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

There's a separate exchange for the Histories. I am including the Greek & Roman plays in Stage of Fools this time as there hasn't been an exchange for them since 2014.

Which leaves us with this list:

Comedies

All's Well That Ends Well
As You Like It
The Comedy of Errors
Cymbeline
Love's Labours Lost
Measure for Measure
The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merchant of Venice
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Much Ado About Nothing
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Taming of the Shrew
The Tempest
Troilus and Cressida
Twelfth Night
Two Gentlemen of Verona
Winter's Tale

Tragedies (& Romances if you call them that)

Antony and Cleopatra
Coriolanus
Hamlet
Julius Caesar
King Lear
Macbeth
Othello
Romeo and Juliet
Timon of Athens
Titus Andronicus

Important stuff: (rules mostly adapted from thisengland)

a) In addition to the list above, Cardenio/Double Falsehood and The Two Noble Kinsmen were probably at least partly written by Shakespeare, so they can also be requested and offered.

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

c) Crossovers: 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 from Doctor Who = not fine. You may request a crossover in your optional details if you want one, but please 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: It's fine to request fic based on specific productions, but please do not request actor RPF based on contemporary productions/about living people. Requesting fic about actors who have passed - say, about Shakespeare playing the Ghost of Old Hamlet - is fine.

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 (who's excited about the Stratford Festival releasing their recent season on demand?). A film version has to use a version of the Shakespearean text to count - so, Baz Luhrmann's Romeo+Juliet or Michael Almereyda's Hamlet would be fine, My Own Private Idaho or any of the ShakespeaRetold 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 allows 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. The minimum word count for fics is 1000 words, as in yuletide. All stories posted for the exchange 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.

8. The schedule for 2017's exchange can be found here.