Feedback for the 2025 round!

[casemod]

Hello!

Thank you again for joining me for the inaugural round of Casefic Exchange (and thanks to the nonnies who expressed interest in an exchange like this earlier this year—it encouraged me to finally get this one on the exchange scene)!

I have a few things I'd appreciate hearing specifically about, but I'm also keen to hear about other aspects of the exchange. Please keep in mind that I'll be incorporating feedback that works for me as a moderator, as I need to manage this exchange within my schedule and limits.

I will do my best to reply to feedback, but please don't think anything of me saying "Thanks for your feedback!", as I will only ask further questions regarding feedback I'd like more information on.

More?

Perhaps the most important question of them all: 1. Are you interested in another round?

Schedule

2. I liked the time of year that we held the exchange, and I'd like to do so again, although I would like to shift the schedule to begin earlier in the year. I made the schedule based on my personal and exchange commitments (and will do so again), and if we have another round next year, I will keep the schedule in the first half of the year.

I'm considering starting nominations in January or February next year (I originally wanted to open in March this year, but wanted more time with the exchange before going live). If we open nominations in January, that means nominations/sign-ups are in January and the creation period falls in February/March/April, leaving May/June as the pinch hit/(hopefully) reveals period — would this be ideal? I understand we will always clash with other exchanges, especially those with higher minimums, but early in the year works perfectly for me as a moderator.

I prefer to avoid July entirely as I participate in Battleship Exchange, and I know a handful of you do, too.

3. Did Friday deadlines work? I chose Friday because the deadline conversion would be Saturday early afternoon for me (I am in AEST/AEDT). The alternative is to shift this to Sunday EST/EDT, so it falls on my Monday AEST/AEDT. (Saturday EDT/EST is not an option I will be considering.)

Regardless of the day we settle on, I would ask for leniency, as a mid-afternoon deadline for me may clash with plans that arise over the year. The 11:59pm EDT/EST deadline works for me, and I will keep this moving forward.

I'm not overly concerned about not being online when deadlines hit as long as participants make a good faith effort to meet them and are not stressed out by the fact I may not post until hours later that X deadline has come. (I always intend to post if something crops up offline that will prevent me from executing a phase.) I intentionally waited at least half an hour to an hour after the deadlines before taking any action to give people extra time in case they miscalculated the time conversion.

So: Friday or Sunday EDT/EST? It makes no difference to me, so please let me know!

As someone who exists entirely in the future, my exchange experiences with deadlines have always consisted of me adding a +1, which will most likely be different from the majority of participants, so I'd appreciate feedback on this.

Exchange mechanics

4. Did the minimum requirements work for everyone? Is 3k and its equivalents too small? I have no interest in decreasing this minimum. I'd appreciate hearing from all types of creators—fic, artists, and podficcers.

5. Freeforms were not something I was interested in adding during the first round as I wanted to try to make the exchange run as smoothly as possible so everyone (especially myself) could get a feel of how it'd run without that additional complication. (Full transparency: Freeforms, outside of the medium freeforms, are new for me as a moderator!)

I will investigate how to add freeforms to the exchange for the next round, as I think this would work well for prompts, i.e. you can select "heist", "murder mystery", etc. so your creator(s) know what kind of genre/theme of casefic you're interested in.

I would build into the schedule a week for crowdsourcing generic freeforms, such as "murder mystery", "heist", "stolen item", etc., as I will undoubtedly miss one if I leave it to myself, and make that final list available for you to select when signing up. These freeforms will not be "X con artist steals flower vase from museum" kind of freeforms. It'd be more in line with how fandom5k has genre freeforms. I think this will assist when participants forget or choose not to provide casefic-theme prompts.

Given how small the exchange is, I'm hesitant to make these matchable, as we already are niche given we're a themed exchange.

Creation Period

6. How did you find the creation period? Was it too long? Just right? Did you want longer? I chose three months based on feedback from anons and because I broke it down as 1k = 1 month.

Please be mindful that I'm not interested in shifting the creation period based on other exchange commitments. We will always clash with other exchanges.

