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And now... we'll be making hypertext gamefics!
Create Your Own Adventure will run for just over a month (barring delays), with nominations and signups opening September 27th; Nominations and signups will continue to be open until assignments go out on October 9th; stories are due by November 4th and revealed November 11th (with author reveals the week after that). Matching will be run on Fandom and Relationship, with solo characters and worldbuilding nominations also allowed.
Gifts are not guaranteed for any participant, but if there are any pinch hits lingering at the end of the writing period, there may be an up to two week delay in reveals as we make our best effort to find creators and get gifts to as many participants as possible.
LINKS:
Parent Collection
Round 1 collection
Round 1 Tagset
Auto AO3 App
Resources, Links, & Things to Think About
Dedicated Discord Server
EXCHANGE CRITERIA
Participants are asked to write a work of at minimum 750 words (across all paths combined, including the text of choices and navigation, without counting significant reuse of content1), with at least three endings; two of those endings should be at least two choices deep.
1: Example: if you write a time loop fic and the time loop repeat bits are 300 words 5x over, that's 300 words, not 1500-- please count in good faith! But also if the rest of your fic is 450 words, you have already hit the minimum. (Also a time loop CYOA could be very cool.)
(Of course, works can be significantly more complex!)
If a participant wishes to create their work using Twine, Choicescript, Inklewriter, or another tool, a game transcript should also be uploaded to AO3 as additional chapters to check word count.
(We have links to suggested websites for hosting on the resources post! And don't worry too much about maintaining anonymity on other sites! We will simply pretend we do not see it until author reveals on AO3.)
The story should be complete, with at least one ending focused on a requested relationship, or the whole story significantly involving a requested character or requested exploration of worldbuilding. It should not contain any of the recipient's Do Not Wants as listed in their signup, and should be checked for spelling and grammar and formatted to be readable. (If in a game language, please try to check for game-breaking bugs before the exchange goes live!) Do Not Wants need to be listed in the signup to be enforced.
Any unmatchable signups (that is, not offering anything that someone else is requesting) will be given a chance to add a matchable fandom before being deleted. Pinch hits will be advertised on the Exchanges After Dark Discord, FFA, and the Pinchhits community; the exchange will delay opening up to two weeks for unfilled pinch hits. If a participant who has gone to pinch hits wishes to add additional requests at any point, please contact the mods with what you would like to add! 2
2: Adding additional fandoms will not delay reveals any further. If any of the fandoms you're requesting are on the short side (can be read/played/watched/listened to in under approximately 6-8 hours) and easy to access, that's useful information for pinch hitters who might be willing to learn about a canon just to write for you.
Treats may be of any length, as long as they have at least two distinct endings.
PARTICIPANT CONDUCT
There is no penalty for defaulting and no need to create a make-up work. However, comments are required on any good-faith gifts and treats you receive; if the next round comes up and we find you haven't commented on your previous gifts, we'll ask you to comment before signing up.
If a story contains a DNW violation, unasked for and explicit extreme content that is not present in canon and seems obviously opt-in (Ex: graphic murder and cannibalism in a Hannibal fic: normal, same in a Sesame Street fic: dubious), seems obviously written in poor faith, or reads like it may have been made with generative AI instead of created by human hands, please contact the mods.
Also: just don't be a jerk!
If there is any violation of the above, we will give participants a chance to correct except in egregious cases; in cases of DNW violations that cannot be resolved through minor edits, recipients will go to post-reveal pinch hits
NOMINATIONS
Nominations will be for fandoms, relationships, and freeforms, with matching on the first two (the third is just for fun!). If you wish to nominate solo characters or worldbuilding in the relationship field, that's also great! Formatting of your nominations should be as follows:
Big Bird/Elmo (Sesame Street) (for any romantic or sexual relationship)
Big Bird & Elmo (Sesame Street) (for a platonic, non-sexual, non-romantic relationship with significant focus)
1: Big Bird (Sesame Street) (for a character as a viewpoint, main, or major character)
Worldbuilding: Sesame Street (for fiction set in and focused on exploring the world, from the view of any character)
All fictional works are welcome to be nominated; original work nominations are also welcome, and should be formatted as above. Crossover nominations should be nominated under "Crossover Fandom" and with each of the characters disambiguated ("Big Bird (Sesame Street)/Steve (Blue's Clues)").
RPF rules:
We are happy to accept RPF nominations for literally anyone who was most notable before 1900, no exceptions.
However, if you're nominating someone whose notability rose in the 20th or 21st century, they should be famous in their own right (not the non-famous family or partners of a famous person), and we will not accept nominations of political figures, murderers or serial killers, victims of real-world atrocities, or people currently under the age of 16 in real life (or who died before reaching that age).
So: Jack the Ripper is fine, the band Oasis is fine, Theodore Roosevelt is not.
SIGNUPS
Participants will sign up with three requests and three offers minimum, and up to ten of each, with up to 40 freeforms (split across the two tag fields). Any DNWs listed in your signup will be enforced within reason. Any unmatchable signups (that is, not offering anything that someone else is requesting) will be given a chance to add a matchable fandom before being deleted.
For your consideration:
Due to the unusual format the exchange is themed around, it is strongly encouraged to consider things that don't normally come up in an exchange, and making your preferences clear in either your signup or a linked external letter:
- Second Person and First Person Point of View are extremely common in interactive fiction; if you wish to receive stories only in third, you will want to opt out of or DNW the other two.
- If your assigned writer is going to write both 'good' and 'bad' endings, how bad can they get? Are you okay with the ship simply missing their meet-cute, but nothing worse? Are you okay with characters dying in some endings? Are you okay with characters getting caught in Saw traps in some endings, as long as there's at least one good ending? Is it okay if every ending is dark? This is something that your writer will probably be happy to have guidance on!
- Likewise, if you requested ships, do you prefer for only one ship to get focus in the fic, or are you okay with different paths leading to different ships? If you requested A/B/C, is one path leading to A/B, one to B/C, and one to A/B/C acceptable to you? If you only requested A/B, how do you feel about an ending that has unrequested A/C or C/D? Think about what you're okay with receiving, and DNW what you're not okay with receiving. (As a writer, you are only obligated to write one ending that contains one requested pairing, and that's only if your recip didn't ask for a solo character or worldbuilding, but the structure of a CYOA opens up unusual opportunities and choices!)
