#polyswap faq

[homestuckpolyswap]

So... What IS this POLYSWAP stuff anyway? Let's simplify it down for all the newcomers, and the potential newcomers too!

The Homestuck Polyship Swap Event—Polyswap for short—is an Archive Of Our Own [AO3] gift exchange styled a bit like a Secret Santa. Under the cover of anonymity, participants craft poly-focused gifts for each other, all for the joy of revealing who did what at the end of the event!

We moderators here at Polyswap believe that polyships are just the best thing ever, and want to encourage fellow makers of the craft to make more of the stuff we love! Signing up is a guarantee that your polyship appreciations are recognized... and shared by creatives!

This event community keeps the time-honored fandom tradition alive: making what you want to see, transforming canon into something brand new. Some of our greatest exports are fics that change brain chemistry, amazing comics, and so much more!

As Polyswap eagerly nears its tenth anniversary, we are encouraging participants to give us a try, and bring a brand new Homestuck polyship into the spotlight.

[polyswapdersebigbang]

is this an exchange like polyswap or do i come up with my own plot for my story instead of writing for a prompt?

If you check our FAQ, you’ll see a brief description of what a Big Bang is, along with a link to a longer article. Here’s the quote!

So what’s a big bang?

A very specific type of fanwork challenge! Artists and writers collaborate to produce longer fic with accompanying artwork. Here’s a link to the fanlore article.

In short: You’ll be producing a pitch, to try and “sell” your piece. We’ll be providing a sample of a pitch later on, as the signup date approaches. You will not need a pitch to signup. From there, you and your artist match will be working together on a story of 10K+ or 20K+! You’ll do the writing, and they’ll illustrate scenes, or you can work out however things would flow best for the two of you.

[polyswapprospitbigbang]

Big Bang Pitch Sample

As promised, we’ve got a pitch sample for you guys to work off of! This is based on Iridium, @thescyfychannel’s Prospit Fill:

TITLE: Iridium SHIPS: Eridan/Feferi, Feferi/Sollux, Feferi/Aradia, Sollux/Aradia, Eridan/Sollux, eventual Eridan/Feferi/Sollux/Aradia TAGS: Faestuck AU, Magic AU, Demonstuck AU (sort of) WARNINGS: Canon-Typical Violence, Serious Injury, Fighting, Bad Communication (at first), Curses ----- SUMMARY: Aradia Megido's interest in the supernatural (as a hobby!!) has only grown as she's gotten older. Of course, when the first spell that actually works for her accidentally summons her twice over metamour, Eridan Ampora, she finds out that there's a lot going on behind the scenes that neither she nor her girlfriend, Feferi Peixes, have been privy to. Eridan Ampora and her other boyfriend, Sollux Captor, are part of a world that's much larger than Aradia's ever realized, and instead of summoning a local angel, as she assumed, she's summoned the guardian fae for the area—an angel-type fae, also known as her girlfriend's first boyfriend.

And it only gets more complicated from there.

Feferi and Aradia have been left out of the knowledge for reasons of safety, and while at first, neither Eridan nor Sollux knows that the other one is in the know, once Aradia finds out, the dominos start falling. Now it's a race to keep Feferi from "waking up" before it would be safe for her to do so, and to figure out exactly who  or what is targeting their little clover, and figure out why before it's too late for them to survive the coming storm. ----- NOTES: Each chapter will be told from a different person's POV, in a semi-random, rotating order! Everything will be in second person, and chapters will range from a few hundred words to a couple thousand. Max rating will be PG-13!

The notes section is completely optional, and your summaries definitely don’t need to be this long! Include whatever you feel is necessary to convey your outline and plan, but keep your summary’s length under 300 words.

[homestuckpolyswap]

Is the prompt url is expected to be a google doc? Also, does nobody is required to write nsfw mean I cannot have a prompt that is just, "A/B/C do this sex act." Or does that mean I need to have prompts that could be non-sexual?

The Prompt URL can be just about anything accessible, such as a Tumblr page or a Google Doc. However, the link cannot contain or require tracking, such as a sign-in or a record of who visits. This means a read-only G-Doc or similar, in order to preserve anonymity.

Derse is an 18+ NSFW Optional Zone, to contrast the All-Ages No Horny rules of Prospit! What this means is that while your prompts can absolutely be as frothy as you'd like, your gifter doesn't have to include all the gritty details. They could:

write a tasteful fade to black after much pomp and circumstance,

draw a multi-panel conversation so charged it reads as an intimate moment,

perform a singularly gut-wrenching song that touches on all the yearning your prompt entails,

and so much more!

So, while you certainly can write your prompts very salaciously, it is understood that your gifter has discretion in what they will incorporate. Thus! We encourage writing broad open-ended prompts full of details and headcanons, to allow aaaaaaaall the possi8ilities for your Polyswap fill!

As a sidenote, blatantly ignoring core details of your prompt is against Polyswap rules. You cannot require that a gifter create something with very selective headcanons, but they cannot completely ignore the prompt to do their own thing. This is a request, not a commission.

[homestuckpolyswap]

Can I sign up to be a pinch hitter while also being in the swap?