Check-in period

7. Did you want a check-in period? Given our long creation period, I wasn't sure if this was desired. I made the default deadline to be an unofficial check-in, but it didn't work as intended. Would you like a mandatory check-in period, similar to fffx?

Default deadline and extension deadline

8. Did you find the default deadline motivating? The default deadline didn't exactly work as I had intended, as we ended up with more extensions than I had anticipated. I'm considering removing the default deadline from the schedule, but since it didn't work as I wanted from a moderator's perspective, did it work from a participant's perspective?

If it didn't work from either perspective, I'll remove it for the next round.

9. As I didn't anticipate so many extensions (there is nothing wrong with this!), I will be building two extension deadlines into the schedule that you can choose from (similar to how ficinabox does this), as this will help me manage pinch hits. I learned from this year that having a deadline option available worked better than choosing the next Friday as an extension deadline.

I would prefer participants to email me for an extension, as I find that having this record is useful for me if I need to follow up. I was considering creating a Google form, but I would want emails to be logged/a record of your extension request sent to you so you have a record and reminder that you asked for it. I'd like to hear your preferences, as I have only ever used a Google form to request an extension as a participant and not as a moderator!

Trialling: Request specific assignment

10. Given the niche nature of the exchange, I'm hesitant to add swaps; however, I am considering allowing participants to request a specific assignment, with the caveat that you are not guaranteed your request being successful.

I saw some commentary about participants taking a more conservative approach to their offers for this exchange, given the minimum requirements, so I wanted to gauge interest in trialling this approach. (Please note this is not something I have ever offered before in any of my exchanges, so there would be a learning curve on the mod end on how to manage this.)

If there is an interest in swapping, I will investigate further how to run this as smoothly as possible.

*

Please let me know if there was anything else you'd like to be considered for round two! I tried to run round one as flexibly and simply as possible, while being open to ideas as I got my bearings with such an exchange (my experience is with a "/" exchange) and didn't wish to overcomplicate matters. I'm happy to add some more complexity to the exchange if that will improve the experience.

I'd appreciate any feedback, but please be aware that I will only implement what works for me as a moderator and makes the moderator side of the exchange as smooth as possible. I wish I could cater to everyone, but I can't.

You can comment here or email me at gumshoeagency@gmail.com.

Thank you again! It's been a lot of fun. :)

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Apologies for being on anon; this is Hexeract/TKodami. First and foremost: thank you so much for running casefic exchange! I had a wonderful time, and thought this event went smoothly. I appreciate all of the effort that you put in to making this event happen. <3

1. Yes, I am interested in another round!

2. Starting nominations in January or February sounds great! I prefer that it avoids July/August too, but even if it did overlap with those months, I'd still participate. Casefic is by far my favorite exchange theme.

3. Although I had to default, Friday deadlines worked for me! Though I think that if people prefer Saturday, that would work out fine for me too.

4. I was working on a comic, and realized that creating a comic that satisfied the minimum of the exchange/told a whole story would end up (much) longer than anticipated--nearly 20 pages. I didn't have that kind of juice in me. I don't think the minimums need to be adjusted, since my approach to comics isn't the only way to do a case comic. but for my own participation, I think next year I will steer clear of art and focus on writing.

5. I strongly prefer no freeforms, but if you decide to do ones that are in line with fandom5k's, that's something I could live with.

6. I think the creation period felt too short for me when I had set my sights on a comic (whose idea grew to monstrous size); but it feels right for writing a casefic.

7. I would prefer no check-in period. If a mandatory one gets made, I'll still participate, but I don't think it would be an effective motivation tool for me (and would be something I was more likely to accidentally miss than keep me on track with a project.)

8. The default deadline was a good halfway point. It let me judge my progress. When it was coming up, I realized I'd bitten off WAY more than I could chew, and that I couldn't reasonably expect to complete my project in the time remaining. I liked that as a feature! If it doesn't work out for you, I'll probably just set up my own halfway-through-the-end reminder.

9. Love the idea of the two extention deadlines! I think it works great for FIAB. I have used Google forms/Airtable forms in events I've run, and have enjoyed using them as a participant in FIAB. I think getting that email confirmation of the extension request (so I know someone will see it, and gmail won't just capriciously send my email to spam, as it has done in a few events) would be very appreciated.

