littleblackdressex | Rules, Info & FAQ

lbdmod posting in

Little Black Dress is a ship-based multifandom exchange premised on creating fanworks for "Little Black Dress" characters, which is to say characters that "go" with anything. In an exchange context, this means characters you ship with anyone. For this exchange, you request only characters, and it's up to your recipient to select which ship they would like to write from your requested canon. Matching is done on fandom, character, ship category (i.e. LBD/F, LBD/M etc.) and medium (fic, art, or podfic). Participants will be required to create a ship-based fanwork that meets their recipient's requests for all of these aspects.

Schedule:

Nominations: June 21st - June 27th
Nomination cleanup on June 28th and then reopen through end of signups.
Signups: June 29th - July 5th
Assignments sent out on July 6th
Deadline: August 10th
Reveals: August 17th
Creator reveals: August 24th

All deadlines are 11:59pm EDT.

General Rules:

All participants must be at least 18 years of age.

Please ensure the email address associated with your AO3 account is one you check regularly, as the mod may need to contact you if there is an issue with your signup or to pass on a question from your creator.

Signing up with multiple accounts is permitted, however badly-behaved socks will be banned at the mod's discretion.

All participants are expected to be respectful of each other. This includes respecting each other's shipping preferences.

Nominations:

You may nominate 1-10 characters in 1-10 fandoms. Please disambiguate nominations by adding the fandom next to the character name in parenthesis e.g. Marta Cabrera (Knives Out).

For DC Comics and Marvel Comics, please nominate all main-continuity characters under the umbrella title (e.g. DC Comics), and all titles that take place outside of main continuity under their respective titles (e.g. Bombshells, Arkham Knight). Individual titles and era-specific runs may also be nominated (e.g. DC Comics New Earth). For alternate versions of characters that happen within the main continuity/storyline, nominate them with an informative designation under the main DC Comics/Marvel Comics tag (e.g. HYDRA!Steve Rogers).

For DC's Arrowverse, due to the complexity and intricacy of the crossovers, crossover episodes will be treated as episodes that are shared equally between the relevant shows. That is to say, all crossover episodes that one show participated in count as part of that show, even if they are technically part of a different series. For example, the Elseworld's crossover story is considered part of Arrow, Flash, and Supergirl, but not Legends of Tomorrow or Black Lightning. This does not apply to canons outside of Arrow, Flash, Supergirl, Batwoman, Legends of Tomorrow, and Black Lightning who participated in the crossovers.

For RPF, characters should be nominated in the fandom that you want to be considered the shared "canon" for purposes of offering/requesting. Anyone you offer can be paired with anyone who shares the canon. So if you nominate Socrates as "Philosophy RPF," he could be paired with anyone who is defined as a philosopher. But if you nominate him in "Classical Athens RPF," he could be paired with anyone who is defined as living in Classical Athens.

For characters with multiple gender paths in canon--usually but not exclusively video-games--you may nominate them as the gender you prefer (e.g. M!PC, F!PC)

You are welcome to nominate and then request rule!63 Little-Black-Dresses using the same designation as above.

Guidelines:

The way you should think about nominations is that the fandom you nominate a character under will determine the available set of characters to ship them with. This means a couple things:

All characters must be disambiguated, even if they wouldn't usually need to be. It's very possible several characters will be nominated in several different canon iterations. Also, disambiguate as specifically as possible or characters will go wandering. If you nominate Leia Organa in Star Wars- All Media Types, disambiguate with (SW-AMT) and not just Star Wars.

For big sprawling canons, make sure you only nominate All Media Types if you really mean it. You cannot DNW a subset of canon. For instance, if you would like Leia paired with any character in any Star Wars media, except for the video games, you cannot request her in Star Wars - All Media Types and DNW video game pairings. You can, however, request her in the Original Trilogy and then Opt-In for crossovers in any Star Wars media except for video games. It is a little convoluted, but it is necessary for matching purposes.

If in doubt, nominate your character in a smaller piece of your canon and opt-in to the larger one.

Signups:

Each participant must request 1-10 characters in 3-10 different fandoms, and offer 1-20 characters in 1-10 different fandoms. Repeated fandoms are permitted as long as the total number of repeat fandoms fulfills the minimum. The maximum number of requested fandoms (including repeats) is 10, which is a limit imposed by AO3. You are welcome to request multiple versions of the same character, but there must be at least two characters over the three requests. So, for instance, you could request Nolanverse Harvey Dent, DC Comics Harvey Dent, and Animated Series Harvey Dent, but you would also have to request a second unique character in order to sign up.

(You may sign up requesting under the above minimums, for example only requesting variations of one character, however these are the minimums you must meet to be guaranteed a gift. You will be able to add late requests if necessary.)

Participants can also include optional details regarding preferred ship dynamics, crossover requests, or anything else that might help guide their creator. In addition, they can indicate any themes or pairings that they do not want (DNW) to receive. Letters are optional, and only DNWs in the sign-up details will be enforced.

