Schedule and Rules

[moddington]

Important Dates

Nominations: January 8 to January 19

Sign-up Opens: January 21

Sign-up Closes: January 29

Assignments Out: January 31 or earlier

Assignments Due: February 21

Works Revealed: February 28

Creators Revealed: March 7

All times at 11:59 p.m. EST

AO3 Collection

What is this?

Black Is Beautiful is a fic, art, vid, and podfic exchange for celebrating Black characters! In the U.S. and Canada, February is Black History Month, a time for remembering and celebrating the history of the African Diaspora in those places, along with the contributions, accomplishments, beauty, and talent of the Black community today. Characters do not need to be American nor Canadian nor diasporic, but I thought it was as good a time as any to get something rolling.

Who and how can I nominate?

This exchange will use character matching. Individuals should be nominated with standard character tags (ex. “Finn” for Star Wars) while relationships should use the “Group:” modifier (ex. “Group: Finn & Rey” for platonic relationships or “Group: Finn/Rey” for romantic relationships). Every group should centrally feature at least one Black character.

My goal is to be as inclusive as possible while maintaining the spirit of the exchange. Characters who are multiracial or who come from a society/universe that doesn’t have identical racial or ethnic structures as ours are welcome.

Racebending, on the other hand, is not. Characters without an established canonical race may be considered but should have some reason to be included—for example, I’d accept a song performed by a Black musician without a lyric that explicitly states, “I, a Black person, am in love with you, another Black person.”

Any RPF characters must be over eighteen and famous in their own right. Original Works will also be accepted.

What can I create and receive?

You will be matched on at least one fandom, one character, and one medium. The minimum for fic is 1,000 words of a previously unposted work. The minimum for art is finished lineart on an unlined canvas. Podfics must be at least 10 minutes long or of a fanfic that is at least 1,000 words. Vids must be at least 60 seconds long. All must be complete and legible. There are no maximum parameters for any medium. Treats do not have to meet the minimum but should still fit the recipient’s requests in terms of fandoms and Do Not Wants.

While this exchange does not have any content bans, the following topics cannot be included in your gift unless your recipient has explicitly opts into them:

— Slavery
— Hate crimes
— Racekink or raceplay

If there are additional tropes or kinks that would ruin a gift for you, they can be expressed in Do Not Wants (DNW) in your sign-up. DNWs should not be used to box your creator into writing one specific story or scenario, or make drastic changes to your requested canon. “DNW: anything but a coffeeshop AU,” for instance, is not how it should be used.

Nominations

— The tagset is here. You must have an AO3 account to nominate and sign up.
— Each participant may nominate up to 10 fandoms with 10 characters or groups each. Each individual character, or at least one member of a group nomination, must be Black.
— Crossovers should be nominated under “Crossover Fandom.”
— Please avoid “All Media Types” and use specific shows/movies/arcs when nominating things for the MCUs, Star Wars, and Star Treks of the exchange world when it makes sense - further clarification here.
— For group nominations, / should be used for romantic relationships and & used for platonic relationships. They may also be used in combination (“Group: Mike Hanlon/Bill Denbrough & Pennywise”).
— Original Works are allowed. Feel free to get specific (“Female Black Professor Whose Department Is Going To Win This Softball Tournament If It’s The Last Thing She Does”) or general (“Group:Werewolf/Vampire”); the latter would mean either character can be any gender, and either or both could be Black
— Any RPF characters must be over eighteen and famous in their own right.

Signups

— You can request 3 to 10 fandoms, with 1 to 20 characters/pairings each. You must request at least one medium out of "Fic," "Art," "Podcast," or any combination. Each fandom must be unique.

— You must offer at least three fandoms with one character, to produce fic, art, podfic, vid, or or any.
— Additional information (likes, prompts, DNWs) may be added in your sign-up or a linked letter, and can be helpful to your creator.
— Do Not Wants (DNWs) are things you absolutely do not want in your gift, and your recip's gift should not include any of their DNWs. They should not contradict your requested pairing or be used to force your writer into fulfilling one particular prompt.
— If no offers can be matched to your request, then your will be sent out to pinch hit. Pinch hits will be posts on the Dreamwidth community. The collection will not open until everyone has a gift.
— If your offers cannot be matched to any assignment, you will be contacted. If in 24 hours I don’t hear back from you or you decide there is nothing else you can offer, your signup will be deleted

Assignments

— This exchange uses OR matching, meaning that you will be matched on the minimum of one fandom, one character/group, and medium. You are welcome to create for another one of your recip’s requests, but it must still fulfil each of those qualities.
— The minimum for fic is 1,000 words. The minimum for art is finished lineart on an unlined canvas. Both must be original; fics cannot be previously posted or part of an ongoing series, etc., and art cannot be photo manipulations. Podfics must be at least 10 minutes long or of a fanfic that is at least 1,000 words. Vids must be at least 60 seconds long. All must be complete and legible. They must be complete and legible.

