DSSS 2016 Posting Instructions for WRITERS
These instructions are for posting non-illustrated DSSS stories and have been updated to include changes to the AO3 upload form. Artists, vidders, and podficcers have a different procedure. If you're uploading a story that contains illustrations, you need to use the artists' instructions.
The posting deadline is Wednesday 14 December 2016 11:59PM Chicago time. Stories must be at least 1000 words per the AO3's word count, be beta-read and revised, and meet DSSS' quality standards. Your story's word count appears in the header to your work and in all AO3 indexes that include your work. (See AO3 Hints section below for more on word count.)
NOTE: We try to keep the following detailed instructions up to date. It's possible AO3 has made changes since last December that affect the posting process -- if you find something that's no longer accurate, please let us know and we'll update the instructions!
If you've never uploaded a work to the AO3 before, you may want to read through to the end before you try your first upload. Let's get started:
Here are 2 ways to get to the upload form.
(A)
1. Go to the DSSS 2016 Collection at the AO3.
2. Be sure you're logged in.
3. Click "Post to Collection".
4. Enter the form's required data (marked in red, plus the info for Lines I, L & N-P). Optional info is welcome, and is also optional.
(B)
1. Go to the AO3, log in, and click "My Home".
2. Select "Assignments" on the left menu.
3. Find your DSSS 2016 assignment & click "Fulfill".
4. Enter the form's required data (marked in red, plus the info for Lines I, L & N-P). Optional info is welcome, and is also optional.
Note: if you use option (B), more information will be automatically filled in than if you use option (A). But you’ll still be able to fill the information in yourself, whichever option you choose.
If you're already familiar with the AO3 upload form, skip ahead to Lines I, L & N-P in the list below and read carefully: this info MUST BE ENTERED CORRECTLY for your recipient to receive their giftwork and to preserve your anonymity until Reveal Day!
Now I'm going to walk through all the blanks, ticky boxes, and text fields for everyone who is brand-new to the AO3. Then I'll have some extra AO3 user hints at the end to help you make sure your work looks like you want it to.
TAGS
A) Rating: is required.
B) Archive Warnings: Tick for any appropriate warnings, or choose not to warn if that's what you want to do. If no warnings apply, click "No Warnings Apply". Warnings can also (optionally) go in the Author's Notes field (L) and/or Additional Tags (G).
C) Fandoms: If you've written a crossover, enter both/all fandoms. Otherwise, enter "due South" if it isn't already auto-filled.
D) Category: tick the box(es) of your choice. "Multi" seems to mean 3+ people in a relationship together. Dief & Turtle's epic romance might count under "Other". Platonic friendship is usually classified as “Gen.” Use your best judgment.
E) Relationships: This field allows your work to appear when an index is filtered by Relationship. You may tag for both romantic and platonic relationships, or, if your work has no relationships, you can leave this field blank. Characters are listed alphabetically by SURNAME, so start with the character with the earliest alphabetical family name. If your desired pairing isn't in the list, that's okay! Enter it anyway (being careful of spelling; no one will correct your spelling). You may enter as many or as few pairings/groups as you like.
Tag protocol generally indicates romantic relationships with a SLASH and gen friendships with an ampersand. For example: "Ray Kowalski/Ray Vecchio" = a romantic relationship tag, whereas "Ray Kowalski & Ray Vecchio" = a gen friendship tag. See the AO3 Hints section below for much more on using tags.
F) Characters: This field allows your work to appear when an index is filtered by Character. When you start typing a character's name, a list of possible tags will automatically appear. If the character you want to add isn't on the list, enter it anyway (being careful of spelling; no one will correct your spelling). Include as few or as many characters as you want. If this field is blank, your work will NOT appear when users filter an index by Character, even if that character appears in your Relationship tags.
