#be_asks

[black-emporium-exchange]

Hey, I didn't see an announcement for submissions being due. Is everything still going according to plan?

Yup, everything's still on track! Got a little delayed in making a tumblr post announcement, but assignments were officially due on August 27th. We space out a week between the due date and Works Revealed to allow for pinch hitters and folks on extension to finish up their work.

So stay tuned! Works will be revealed on September 3rd at 9 AM US Pacific / 12 PM US Eastern / 4 PM UTC+0.

[black-emporium-exchange]

Will there be a treat/treatless list at any point?

Yes! We are working on getting it together to make sure that everyone’s treat preferences are accurately reflected.

[black-emporium-exchange]

If we forgot to nominate something, can we message you to add it? ;_;

Yes! Send it quickly so that everyone can take full advantage of it in their signups!

[black-emporium-exchange]

When does the Archive go live on the 7th? Is it at midnight or at 20:00/22:00 pm like some of the deadlines?

Hello anon! The collection will be revealed at 8 PM EDT on the 7th. Here’s a countdown to keep track :) 

If for some reason we need to delay the collection opening, we will announce that as soon as we have made that decision.

[black-emporium-exchange]

Hi, I know today is the posting day for the rough draft. I'm assuming I do that by setting it up as I normally would and then making the published day Sept. 7th? Also, how does the anonymous posting work?

Yes, just post your assignment as you would a normal work. As long as you mark it as your assignment when posting it, it will automatically be anonymous because of the collection settings.

We made a post just a little while ago with more information about posting your assignment that should hopefully help. Just let us know if you still have questions!

[black-emporium-exchange]

Question: I did a nom for Charade Amell/Sera, but it seems like it linked to Female Amell/Sera, which is a totally different ship. Is that an A03 thing or something I did wrong with the nom?

I noticed that -- it looks like it was Ao3 not being clear that Charade Amell is a separate character from Female Amell. I edited it when doing approvals. Charade Amell/Sera should be in the tagset; if it’s still an issue during signups, we’ll do more troubleshooting as needed.

-Mod K

[black-emporium-exchange]

Question about treats: are we okay with posting these on our personal blogs before the reveal date? Or should they be treated as the main assignment and kept secret? Thank you!

Treats should be kept anonymous until reveals, just like your main assignment.

[black-emporium-exchange]

I see "details about your character" on the sign up post. I thought OCs weren't allowed this year?

'We allow original characters provided they are:

a) A canonical player character (all wardens/hawkes/inquisitors)

b) A character who is simple enough that an author or artist can make up their own version easily from the description

Now, requesting further details on these sorts of characters are trickier to nail down, but optional details that are helpful here are things that aren’t putting extra work on your gift creator.

Example:

“For Original Male Qunari, I’d like it to be a Sarebaas” is perfectly reasonable; most people will be able to find out what a Sarebaas is either by playing the games or having done a five-minute google search.

“My Adaar’s named is Tomas, he has black hair, and he likes gold clothes.” -> Also perfectly reasonable, and something an author or artist may take into account in parts or in full. These are small things that are not putting a large constraint on the artist or author as far as optional details. They may add them, they may add only parts, they may only give their own version of an adaar. They are not additional details that require a large amount of research. 

“I would like the Original Male Qunari to be a Sarebaas named Tomas, who speaks in french at all times, dresses like a period-accurate 1687 Italian, and also has a 500,000-word fic I wrote here that I DO want 100% familiarity with, as all my requests are canon-adjacent to my own fic” is forcing your writer or artist to do a lot more background work than other requests. They will be excessively limited by this request, even if they only try to incorporate some of it. This sort of request is not allowed and we would contact whoever wrote a request like this to try to rework it so that their author or artist would not feel like they had to make a work set in someone else’s headcanon.

We realize this is a compromise, but we have to balance the interests of authors and artists and that of their giftees. We hope this explanation helps make sense of our policies for you!

[black-emporium-exchange]

In case our gift becomes a multi-chaptered monster of a fic, should we post the whole thing the day our works are due, or can we submit the first chapter on the due date and slowly keep updating it?

Thanks for asking! Please post the fic in its entirety by the deadline so that your recipient has a completed story waiting for them when gifts go live.

[black-emporium-exchange]

Hi, I would like to imply a past relationship that didn't work out in my fic that is different from the pairing requested. Mainly, it would be a brief mention. I see nothing against doing it in my assigned person's DNW but I wanted to make sure that it wasn't taboo before I started writing.

The best way to check this is to send us an email at the mod account - blackemporiumexchange@gmail.com - with your Ao3 name. We can ask your recipient so that you remain anonymous.

[black-emporium-exchange]

Hi! I've seen a prompt and pairing on the list that I'd really like to write a treat for, but I am unsure if the recipient would be happy to receive a treat from me (I wasn't assigned to them) or if I'm someone on their "please don't match me with this person" list, what should I do? Are there ways to prevent people getting treats from someone they didn't want a gift from? Thanks!

Hi! The best way to check this would be to send an email to the mod account, blackemporiumexchange@gmail.com . Chances are that you’d be fine, but it doesn’t hurt to check.

[black-emporium-exchange]

Hey, I noticed I have a typo in my gift. Can I edit my fic to fix that before go live, or is that going to mess with stuff on your end?

Edit away! It doesn’t affect anything on our end.

[black-emporium-exchange]

Hi! I had a small question about treats. Is there a time frame for posting them? Before the deadline? Before the work reveal? Before the creator reveal? Or is it just something we can do at any time? Like, for example, if someone wants to post something as a thank you to whoever created their gift.

Hello anon! Treats can be posted at any time, although historically most of them go up before author reveals. The collection will remain open after author reveals, however, so treats can still be posted then!

[black-emporium-exchange]

If someone's letter url is google doc based, wouldn't clicking it reveal ourselves when it comes to assignments?

Hi there! It will not; if the Google doc has not specifically been shared with you, you’ll show up as anonymous.

[black-emporium-exchange]

Is there any etiquette or dates we should follow if on top of our assignment we decide to fill one of the requests and write a treat? Like, should we also post it along with the assignment or can we post it before the work reveal date? Shpuld we post it anonymously and wait 'til the author reveal date or should we post like we would regularly but in the collection?

Hello! You can post treats at any time. If you post in the collection, it will be anonymous until all stories are revealed, just like your assignment. We will have a guide to treats going up shortly; watch for that if you still need help.

[black-emporium-exchange]

Hello! Some requests have multiple ships (that are not related). Is this acceptable or should I separate all my requested ships in the requests part of the form?

Hi anon! It is up to your personal preference. We can only have 10 fields due to AO3′s form limitations. If you only have 10 pairings you wish to request, you could do one per box. If you have more than ten, you will have to double-up on your requests. All requests are considered independent of one another by Ao3 (That is, if you request A/B and C/D in one slot, your chances of matching on A/B aren’t reliant on matching A/B AND C/D - Ao3 considers each individually), so please just use the description field for anything you want to add for the 1-3 pairings you would like to request!