FFFX Round 2 is Done, Long Live FFFX

[modzilla]

Creators are now revealed at the collection. Please feel free to share your work under your own name; you may also want to re-date your fic or art so that it appears at the top of the fandom tag on ao3.

The collection remains open for late treats or make-up works, as does last year's collection.

Next-round and procedural thoughts!

Schedule
I would like to run fffx r3 on a similar schedule. For round 2, we experimented with 5 weeks between deadline and reveal. That worked well for me - and, along with pinch hitters' efforts, I think that helped us open on time - but the large number of extensions meant the deadline was functionally as much of a second check-in as it was a deadline.

I'd prefer to keep the 5-week gap between deadline and reveals. But I'm open to adjustment, based on how well it worked for all of you. I also wonder if - while keeping the deadline gap - I should drop the check-in period altogether. I know check-in periods aren't popular.

It is worth noting that the check-in period is useful for producing alternative assignments that people can swap to. Also, this year, I got far less late contact from people who missed the check-in and wanted their assignment back - so the check-in period helped ensure pinch hitters had longer to work, and pinch hits were staggered, rather than most of the pinch hits coming at deadline.


Letters and prompts
FFFX has rules that a) letters must be completed by a certain date or their links will be removed from the sign-up, and b) sign-ups must contain likes, prompts, or some other indication of what you would like in a gift. Both rules have downsides. Checking letters is labor-intensive and requires me to send people negative communications; I wasn't able to do it in the time I'd allotted in this round, and I'm sorry about that. Rules with no enforcement are not particularly effective, but if I keep that practice, I may adjust it so that instead of removing the link, I may do something else - for example, contact creator & recipient at the letter-completion deadline with a record of what the letter says at that time.

Similarly, there's something a bit awkward about telling people who have full and expansive letters that some of that positive content must be in their sign-up. Would people prefer more freedom to put prompts in their sign-up or not, or do you find that on balance, having a guarantee of some direction, however small, in your assignment, is worth fussier-than-average requirements for the optional details box?


Art minimum
In round 1, in response to questions, I stressed that the 10 page/40 panel minimum worked the following way: if an artwork was 10 pages, it needed to also be 36 panels, and if it was 9 pages, it needed to also be at least 40 panels. I don't think I made that particularly clear for round 2; sorry about that. I would like to return to that requirement for round 3, or some other determination suggested by others. I would prefer to avoid going on page count alone, because I don't feel I can adequately rule on what's "enough" that way. I acknowledge that this is more about what's easiest for me to mod than what necessarily avoids artists and art-recipients' unhappiness - I have not received any complaints about art not being "enough" because it fulfils page requirements but not panel requirements. But, not being an artist, I need a criterion I can rely on. Thank you for understanding.


Misc
I know it was a very long time ago but... any improvements to suggest on nominations? Other things? Should I encourage betas who have completed a fffx beta job to also put prompts of their own on the (currently just) pinch hitters' prompts post?

Triple Crown

If you want to offer a prize for Triple Crown Round 2, the deadline is March 14. Soon after that... prize claims and raffle entries!

Comments

[featheryminx]

I really like having a check in week! The writing period is so long and people sometimes get busy (especially I mean, there are other exchanges that run right during that fall-time too) and so having check-in week is both a great way for you to get early notice of people who have dropped out, and also a really great reminder for us writers that hey! this assignment exists, have you thought about it recently?

Also with regards to letters: I personally don’t mind the requirement of “some optional details must be in the signup itself”; If I want to expand on something I can always say “I like this generic thing, see my letter for more details” and it works out just fine.

[peaked]

Thank you so much for running this exchange! This was my first time participating and I had a blast as a pinch hitter.

Schedule
Happy for the same schedule. This didn't impact me since I came in and created really late in the game, but I've been quietly looking forward to round three and am glad to hear it's 1) on and 2) at a similar time to round two.

I greatly benefited from those 5 weeks between the deadline and work reveals and would love to see that kept in. I used it to tweak and make adjustments to my gifts and found this time so valuable. (I also got sick during this time period so I was thankful for that buffer!)

I didn't participate as a participant so I can't offer feedback on how the check-in period worked, but as someone who loves writing longfic but struggles with long deadlines like fffx's, I find the check-in period in other challenges I'm participating in helps me keep on track and gives me mini goals. I'd prefer it's kept since the writing period is huge and it's a great reminder that time is linear.

Letters and prompts
I won't lie, fffx's rule about letters and prompts was a big draw to the exchange. I find it difficult to create to a blank sign-up, especially for 10k.

I love knowing what types of things my recipient likes to read and favours in the canon I'm writing for them, but I do gain this info from either their sign-up or their letter. I do think it's beneficial to have the letters completed by a certain time because this is a longfic exchange and I do think it's useful to provide prompts and likes/dislikes for creators. I think it doesn't matter where it is as long as it's there.