G) Additional Tags: Here you can enter any Additional Tags you like. Examples include: Post-canon, Pre-canon, Case Fic, Canada, Canadian Shack, Car Sex, Crossover, Alternate Universe, Space AU, Huddling For Warmth, Kissing, Apocalypse, Sex Pollen, Dubcon, Injury, Minor Character Death, Women Being Awesome, Hurt/Comfort, etc. Again, if a tag you want to use isn't in the system, that's fine. Enter it anyway (being careful of spelling)! Use as few or as many tags as you want.
Additional Tags are visible on every work index page. They may be considered spoilery for your work's content, which may or may not be a selling point. (See AO3 Hints below. Also, to see what this looks like in practice, click on any AO3 fandom and look over the index.)
PREFACE
H) Work Title: is required.
I) Author/Pseud(s): AO3 allows you to have multiple pseudonyms under the same account. For DSSS, you MUST choose the same pseudonym here that you used in your signup! This is how we'll know you've fulfilled your assignment!
J) Add co-authors?: Skip this one as it doesn't apply.
K) Summary: Always helpful!
L) Notes - at the beginning: If you want to include Author's Notes, we ask that you maintain your anonymity until Reveal! That may mean holding back on thanking your betas by name at first. AFTER Reveal, you can come back and edit identifying info into your notes.
M) Notes - at the end: Optional.
ASSOCIATIONS
N) Does this fulfill a challenge assignment? Be sure the checkbox next to Due South Seekrit Santa 2016, with your recipient's name in parentheses, is checked! If this line is not automatically provided, enter lines O & P below as indicated.
O) Post to Collections/Challenges: This blank may be auto-filled with "dsss_2016". If not, enter it here.
P) Gift this work to: REQUIRED! REQUIRED! REQUIRED! Your assigned recipient's username should be auto-filled for you. IF NOT: Enter your recipient's username EXACTLY as it appeared in your assignment email! If you don't have the correct username, please come find a mod & we'll get it to you!
Q-R) You can skip the remix and series blanks.
S) This work has multiple chapters: AO3 permits 500,000 characters in one entry, which can accommodate a very long unchaptered story. However, if you want to use AO3's multiple chapters function, tick this line's ticky box and follow the normal upload instructions below - but paste ONLY your FIRST chapter into the Work Text field. Then click "Post", immediately click "Edit", select the "Add Chapter" button at the top of the edit screen, insert the chapter number/title, paste in the next chapter's text, and post. Repeat until finished.
T) Set a different publication date: You can skip this. However, you may want to come back and re-set this date later. When the collection is revealed, your work will show up in lists (e.g. your Works page, the due South tag-filter page) based on the “publication date,” not the date it was revealed. If you posted early in December, you may want to come back and set the publication date to December 24, so that readers looking for recent works don’t miss it. (Unfortunately, you can’t post with a publication date set to a future date.)
U) Choose a language: This allows your work to be filterable by language.
V) Custom Stylesheet: You can create a custom stylesheet for individual works. This is ideal if you know CSS and want to do something nifty with visual formatting. The 'Public work skins' link offers some options you may use if you're so inclined.
W) Only show your work to registered users: Optional. Click ONLY if you want to lock your work so it can only be seen by logged-in AO3 users. Users without AO3 accounts or who are not logged in will be unable to view your work.
X) Anonymous commenting disabled: Optional. With this selected, only logged-in AO3 users may post comments on your work. (Guests may still leave kudos.)
Y) Enable comment moderation: Optional. This is a new AO3 feature. If you turn it on, it means that you have to approve each comment on your work before it becomes visible to readers.
WORK TEXT
Z) Work Text: Choose the HTML tab if you coded HTML tags (, , etc.) directly into your draft. Choose Rich Text if your draft contains your writing program's formatting (words in italics, etc.). Then paste your work into the work text field.
From the AO3 FAQ: What is the Rich Text Editor? What is the HTML Editor?