Absolutely 100%! The only rule is that you are not allowed to CLAIM any pinch hits until your fill is done, in, and approved. Usually the majority of our pinch hitters are very determined participants!

[homestuckpolyswap]

what’s max extension until? :( i know there’s a couple days initially and then you can ask for more but when’s the last day that’s an option?

As long as the extension is requested BEFORE JUNE 7TH, the Max Extension Available is June 11th, 11:59 PM EST. In practice, we don't get too tetchy if you're a couple of hours past that—what with time zones and all, we know how it goes—but we need to keep some time available in case of very last minute defaults and very very last minute pinch hits.

If the extension is requested ON June 7th, AKA the actual deadline, we can only offer a 1 day extension, to June 8th.

If you're a pinch hitter working on a pinch hit, it's a very different conversation! Pinch hitters should contact us via email, Discord, or Tumblr messenger.

Also, if you do end up needing to default, PLEASE LET US KNOW AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. We really appreciate it, and it helps us with planning and pinch hit setup.

[homestuckpolyswap]

I'm wondering what y'alls stance on technical RPF is. Say we have something like Dave/John/Obama. Would this be disallowed because Obama is technically a real person even though we're angling for the character from Homestuck? (sorry if this is a dumb question I'd just really love clarification)

No such thing as a dumb question! Technical RPF and its place in Polyswap are a nuanced subject, but not from a place of judgement.

Due to concerns about appropriate tagging, sourcing proper fills, and precedent, we do not allow "real world" Homestuck characters in Polyswap Proper.

Not all "real world" characters have a canon tag on AO3 that is wrangled by the Homestuck fandom, and locating someone who just so happens to be willing to write Dave / John / Obama in an anonymous swap would be an absolute marvel of matchmaking... especially a gifter that just so happens to write Homestuck-specific Obama and not just former president—Actual Obama.

Furthermore, there is a precedent for disallowing characters who function as abstractions or self-inserts, such as MSPA Reader, so this follows that decision.

However, for our smaller events, such as an upcoming prompt meme wherein everyone posts up requests with no expectation of having them filled, Obama as he appears in Homestuck would be permissible!

[homestuckpolyswap]

I have a few questions about the ship unique rule for requests: is that just for the first three prompts or all of them? And what counts as a unique ship? Do all three characters have to be completely unique from other prompts I.E. dave couldn't be in two prompts. If one of the prompts has an ot4, does that mean any ot3 with three of those characters is not unique? And how is it counted if I had a prompt like 'character X and any amount of these characters 'y1,y2,y3,y4' does any combination of those characters get axed?

The ship unique rule applies across the board, HOWEVER—we're not exactly strict with it. You could absolutely rock up with the following six prompts:

dave/A/B

dave/A/B/C

dave/B/C

dave/A/B/C/D

dave/C/D

dave/B/C/D

We've absolutely had prompts with "Character Y1 is my only mandatory one here, I'd love to see them in [specific weird poly situation] with any of Y2, Y3, Y4, or Y28", and some of these even include more than the usual six characters—just keep in mind that your gifter is never required to do more than six characters for your prompt—as options to swap in or out.

Our top recommendation is flipping through some of the past Polyswap requests for a better idea of what's allowed! They're all up in their respective swaps. Last year's were particularly good examples: Derse, Prospit

[homestuckpolyswap]

When does the treats collection open?

You can upload things to the treats collection, Polyswap Presents 2024, any time. We prepped it and opened access (so please tell us if there's an issue with submitting things to it) and it's ready to go.

The actual treats submitted to the collection will be revealed on June 23rd, and the treat creators will be revealed on June 25th!

We're really looking forward to seeing what people submit. Thanks for this question!

[homestuckpolyswap]

With ships, do all the character *have* to be dating each other? Are V-style polycules (where Person A and Person B are both dating Person C, but Person A and Person B are not dating each other) okay?

It depends! Some prompts may specify a direction for the relationship (e.g. the V-style polycule), whereas others are a bit more freeform. If you're ever worried about missing the mark, please contact the mods. We'll reach out to your gifter to confirm what they're okay with (maybe they intended A, B, and C to all date but they'd be okay with B and C both dating A, and not dating each other, but not A and C both dating B but not each other) and forward the information back to you.

[homestuckpolyswap]

Are we allowed to give our giftee extra fics outside of the fulfilled request?

Those go into the Treat Section, known as "Polyswap Presents"! We open this bad boy up when prompts are released (this happens on the default deadline), and you can submit the extra fics for your giftee there, once you're done with your main fill.

Loving the enthusiasm!

[homestuckpolyswap]

I'm interested in joining this fest but I don't like requesting fics, only completing prompts. Do you have a system similar to Drone Season's sloppy seconds where people can complete prompts that weren't written?

Our variation of this is called Polyswap Presents! Prompts will drop later on in the season (usually around the Default Deadline), but if you’re interested in getting early peeks on prompts, we do accept signups for Pinch Hitters at any time. Make sure you post to the Polyswap Presents Collections when you finish them up!