— Assignments can be completed by posting your work under the “Fulfil Assignment” button under My Assignments on AO3.
— Your gift should remain a secret until author reveals. This means not discussing it in specific terms in public or attaching your name or social media until then.
— If you are unable to complete your assignment, please default. There are no penalties, but if the person you are assigned to also defaults, you will not be sent out for pinch hit.

Treats

— Treats do not have to meet the minimum but should still fit the recipient’s requests in terms of fandoms, DNWs, and medium.
— Alternatively, a work that doesn’t fit a specific recip’s requests but otherwise fits the exchange may be gifted to the collection.
— Treats can be added with the “Post to Collection” button under the collection’s profile. You do not need to sign up to treat.

Closing notes

The point of this exchange is to have fun and have some new fanworks featuring Black characters at the end of the month. Please respect other participants; I reserve the modly right to make decisions that I believe are in the best interests of the exchange.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to comment below! Anonymous commenting is on.

 

Comments

[gwenhwyfar1984]

What about characters that technically have no race, but are in human form? Like Billie in my icon is Death. Or Amenadiel from Lucifer is an angel who looks like a Black man.

[moddington]

Both would absolutely count!

[flowersforgraves]

Hi,

Would you be willing to consider including other fanwork formats (if not this year, then in future rounds)? I would love to participate as a podficcer. I have resources about including audio fanworks in exchanges, and am happy to discuss further via direct messages. Thanks!

[moddington]

Hello! At the very least, I'm open to making additional mediums opt-in for treats. Feel free to DM me here or shoot an email to yetanothermod@gmail.com about the resources.

[(Anonymous)]

First of all, lovely exchange idea! The FAQ says characters are welcome if they "come from a society/universe that doesn’t have identical racial or ethnic structures." What if there are no such structures? Is this all down to skin color, then? Say, a fantasy series in which a character is mentioned to have black skin but it otherwise has no bearing?

[moddington]

I'd likely lean towards yes with this example — defining the parameters of Blackness is something I'd like to avoid as much as is reasonable, and since being familiar with every canon nominated will more or less impossible, I'd much rather be inclusive than reject a character who was nominated in good faith and may have been admitted if I'd had time to read the entire series (or if I had different but equally valid cultural readings, et cetera).

[hogwartstoalexandria]

Hello dear mod! This sounds amazing and I'm very excited to participate. Just wanted to let you know about this bit of the nom guidelines: — The tagset is here. You must have an AO3 assignment to nominate and sign up. which you probably meant to say account instead of assignment, in case someone gets confused 💙

Thank you again for running this!!

[moddington]

Thank you for pointing that out, looking forward to getting things going!

[seinmit]

I am so excited about this exchange! Would it be possible to add vids as a possible medium to request? I’d love to be able to create in that way for this.

[moddington]

Absolutely! Just added vids as a medium option, minimum set at 60 seconds.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi, I have a question. For plays/theater where the race of a character may be dependent on casting, would it be possible to nominate a specific production + the characters who are played by Black actors therein? (Like if a Black actor plays Hamlet or Javert in a specific production or something.)

[moddington]

Yes, please do!

[(Anonymous)]

Would any brown character be okay to nominate for this or is the intent to keep it more Afrocentric?

Think characters like Abed Nadir or Kamala Khan.

[moddington]

I do intend for this exchange to be specifically grounded in Black characters or characters of Sub-Saharan African descent, so I think the two characters here wouldn't be eligible on their own -- of course, characters who are multiracial or group pairings such as "Group: Troy Barnes & Abed Nadir" are completely welcome.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi, I may have missed it, but if I put a ship in a nomination do I have to also put the main char from the ship in the character spot or can I just leave it as just a ship nomination? It said it matches with names, so I didn't want to mess something up, thank you

[(Anonymous)]

I mean matches with a character, sorry!

