The Seventh Annual Interdimensional Haixing-Dixing 520 Day Reverse Exchange

[trobadora]

520 Day Reverse Exchange General Concept

As the name says, this is a reverse exchange, also known as a Choose Your Writer/Artist/Fanwork Creator exchange. Instead of making your request and that request being assigned to a writer/artist/fanwork creator, here:

1. You sign up with the kinds of things you enjoy creating -- media, ships, tropes, etc.


2. You choose three writers/artists/fanwork creators based on anonymised ads, and you make a request of each of them based on what they enjoy creating and what you want to receive.


3. You are assigned one request to create for, based on your offers.


4. You receive a gift from one of the creators you chose.

The 520 Day Reverse Exchange covers the Guardian drama, the novel, and real person fanworks about the actors. You can offer and/or request fanfic, fanart, icons, vids, podfic, meta, a remix of an existing fanwork, or fanart for an existing fanwork. Or any combination of the above! If there are other media you’d like to offer, please discuss with the mods by commenting on this post.
(Note that meta will need to be sufficiently transformative to meet AO3's rules, i.e. not a collection of canon facts.)

Hopefully this means you get an assignment that fits you like a glove, and just the gift fanwork you're looking for!

Participants who are under 18 must request and offer works rated General or Teen And Up only.

STEP ONE: Sign up with your offers

To sign up, comment on the sign-up post with your completed offer form by 11:59pm UTC on Friday 28 March 2025. (What time is that for me?) You'll find a template (and guidelines to help you fill it out) in the post. You must say something relevant for each point; feel free to give as much info as you like.

Note: All comments to the sign-up post are screened so only mods (china_shop and trobadora) can see them. If we need to ask you any questions about your sign-up, we'll reply to your comment or email you.

Mods will turn your sign-up form into an anonymous participant ad for you as a writer/artist/fanwork creator.

STEP TWO: Choose three writers/artists/fanwork creators

The anonymous participant ads will be posted on Saturday 29th March. Participants must choose 3 ads from the list to make requests from, using the requests form. You'll find a template and guidelines in the Requests post. (Please note that specific scenarios/prompts, while welcome, are optional for creators.)

Each ad will be removed from the list when 3 requests have been received for that writer/artist/fanwork creator, so be ready to jump in and claim the ones you want!

All requests must be made by 11:59pm UTC on Friday 4th April. (What time is that for me?) Then the mods will assign one of your chosen writers/artists/creators to create your gift in line with your request.

You'll receive your assignment by Wednesday 9th April at the latest.

STEP THREE: Fill your assignment

Minimum requirements:

• Fanfic, meta and other written fanworks -- at least 300 words


• Art (drawing/painting) -- a sketch (if analogue, not on lined paper), at least 500x500 pixels


• Art (graphic) -- an edited/manipulated digital image, at least 500x500 pixels


• Vids -- at least 30 seconds long


• Icons -- at least 3 icons


• Podfic -- at least 3 minutes long

Post your completed assignment to the AO3 collection by 13th May 2025. (What time is that for me?) The collection will go live on 520 Day (20th May 2025). There is no anonymous period.

Notes:

• All entries must be posted to AO3, so you'll need an AO3 account to participate. If you don't have an account yet, you can request one on AO3 or comment here to ask the mods for an invite.
• AO3 accounts can be set not to allow gifts, and this is the default setting for new accounts. (Find the setting here: Profile > Set My Preferences > Collections, Challenges and Gifts > "Allow anyone to gift me works".) Since we hand-match assignments based on your requests, AO3 treats all 520 Day fanworks the same as ordinary non-exchange gifts. If your AO3 account is set not to allow gifts, and you don't want to change it, you're still welcome to participate: your creator will give your gift to the 520_Day_Reverse_Exchange account, and we'll email you the notification.

You may post your assignment elsewhere after 520 Day, but not before.

STEP FOUR: Enjoy your gift

Enjoy the gift your creator has made for you, and comment to say thank you.
Note: Thank-you comments are required - if you don't comment, you may not sign up for future rounds. If you are unable to comment on a gift, please discuss the situation with the mods.

Schedule

• Sign-ups part 1 - offers: Saturday 22 Sunday 16 March - Friday 28 March
• Sign-ups part 2 - requests: Saturday 29th March - Friday 4th April
• Matching: Saturday 5 April - Tuesday 8th April
• Assignments out: Wednesday 9th April at the latest
• Deadline: Tuesday 13th May
• Work reveals: Tuesday 20th May (there is no anon period)

Promotion

We'd love it if you promoted this exchange elsewhere or Dreamwidth or on Twitter, Bluesky, Tumblr, Discord, or wherever! We have a tumblr post you can reblog, and here are a promo graphic and some text you can copy, or feel free to make/write your own.

Promo graphic with info text:



Embed code:
<img src="https://china-shop.dreamwidth.org/file/1375915.jpg" title="Guardian Reverse Exchange 2025 Promo Graphic" alt="520 Day Guardian Reverse Exchange 2025! Open to novel, drama and RPF. Multimedia. Schedule: sign-ups (offers): until 28 March; sign-ups (requests): 29 March to 4 April; deadline: Tuesday 13 May; reveals: Tuesday 20 May. No anon period. How it works: 1. Offer things you like to make: media, ships, tropes, etc. 2. Choose three anonymised offers and make requests. 3. Receive one assignment tailored to your offer. Post your work to AO3. Sign up at https://sid-guardian.dreamwidth.org/tag/!event:+520+day+2025 (Dreamwidth account not required)" />


Promo text:

<b>520 Day 镇魂 | Guardian Reverse Exchange 2025</b> Novel, drama, RPF! Multimedia! <i>Schedule</i> Sign-ups - offers: until 28 March Sign-ups - requests: 29 March to 4 April Deadline: Tuesday 13 May Reveals: Tuesday 20 May (no anon period) <i>How it works</i> 1. offer things you like to make: media, ships, tropes, etc. 2. choose three anonymised offers & make requests 3. receive one assignment tailored to your offer; post to AO3 Run at http://sid-guardian.dreamwidth.org/tag/!event Sign-ups at https://sid-guardian.dreamwidth.org/503173.html (Dreamwidth account not required)


Any questions? We're here to answer them. Ask in the comments to this post!

