Seasons of Drabbles - Fall Round 2025

[littlefics]

Seasons of Drabbles is an exchange for the creation of drabbles and drabble variants which runs 4 times a year.* The current round is for Fall 2025.

*Each round takes place sometime within a three-month period (March-May, June-August, September-November, December-February). Each round will take about a month from nominations through author reveals.

Schedule:
Nominations open: Sunday, October 5 (will remain open through signups)
Signups open: Sunday, October 12
Signups close: Sunday, October 19 @ 11:59pm Eastern Daylight time (Countdown)
Assignments out by: Wednesday, October 22
Assignments due: Saturday, November 1 @ 11:59pm Eastern Daylight time (Countdown)
Collection opens: [DELAYED] Saturday, November 15 @ 1:00pm Eastern Standard time (Countdown)
Authors revealed: [DELAYED] Tuesday, November 18 @ 1:00pm Eastern Standard time (Countdown)

This round's AO3 Collection | Tagset | Nomination guidelines | Requests App | Mod email: seasonsofdrabbles@gmail.com

Need to contact us or have a question? See the Mod Contact post!

The full, newly reformatted Guidelines are below and we strongly encourage you to read them! Here are some quick notes, though:

• First time doing a fic exchange? Welcome! Fanlore has some helpful explanations about how AO3 exchanges work and general exchange etiquette. Don't be afraid to ask a question if something's confusing.
• Here, "drabble" does not just mean a short fic, but a specific wordcount. In addition to single drabbles (fics of exactly 100 words), we accept double drabbles (200 words) and triple drabbles (300 words). We also accept drabble series/sequences.
• When you sign up, you cannot exclude single drabbles from your offers or requests. You are still welcome to request or offer the other drabble types, you just can't leave 100-word drabbles out entirely from your signup. See below for more details about this recent rule change.
• Participants must be 18+.
• Don't use generative AI for your gifts.

Guidelines

Definitions: We accept several different types of drabbles.

• A single drabble is a fic of exactly 100 words.
• A double drabble is a fic of exactly 200 words.
• A triple drabble is a fic of exactly 300 words.
• A drabble series/sequence is a set of at least two drabbles within the same continuity.

Quadruple drabbles and greater are NOT allowed in this event.

Drabble series/sequences: Drabble sequence/series are divided into 4 types. The available freeforms are Drabble Series/Sequence (Single Drabbles), Drabble Series/Sequence (Double Drabbles), Drabble Series/Sequence (Triple Drabbles), Drabble Series/Sequence (Mix & Match).

• A Drabble Series/Sequence (Single Drabbles) consists of two or more single drabbles (100 words) in the same continuity.
• A Drabble Series/Sequence (Double Drabbles) consists of two or more double drabbles (200 words) in the same continuity.
• A Drabble Series/Sequence (Triple Drabbles) consists of two or more triple drabbles (300 words) in the same continuity.
• A Drabble Series/Sequence (Mix & Match) consists of two or more single, double, and/or triple drabbles within the same continuity, with the mix of drabble types up to the author's discretion.

A drabble series/sequence consists of multiple related drabbles, with each drabble making up a distinct part. Each part should be reasonably able to stand alone. It's fine if a later drabble requires the context of an earlier part in order to make sense (just like a movie or book series might), but don't break one continuous scene into 100-word chunks. Usually there's something that distinguishes each drabble from each other, such as a change in POV, time, or scene. If you want to see examples, browse through some of the fics posted for past rounds!

Nominations: You may nominate fandoms and characters you want to see in the tagset, with a maximum of 10 fandoms with up to 10 characters each. Further details are in a separate nominations post. Some notes:

• Please disambiguate your nominations! It makes the mods' jobs easier.
• The tagset will be reused for subsequent rounds in the rest of year; as a result, nominations will be wiped ahead of each new round to allow you to nominate new fandoms/characters for that round.

Fandoms: We welcome a wide range of fandoms and permit RPF, original works, crossovers, and recursive fandoms. Note that we do have some restrictions for RPF (regarding age and notability), recursive fandoms (regarding permissions), and use of generative AI (see the last section). Further information can be found in the nominations post.

Requests: You can request 3-10 fandoms with 1-20 characters each. Each request must include at least one freeform (Drabble, Double Drabble, Triple Drabble, Drabble Series/Sequence (Various)). Some notes:

• You may request Any for the character section, but please note that Any = any character in the canon (NOT just the tagset).
• You cannot opt out of single drabbles. That is, you are still welcome to request other drabble types, but you cannot exclude single drabbles from your requests.

Offers: You can offer 3-10 fandoms with 1-20 characters each. Each offer must include at least one freeform (Drabble, Double Drabble, Triple Drabble, Drabble Series/Sequence (Various)). Some notes:

• You may offer Any, but please note that unless your recip requested Any as well, you will be expected to write about one of the specific characters they are asking for. (If they did request Any, you may write about any character from their requested canon.).
• You cannot opt out of single drabbles. That is, you are still welcome to offer other drabble types, but you cannot exclude single drabbles from your offers.

If you still have questions about not being able to opt out of writing or receiving single drabbles, since it's a recent rule change, expand the Q&A section below.

Q&A on the Rule Change

Q: Why make this rule change?
A: Since this is an event celebrating drabbles, we thought it made sense for a 100-word single drabble to be the minimum that participants can expect to write or receive. We received the suggestion from a participant and put it up to a community poll, where a strong majority were in favor of the rule change.

