Nomination Guidelines

[hurtcomfortexmod]

You can nominate up to
10 Fandoms
10 Pairings per fandom
20 Freeforms

Pairing nominations will indicate which character is hurt, or if both characters are hurt.

Character A/Character B (hurt Character A) or Character A/Character B (hurt Character B)
Character A & Character B (hurt Character A) or Character A & Character B (hurt Character B)
Character A/Character B (both hurt)
Character A & Character B (both hurt)
Character A & Any (hurt Character A)

For OT3+ instead of "both hurt" please use "all hurt"
Character A/Character B/Character C (all hurt)

For example for romantic fic with Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi where Obi-Wan is injured/sick/etc. the tag nomination would look like - "Obi-Wan Kenobi/Darth Vader (hurt Obi-Wan)"

For poly cases where multiple characters are attracted to one character, use parenthesis for the group.
(Obi-Wan & Padmé Amidala)/Anakin Skywalker (hurt Obi-Wan) for fic that is both Obi-Wan/Anakin and Padmé Amidala/Anakin but NOT Obi-Wan/Padmé Amidala.

"Hurt" is used to cover physical injury, illness, emotional distress, or other situational need for comfort covered by the freeforms and/or optional details.

Please keep in mind that the / is for romantic fic and the & is for genfic. Character&None (hurt Character) is used for single characters

Crossover pairings should go under Crossover Fandom with the character's fandom indicated. Luke Skywalker (SW)/James T. Kirk (ST)

Large Franchises pairings should be nominated under All Media when appropriate. Star Wars Original Trilogy Luke Skywalker/Han Solo is considered the same characters as Star Wars Sequel Trilogy Luke/Han and would go under Star Wars All Media Types. Ocarina of Time Link/Zelda are different characters from Twilight Princess Link/Zelda and would be nominated under their respective games.

Original Works are allowed.

Creator's Choice of Fandom is allowed. Do not use DNWs to overly restrict the fandoms.

Nominations of Character &/Group are allowed, but when signing up any member(s) of the group will be considered to be fulfilling the exchange requirements.
For example, a request for Peter Parker & The Avengers (hurt Peter) can include any/all Avengers at the creator's discretion.

Character/&Any is allowed. Specific restrictions must be baked into the request such as Character/Any Male Character, DNWs can't be used to restrict the Any beyond what appears in the work itself. DNW Murder means no murder in the work itself, but a canon murderer can still be the Any as long as the DNW is respected.

RPF is allowed with the restriction that all individuals nominated must be 18+ at the time of nomination, and relatives/significant others are not allowed unless they are also public figures.


Freeforms must include some reference to hurting or comforting from an implied hurt, they cannot be too general in nature.

"Missing the bus" is an example of a too general freeform. Hurt is not seriously implied. Instead we're looking for more like -
"Emotional distress from missing the bus" Clear emotional hurt.
"Comforting someone who missed the bus" Comfort is clear, hurt is implied.

"Mutual Pining" is another example of a too general freeform that doesn't imply hurt/comfort.
We would prefer -
"Comforting someone who is pining for you"
"Pining causes physical/magical illness"
"Hanahaki Disease"

Freeforms that are unclear will be rounded up in clarification posts where we welcome comments clarifying or arguing for their inclusion, but the final decision will be made by the mods.

Comments

[jamaillith]

Does "both hurt" also mean "either hurt", if I don't care which one is hurt as long as the other one isn't? Or do I need to nominate them separately?

[hurtcomfortexmod]

"both hurt" only means both hurt. You'll need to nominate them separately.

[alessandriana]

For an OT3, should it still be "both hurt"?

[lynndyre]

I tried it as (hurt all) and that went through fine?

[hurtcomfortexmod]

We've been accepting (all hurt) since that sounds better and less confusing than both hurt. I will add that to the guidelines soon.

EdiT: Added!

[flowersforgraves]

Question: What if I wanted to nominate A/B/C but I only wanted A and B hurt? Would I use (A and B hurt) or is that not an option for this exchange? If it's not I completely understand.

[hurtcomfortexmod]

For this round it's not an option. You could nominate A/B/C (A) and A/B/C (B), request both, and include in your optional details that you'd be open to (A and B) though.

[flowersforgraves]

Ah, okay! Thank you.

[aroberuka]

Since nominations of [character] & [group] are allowed, can I nominate a group as the ‘person’ getting hurt? As in: 'any/all members of [group] hurt, [character] offering comfort'?

[hurtcomfortexmod]

You can nominate Character & Group (hurt Group). However, like with the other group nominations, while you can request specific members of the group you'd like hurt, there is no guarantee you'll get those specific characters.

[aroberuka]

Makes sense, thank you!

[(Anonymous)]

I'm sorry if I missed it addressed somewhere already, but is it allowed to nominate Character &/ Any like the last round?

