fandom5k

Creators are revealed, but the collection is still open for new works, of which we've had several already! And, of course, you can continue to read and comment to your heart's content.

Find more to read here!

Thank you to everyone who participated this year, and especially to all the pinch hitters who got us across the finish line--I appreciate you very much.

I also have an announcement to make:

Next year will be the tenth round of Fandom5K, if you can believe that! I've also decided it will be the last.

I've had a great time running this exchange, I've met some amazing people, and I've been delighted to see millions and millions of words posted to make other fans happy. However, ten years is a long time to do anything, and I'm ready to focus on personal projects. The exchange scene is much busier now than it was when CBMod and I kicked this off--hopefully participants can find plenty of other options throughout the year.

My plan is to retire the exchange rather than handing it over to a new mod, but of course anyone is welcome to start up an exchange on a similar theme. If you are interested in doing so and have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

To make the tenth and final year something we can all look forward to, two sub-announcements:

First, I plan to announce the 2026 schedule by 1 February, 2026.

Hopefully that way everyone who wants to join can plan ahead more easily, and hopefully I can keep myself from letting the schedule creep later and later every year, as it has a habit of doing.

Second, I am issuing an amnesty to anyone who defaulted late in 2025 or previous years, as long as that default occurred before the works due deadline.

That is, if you forgot to contact me during check-in week, or you checked in but then hit the default button before the deadline because something came up, you no longer need to create a make-up assignment to participate in the final round.

If you didn't default before the works due deadline--maybe you simply didn't show up on that date and never turned a work in, or you defaulted with an extension--I will still ask you to turn in a makeup assignment before signing up next year. This also may apply if you turned in a placeholder or your gift otherwise didn't fulfill our rules.

If you have any questions about how this amnesty applies to you, please let me know! I may take a little time to get back to you during the offseason, so I'd suggest asking early if you need to plan ahead.

Authors are revealed, but the collection is still open for late treats, of which we've had several already! And, of course, you can continue to read and comment to your heart's content.

Find more to read here!

Thank you to everyone who participated this year, and especially to O. for helping with story checking. And, as always, thanks go out to everyone who wrote pinch hits and got us across the finish line.

I'd like to open this post up for any feedback you have about the exchange, and especially about a couple of new rules under consideration for next year. These are just ideas, and they may not be implemented regardless of responses, but it would be helpful to know if there's interest one way or another.

Ideas under early consideration:

• Implementing a commenting rule along the lines of FFFX, where recipients must comment on their gift, refuse it, or contact the mod before signing up for the following year
• Allowing participants to offer and request comics at least 5 panels in length, also along the lines of FFFX's comparable requirements. Would you be interested in offering or requesting comics?

The deadline approaches! It is 11:59 PM US Eastern Time on 11 June. Here is a countdown. If you have any concerns about the deadline, please email us as soon as you can!

As we get closer to that date, please keep in mind that your gift must:

• Be a complete, standalone story of at least 5,000 words
• Focus on one of the characters/relationships requested by your recipient
• Not contain any of your recipient's Do Not Wants

You are free to continue editing your gift as much as you like after that point. However, as of the deadline and at any time afterward, the story must be one that could be revealed while fulfilling the requirements of the exchange. "Placeholder" works that could not serve as complete gifts are not allowed and may be grounds for a ban from the exchange.

We know most participants turning in placeholders have every intention of coming back to fix them before reveals, but when something unexpected comes up and they can't do so, it can cause problems for the entire exchange.

Again, if you have any concerns about your fic, please reach out to us! It's much easier to talk things through early.

In the meantime, this is our last pre-deadline pinch hit signal boost. See our most recent post for available pinch hits!

Creators are revealed! Thank you, again, to all our participants. The collection will remain open for late gifts, including those for pinch hitters, and of course you can continue to read and comment at your leisure!

Please remember that if you defaulted or were defaulted by us on a main assignment after the end of the check-in period, your makeup assignment for participation in 2023 is your assignment from this year. After that point, you can choose to complete a full-length treat or pinch hit instead.

Before we close the book on the 2022 round, we have two items to address. One is a clarification to our rules and expectations, and the other is a (hopefully welcome) change to our rules for the 2023 round.

Rules Clarification

This is a plea and a reminder that, aside from our other rules, participants should not:

• post a placeholder work that could not go live as a complete gift in its current state
• disguise an inappropriate gift so it appears to be a complete gift at the deadline
• edit a gift after the deadline so it no longer fulfills the requirements
• drop out of contact with us while we are working with them to resolve an urgent problem
• delete their posted work after the deadline or remove it from the exchange without mod permission.

This isn’t targeted at any one person. All these things have happened independently this year, and all of them have happened in previous years. Often, we all get lucky, and things work out smoothly. (Aside from some elevated levels of mod anxiety behind the scenes.) Accidental problems can come up, too, but please help us avoid the preventable ones.

In turn, our commitment as mods includes the following:

• When reasonable and on a case-by-case basis, we will give extensions to participants who request them before the deadline
• We will not ask pinch hit recipients to add fandoms or tags to their requests (though we are happy to add them if the recipient genuinely wants to and contacts us themselves)
• We will not ask recipients to accept gifts that don’t meet the requirements of the exchange
• The exchange will go live only when everyone who checks in and turns in their assignment on time has a gift

We think these expectations on both sides are reasonable and fair! We also understand if you don’t feel they’ll result in a fun exchange experience for you personally. We’ll repost this next year before signups to make sure we’re all on the same page.

Rule Change for 2023

Next, we plan to change the number of tags that are required or allowed for each participant.

In 2023, signups will require a minimum of 3 requested fandoms and 4 offered fandoms. We will also be increasing the number of fandoms and characters/relationships that each person can nominate.

Thank you all once again, and we look forward to seeing you next year.

With the exception of our most recent pinch hits (available pinch hits here), all works are due at 11:59 PM EDC, Saturday, 6 June. Here is a countdown.

At that time, your work must be:

• Posted to the collection
• Not in draft status
• A complete story meeting the requirements of the exchange

Please double-check that you haven't left your work in draft status! Also, make sure it is a complete story. Editing after the deadline is fine--in fact, you may want to use the time after the deadline to work with a beta reader. Turning in an incomplete "placeholder" story is against our rules and may result in a permanent ban from the exchange.

As always, please contact us (fandom5kmod@gmail.com) with any questions or concerns!

Nominations are closed, and the tagset is almost complete! We have a few lingering questions at the bottom of this post. When these are answered, signups can begin. If we don't have them answered by 11:59 PM EDT on Saturday the 28th, we'll reject or adjust those tags as appropriate. Here is a countdown.

In the meantime, please have a look at the tagset for the fandoms you're interested in, 

Finally, now's a great time to review our process prior to signing up. We've clarified a few things in the rules this year, and a quick look through the FAQ is never a bad idea.

Open questions (please include a link to your nomination in the reply):

1. Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies) - We are unable to find a Joanna McCoy in the Alternate Original Series. Can the nominator please provide a link?
2. Stargate - We have a nomination for Stargate Atlantis and Stargate - AMT. Do the nominators want these merged together?
3. The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms - this is far too broad. Please reply with a more specific fandom for your nomination