Q: How does this rule change affect how I sign up?
A: It affects the signup process itself very little. You can still select the fandoms, characters, and drabble types you are interested in writing or receiving. You are still free to request or offer longer drabble types. You can still check "Any". However, you can no longer exclude the "Drabble" tag from your signup.

Q: What happens if I don't include single drabbles in my signup?
A: We will reach out to you via the email associated with your AO3 account and offer two options: we can either edit the signup to add single drabbles, or remove your signup. Participants who don’t get back to us by the end of the grace period (12 hours after signups close) will have their signup removed.

Q: How will matching work?
A: Since everyone is requesting or offering single drabbles, you are effectively matchable with anyone requesting/offering the same fandom AND character. However, drabble types are still a matching criterion. In other words, people who want to write/request other drabble types would still be more likely to match with each other. For example, all things being equal, someone requesting Single Drabble and Triple Drabble is more likely (not guaranteed) to match with someone offering Single Drabble and Triple Drabble, than with someone only offering Single Drabble, or someone offering Single Drabble and Single Drabble Series/Sequence.

Q: Do I have to write single drabbles to participate?
A: If you have matched to someone who has only requested the "Drabble" freeform tag, then yes, you have to write a 100-word drabble for your assignment. If they have requested other drabble types, though, you are welcome to write any of them for your recipient.

Matching: Matching is OR matching. You are guaranteed to match on one character, one fandom, and one drabble type, though it is possible that you match on more than one of any of those criteria.

Optional details: Blank signups are allowed, but you are strongly encouraged to include some likes or prompts in your signup. This may include ships, though you are not guaranteed to receive shipfic. Only reasonable DNWs included in your AO3 signup will be enforced.

DNWs (Do Not Wants): Reasonable DNWs are clear and do not attempt to railroad your author into writing one specific thing. If you are unsure about your own or someone else's DNW, please contact the mods. (Confused about what a DNW is? See this Fanlore article.)

Letters: You may write a letter, but should have them done prior to assignments going out. Even if you do write a letter, you are strongly encouraged to include some likes or prompts in your signup. There will not be a letter section on the signup form, so you'll have to add the URL to the main text box.

Assignments: When you receive your assignment, you will write a drabble for your recipient. Here are some do's and don'ts:

• Your drabble must be for a fandom and character they requested, must be a length they requested, and must not include reasonable DNWs from their AO3 signup.
• You may include more than one requested character if you'd like, but that is not required.
• Do not put de-anonymizing information in your fic or author's notes (e.g., links to social media) until after the anon period is over.
• We consider crossovers to be unrequested fandoms unless opted into/requested.

To post your assignment, you can go to your Assignments page from your Profile, or go to the current round's collection page and find "Your Assignment". Click "Fulfill", and paste in your fic.

Length: Since AO3 may count words differently than your writing software, there's some slight wiggle room re: the length of your drabble. That said, try to keep within within a few words of the expected length. Our rule of thumb is that your posted drabble should be no more than 5 words away from a number ending in 100 (unless you have a reason you can point to for the discrepancy, such as punctuation adding extra words to AO3's count).

Treats: We highly encourage treats! A treat is a fic that does not fulfill an assignment, just an extra gift. Some notes:

• You may write a treat for your recipient (on top of your assignment) or for anyone else who signed up.
• The fic still must be for a fandom and character the recipient requested, must be a length they requested, and must not include reasonable DNWs from their AO3 signup.
• Drabble treats that do not fit any recipient's request may be posted to the collection without a recipient.
• The same gift should not be gifted to multiple people.
• Treats can be posted anytime!

Defaulting: If you cannot complete your drabble by the deadline, please default on AO3 by going to your Assignments page and clicking "Default". If you default and your assigned writer also defaults on you, you will not go to pinch hit.

Extensions: We generally do not offer extensions for assignments.

Pinch hits: All pinch hits will be posted on the Dreamwidth comm. There will most likely be just the two batches (initial and post-deadline) unless more than a handful come in by the middle of the writing period. (Confused about what a pinch hit is? See this Fanlore article.)

Writing & anon period: Given the length of a drabble, the timescale is also shorter than in most exchanges. The writing period is 10 days, while the anon period is only 72 hours. The time between the assignments deadline and collection opening is for pinch hits and treats.

Multiple signups: If you sign up with multiple sock accounts intending to write a nice drabble for each of your recips, that's fine. Anything else isn't.

Expectations: This exchange runs under the "don't be a jerk" rule. Don't write DNWs, don't skirt around the edges of DNWs, don't claim someone wrote your DNW when they clearly didn't, don't harass other participants or the mods for any reason. Please operate in good faith and assume others are doing the same.

Participants must be 18+. We won't be actively checking participants' ages, but if someone brings a violation to our attention, we'll enforce the rule.

Generative AI: As of June 2024, canons and gifts that are wholly or significantly created through generative* AI are prohibited from this event. Such canons cannot be nominated, requested, or offered, and giving such gifts may result in a ban. We recognize this is an evolving issue, so please feel free to offer feedback or ask questions.

*By generative AI, we mean tools that create new content. Things like spell-check or translation are not included in our definition of generative AI.

Any questions, concerns, suggested additions - please ask!

Comments

[littlefics]

Just tested it out, and it should be possible to add "Transformers Animated (2007)" and "Blurr (Transformers Animated (Cartoon))" to your requests. Was that the main issue, or are you confused about the other error messages?