There are two options for posting works and chapters on the Archive:
The Rich Text Editor lets you add formatting, links and pictures to text without using HTML tags. It also has an option for pasting from Word which will preserve some of your Word formatting, although please note that this is buggy. The Rich Text Editor is only available for your work text.
The HTML editor allows you to change the look of your text with HTML tags. It can be used in any place you can submit text, although some fields permit only a small subsection of allowed tags. You can see a full list of the allowed HTML on the Archive.
Please note that if you paste in a work in HTML mode and then switch to the Rich Text editor, your line breaks will be lost unless you hardcoded them in. This is a known bug - we're working to fix it, but it's tricky, so it's a long-term fix.
Please see AO3 Hints below for more help with formatting your work.
POST
AA) Preview | Post Without Preview | Cancel: Click Preview and check your work's appearance thoroughly. At the bottom of the Preview screen, you'll find the buttons to Post, Save Without Posting, Edit, or Cancel. TO EDIT, do NOT hit the back button. Click "EDIT" instead! If you can't get the Preview screen to load (as may happen during heavy site traffic), use Post Without Preview, and then click Edit to make your revisions. You may Edit your work as much as you choose to (now and forever into the future).
Note: if you Preview your work and then hit Cancel on the Preview screen, it will take you to your Unposted Drafts index. Here you have the option to Edit, Post, or Delete the unposted draft. Unposted works stay in your Drafts folder (on the left menu) for one month before autodeletion. (See AO3 Hints below.)
Yikes! Where’s My Uploaded Work?
The Seekrit Santa exchange is moderated. This means that when you submit your work, it goes into an approval queue; it won’t appear in the collection until the mods have approved it.
Until works are “revealed,” your submission will not appear in your Works page, or in the due South tag filter. Do not panic! This does not mean your draft has fallen down a black hole. It’s just a little hard to find.
There are three ways you can find your work if you need to edit it:
1) The DSSS 2016 collection’s Works index. If you are logged into AO3, your own work will be visible to you in the index (everyone else’s will be listed as “Mystery Work”). Click on the title to go to the work itself. You will only be able to see your work here after the mods have approved it.
2) In your “My Assignments” list, find the entry for due South Seekrit Santa 2016. Your work’s title should appear there; clicking on it will take you to the work itself. You will be able to see your work here even before the mods have approved it. There will also be a “Status” for the work in the “My Assignments” list: if it says “Complete!” your work has successfully been posted to the collection.
3) On your own Works page, click the “Works In Collections” button. (If you can’t find the button, this URL will take you there: http://archiveofourown.org/users/YOUR-NAME/works/collected; replacing “YOUR-NAME” with your AO3 name, of course.) Your work’s title should appear there; clicking on it will take you to the work itself. You will only be able to see your work here after the mods have approved it.
Again, you may edit your uploaded work as much as you like.
Once your fanwork is uploaded, the mods will review and approve it (or contact you if there is an issue that needs to be resolved before approval). Unfortunately, last we checked, AO3 does not send out a notification email when a submission is approved.
AO3 Hints & Further Details
• Getting AO3 to load: Site load is typically enormous between now and the end of the year, thanks to all the various fabulous holiday challenges going on, so expect the AO3 to be sluggish. If you're right up against the deadline, fill in only the REQUIRED fields and click Post Without Preview to get your work into the collection. AFTER your work is safely uploaded, you can take your time editing optional tags, notes, etc. and making everything pretty.
• Tags: The tags for multiple relationships in a single work could look like: [ Elaine Besbriss & Frannie Vecchio ][ Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski ][ Benton Fraser/Ray Vecchio ][ Ray Kowalski/Ray Vecchio ][ Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski/Ray Vecchio ]. (In case you got lost, that's one fic containing Elaine & Frannie (gen friendship), Fraser/RayK, Fraser/Vecchio, Ray/Ray, and FKV.) Tags may also be comma-separated, in the event that the drop-down menu doesn't work during heavy site load. AO3 does NOT permit commas WITHIN a single tag (it creates 2 tags, separated by the comma, and only you can correct the intended tag).
