Archive of Our Own

The Man From UNCLE Summer Solstice Gift Exchange 2018 is a mid-year celebration of longer days and fandom. Write a fic with at least 500 words to make another fan happy and get something in return! For questions, please read the FAQ or email me at [email protected].

A "narrative" version of the FAQ can be found right here. I wrote it for the 2017 Winter Holiday Gift Exchange, but the rules and information (outside of the dates) are virtually the same.

What is a Gift Exchange and what do I have to do?
The TMFU Gift Exchange is exactly what it sounds like. You sign up right here by filling out the request and offer forms (keep reading to find out how). After the sign-up closes, your offer will be anonymously matched with someone else's requests and your requests with someone else's offer (not necessarily the same participant). This Gift Exchange will then appear under Assignments on your AO3 account with your assigned requests. You will choose a prompt from those requests and write a fic for it with at least 500 words in English. Only you and the maintainer of the collection know who you're assigned to and, for surprise purposes, it should stay this way.

When you're finished, post the work to the collection. It's going to appear as a mystery work by an anonymous author and no one else can open it. Please mind the deadline! At the reveal, all the works in the collection are made readable, including a gift for you by another participant, who was assigned your requests. A few days after that, the authors are going to be revealed. Basically, it's write a fic, get a fic.

Who can sign up?
Anyone with an AO3 account.

Does the work have to be summer or holiday themed?
No, you can request or offer anything.

Will the schedule change at any point during the exchange?
In the unlikely event there is a change to the schedule, I will contact you via email.

How do I formulate my requests?
You can fill out three to five requests, in which you prompt what you would like to get. Choose the characters and pairings you would like to read about for each specific prompt. A description of the prompts or pointers/tropes should go into the free text field, including what you don't want. Warnings and ratings can be added, but that's not a must. Optional tags are allowed to specify your prompt. As you are not the one writing your own prompts, I would advise you to leave your assigned author a little space to breathe and not to go too deep into the details.

Look at the Request Summary of the TMFU Gift Exchange 2016 for examples (http://archiveofourown.org/collections/TMFUGiftExchange2016/requests). Three of the allowed five requests are supposed to be movie-only! If you want to request something including a crossover or the Man From U.N.C.L.E. Series, please do so in the additional two requests. Of course, if you don't want a crossover or something about the series, you're still allowed to submit five movie requests. More requests mean more to choose from for your gifter (but not necessarily more gifts).

How do I formulate my offers?
It's not too different from formulating prompts. You state what you would be willing to write by choosing characters/pairings etc. The form allows you to choose more freely compared to the requests, so that you can include more aspects that you would be willing to cover. Please state in the free text field, what you really don't want to write. Still, it's an offer and not a request, which means you are not supposed to state specific prompts in the free text field.

What you are going to actually write is one (or more if you feel up to it) of the requests from the participant you're assigned to. If you offer to write crossovers or something about the Man From U.N.C.L.E. Series, state this in an additional offer. Stating a second offer doesn't mean that you're obligated to write two gifts; it's only for organizing purposes.

Is this exchange about the movie only or can I request/offer writing about the series or a crossover with anything?
This gift exchange concentrates on the movie. However, you may include the series in one or two of your prompts. Read more about this in How do I formulate my offers/requests above or in the rules.

How will we be matched?
Mainly through pairings and characters. Depending on the number of participants, I am going to match the requests and offers by hand or at least look over the matches AO3 provides.

Are the requests going to be public?
Yes, after the sign-up closes.

How long does my work have to be?
You need to write at least 500 words. There's no maximum wordcount, but your work has to be finished in time. If you don't think you are able to meet the deadline (or need a couple more days), PLEASE let me know immediately!

What about fanart/other forms of fanwork?
You are allowed to submit that in addition to your mandatory 500+ words fic.

Am I allowed to fill more requests than one?
Yes, you are allowed to write as many fics as you want, but make sure that you fill one of your assigned requests first with a fic of at least 500 words.

