Welcome to Holiday Horror Exchange

[holiday_horror_admin]

Holiday Horror is an annual multifandom fanworks exchange for fandoms that fall under the Horror Genre Umbrella. Works produced for this exchange are not required to have an overall holiday or winter theme. You must be at least 18 years of age and have an AO3 account to participate.

AO3 Collection
Current Tag Set
2021 Sign-ups (CLOSED)
FAQ
Promote You Horror Fandom
Report a Tag Set Error

Current Schedule:
Nominations Open - October 31, 2021
Nominations Close - November 12, 2021 (11:59pm EST)
Sign Ups Open - November14, 2021
Sign Ups Close - November 28, 2021 (11:59pm EST)
Assignments Go Out - no later than November 30, 2021 (11:59pm EST)
Assignments Due - December 31, 2021 (11:59pm EST)
Works Revealed - January 4, 2022
Creators Revealed - January 11, 2022

 

General Collection Etiquette:
Please comment on your gifts and treats. Your creators work hard to give you a gift tailored to you so it's nice to at least thank them and let them know you've seen and appreciate it. Non-Commentors risk losing the ability to participate in the next round of the exchange.

Disparaging or rude comments on any collection work will get you banned from all future participation.

Character bashing, canon/fandom bashing, ship/pairing bashing and kinkshaming will not be tolerated. If you see this behavior, including in prompts, please let the Mod team know so that it may be addressed. Please note that saying you don't like a certain ship or don't want a certain character included in your gift(s) is not considered bashing.

Gift Requirements

• Fics must be at least 750 words
• Art must be at least 1 Completed art piece, in any medium or style, on unlined paper or equivalent uploaded or otherwise linked as an A03 work in a med to high resolution.

Nominations
You must have an AO3 account to participate. If you do not have an account, but would still like to participate, please contact a mod.

This exchange is for content directly related to Horror Fandom, that means content the could reasonably be considered to fall under the Horror Genre or that has strong horror elements and themes. This content could be from any media including; movies, books, television shows, comics, video games, web series, and short form media such as art, music, poetry, and advertisements.

Qualification determination of any given media is ultimately the decision of the Mods. If you have a question about whether or not the content you want to nominate qualifies, or you’d like to make a case for something you think might be borderline, please ask a mod. The DW comm is the best place for those questions and discussion.

Crossovers are allowed as long as at least one of the fandoms and one of the characters nominated falls under the above listed criteria and would be eligible for nomination on it’s own.

"World Building" is permitted for nomination as a character tag. Please add disambiguation for each fandom in which you nominate it, i.e. "Worldbuilding (Fandom X)"

RPF is not allowed for this exchange.

When nominating characters with multiple versions across various media, please disambiguate the tags by putting the fandom in parenthesis. 

Examples:
Jill Valentine (Resident Evil Games)
Jill Valentine (Resident Evil Movies)
Dracula (Dracula - Bram Stoker)
Dracula (Dracula 1931 Film) 

Where reasonable, if you are nominating something that is part of a series, please nominate under the series tag rather than the individual installment of that series.

When nominating a Crossover, please use “Crossover – Fandom” as the Fandom and disambiguate each character set nomination.
Example: Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th) & Rose Tyler (Doctor Who)

You can nominate up to 13 different characters or pairings in up to 13 fandoms. Fandoms may be repeated. If you have an issue with the nominations form not allowing you to repeat a fandom, please contact a mod and we'll get you sorted out.

How to nominate Characters & Groups;
Whether nominating individual characters or groups they should be entered into the "characters" box on the nominations form.

To nominate individual characters, just use the character's name. If your character has multiple versions across fandoms, please disambiguate which version you are nominating.

If you'd like to nominate a group, please use the format;
Group: Character A & Character B (for platonic and other non-romantic/sexual relationships)
Group: Character A/Character B (for romantic or sexual relationships)
Group: Character A/Character B & Character C (for mixed relationships)

Polygroups are welcome. Please enter your group members in alphabetical order by first name to make things a little easier for the mods when weeding out duplicate nominations.

When nominating please use AO3 canonical tags where available. For Characters without a canonical tag, please use the full character name. Please disambiguate characters as needed by adding (Fandom name) at the end of their name.

You may nominate Original Work for inclusion in the tag set.

• Please Nominate it under "Original Work" as the fandom.
• Characters and ships should be nominated the same way as other fandoms.
• Characters or ships that do not sufficiently reflect the horror genre themeing of the exchange may be rejected.
• Worldbuilding nominated under Original Work must also include qualifying information; i.e. "Worldbuilding: The Haunted House on Baker Street"

Sign-ups:
You must be at least 18 years of age and have an AO3 account to participate. If you do not have an account, but would still like to participate, please contact a mod. 

Fandoms, characters, and character groups must have been nominated and approved to the tag set during the nominations phase in order to be requested or offered.

You can make 3 – 10 requests and 4 – 10 offers.
For each request, you must indicate the following;

• Fandom: This is where you indicate which fandom your request is for. You may pick only one for each request.
• Characters: You must include at least one character or group of characters, but may pick up to thirteen for each request.
• Relationships: This is where you indicate whether you want fiction or art as your gift. You must choose one, but may choose both.
• Additional Tags: This is where you indicate which theme or themes you're interested in receiving for the request. You must choose one, but may choose multiples.
• Ratings: This is where you will indicate what rating or ratings you would like the creation you receive to be. You must choose one, but may indicate multiples or "any".
• Link to your Letter: This is where you would include a link to your "Dear Krampus" letter. This field is optional.
• Optional Details: any optional details such as prompts, likes and your Do Not Want list (please note that any DNWs must be listed in the optional details section to be enforceable.) This field is optional.