You CAN choose to ignore the AO3's canonical relationship tags in the drop-down list and simply type them the way you want them to look, such as "Ray/Ray" or "Frannie/Turnbull". The AO3 tag wranglers synonymize casual forms of pairing tags with their AO3 canonical forms, so ALL forms of the tag will show up correctly in the tag filter. However, the tag wranglers CANNOT correct your tags for you!
Warning! Again, the AO3 accepts ALL user-generated tags. Even misspelled ones. Even mistakenly applied ones! Please tag with care.
• Tag Editing: AO3 tag wranglers are unable to correct misspelled or mistakenly applied tags because their mission is to curate rather than edit, and they are completely unable to delete or alter the text of existing tags. That power belongs solely to the user. So, if there's a mistake in your work's tags, you alone can fix it. To do so, click the "Edit Tags" button accompanying your work in any AO3 index. "Edit Tags" lets you edit the tags only, without loading the work text, and causes less server strain than the full "Edit" screen. "Edit Tags" may load when the main "Edit" screen won't.
• Pasting in your work: Pasting your story straight from formatted documents (such as Word or Open Office) or HTML preview screens may result in weird or absent formatting on the AO3. If you have trouble getting your work to appear how you want it to, it may help to go back to your document and save it as an .rtf file. Open that file separately and paste the contents into the Work Text window, using the Rich Text option if you did NOT manually code in HTML tags, or the HTML option if you did. Use the Preview and Edit buttons as much as you need to.
• Word counts are weird: for example, I can open the same story in Word, Open Office, Googledocs, Scrivener, and AO3 and get five different word count totals, depending on their counting algorithms and how they cope with special characters such as dashes and ellipses. If AO3 thinks your story is too short but Word (for example) thinks it's safely over 1000 words, try inserting spaces around any dashes and ellipses and click Post. If it's still too short, you'll need to add more text to bring it up past the minimum.
• Editing your work: You can edit your work immediately after uploading and forever into the future; however, your work will be visible to the world beginning late Dec 24, so please wrap up your tinkering by then! Note: a former AO3 bug that prevented works from being edited after the collection was closed HAS BEEN FIXED. Yay!
• Formatting white space: Because it's bridging input from many different platforms, the AO3's HTML parser sometimes eats intended white space and sticks extra white space in where it isn't wanted. To manually add more white space between sections, you can try inserting this code (with HTML selected, not Rich Text) and tinkering until you think it looks right:
If your work has extra, unwanted line breaks between paragraphs, the parser has probably inserted an unnecessary
in between them. Try deleting the extra paragraph codes and hitting Post.
• AO3 slowness/outages: You can track @AO3_status at Twitter in case of site outages. Site load varies per time of day and time zone, so you may have better luck uploading in the wee hours, North America time. If the deadline nears and the AO3 completely fails to load for you, get in touch with us at dsss.admin at gmail.com and let us know what's going on! In a worst case scenario, we may look into getting someone to upload your work for you.
• Preferences: The personalization settings on the AO3 Preferences page (left menu bar) let you customize things, some of which are super-helpful. If you're new to AO3, you may want to explore these.
Whew...okay! That should be everything! If you need help with your upload, please consult these instructions first! I know there are a lot of steps, but they're fairly easy and most are entirely optional. If you still have questions specific to your upload OR if something goes horribly wrong, please email us at dsss.admin at gmail & we'll do what we can to help! If it's beyond our understanding, then we can contact AO3 support and bring in the experts.
Note: this year all the mods are in North America, so time zones and RL factors may delay an immediate reply. Be patient!
If you have general questions, email us or comment below! (Comments are visible to all, so be sure to keep seekrit things seekrit!)