I +1 featheryminx's comment about it. I have begun using my sign-up in a similar way to how they've described since there is a character limit and I can be wordy at times.

Pinch hitter treats post
I wanted to say thank you for putting this post up. Not only did I get to plop myself down there, but I really appreciated the timing of this post. I was able to use the 5 weeks between the deadline and reveals to write a pinch hitter treat, and it was all because that post was posted early and pinch hitters were given time to comment and I had enough time to browse.

I can only hope some of this feedback is useful for you. I'm looking forward to signing up in a few months' time! Enjoy your well-deserved time off, modzilla.

[shadaras]

Congrats on a mod job well done! :D It was so impressive and wonderful to see FFFX reveal on time!

I agree, the extended time between works due and works revealed seemed excellent. I might have spent that time going "ahhhh I'm impatient, I wanna share my fic!" but I could easily see how necessary that was for PHs and that next year I might want that time for editing a bus-pass too. :)

I think having the check-in is nice. As other folk say, it's good to have a reminder that Time Is Passing.

I personally prefer requests with at least some likes in the sign-up even for exchanges with a shorter minimum. Absolutely happy for it to continue being a requirement here, especially since tbh if I were given no guidance but "this ship and not these things" I'd find it very hard to write something of any length.

[(Anonymous)]

If I defaulted on Round 1 and didn't sign up for Round 2, am I still banned until I write my assignment, or am I now unbanned?

[drayton]

First, thanks for running this exchange. It takes a lot of work behind the scenes to make things go smoothly!

I think the November check-in serves a purpose. It's a reminder that time is passing. For me, it was an aspirational "bus pass" deadline and it looks like some others used it as "I really should have a solid idea by then whether or not I've written anything" motivator. I wonder how many of the people who defaulted in January had viable fic ideas in November but ran into RL issues, as opposed to people who could never find a solid inspiration. The long post-deadline period was definitely needed.

As for letters, contacting creator and recip with a copy of the letter after a cetain date sounds less labor-intensive than removing links. If you wanted to reduce the workload further, perhaps you could have creators with letter issues contact you. I personally don't care whether the info is in the signup or the letter as long as there are either a few prompts or some likes/dislikes and DNWs. If the concern is signups being binding and letters not, perhaps all creators should send a copy of the recip letter by such-and-such a date with the understanding that edits after that date are nonbinding? And that failure to "archive" a request letter with you means all bets are off???

[(Anonymous)]

I like the idea of Beta Prompts, especially since the collection allows shorter treats. It would be nice to have the opportunity to pay it forward like that.

[svgurl]

Congrats and thank you for running a great exchange! :D

Schedule: I liked the timing and the 5 week period between deadline and collection opening worked for me - gave me time to edit and have time to work on a PH, which I probably wouldn't have otherwise. I also support keeping the check ins, because it is a good reminder in a long working period of the assignment at hand.

Letters and prompts: I understand what you said about it being hard to check, but I do like the rule about having prompts/likes available. It would be really hard to create a longer work on a blank sign-up.

Looking forward to next year!

[hokuton_punch]

I liked the five weeks between deadline and reveals as well! It was very useful to me for final edits/beta-ing (and getting inspired for a pinch hit treat, too). I also really like keeping the check-in period - it's a good reminder for me to either have something started/in progress or to pick a plot and get going.

Thank you so much for running this again, I had a wonderful time this round! ♥

[modzilla]

Good question - I could make that a lot clearer. If you weren't eligible to sign up to Round 2, you're still ineligible to sign up to Round 3 or later rounds until you complete the equivalent of an assignment.

You don't have to complete the original assignment you defaulted on. A full-length work for anyone else's prompts would do; or two half-length gifts for someone who opted into that; or two half-length gifts for different people if they opted into 5k gifts or posted prompts after pinch hitting. Or (a) pinch hit(s) in round 3, before signing up to round 4.

[eggsbenedict]

The round 2 schedule timing worked even better for me than round 1. I like the check-in because it's a great preliminary deadline - if I hadn't had something workable by check-in each year, then I wouldn't have had anything decent by the actual deadline.

For letters, I agree with drayton's comments. I think some people might hold back on asking for more details in other exchanges because they don't want to annoy you or their recipient, but having at least some details to go on is important when you have higher minimums to work towards.

For the art minimum, where does the 36 panels come from - was it meant to be 40? If that's the case, I'd like to see a return to that in round 3 too. You may need to state panel minimums for the half-length works, too (and if you did, forget me, I just missed them).

It was so long ago, but nominations worked fine (again)! Thank you for running this for a second year :D

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks!