There's a Shakespeare wave currently, so I thought I'd kick this off and see what happens.

Here's a tentative draft of rules and an idea for a schedule. All of this is currently up for discussion, do please comment if you have any suggestions or queries. The ones that I'm most shaky on are the rules regarding crossovers and RPF, any input from potential participants is welcome.

Equally, the dates are currently tentative. I've chosen a window that overlaps neither with the Histories ficathon nor with NaNo for writing purposes, but there is a little flexibility - things can shift either forward or back by a week or two if people prefer.

THE BASIC MECHANICS

The exchange will be run on an offer/request basis, like yuletide and other similar exchanges. Each participant will get to request a number of plays that they'd like to receive fic for, and offer a number of plays that they feel comfortable writing fic for. Based on this, participants will be matched up. You'll also have an opportunity to leave specific prompts for what kind of fic you want and about which characters, and tell your writer about any triggers/dislikes/DNWs so they can work around this. This is done either by writing a "dear writer" letter, or by specifying "optional details" in your request, or both.


1. ELIGIBLE PLAYS

As there are separate exchanges for the Histories and the Roman plays, I was thinking this exchange should be for the plays that don't fall into those categories. Which leaves us with this list:

COMEDIES

All's Well That Ends Well
As You Like It
Comedy of Errors
Love's Labour's Lost
Measure for Measure
Merchant of Venice
Merry Wives of Windsor
Midsummer Night's Dream
Much Ado about Nothing
Taming of the Shrew
Tempest
Twelfth Night
Two Gentlemen of Verona
Winter's Tale

TRAGEDIES & ROMANCES

Cymbeline
Hamlet
King Lear
Macbeth
Othello
Romeo and Juliet

IMPORTANT STUFF: (rules mostly adapted from thisengland)

a) Cardenio and The Two Noble Kinsmen were probably partly written by Shakespeare, so it's fine to request them.

b) AUs (Alternate Universes): Requests for radical AUs (i.e. AUs set in completely different time periods and/or locations) are permissible and encouraged.

c) Crossovers: I'm not too sure what to do about this one. I'm tempted to say crossovers of the plays with each other or with other early modern texts are fine, but everything else isn't. So, a fic wherein Benvolio and Horatio discuss what it's like to survive a Shakespearean tragedy = fine; a fic wherein Hamlet meets the Doctor = not fine. You may request a crossover in your optional details if you want one but be gentle to your author and give an alternative prompt as well - they may not be familiar with the crossover property you want.

d) RPF: Fic based on specific productions is fine, but please do not request actor RPF based on contemporary productions. If you want fic about Shakespeare playing the Ghost of Old Hamlet, that would be fine, but don't include RPF prompts about living people.

e) Specific productions or films: Fics inspired by or based on specific productions or films are welcome! The RSC and the Globe have both released DVDs of their recent productions, and other theatres are following suit. A film version has to use a version of the Shakespearean text to count - so, Baz Luhrmann's R+J or Almereyda's Hamlet would be fine, My Own Private Idaho or any of the ShakespearRetold films wouldn't. You are welcome to include optional details based on a specific production in your request, but be aware that your writer may or may not be able to accommodate them, as not everyone may have access to the specific production or film version you have in mind.

TL;DR: If you're not clear whether something is acceptable, please ask!

2. While rule #1 permits requests for AU fic, please don't request fic in pre-existing AUs. Fic taking place in pre-existing AUs may be written for Madness, but not for the main exchange. If you wish to write in an AU not your own, please make sure you have permission from the original author(s). If they don't have a permission statement please get in touch with the mod.

3. Assignments will go out as soon after the deadline as possible.

4. Request whatever pairing/configuration or lack thereof you fancy - gen, het, slash, femslash, giant hilarious orgies, whatever.

5. All administrative posts will appear here at stageoffools and the mirror comm on LJ, stageoffools.

6. Word limit for fics is 1000 minimum, as in yuletide. All stories posted for the ficathon must be finished stories with a beginning, middle, and end. Posting an incomplete story, even one that fulfills the word limit, will be grounds for banning.

7. Fics will be hosted at the Archive Of Our Own.

Dates:

Sign-ups: August 6 through 19
Assignments go out: around August 21
Assignments due: October 21
Madness/prompt claiming time: October 21 through 31 - as soon as all assignments are in, all unwritten prompts will be revealed for everyone to write fic of any length. You don't have to sign up as a Stage of Fools participant to participate in Madness.
Go-live and author reveal: November 1