Remember, the deadline for posting assigned giftworks is Wednesday 14 December 2016 11:59PM Chicago time. We absolutely have to hear from you by then. If we don't, we'll pass your assignment on to a pinch hitter.
The posting deadline is Wednesday 14 December 2016 11:59PM Chicago time. Stories must be at least 1000 words per the AO3's word count, be beta-read and revised, and meet DSSS' quality standards. Your story's word count appears in the header to your work and in all AO3 indexes that include your work. (See AO3 Hints section below for more on word count.)
NOTE: We try to keep the following detailed instructions up to date. It's possible AO3 has made changes since last December that affect the posting process -- if you find something that's no longer accurate, please let us know and we'll update the instructions!
If you've never uploaded a work to the AO3 before, you may want to read through to the end before you try your first upload. Let's get started:
Here are 2 ways to get to the upload form.
(A)
1. Go to the DSSS 2016 Collection at the AO3.
2. Be sure you're logged in.
3. Click "Post to Collection".
4. Enter the form's required data (marked in red, plus the info for Lines I, L & N-P). Optional info is welcome, and is also optional.
(B)
1. Go to the AO3, log in, and click "My Home".
2. Select "Assignments" on the left menu.
3. Find your DSSS 2016 assignment & click "Fulfill".
4. Enter the form's required data (marked in red, plus the info for Lines I, L & N-P). Optional info is welcome, and is also optional.
Note: if you use option (B), more information will be automatically filled in than if you use option (A). But you’ll still be able to fill the information in yourself, whichever option you choose.
If you're already familiar with the AO3 upload form, skip ahead to Lines I, L & N-P in the list below and read carefully: this info MUST BE ENTERED CORRECTLY for your recipient to receive their giftwork and to preserve your anonymity until Reveal Day!
Now I'm going to walk through all the blanks, ticky boxes, and text fields for everyone who is brand-new to the AO3. Then I'll have some extra AO3 user hints at the end to help you make sure your work looks like you want it to.
TAGS
A) Rating: is required.
B) Archive Warnings: Tick for any appropriate warnings, or choose not to warn if that's what you want to do. If no warnings apply, click "No Warnings Apply". Warnings can also (optionally) go in the Author's Notes field (L) and/or Additional Tags (G).
C) Fandoms: If you've written a crossover, enter both/all fandoms. Otherwise, enter "due South" if it isn't already auto-filled.
D) Category: tick the box(es) of your choice. "Multi" seems to mean 3+ people in a relationship together. Dief & Turtle's epic romance might count under "Other". Platonic friendship is usually classified as “Gen.” Use your best judgment.
E) Relationships: This field allows your work to appear when an index is filtered by Relationship. You may tag for both romantic and platonic relationships, or, if your work has no relationships, you can leave this field blank. Characters are listed alphabetically by SURNAME, so start with the character with the earliest alphabetical family name. If your desired pairing isn't in the list, that's okay! Enter it anyway (being careful of spelling; no one will correct your spelling). You may enter as many or as few pairings/groups as you like.
Tag protocol generally indicates romantic relationships with a SLASH and gen friendships with an ampersand. For example: "Ray Kowalski/Ray Vecchio" = a romantic relationship tag, whereas "Ray Kowalski & Ray Vecchio" = a gen friendship tag. See the AO3 Hints section below for much more on using tags.
F) Characters: This field allows your work to appear when an index is filtered by Character. When you start typing a character's name, a list of possible tags will automatically appear. If the character you want to add isn't on the list, enter it anyway (being careful of spelling; no one will correct your spelling). Include as few or as many characters as you want. If this field is blank, your work will NOT appear when users filter an index by Character, even if that character appears in your Relationship tags.