For each offer, you will indicate the following;

• Fandom: This is where you indicate which Fandom your are willing to create for. You may pick only one for each offer.
• Characters: You must include at least two characters or groups of characters, but may pick up to thirteen for each offer. You may also choose to offer "any" characters that have been nominated in that category.
• Relationships: This is where you indicate whether you want to create fiction or art. You must choose one, but may choose both.
• Additional Tags: This is where you indicate which theme or themes you're willing to use in your creation. You must choose one, but may choose multiples.
• Ratings: This is where you will indicate what rating or ratings you are willing to create works for. You must choose one, but may indicate multiples or "any".

Theme Types and what they mean

• Theme: Canon Typical Horror - Horror tropes, trappings, and style that are typical of the canon
• Theme: Canon Atypical Horror - Horror tropes, trappings, and style that are NOT typically used or seen in the canon
• Theme: Out of Genre - Tropes, trappings, and style that are outside of the Horror Genre
• Theme: Winter Holidays - Tropes, trappings, and settings usually associated with the Holidays that take place in late fall and winter (Northern Hemesphere centric) such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Yule, New Year and Valentine's Day
• Theme: Winter Seasonal - Tropes, trappings, and settings usually associated with the Winter Season
• Theme: No Theme - No specific theme desired
• Theme: Any Theme - Open to any theme listed, including none

Optional Details are Optional. Prompts are allowed and encouraged for requests (whether in the sign up form or in your letter), but following those prompts is not mandatory. While kink, dark, and other risque prompts are allowed, please keep in mind that there will be certain themes and topics that not everyone will be comfortable including in works they create, even in the horror genre. As such, when offering prompts, please be sure to include multiple options for your creator to work with. The more prompts you can give for each request the more likely it is that you will receive something you'll love.

Please note that a good faith effort to create something the recipient will enjoy is expressly expected even in the face of ODAO.

About DNWs: DNWs are expected to be used for things such as triggers, hard squicks, NoTPs or things that would otherwise spoil your gift. They are not to be used to "box" a creator into creating one specific gift.

DNWs should not be vague or overly broad or difficult to interpret, it's better to be overly detailed than to leave your creator guessing or have them accidentally brush up against or write a DNW. When making your DWN list please try to aim for substance rather than style. If the Mods would have to make a subjective call on what does and doesn’t hit a DWN, it’s likely not enforceable (it’s easy to see if a fic has vomit in it or is written in second person, but not always easy to tell if something counts as being out of character). If you’re making your DNWs list in good faith, it’s likely to be fine.

You should also make sure that your DNWs don’t come into direct conflict with any prompts you make or canons you request and that if they do, make sure to clarify how those instances should be handled.

Examples of acceptable DNWs; Non-Con, Clowns, Character A/Character B, Coffee Shop AU, Vore, specific kink scenario, unrequested pairings, First person POV
Examples of unacceptable DNWs: Anything that isn't [Specific pairing/Setting/Plot element/Kink], SPAG errors, unrequested likes, gross stuff/weird stuff, OOC, Purple Prose, Gen

Any DNWs deemed to be unreasonable, an attempted "boxing", or too broad/vague will not be enforced. If you have any questions about whether your DNW(s) will be enforced, please ask a mod.

Posting
Proofreading and Betaing are recommended and encouraged. Please visit the Dreamwidth community for assistance in finding a Beta if needed.

For assignments you can use the "fulfill" button located on the right hand side of the applicable collection assignment found on your assignments page.

Assignments must be posted to the collection by the due date deadline posted on the Schedule. Not doing so will result in forced default.

Posted creations must be complete. Placeholders are not allowed. Posting of placeholders or incomplete creations will result in forced default.

Do not wants (DNW) that are included on the sign-up form must be followed. The gifting of a creation that includes a giftees sign-up stated DNWs will result in a forced default and may result in banning from the exchange.

When posting your completed works, please use Archive (AO3) canonical tags rather than the collection tags for fandoms, characters and ships where available. This will ensure that your works are searchable Archive wide and will show up properly when someone is looking for that type of work. You may add the collection tags to the additional tags section if you wish.

If you need assistance with posting your work, please see the AO3 Posting and Editing FAQ. If you need further assistance, please contact a mod.

Defaulting and Pinch Hits:
If you need to default on your assignment, please do so as quickly as possible so that a pinch hitter can be found and given plenty of time to create. To default at any time please use the "default" button located on the right hand side of the applicable collection assignment found on your assignments page.

No Penalty Default deadline: 12-24-2021

Defaulting after the no penalty deadline will cause you to become ineligible to participate in the Exchange for the next round or until you post a qualifying work to the collection during the off season.

Pinch Hits will be posted to the Dreamwidth Community.

Treats:
Treats are welcomed and encouraged.
Treats can be added to the main collection up until the moment of author reveals. They should be marked with "Treat" in the additional tags section.
Treats must be at least 150 words for fic and can be the "rough sketch" phase for art.
Treats must still adhere to all stated DNWs and should still be inspired by the recipient's requests.
If you would prefer not to receive treats please indicate this by adding "No Treats Please" at the top of the optional details section of each of your requests.

Treats will not become main gifts.