10. I have no preference regarding assignment swaps; whatever you think will work best for you & the participants sounds like a good idea! I find myself more matchable, with more possible recipients to write in this event than any others I've done, so I might be a bit of an outlier.

[sholio]

Hi! I really enjoyed the exchange!

1. I am definitely interested in doing it again!

2. An earlier in the year schedule is much harder for me, because I have a lot more commitments during the winter. The May to August schedule was basically perfect. I'm not sure if I would be able to participate in a Jan-May exchange, because several of my other core exchanges (including h/c-ex) take place then. But if that is how things fall out for mod duties, that's how it has to be! I'll sign up if I'm able, and won't if I can't.

3. I have no feelings on day of the week for deadlines one way or the other! As a mod, I usually try to give participants the weekend because that works well for people on a Mon-Fri work schedule, but for me personally as a participant, it really doesn't make a difference.

4. I think the 3K minimum is good, and I would not like to see it raised, because I think that's an unnecessary bar to entry. Most people seemed to have no problem going over a 3K minimum in this round if they needed to, and I know that even though I wrote 13K for my actual entry, I would have been reluctant to sign up for an exchange with a higher minimum.

5. I do not want freeforms. I enjoy freeform exchanges as their own thing, but I know a number of people who won't do them, and I don't think they're necessary or helpful for this exchange. I feel the more freewheeling format - i.e. people are not locked into just writing heist or whatever else their recipient selected - works better for casefic. I like all kinds of casefic and would not enjoy only being restricted to a limited selection of freeforms as either a creator or a participant. (Though once again, I will go with whatever works for most people!)

6. The creation period was perfect for me. I don't generally participate in FFFX because the creation period is too long; having to wait and wait for reveals deters me from participating at all. I'd prefer a similar creation period next year if possible!

7. I don't feel that the need for a check-in is necessary for me personally, but I want it to be available if other people need it!

8. I do not need the default deadline myself.

9. I didn't need to ask for an extension, so no preference here. I think whatever works best for you as a mod is fine with me!

10. I don't see any need for swaps. I think this exchange works better as a regular exchange where you get your assignment and that's that. Swaps work for FIAB because you can swap part of your assignment word count for another word count, and that works with the general style of the exchange, but the mods also have a massive amount of spreadsheet work to keep track of that. I'm not sure what the point is of 1-for-1 swapping an assignment for another assignment; I feel like you'd just create more work for yourself that way, and maybe end up with extra pinch hits.

Thanks again for running this; I hope it runs next year!

[claire_cz]

Thank you so much for modding this exchange. I love case fics and it was one of the best exchanges I've taken part in.

1. Yes, I'd love another round.

2. I'll make time for this exchanges whenever it will run. The earlier schedule means it will overlap entirely with High Adrenaline - the creation and editing period, too. But as this exchange has longer creation period I think it's ok.

3. I don't have a preference for a concrete day. I always mess up time conversion so I make sure to note down all deadlines two days or a day earlier than the official date anyway.

4. The minimum works well. 3k minimum tells you that you just probably can't write one single scene as you could in an 1k exchange. But I feel like case fics generally just grow if you have more than a one suspect or some false evidence, interrogations...

5. Yeah, freeforms could be a good idea. (F5K doesn't do matching on them, afaik. They do prioritize matching even on freeforms but it's not a guarantee, it just serves to inform others what flavours you prefer). I'd like having 20ish broad categories to choose from.

6. Tbh, the creation felt too long at the beginning but I wouldn't shorten it because there will always be exchanges it overlaps with so more time is better.

7. I don't think a check-in period is needed. It makes sense in FFFX... I think just posting a "countdown" like two months left, one month left is sufficient. (If it's implemented though, I don't have any problem with it.)

8. No opinion. Default deadlines are not really motivating for me personally...

9. Yes, 2 extension deadlines like FIAB is a good idea.

10. Idk, I think people can game for assignments as it is. (This was probably the exchange where I had the most possible matches ever and I loved them all so... it probably wouldn't apply to me.)