[homestuckpolyswap]

what should we do if a lot of our prompts include stuff we didnt wanna do in our offer?

Our goal is to make sure that you have at least one prompt that works—anything past that makes us really happy as mods, but we’re very aware that not every match will be perfect. Sometimes we match an assignment that has a couple of prompts that we think might be a “no” for a participant because the other prompts available suit them so well.

If there’s not even a single prompt that works for you, please email us or message the tumblr, and we’ll see what we can do to help you approach it.

[homestuckpolyswap]

Late Entries

As a reminder, if you complete a fill for a promptfest after the promptfest is closed, you are STILL awesome, and we still want the world to see your work! Send us a link to the AO3 piece here, via the email (hspolyshipswap@gmail.com) or in the Discord Server, and we’ll add it to the collection favorites!

[homestuckpolyswap]

Oh thank gd you turned anon back on (me nd a few others r sort of scared to talk with u guys) not the same prson who sent that ask, but I think part of the prob with artists is that writers can freely talk abt getting to 5k words but artists can't talk abt their art without giving themselves away. It's harder to be secretive abt it. I know it's not someth you can rlly control but I just wanted to express a crtain view of it helps at all. Evn tho a lil harsh and scary, thx for bein communicative

Oh thank gd you turned anon back on (me nd a few others r sort of scared to talk with u guys)…Evn tho a lil harsh and scary, thx for bein communicative

We turned anon off because we needed a quick break! Mods are human and we get tired sometimes too.

As to being scared of talking with us, there’s not that much we can do about policy things unless you do talk to us, which does kind of suck. We’ll work on the telepathy thing. Also, we’re not trying to be harsh and scary? We’re humans, and we’re all really tired people in general.

I think part of the prob with artists is that writers can freely talk abt getting to 5k words but artists can’t talk abt their art without giving themselves away. It’s harder to be secretive abt it.

Would something like “working on my lines :eyes-emoji:” or “trying to decide between the sketches I did, comment with an emoji if you think I should do :flower: :heart: :pinetree:” work? If you personally have a way you break your work up into stages, then posting your “stage list” and ticking off as you go might be another possibility.

This is something we have been concerned about for a while, and it’s difficult to come up with good solutions. We actually don’t even want writers getting too detailed about their word count! No public speculation allowed!

I know it’s not someth you can rlly control but I just wanted to express a crtain view of it helps at all.

It’s not something we can control, but it is something we have been looking into and trying to work on since 2017. We put a lot of work, time, effort, and love into the swaps! There’s work going on behind the scenes that people aren’t aware of, and when we get asks from people who haven’t read up on what we have actually done or what we’re trying to do, or even blame us for not doing enough on something we have actually been working on, it really doesn’t feel great?

Here’s some of what we’ve been looking into for artists and other content creators:

How we as mods can help expand or explain prompts that focus on one particular medium and make them more accessible for a variety of content creators

If there’s a Sprinto equivalent that artists could use. We’ve tried to set up art dashes in the past, but we’re still refining the concept and what we can do with it

Miniswaps with visual and audio themes. Some of the miniswap ideas we have on the voting table are “draw/write the OT+ as meme”, “OT+ character/relationship playlist”, and a “moodboard prompt” one. We’re hoping to get and include others as well

Codifying the actual guideline we have in our Guide, and have had since Polyswap began: “a descriptive blurb detailing your request. Please, please, PLEASE try to make your blurb something that would work for an artist or a writer!” This, unfortunately, has not been well-respected. We’re planning to make it into an official rule.

Ensuring we have support for content creators who have never worked with AO3, especially in the form of mods who work with art, music, and uploading.

not the same prson who sent that ask

Whether you are or not, you can still ask questions! Whoever sent whatever asks can still ask questions! We’re trying to make things better every year, and each year is essentially a trial run for the next one. Managing 50+ people is scary. 

We might have other things going on in our lives, we might be annoyed that someone didn’t read our guidelines, we might even be mad that people are trying to break or subvert our rules, but we will not stop answering the questions we get, regardless of who sends them!

About Polyswap’s Servers

The Homestuck Polyswap Exchange is an Event! The discord server is for the event, and the event participants, and it was never meant to be a content creation-centric space, or a community based around sharing information, because it can’t be. Fandom Exchanges are all about that surprise and secrecy!

We want to encourage you guys to create, and build, and to that end, we have tried to make the space more content-creative friendly! But that still isn’t what it’s about—at least, not until the reveals drop, at which point it will be a lot easier to post what you’re working on and share with everyone.

Also, this does not mean that we will not keep trying to make our space more accessible for everyone! It’s an explanation of why our system is the way it is, and why we have to think carefully about what changes we make and how we make them.

Don’t be scared to ask questions. If it’s something covered in the rules, guidelines, or FAQ we will refer you there, of course, but if you need clarification or your question isn’t covered by any of those, we’re here to help.

[homestuckpolyswap]

are epilogue-related prompts allowed?

We already have a few! Our recommendation is to have a good ratio of epilogue and non-epilogue related prompts (or note that it could go either way) to give people as much free rein as possible when it comes to fills.