[ SECRET POST #2546 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2546 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 054 secrets from Secret Submission Post #363.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[ningloreth]

I run a fic exchange with strictly 20 participants who are paired up -- A writes for B and B for A.

Every year I get two or three stories submitted by the due date.

But...

At least one participant will disappear without contacting me or replying to my emails. Another may pull out before the due date, but usually two or three will soldier on and then pull out/disappear after asking for an extension. (There is always an absolutely cast-iron reason for this: illness, a car crash, a death in the family, a hurricane and no power...).

Every year I need four or five pinch-hitters (one or two of whom will be me!) and we need time to write.

So that's what the wait is for.

But I know how frustrating it is for writers, so I really try to keep them in the loop -- I read every story the moment I receive it, and usually reply to the writer with comments, and if her reveal is held up because I'm waiting for her gift, I apologise & try to let her know when her story's likely to be posted, because I'm a high maintenance fic-writing machine myself, and I just assume that everybody else is as well.

ETA: In this particular exchange, the stories aren't posted anonymously.

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you for the explanation! I had assumed it might have something to do with people pulling out and needing pinch-hitters, but it's nice to get an answer from someone who actually organizes these things. :)

[(Anonymous)]

I run an exchange, too, and I have the same problem with people dropping out - but I just don't post all the fics at the same time. I start posting fics a day after the due date, one or two a day depending on the number of participants, so that still gives pinch-hitters time to write. So while some authors have to wait for a while, at least not everybody has to sit around for two weeks waiting for their fic to get posted.

[ningloreth]

I'm so glad to hear it's not just me who loses participants :-)

I wish I could do that, but my participants are paired up, so I can't post writer A's story until I've also got her partner's. (The writers don't actually know who they're paired with until the reveal, but they do have their partner's prompts, and a list of their kinks and squicks, so they tend to feel they know them, and it's never quite the same when they get a gift from a pinch-hitter).

I'm very aware that the earlier a story's posted, the more attention it gets, and that it's unfair for writers who get their stories in on time but don't get them posted until late because their partner's late, but I suppose that's part of the gamble with this particular exchange format (which I didn't invent, but inherited from the previous mod).

[(Anonymous)]

I think people who drop out are a constant in any fic exchange. :( I don't even mind the people who let me know before the deadline that they can't finish their fic, that's fine. But I really hate the people who just disappear, or who say on the day of the deadline that they need a few more days and then you never hear from them again. It's incredibly selfish.

Hmm, but why do you have to post both partners' fics at the same time? I mean, if person A finishes their fic for person B, why can't you post that already, even if you have to find a pinch-hitter to write for person A?

[ningloreth]

why do you have to post both partners' fics at the same time?

That's how this exchange works. The posts are called 'duets'. I don't know if it's unique to this particular fandom or whether my predecessor had seen it elsewhere, but people often say it's unique and special, so I don't really want to change that aspect of it. And the participants do know, when they sign up, that they'll be 'duetting', though whether they realise that means they may have to wait longer to see their own story posted, I don't know.

[(Anonymous)]

Ah, okay. I've never seen that sort of exchange in any of my fandoms, but if that's how this exchange works, I can understand that you don't want to change it. Especially if many participants enjoy it the way it is. :)