[hurtcomfortexmod]

You need to indicate the Any, like Loki/Any Avenger, or Loki & Any MCU Character, and any truly does mean any. You cannot use optional details to try and restrict this. You can't put Loki/Any Avenger and then say that you don't want Loki/Thor.

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you so much for your quick reply! Just like the last round, I do understand and mean 'Any' to be ANY characters from canon (or even any original characters the author/artist creates for canon, if that's allowed), and have no intention or wish to go optional detailing for it.

I'm also very sorry for accidentally commenting on 2019 post; I meant to comment on 2020's guideline post, but I mixed up the tabs and commented here and haven't realized until now. Apologies.

So "Either Hurt" isn't an option?

[zaniida]

It's either "Hurt A," "Hurt B," "Both Hurt," or use two separate tags to indicate that you're okay with A or B being hurt? Would very much appreciate being able to specify "Either" -- if not this year, then starting next year.

I mean, I love being able to indicate which character I want hurt (e.g. a teen character taking care of a hurt adult character feels very different from an adult character taking care of a hurt teen), but there are plenty of pairs where I'd be happy seeing either one hurt but I don't mean both of them have to be hurt in the same fic.

Re: So "Either Hurt" isn't an option?

[hurtcomfortexmod]

Either hurt can't be an option due to Ao3's limitations. You can have Loki hurt, or Nebula hurt, or both hurt.

But the way ao3 matches is it looks at your tag and it's not smart. "hurt Loki" can only be matched to another "hurt Loki" "hurt Gamora" can only be matched to "hurt Gamora"

Ao3 has no way to understand that "hurt Gamora" and "hurt Loki" should match to "either Loki or Gamora hurt".
Ao3 can only match "either Loki or Gamora hurt" to another person entering "either Loki or Gamora hurt"

The best we can do is let you ask for three different tags "hurt Gamora" "hurt Loki" and "both hurt" so that you'll match to someone offering any of those three.

Re: So "Either Hurt" isn't an option?

[zaniida]

Oh, a technical limitation! That makes perfect sense; thanks for explaining it.

Okay, I'm a little confused

[zaniida]

I've reread the guidelines a couple times and I see now that Nominations and Sign-Ups are separate steps... so, Sign-Ups are based on whatever people have created for the Nominations phase?

Like, a bunch of people throw pairings into a pool, and then when you sign up you can only choose from among the pairings that ended up in the pool? Did I get that right?

So during the Nominations phase, I could add, say, Loki & Nebula, but if I haven't done so during the nominations phase and by the Sign-Ups phase there's only Loki/Nebula (or no Loki-Nebula pairing at all), then I can't then offer to write Loki & Nebula?

And during Nominations I can suggest freeform tags, but during Sign-Ups I have to choose from the freeforms that got added during Nominations? So like, Nonconsensual Bondage, I could add during Nominations, but if it's not there by Sign-Ups then I couldn't request it?

And then, for the Sign-Ups, is there a maximum number of requests/offers I can make? I don't see that information anywhere. And is it that I request a particular pairing and then e.g. up to ten possible tags for that, and then a second pairing with up to ten possible tags for that, or how does this work?

Re: Okay, I'm a little confused

[hurtcomfortexmod]

That's exactly right. During Nominations we're building what A03 calls a Tagset. This gives people a pool to chose from and lets us create temporary tags just for this exchange. Loki & Nebula may exist as a 'real' tag in A03 that A03 can use in filtering, but Loki & Nebula (hurt Nebula) is a special tag created just for this exchange.

You'll go to the tagset here when it opens. There will be a button in the right top corner that says Nominate. It'll take you to a page that has boxes to type in. The first will be Fandom 1 and for Loki & Nebula you'd pick, I believe, Avengers: Infinity War since for big franchises we're going for the first movie both characters appear in. This does not mean your request has to be set in Infinity War, it's just for ease of sorting.

Then there will be boxes labeled
Relationship
Relationship
Relationship

In one of those boxes you'd put Loki & Nebula (hurt Nebula)

Then at the bottom you can hit Submit.

After that point if you want to add more tags you will hit Edit Nominations and it will bring you back to the same page with boxes. You won't be able to change Avengers: Infinity War or Loki & Nebula (hurt Nebula) once they're accepted.

If you mess up and put Loki & Nebula it won't be accepted and it will go onto a post here on Dreamwidth asking you to edit it to indicate who's hurt. Freeforms will be their own box too.


For signing up, you'll have forms to fill out. They'll ask you to select a Fandom, Medium: Fanart and/or Medium: Fanfic, rating, pairing, and freeforms. It sounds like a lot, but it's very straightforward.

A signup request could look like

Avengers: Infinity War
Pairing: Loki & Nebula (hurt Nebula)
Medium: Fanart
General Audiences, Teen And Up Audiences
Trapped In A Snowstorm, Broken Leg, Aftermath of Torture, Cyborg Parts Needing Repair

And then you could do

Avengers: Infinity War
Pairing: Loki & Nebula (hurt Loki)
Medium: Fanart
General Audiences, Teen And Up Audiences
Infinity Stone Induced Injury, Aftermath of Torture, Magical Injury, Sunburn

Just as long as you have a total of three different unique fandom requests and offers. Since franchises are split, yes you could do Thor (MCU) Loki & Sif (hurt Loki) and Thor: Ragnarok Loki & Valkyrie (hurt Loki) and have three unique fandoms.