[nomadicwriter]

1. Yes, I'm already eagerly anticipating another round! This year's was great.

2. This year's schedule was ideal for me. I have a slight preference for that timing over earlier in the year, but as long as it stays in the first half of the year it's not really an issue either way.

3. No preference. I don't race deadlines to the last minute anyway, and whatever it's set at, I'll adjust.

4. As a fic-writer I thought 3k was perfect, even though I ended up both writing and receiving more. Despite having actually written fics of as much as 20k for past exchanges, I find 5k+ minimums make me more hesitant to participate; it's definitely not that I can't write that length, but that I feel wary of being able to guarantee coming up with an idea that will fill that length. I thought 3k was the perfect balance of substantial enough to tell at least a lightweight case while not being intimidating. (I also feel like as someone interested in both requesting and writing small fandoms, raising the bar would only make matching more difficult.)

5. I very strongly prefer not to have freeforms. I could probably live with picking from a short list of generic freeforms, though it would not be helpful to me as either a writer or requester and just make the signup process more complex; any more elaborate form of freeform-based matching would force me to drop the exchange entirely. I just don't approach coming up with fic ideas or requests from that sort of trope/genre-first angle, and find it restrictive and off-putting to try and work within.

6. No real preference. It was fine as it was, but I could work with shorter if need be.

7. No. I don't really see the point of check-ins and would just find a mandatory one an annoying hoop to jump through that adds the needless threat of accidentally defaulting on something I'm perfectly happy completing.

8. Makes make no difference to me.

9. I'm unlikely to use this so my preferences don't mean much, but I always prefer email over Google forms.

10. My fandoms are generally too small and my matches too few for this to make much difference for me either way. I'm mostly in the position of hoping to have even one possible recipient rather than worrying about chopping and changing between multiple.


tl;dr: The format worked very well for me this year, I think most of the suggested tweaks would either make things actively worse for me or at least more complex to zero benefit, and I'm not particularly fussed about any alterations to deadlines or schedules either way.

[hekateras]

Thank you for running it!

1. Yes please

2. Sounds good to me

3. Sunday. I usually barely write anything on workdays because I'm drained after work, so if I didn't finish the assignment the weekend before, then it won't be done Friday.

4. I defaulted so take my feedback with a grain of salt but I think 3k is a good minimum for fic. I did pivot back and forth between whether to make my failed assignment a fic or a comic - I realised that a comic would be extremely text-heavy and felt weird about it so I pivoted back to trying to make it work as a fic, but now I think I should have rolled with the text-heavy comic even if it meant a wall of text for every image. The kind of storytelling required for a casefic was a lot trickier to figure out in comic format than I anticipated, at least without completely exploding in scope. Not saying the minimum is bad, just thinking out loud. I think what could be helpful is having examples of casefics in comic format in the tips & resources section, especially those that are on the shorter side. I know I've seen a few in past high-minimum exchanges that would be good examples, I could try digging them up.

That said, for my OW assignment I was firmly empty on ideas that could fit into ~3k.

5. I like the idea of having a small (<10) number of freeforms that aren't used in matching! On the other hand, as someone with already very few matches, I could see it feeling needlessly restrictive even if they aren't used in matching or mandatory in the assignment.

6. Creation period length was good

7.-9. The proposed changes sound good. As one data point of someone defaulting late, I think my problem was split focus between two assignments while simultaneouly underestimating the difficulty of the assignment, and at the end of the day I could make neither of them work to my satisfaction. Also, it turns out Casefic Ex was not the place to try to write (*checks notes*) lengthy OW for the very first time, or [Fandom I know but have never written before]. I don't know how much altered check-in or extension mechanics could have helped, but maybe you could take a page from High Adrenaline's "tips for newbies" section and add a gentle warning/recommendation to stay in one's comfort zone, for people like me who apparently lack common sense. ^^; I would love to participate again but am making a note to myself to either avoid PHs while my main assignment is unfinished and/or be a lot choosier with offered fandoms even if it means potentially being unmatchable and having to skip the exchange.

10. I wouldn't mind the ability to swap. I liked my assignment but you can't really game with OW so it's easy to end up with something you just don't vibe with.