Am I allowed to fill a request of a participant, who is not my assigned one?
Yes, but please fill your assignment first.

Am I allowed to mix the requests I was assigned, as in writing aspects of request 1 and 3 in one fic?
As long as the requests don't say differently, I don't see a problem with that.

Do I need a beta reader?
No, not necessarily, but it is nice to have one though. You are more than welcome to contact me if you're looking for a beta as well!

What if I don't like my assignment?
Don't give up! You have about three months to finish your work. Keep in mind that you are writing this fic as a gift for someone else. Still, if it's truly a mismatch and you really can't write anything for them, please let me know as soon as possible.

I really need to contact my giftee/gifter!
A lot of people allow anonymous asks on their tumblr. If you're unsure or in case you need to reach your gifter, I can always ask them for you in the role of the collection maintainer. But please ask yourself, if it's really necessary to contact them.

How do I post to the collection?
You can either post your work like you always would, but check the box that says your fic is filling an assignment. If it's an additional gift, fill out the field labeled "Post to Collections / Challenges" with this collection. Don't forget to fill out "Gift this work to" then as well. Another way is to go to your Assignments and link your fic directly to the exchange. Or, you can post this fic directly to the collection and press the button "Post to Collection" on top on the right side.

Am I still allowed to edit my work after posting it to the collection?
Yes, of course. Still, your fic MUST be finished by the time of the reveal at the very latest, so please don't post mere drafts!

I don't think I can finish my assignment in time!
Contact me as soon as possible! If there's still time, we might find a solution or a pinch hitter for you.

I missed sign-up, but I still want to participate!
Sign up as a pinch hitter! Email me with your AO3 user name at [email protected] and possibly save the gift exchange for a fellow fan. A pinch hitter is basically a writer in reserve. If someone can't fulfill their assignment in time, the prompts are going to be reassigned to a pinch hitter. With some luck, the pinch hitter (If they are not already participating) might get a gift fic even though they didn't originally sign up. Of course, nobody can stop you if you want to write a fic for a participant based on their prompts without signing up yourself. Contact me about adding this to the collection, if you want to.

When should I post?
The fics are due June 10 and will go live on the Summer Solstice, June 21st. The fics are 'revealed' (i.e. appear in the tag) based on the date when they were posted to the collection. That means that if you post your gift fic, say, in April, it might get buried in the tag by all of the fics that were posted more recently. To avoid this, I would recommend posting a day or two before June 10, so that all the gift fics will reasonably be grouped together. OR, if you want to post early, you can reset the publication date or update date later on to keep it with the rest of the gift fics (you could have it set for nearer the reveal date, but for organizational purposes, PLEASE don't wait for the deadline to pass before posting).

Again, please contact me immediately (and contact me early) if you don't think you can finish your fic on time! We want to make sure every participant gets something on the Solstice. :)

Can I respond to comments on my fic before the writers are revealed?
Yes! You will be 'disguised' as the Anonymous Creator until the authors are revealed. Feel free to respond to comments on your fics... and, if you're feeling generous, please feel free to comment on the other ones too (not just the one/s gifted to you)! :)

1. Be nice to each other. No rudeness or bashing.

2. Your work has to add up to at least 500 words in English.

3. You need to request (what you would like to read) at least three fic ideas, but you are allowed to request up to five. Making one offer (what you would like to write) is obligatory, you are allowed to make one in addition to that.

4. The fandom The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015) is mandatory. If you want to include the TV series or a crossover, please do this in addition to three movie-only requests and one movie-related offer.

5, Please stay anonymous. Nobody can force you to do so, but it will ruin the surprise.

6. If you're worried that you can't finish your assignment for any reason, please contact me as soon as possible to find a solution.

7. Please read the FAQ about how to fill out the forms for requests and offers before you sign up.

8. Please set the publication date of your gift fic to the date of the reveal (or shortly before), so your fic won't get lost in the tag. Please see the FAQ for more information. :)