, we encourage requests and fic to focus as much as possible on the WOMEN. After all, this is a women-themed exchange!
7) I don't really use LJ any more/don't regularly check it. How can I keep track of what you all are doing?
Our RSS feed is
http://rarewomen.livejournal.com/data/rss and can be accessed on Dreamwidth as
http://rarewomen-feed.dreamwidth.org/. We also have a mod tumblr account, the username is simply rarewomen! If there is significant interest in a Twitter as well, we can make that happen -- let us know at the mod contact post.
8) I have a question or special circumstance that isn't answered here,
Please use the
mod contact post to get us your question. We may add the question and answer to this FAQ.
[Note: Comments on this entry are disabled. Please comment at any of the appropriate linked pages with questions or comments.]