G) Additional Tags: Here you can enter any Additional Tags you like. Examples include: Post-canon, Pre-canon, Case Fic, Canada, Canadian Shack, Car Sex, Crossover, Alternate Universe, Space AU, Huddling For Warmth, Kissing, Apocalypse, Sex Pollen, Dubcon, Injury, Minor Character Death, Women Being Awesome, Hurt/Comfort, etc. Again, if a tag you want to use isn't in the system, that's fine. Enter it anyway (being careful of spelling)! Use as few or as many tags as you want.
Additional Tags are visible on every work index page. They may be considered spoilery for your work's content, which may or may not be a selling point. (See AO3 Hints below. Also, to see what this looks like in practice, click on any AO3 fandom and look over the index.)
PREFACE
H) Work Title: is required.
I) Author/Pseud(s): AO3 allows you to have multiple pseudonyms under the same account. For DSSS, you MUST choose the same pseudonym here that you used in your signup! This is how we'll know you've fulfilled your assignment!
J) Add co-authors?: Skip this one as it doesn't apply.
K) Summary: Always helpful!
L) Notes - at the beginning: If you want to include Author's Notes, we ask that you maintain your anonymity until Reveal! That may mean holding back on thanking your betas by name at first. AFTER Reveal, you can come back and edit identifying info into your notes.
M) Notes - at the end: Optional.
ASSOCIATIONS
N) Does this fulfill a challenge assignment? Be sure the checkbox next to Due South Seekrit Santa 2016, with your recipient's name in parentheses, is checked! If this line is not automatically provided, enter lines O & P below as indicated.
O) Post to Collections/Challenges: This blank may be auto-filled with "dsss_2016". If not, enter it here.
P) Gift this work to: REQUIRED! REQUIRED! REQUIRED! Your assigned recipient's username should be auto-filled for you. IF NOT: Enter your recipient's username EXACTLY as it appeared in your assignment email! If you don't have the correct username, please come find a mod & we'll get it to you!
Q-R) You can skip the remix and series blanks.
S) This work has multiple chapters: AO3 permits 500,000 characters in one entry, which can accommodate a very long unchaptered story. However, if you want to use AO3's multiple chapters function, tick this line's ticky box and follow the normal upload instructions below - but paste ONLY your FIRST chapter into the Work Text field. Then click "Post", immediately click "Edit", select the "Add Chapter" button at the top of the edit screen, insert the chapter number/title, paste in the next chapter's text, and post. Repeat until finished.
T) Set a different publication date: You can skip this. However, you may want to come back and re-set this date later. When the collection is revealed, your work will show up in lists (e.g. your Works page, the due South tag-filter page) based on the “publication date,” not the date it was revealed. If you posted early in December, you may want to come back and set the publication date to December 24, so that readers looking for recent works don’t miss it. (Unfortunately, you can’t post with a publication date set to a future date.)
U) Choose a language: This allows your work to be filterable by language.
V) Custom Stylesheet: You can create a custom stylesheet for individual works. This is ideal if you know CSS and want to do something nifty with visual formatting. The 'Public work skins' link offers some options you may use if you're so inclined.
W) Only show your work to registered users: Optional. Click ONLY if you want to lock your work so it can only be seen by logged-in AO3 users. Users without AO3 accounts or who are not logged in will be unable to view your work.
X) Anonymous commenting disabled: Optional. With this selected, only logged-in AO3 users may post comments on your work. (Guests may still leave kudos.)
Y) Enable comment moderation: Optional. This is a new AO3 feature. If you turn it on, it means that you have to approve each comment on your work before it becomes visible to readers.
WORK TEXT
Z) Work Text: Choose the HTML tab if you coded HTML tags (, , etc.) directly into your draft. Choose Rich Text if your draft contains your writing program's formatting (words in italics, etc.). Then paste your work into the work text field.
From the AO3 FAQ: What is the Rich Text Editor? What is the HTML Editor?
There are two options for posting works and chapters on the Archive:
The Rich Text Editor lets you add formatting, links and pictures to text without using HTML tags. It also has an option for pasting from Word which will preserve some of your Word formatting, although please note that this is buggy. The Rich Text Editor is only available for your work text.
