swficathon | 2024 Schedule, Info & Rules - Summer of Sparky (Reply)

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the pilot airing of Stargate: Atlantis we are holding a "Summer of Sparky" Sheppard/Weir Ficathon.

This fanfic exchange focuses on John Sheppard and Elizabeth Weir from the TV show Stargate: Atlantis. Work minimums are 350 words. You must be 18+ to participate.

2024 Schedule

Sign ups Close: May 17, 7:00 PM EDT (countdown)
Stories Due: Jul 9, 7:00 PM EDT (countdown)
Collection Reveals: Jul 16, 7:00 PM EDT (countdown)
Author Reveals: Jul 23, 7:00 PM EDT (countdown)

All close and reveal times are 7:00 PM EDT.

2024 AO3 Collection
2024 Requests Summary
SIGN UP FORM

If you have a question or a problem, please leave us a comment here on Dreamwidth or email us at swficathonmods at gmail. All comments are screened by default. Anonymous Dreamwidth comments are enabled. You may also send an ask to Sparktober on Tumblr if you'd like.

Your mods are

havocthecat,

anr and

mylittleredgirl.

PARTICIPATION REQUIREMENTS

You must be 18+ to sign up.

You must have an AO3 account to sign up. If you do not have one, please reach out to a mod and they will help source you an invite.

Only one sign-up per person is allowed (no sock accounts, well behaved though they may generally be).

All stories must include the pairing Sheppard/Weir.

Mods reserve the right to delete sign-ups or ban badly-behaved accounts (bad behavior includes harassing other participants, intentionally writing fic to anger your recipient, upholding placeholder fics, or other forms of bad-faith participation).

SIGN UPS

Each sign-up includes 2-4 Requests and 1 Offer.

A request is the type of Sheppard/Weir story you would like to receive. Each Request must have at least 1 additional tag selected (up to 4). The additional tags in this exchange are common fic genres (fluff, hurt/comfort, etc).

Use the Optional Details boxes to include any suggestions that will help your writer give you a story you will enjoy (specific prompts, tropes you like, favorite episodes, preferred ratings, etc). Prompts are very helpful to give your writer somewhere to start!

Optional details are optional: your assigned writer does not have to write to your specific prompts as long as their story fits the genre you requested and avoids your Do-Not-Wants.

Include any Do-Not-Wants (DNWs) in the Optional Details box. DNWs are things that will ruin the story for you. They should be clear, neutrally phrased, and – where possible – specific. DNWs should not be used to box your writer into writing a specific story.

Incompatible or bad-faith DNWs will not be enforced and may be deleted (e.g. “DNW Sheppard/Weir ship fic” is incompatible with a Sheppard/Weir exchange, “DNW gross kinks” is both judgmental and too vague to be enforced, etc).

If you want to direct people to a Dear Author letter off of AO3, include the link in your sign-up box. Even if you link to a Dear Author letter, your DNW’s MUST be in the sign-up box itself to be enforced.

Each sign-up also includes 1 offer. An offer is 3-6 tags of genres you would like to write. If you are very sure that you would be happy to write for any requested genre, you can click the Any Additional Tag box instead. The genres you offer do not have to match your requests.

Non-romantic fics (i.e. Sheppard & Weir instead of Sheppard/Weir) are opt-in for this exchange and are not guaranteed. If you would like or prefer a gen/platonic/friendship fic, put that in your request’s optional details, but your author may still choose to write a romantic fic.

ADDITIONAL TAGS (GENRES)

Action/Adventure

Alternate Universe

Alternate Universe - Alternate Setting

Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence

Apocafic

Babyfic/kidfic

Comedy

Crossovers & Fandom Fusions

Episode based

Fix-it

Fluff

Holidays

Horror

Hurt/Comfort

Mystery/Thriller

Romance

Smut

MATCHING

If you are unmatchable as an author (no one is requesting any of the additional tags you are willing to write), the mods will contact you when sign-ups close and ask you to add to your requests. If you do not reply within 24 hours, your sign-up will be deleted.

If you are unmatchable as a recipient (no one is offering any of the additional tags you are requesting), your requests will be posted to the Dreamwidth community for claiming as an initial pinch hit.

ASSIGNMENTS

Assignments will match on one or more requested tags. You can write for any of your recipient’s requests (not just the tag you matched on).

Minimum work requirements are one story of 350 words. The story must include the pairing Sheppard/Weir, respect your recipients DNW's, and fit within the additional tag of the request. We understand that the additional tags (genres) have flexible and sometimes ambiguous boundaries, but please make a good faith attempt to write a story you believe your recipient would enjoy.

"AI" works produced using a large language model (such as ChatGPT) are prohibited.

Works should remain anonymous during the collection's anonymous period. Do not post your work elsewhere, link to it under your name, or put your name anywhere on the AO3 page (for example, linking your tumblr in the notes) until after authors have been revealed.

If you cannot finish your story before the deadline, please default by going to your AO3 assignments page and clicking the "default" button on your assignment. You don't need to explain to the mods why you had to default, and defaulting before the deadline will not prevent you from participating in the future. We know that life happens!

In order to post, go to your AO3 assignments page and click the "fulfill" button on your assignment. That will take you to a new-works form with the assignment and recipient already pre-filled. Alternatively, you can go to the collection page and click "Post to Collection" -- you will need to manually enter your recipient, but the collection will be pre-filled. Stories posted to the collection will be anonymous until author reveals.

If your author defaults or doesn’t submit a fic by the deadline, your request will go out to pinch hit. (Your request won’t go out to pinch hit if you also defaulted.)

PINCH HITS

All pinch hits will be posted to the Dreamwidth community and linked on the Sparktober tumblr.

Please reply to the pinch hit post on Dreamwidth to claim a pinch hit and include your AO3 username. If you need assistance, ask your mods.

You can claim a pinch hit even if you aren't signed up for the ficathon, but you will need an AO3 account. If you are not signed up, you will not receive a story in return even if you do complete a pinch hit.

TREATS

All requests can be seen by going to the collection’s "Requests Summary.”

There are no work minimums for treats.

Treats may be posted to the collection without a recipient (as "gifts to the collection") as long as they include the Sheppard/Weir pairing and fit one of the additional tags.

You can write a treat even if you aren't signed up for the ficathon, but you will need an AO3 account to post it to the collection. If you are not signed up, you will not receive a story in return even if you write and post a treat.

The ability to receive/not receive treats (non-assignment gifts) is turned on or off in the AO3 Preferences Page. Accounts created in the last few years have this turned off by default. Go to your AO3 preferences page and make sure the box that says “Allow anyone to gift me works” is checked if you want to receive treats!

If you do not want to receive treats or have that setting turned off, put that in the same place as your DNWs in your sign-ups. This prevents someone from writing you a gift and then realizing they can’t give it to you.

REVEALS

At the story due date, any assignments which have not received a story will be defaulted and sent to pinch hit (unless the recipient also defaulted).

We will hold reveals until everyone who signed up for the ficathon and completed their assignment has received a story.

Once stories are revealed, read your gift and remember to leave a comment thanking your author for the gift! Happy anniversary Stargate Atlantis, and happy Sparky Summer!

Many thanks to various other exchanges for the Rules inspiration, including (but not limited to) Summer of Horror, Trick or Treat, Trauma and Space Swap.