Comments

[facethestrange]

*SQUEEEEE* :D ♡♡♡ Just squee, lots and lots of squee. :D :D :D

(Also I've been promoting it on tumblr and I'm going to continue doing that. :D)

[trobadora]

YAY!!!! *twirls you*

Thank you, you're a star. :D

[autodach]

I’ve posted my promotions on Tumbr, Bluesky, Xitter, Pillowfort, and Mastodon.

[trobadora]

YOU ARE A STAR. *twirls you*

[tinypinkmouse]

I posted about signups opening on discord, and reblogged on Tumblr.

[trobadora]

Woohoo, thank you so much! :D

[facethestrange]

I'll just keep reblogging on tumblr (without making a new post myself, so I'm not linking), but also I just posted the text promo in a danmei discord. :D Which I never visit otherwise because I'm old enough to be literally everyone's parent, lmao, but sometimes I remember it exists.

ETA: I have a question too?

"Each ad will be removed from the list when 3 requests have been received for that writer/artist/fanwork creator, so be ready to jump in and claim the ones you want!"

How fast does this usually go? And if it's fast, what time are the ads posted? *really doesn't wanna miss out because of unnecessary stuff like SLEEPING* xD xD (And I mean, how fast is it for one/some of the offers to be gone, not for all of them, obviously. :))

[trobadora]

Thanks muchly for the reblogging, and the discord! ♥ ♥ ♥

We can't commit to a definite time because there may or may not be issues we need to resolve once we're both awake at the same time (china_shop and I are in opposite time zones, which is sometimes incredibly useful and sometimes not *g*). But requests won't open before 8pm UTC, and will open as soon as we're ready after that.

Some requests can go pretty quickly! The first one usually takes a few hours, but a large chunk will be gone after 24 hours. So it pays to be there early if you want a wider selection! :)

[facethestrange]

Aw damn, 8pm UTC is literally when I usually go to sleep, but on this day I just won't until I'm done requesting, so that's really good to know. :D :D Thanks! ♡♡♡

Hi!

[velithya]

It's a 4am reveal for me, I will definitely be asleep!

If an anecdote will help, last year I didn't make my requests until three days after the post went up, and there were still plenty of offers left! IIRC I was able to pick three ads that I liked without too much trouble. :)

Re: Hi!

[facethestrange]

Aw, thank you for the reassurance! :) ♡ (And I generally get up at 5am, so funnily enough that would be easier, hee, we could trade. xD :D)

I may have something relatively specific that I would love to request. :D So in the end I'm willing to stay up as long as necessary to get all the possible options. *rubs hands* :D

Re: Hi!

[velithya]

Ooooh, good luck!! I hope there are lots of signups offering what you want so you have plenty of choice! ♥

Re: Hi!

[facethestrange]

Thank you!! :) ♡♡♡ I hope for at least one, and three would be fabulous. :D (What would suck would be missing out on the one offer that had it, and I know I would never actually find out that I missed out on it, but still. xD)

Re: Hi!

[trobadora]

Ha, this thread has made me so curious about what you're looking to request. *g* I hope you find many offers!

Re: Hi!

[facethestrange]

:D Thanks! ♡ (It's not a secret whatsoever, I just have no idea what the etiquette is in a reverse exchange re: saying or not saying what you would hope to request. xD :D)

Re: Hi!

[trobadora]

It's fine, you can talk about it if you want!

Re: Hi!

[facethestrange]

Heee, that's good to know, thanks. :D But also I thought about it more and I decided not to - if I end up requesting something else, I don't want the gifter to feel like I don't actually want to get what they're offering because I said I hoped for something else. :)

[amedia]

I've posted the text and the photo to my own Facebook and to three groups I belong to: Revelcon, DC Slash, and "The Untamed - Gateway to Asian Dramas for US Fans."

On Discord, I posted it to the DC Slash server and the Guardian channel on the Escapade Forever server. Exchanges After Dark was already talking about it, yay! I (timidly) added the photo below flamingwell's announcement on the Guardian server.

[trobadora]

That's all fantastic, thank you so much! And yay for flamingwell too! :D

[mekare]

Promoted on Tumblr here: https://mekare-art.tumblr.com/post/778386366900928512

[trobadora]

Woohoo, thank you! :D

[(Anonymous)]

Question: I have never participated in an exchange that offered podfic. Does the podfic option mean that you would record an audio version of an existing work, or that you are writing a new work, but presenting it in audio format instead of text?

[china_shop]

Hi there! Offering podfic means offering to record an audio version of an existing work (either the recipient's or someone else's). The gift is the performance/recording itself. :-)

[facethestrange]

I finally figured out how to get tumblr communities to let the promos through, lol, so here they are: Cdrama Lovers, The danmei book club. I'm pretty sure these can't be seen without a tumblr account, and possibly even can't be seen by non-members of the community, but still. :D

(Tumblr communities famously don't allow dreamwidth links at all, and even pretending that the link is plain text doesn't usually work, but finally I managed to make it plain enough that it went through. :D)

[china_shop]

Ahh, that's fantastic! Thanks so much, you (and for persevering about the links!!). <3

[trobadora]

Many many thanks for your efforts! Wow, that's so bizarre and frustrating about tumblr communities. *headdesk*