The HTML editor allows you to change the look of your text with HTML tags. It can be used in any place you can submit text, although some fields permit only a small subsection of allowed tags. You can see a full list of the allowed HTML on the Archive.
Please note that if you paste in a work in HTML mode and then switch to the Rich Text editor, your line breaks will be lost unless you hardcoded them in. This is a known bug - we're working to fix it, but it's tricky, so it's a long-term fix.
Please see AO3 Hints below for more help with formatting your work.
POST
AA) Preview | Post Without Preview | Cancel: Click Preview and check your work's appearance thoroughly. At the bottom of the Preview screen, you'll find the buttons to Post, Save Without Posting, Edit, or Cancel. TO EDIT, do NOT hit the back button. Click "EDIT" instead! If you can't get the Preview screen to load (as may happen during heavy site traffic), use Post Without Preview, and then click Edit to make your revisions. You may Edit your work as much as you choose to (now and forever into the future).
Note: if you Preview your work and then hit Cancel on the Preview screen, it will take you to your Unposted Drafts index. Here you have the option to Edit, Post, or Delete the unposted draft. Unposted works stay in your Drafts folder (on the left menu) for one month before autodeletion. (See AO3 Hints below.)
Yikes! Where’s My Uploaded Work?
The Seekrit Santa exchange is moderated. This means that when you submit your work, it goes into an approval queue; it won’t appear in the collection until the mods have approved it.
Until works are “revealed,” your submission will not appear in your Works page, or in the due South tag filter. Do not panic! This does not mean your draft has fallen down a black hole. It’s just a little hard to find.
There are three ways you can find your work if you need to edit it:
1) The DSSS 2016 collection’s Works index. If you are logged into AO3, your own work will be visible to you in the index (everyone else’s will be listed as “Mystery Work”). Click on the title to go to the work itself. You will only be able to see your work here after the mods have approved it.
2) In your “My Assignments” list, find the entry for due South Seekrit Santa 2016. Your work’s title should appear there; clicking on it will take you to the work itself. You will be able to see your work here even before the mods have approved it. There will also be a “Status” for the work in the “My Assignments” list: if it says “Complete!” your work has successfully been posted to the collection.
3) On your own Works page, click the “Works In Collections” button. (If you can’t find the button, this URL will take you there: http://archiveofourown.org/users/YOUR-NAME/works/collected; replacing “YOUR-NAME” with your AO3 name, of course.) Your work’s title should appear there; clicking on it will take you to the work itself. You will only be able to see your work here after the mods have approved it.
Again, you may edit your uploaded work as much as you like.
Once your fanwork is uploaded, the mods will review and approve it (or contact you if there is an issue that needs to be resolved before approval). Unfortunately, last we checked, AO3 does not send out a notification email when a submission is approved.
AO3 Hints & Further Details
• Getting AO3 to load: Site load is typically enormous between now and the end of the year, thanks to all the various fabulous holiday challenges going on, so expect the AO3 to be sluggish. If you're right up against the deadline, fill in only the REQUIRED fields and click Post Without Preview to get your work into the collection. AFTER your work is safely uploaded, you can take your time editing optional tags, notes, etc. and making everything pretty.
• Tags: The tags for multiple relationships in a single work could look like: [ Elaine Besbriss & Frannie Vecchio ][ Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski ][ Benton Fraser/Ray Vecchio ][ Ray Kowalski/Ray Vecchio ][ Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski/Ray Vecchio ]. (In case you got lost, that's one fic containing Elaine & Frannie (gen friendship), Fraser/RayK, Fraser/Vecchio, Ray/Ray, and FKV.) Tags may also be comma-separated, in the event that the drop-down menu doesn't work during heavy site load. AO3 does NOT permit commas WITHIN a single tag (it creates 2 tags, separated by the comma, and only you can correct the intended tag).