Relationship Categories:

For this round, relationship categories will match on the format LBD/X, where X denotes a gender category. These are defined as:

• M = Male character
• F = Female character
• NB = Nonbinary character
• O = Other; this includes any case that doesn't fit into the above three
• Many = Multiple individuals of unspecified gender

This means you will be able to select from the following options:

• LBD/F, LBD/M, LBD/NB, LBD/O—single-partnered relationships between your LBD and one other character
• LBD/F/F, LBD/M/M, LBD/NB/NB, LBD/O/O, LBD/M/F, LBD/M/NB, LBD/F/NB, LBD/F/O, LBD/M/O, LBD/NB/O—threesome or poly relationships
• LBD/Many—relationships involving the requested character with >2 individuals of any gender. This includes poly relationships of any gender configuration that aren't defined by the threesome tags

Note on DNWs:

As this is a Little Black Dress Exchange, there is a limit on pairing-related DNWs (or NOTPs) to three per character, per relationship category. Non pairing-related DNWs like incest, noncon, etc. will also apply, but will not contribute to this limit. If you are requesting a character and you find you have more than three NOTPs you want to DNW, please choose a different character to avoid boxing in your writer. The mod reserves the right to query DNWs that are excessively restrictive during the signup period.

Opt-Ins/Opt-Outs:

The following elements are considered opt-in for this exchange, which means you may only include them in your fanwork if the recipient has specifically requested it in their signup:
• LBD/Original Character
• Specific ships that don't conform to the requested relationship category
• Crossovers (please specify if you only want to opt into crossovers with specific fandoms or genres)
• Non-canon versions of characters such as Rule 63 or monster-versions unless this version is baked into the tag (e.g. if your recipient has requested F!Steve Rogers, then this is not considered opt-in)
• Selfcest (unless the other 'self' is a canon character e.g. a clone, then this is opt-out)
• Readerfic
• Bestiality

Any opt-ins must be clearly delineated in your sign-up's optional details field.

The following elements are considered opt-out for this exchange, which means that if you do not want to receive a fanwork containing this, you must state it in your DNWs:
• Incest
• Underage or age gap ships
• Inter-species relationships (e.g. elves, orcs, Romulans, etc.—any human/animal ships are considered opt-in.)
• Multiple relationships involving the LBD character appearing in the same work
• Treats; treats are extra gifts that are not an original assignment. If you do not wish to receive extra gifts and/or you don't have the "Allow anyone to gift me works" setting checked in your AO3 preferences, you must clearly state this in your signup.

Requirements:

Every participant is required to create a fanwork featuring a requested character that fulfills the requested category (LBD/M, LBD/F, etc.) in the requested medium. Each work must include a romantic or sexual ship containing the requested character and another character from the same canon, unless the sign-up has opted-in to crossovers or original characters.

Fanfic requirements: A completed work with a minimum of 500 words.
Fanart requirements: A clean sketch on unlined paper.
Podfic requirements: One complete and edited podfic of a text that is at least 500 words. Podficcers may produce podfic of a pre-existing work (with the author's permission) OR write and record a fic for this exchange. In the latter case, the minimum is only 250 words, however both the text and audio must be posted (either separately or in the same work).

Anonymity:

Please refrain from discussing your assignment in public/namespace until creators are revealed. Creators may not include any identifying information in their fanwork, with exceptions for: (1) artists, who may sign their work, and (2) podficcers who may wish to record their username in their introduction. In addition, podficcers are not expected to alter their voice to preserve anonymity.

Pinch Hits:

If you are unable to complete your assignment for whatever reason, please default as early as possible so mods may arrange a pinch hitter. Every participant who completes their assignment in accordance with the rules is guaranteed a gift. If you default, you may not receive a gift. Pinch hits will be posted to this DW community.

Little Black Dress Madness

The Little Black Dress Madness prompt meme will run simultaneously with the exchange and it is intended for people who don't want to sign up for the exchange for any reason, whether they don't want an assignment right now or don't have the right distribution of dresses in their wardrobe to sign up. When fulfilling a Little Black Dress Madness prompt, you are welcome to post it in the main collection in addition to the Madness collection.

For more details, consult this post.

Note: For LBD Madness, anonymous signups are not permitted. Please do not check the "Semi-anonymous Prompt?" box when signing up. Any signups that do not comply with this rule will be deleted.

FAQ:

Is this just for romantic or sexual ships (/) or are platonic ships (&) allowed too?

This exchange is just for romantic or sexual ships.

Is RPF allowed?

RPF is allowed provided any real persons are 18 years of age or older. Any fanworks produced must not involve their non-famous friends or family. Mods reserve the right to reject RPF nominations at their discretion.

Are Original Works eligible?

No, not for this exchange. You cannot nominate original characters within canons, either. In optional details, you may opt-in to ships involving nominated and requested characters with OCs. Without an opt-in, any fic produced must include a pairing with at least two characters who exist in canon.

Can I opt into specific ships that aren't in the category I'm requesting?

Yes, you may. The way this works that is if you request LBD/F, you can only DNW three specific LBD/F ships, but you may opt-in to ships that are different configurations at will.

Are we allowed to DNW ships involving characters we aren't requesting?

This is fine. For example, if you're requesting Harry Potter, you can DNW Ron/Hermione and it won't count towards your 3 NOTPs limit.

Are treats allowed?

Treats are additional fanworks gifted to participants who are not your recipient. Treats are allowed and they can be of any length but you still must match on fandom, character, medium, and category, and all treats must respect DNWs. If you do not wish to receive treats and/or you do not have treating enabled in your AO3 preferences, you must clearly state this in your signup. To enable treats, click here (substituting your username):

https://archiveofourown.org/users/YOURUSERNAMEHERE/preferences

...and check the box next to Allow anyone to gift me works.

Who are the mods?

Your mod for this round is

Asymptotical. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please contact me here on dreamwidth or at littleblackdressex@gmail.com, rather than Discord.

Tags:

faq,
rules

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

sirvalkyrie

I was told to ask this question here. If I request a character and then F/F, can I add a few F/M ships I'm willing to opt into even if I know I won't match on it?

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