Offers will be done the same way.

To sign up you must request a minimum of three fandoms with one relationship per fandom, and a minimum of two freeform tags. As well as offer a minimum of three fandoms with one relationship per fandom and at least two freeform tags. You can request 20 freeforms in the Additional Tags field and then 20 more in the Optional Tags field (though they must be copy and pasted from the tagset, as Optional Tags does not dropdown from the tagset) for a total of 40 freeforms max.

If you need any additional help when things open up, feel free to ask here, also Exchanges After Dark is a great discord full of helpful people if you use discord.

[darthastris]

Since something like Star Wars has many "fandoms" so to speak, with different dynamics/ages/timelines etc for many of the characters, can we nominate same or similar pairings in the different fandoms? For example: in the Legends "fandom" Thrawn is handled differently (everything from background to looks) than he is in the new Rebels canon. Or something like Ben Solo and Kylo Ren, or Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader, who are often treated as separate characters for purposes of their different personalities/expected reactions/ages? Or specifying Rey or Dark Rey as two different characters?


For example:

Star Wars Legends - All Media Types -- Thrawn (Legends)/Pellaeon (Legends) (hurt Thrawn) (meaning they should be described with the established backgrounds and as they appear and behave in the EU)

Star Wars - Rebels -- Thrawn/Pellaeon (hurt Thrawn) (meaning they should be described with the established backgrounds and as they appear and behave in the Disney canon)

Star Wars Sequel Trilogy -- Kylo Ren/Armitage Hux (hurt Hux) (Kylo as he behaves/appears in the movies, as an adherent to the Dark Side)

Star Wars: Rise of Kylo Ren -- Ben Solo/Armitage Hux (hurt Hux) (Kylo before he became Kylo Ren, as a Jedi or younger/different version of himself)

Thank you! <3

[(Anonymous)]

We will allow one split of Ben Solo and Kylo between comics and ST since there is precedent for Vader and Anakin to be split, but you may have one Ben Solo/Armitage Hux in comics and one Kylo Ren/Hux in ST, but any variation on Ben Kylo/Hux outside of those two fandoms will be deleted during cleanup.

We're also going to split Legends since they diverge enough from main canon now.

Star Wars Legends - All Media Types -- Thrawn (Legends)/Pellaeon (Legends) (hurt Thrawn)
Star Wars - Rebels -- Thrawn/Pellaeon (hurt Thrawn)

But NOT Star Wars: Thrawn Series - Timothy Zahn (2017) -- Thrawn/Pellaeon (hurt Thrawn)

We're going to avoid Dark Rey split from Rey. "Dark Rey" can be in freeforms though! Either on its own or as part of more complicated tags such as "Dark Rey causes another character to Fall"

The important thing to remember is that there's a limited number of request slots, which is why we're trying to limit the tagset.

[hurtcomfortexmod]

Sorry, didn't realize I was logged out there!

[darthastris]

Ah, ok. So I think I have it done correctly now. I'll change the Thrawn ones to Rebels instead of the book series, since that's broader, I think.

Is this ok, though?

Sequel trilogy: Kylo Ren/Armitage Hux (hurt Hux)
Sequel trilogy: Kylo Ren/Armitage Hux (hurt Kylo)
Sequel trilogy: Kylo Ren/Armitage Hux (both hurt)

and

Rise of Kylo Ren: Ben Solo/Armitage Hux (hurt Hux)
Rise of Kylo Ren: Ben Solo/Armitage Hux (hurt Kylo)
Rise of Kylo Ren: Ben Solo/Armitage Hux (both hurt)

because the different partners being hurt counts as separate requests, is that right?

Also the freeform tags are meant to be character specific? I thought they were more for like, general scenarios we want to see.

Thanks again!

[hurtcomfortexmod]

Yes, that's correct

[darthastris]

Awesome, thank you!

Sorry, one more thing: I was going to change the Thrawn ones to Rebels instead of the novel series, but then I realized that Eli only exists in those novels (and the comic adaptations). Can I leave those as is? Or should I move them to something broader like Star Wars (Marvel Comics)?

[hurtcomfortexmod]

Eli can stay in the novels. I know it gets confusing when some characters are one section specific and others bounce around so much!

[darthastris]

Ok, thank you very much!

[eratoschild]

Please forgive me if it's been stated and I missed it, but are "hurt/no comfort" or "hurt without comfort" allowed or is the comfort element required?

[hurtcomfortexmod]

Tags that state no comfort are allowed. If a tag doesn't state it, like "Broken bones" then it can be assumed that comfort is desired, but "all hurt/no comfort" is fine!