You CAN choose to ignore the AO3's canonical relationship tags in the drop-down list and simply type them the way you want them to look, such as "Ray/Ray" or "Frannie/Turnbull". The AO3 tag wranglers synonymize casual forms of pairing tags with their AO3 canonical forms, so ALL forms of the tag will show up correctly in the tag filter. However, the tag wranglers CANNOT correct your tags for you!
Warning! Again, the AO3 accepts ALL user-generated tags. Even misspelled ones. Even mistakenly applied ones! Please tag with care.
• Tag Editing: AO3 tag wranglers are unable to correct misspelled or mistakenly applied tags because their mission is to curate rather than edit, and they are completely unable to delete or alter the text of existing tags. That power belongs solely to the user. So, if there's a mistake in your work's tags, you alone can fix it. To do so, click the "Edit Tags" button accompanying your work in any AO3 index. "Edit Tags" lets you edit the tags only, without loading the work text, and causes less server strain than the full "Edit" screen. "Edit Tags" may load when the main "Edit" screen won't.
• Pasting in your work: Pasting your story straight from formatted documents (such as Word or Open Office) or HTML preview screens may result in weird or absent formatting on the AO3. If you have trouble getting your work to appear how you want it to, it may help to go back to your document and save it as an .rtf file. Open that file separately and paste the contents into the Work Text window, using the Rich Text option if you did NOT manually code in HTML tags, or the HTML option if you did. Use the Preview and Edit buttons as much as you need to.
• Word counts are weird: for example, I can open the same story in Word, Open Office, Googledocs, Scrivener, and AO3 and get five different word count totals, depending on their counting algorithms and how they cope with special characters such as dashes and ellipses. If AO3 thinks your story is too short but Word (for example) thinks it's safely over 1000 words, try inserting spaces around any dashes and ellipses and click Post. If it's still too short, you'll need to add more text to bring it up past the minimum.
• Editing your work: You can edit your work immediately after uploading and forever into the future; however, your work will be visible to the world beginning late Dec 24, so please wrap up your tinkering by then! Note: a former AO3 bug that prevented works from being edited after the collection was closed HAS BEEN FIXED. Yay!
• Formatting white space: Because it's bridging input from many different platforms, the AO3's HTML parser sometimes eats intended white space and sticks extra white space in where it isn't wanted. To manually add more white space between sections, you can try inserting this code (with HTML selected, not Rich Text) and tinkering until you think it looks right:
If your work has extra, unwanted line breaks between paragraphs, the parser has probably inserted an unnecessary
in between them. Try deleting the extra paragraph codes and hitting Post.
• AO3 slowness/outages: You can track @AO3_status at Twitter in case of site outages. Site load varies per time of day and time zone, so you may have better luck uploading in the wee hours, North America time. If the deadline nears and the AO3 completely fails to load for you, get in touch with us at dsss.admin at gmail.com and let us know what's going on! In a worst case scenario, we may look into getting someone to upload your work for you.
• Preferences: The personalization settings on the AO3 Preferences page (left menu bar) let you customize things, some of which are super-helpful. If you're new to AO3, you may want to explore these.
Whew...okay! That should be everything! If you need help with your upload, please consult these instructions first! I know there are a lot of steps, but they're fairly easy and most are entirely optional. If you still have questions specific to your upload OR if something goes horribly wrong, please email us at dsss.admin at gmail & we'll do what we can to help! If it's beyond our understanding, then we can contact AO3 support and bring in the experts.
Note: this year all the mods are in North America, so time zones and RL factors may delay an immediate reply. Be patient!
If you have general questions, email us or comment below! (Comments are visible to all, so be sure to keep seekrit things seekrit!)
Remember, the deadline for posting assigned giftworks is Wednesday 14 December 2016 11:59PM Chicago time. We absolutely have to hear from you by then. If we don't, we'll pass your assignment on to a pinch hitter.