[(Anonymous)]

Do you want the Arrowverse TV shows nominated separately?

[moddington]

Whichever makes the most sense for your noms -- if they're characters who only show up in The Flash, for example, it's fine to nominate them under The Flash, but Arrowverse makes more sense to me than sticking a shared universe in Crossover Fandom.

[viudanegra]

Hola. I saw that the MCU nominations are kinda all over the place already because people aren't following the rules and adding the characters to the movies they belong to and instead they're just being added into the MCU category.

[moddington]

True, I was probably a little overexcited last night while accepting nominations! I'll clean up the single-movie characters before signups open.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi! Wally West is black sometimes (The Flash TV Show, recent comics) but he’s white in other cases (Young Justice cartoon). He’s showing up solo in a lot of different places in the tagset where he might not belong. Someone more knowledgeable than me can tell you if he belongs in the Teen Titans Animated Series. He also appears in DVU (comics) twice—as Wallace West and Wally West.

On a DC note, right now Batman (comics) is separated from the wider DCU (comics) group, is this what you prefer? Other specific sets of DCU comics (green lantern, for example) haven’t been separated from DCU, and one character (Duke Thomas) is in both tagsets.

[moddington]

Thank you for this comment. I'll be sure to doublecheck those fandoms and clean things up a bit.

I've expanded further with this post - https://blackisbeautifulex.dreamwidth.org/1404.html - but the gist of it is that I'd prefer to leave whether specific [Character] Comics or the wider DCU (comics) group is more reflective of their wants for those requests, as long as it doesn't cause any conflict issues a la Mr. West.

Tumblr?

[(Anonymous)]

Is there a tumblr set up for this so we can signal boost it on tumblr? Or should we make posts linking to Dreamwidth here?

Re: Tumblr?

[moddington]

I will not be operating a tumblr for this exchange, but people are welcome to promo it wherever they see fit.

[seinmit]

Hi! I was wondering if it would be okay to nominate like a pan fandom fandom with characters like “Your Fave Black Woman” or “Your Fave Black Canon Couple” and the like. I’d really love to give people a chance to create works for things that nobody requested or they forgot to nominate, and I’m perfectly happy to consume things canon blind/be exposed to canons I wouldn’t have otherwise known about.

[moddington]

Sure! I've made a "Creator's Choice Fandom," currently hanging out in Uncategorized Fandoms, with your suggestions. Feel free to add on!

[seinmit]

Another question, sorry;

What’s the best way to request like, worldbuilding? There’s a band called Zeal & Ardor which constructs an alternate reality based on enslaved people rejecting Christianity and instead embracing Satanism through their albums— could I nominate like, “worldbuilding” or “original Black character” within that band?

(The frontman/writer/singer is Black, so it meets that qualification too, even though he wouldn’t really be a character.)

[moddington]

All good! For this round, I think sticking with characters would work best, whether that's "Original Black Character," "Satanic Priest," or whatever else would make sense for the canon.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi, I've nominated garnet and bismuth from steven universe because they're voiced by black actresses and meant to appear black despite being an alien race. If that's not okay, I understand and you can reject, I just wanted to give you a heads up :)

[moddington]

Thank you--both have been accepted!

[(Anonymous)]

Hi, what's the optional details box on the offers for?

[moddington]

Hi there -- the optional details box is for giving your creator some more information about what you'd like to see in your gift. For example, prompts for your character, favorite tropes, and things you absolutely Do Not Want (DNWs) can go in the optional details.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi there! Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere, but I wanted to check if the deadline for treats is also 21 Feb? I just discovered this exchange and am trying to decide if I have time for my idea!

[moddington]

Treats can be posted at any time, from now until the end of AO3 as we know it!

[(Anonymous)]

Hello, thank you for running this!

What does 'ine' mean in creator's choice fandom?

Can I write something for a creator's choice request or a gift to the collection but the fandom isn't in the tagset?

[moddington]

Hi! In the context of "Hero/ine," it means "hero" and "heroine" would be fit the request. You are welcome to either treat participants who've requested Creator's Choice, as long as it honors their Do Not Wants, or gift to the collection regardless of the fandom if it fits the theme of the exchange.

Round 2?

[(Anonymous)]

Is this going to run again in 2022?