[fencesit]

1. Yes, please run this again!

2. Your new proposed schedule works for me, but repeating this same schedule again would also work for me. You should pick the schedule that you'd enjoy most!

3. You should pick the deadline that works best for you. Your countdown/in-your-timezone game this round was crazy good so like, whatever, make the due times 9:14AM EST on Tuesdays, I'll figure it out. (Also: Some mods will ask a friend to be their back up for flipping exchange reveal switches, which you might think about if you're concerned that the afternoon reveal dates will result in you being unavoidably AFK. I'm sure we both know lots of people who could be trusted to do this with little to no notice.)

4. I would enjoy an increase to 5k and think it makes sense for the theme, but staying at 3k might incentivise more sign ups and make matching and pinch hitting easier. I think 3k is a little short for the kind of casefic I most enjoy and makes it hard to have both emotional beats and a satisfying case, but I still think good 3k casefics are possible and would continue to sign up with a 3k minimum.

5. I definitely don't want to match on freeforms or be required to create gifts that include requested freeforms, but I like the idea of using them F5K-style!

(Another thing we might try is crowdsourcing a long list of possible casefic likes from participants, cleaning the list up a bit, and making big big big pleading eyes at Firebird to produce a sheet where people can tick boxes to select casefic things they like and get a nice list to copy-paste into their AO3 sign up at the end. This would allow for more complex/detailed likes, although I think it would still result in some participants forgetting or choosing not to do it. Do you want to require people have casefic likes, or just strongly suggest it and make it easy for them to do so? If you want to require it, then freeforms for sure.)

6. I can't give good feedback on this because I ran AAT during this exchange's creation period and have no sense of time lol. The creation period seemed fine to me, but I would honestly also be fine if you came back next round like "we're doing 5k in one month" so...

7. I'd prefer no check in, I don't really find them useful and from a mod side it just seems like more work.

8. Reading this question about the default deadline I'm now like "Oh, no, there was a default deadline, did I default before it? Guess I might be banned from next round." so I think that's a solid no, it wasn't motivating. I'm fine with it staying, but personal experience: if I'm so busy or distracted from an exchange that I need to default, I'm unlikely to remember the default deadline.

9. Firebird handles extensions and defaults in FIAB so I'd suggest talking to her about the form! I'm not sure casefic is big or complex enough to need a form, though, you could probably just make a gmail label for all your extension requests? If you do go with a form, you can tell the form not to require an email but then put in a required email field so that people can put in the email they want you to use to contact them instead of the email they're logged into. (Also, personally, despite being a FIAB mod, I'm kind of ambivilant about extensions being allowed at all as a participant—but it sounds like you've found them useful as a mod which imo is a great reason to do it the FIAB way because then you can make the extension dates work for you.)

10. I probably won't ever request a specific assignment even if you do allow it, I'll just game my offers, but I wouldn't object to other people being able to do this. I think for swapping info you should talk to Modzilla since I assume you're talking about whole assignment swapping like fffx does rather than FIAB-style swapping puzzle. (Although if you do want to do a FIAB-style swapping puzzle 👀👀👀👀 wild choice imo for this exchange but I'm here for it.)

Other feedback: I really loved your modding style for this exchange, the comm looks amazing and really inspired me to go hard on the AAT comm, A+++ exchange I hope you run it again and again.

[mimihylea]

Thank you for running this! This was a bit of a stretch for me but a good one, and
1) Yes, I'd love another round!
2) I would also appreciate not conflicting with Battleship (and the deadline not being close to HA, but it doesn't look like that will be an issue in any case), but elsewise I do enough exchanges that there isn't really a best time over another.
3) Sunday ET deadlines are easier for me because I have the weekend to do a final push, but it's not a major issue (and I also don't mind at all if there's a delay between close of a phase and mod posting).
4) I thought 3k was a good minimum. While I ended up needing more for the story I chose, the one I received was closer to 3k and still felt very full, and I think I might have been too daunted to commit this year if the minimum had been much higher.
5) I wouldn't mind a set of freeforms similar in size to Fandom5k's set, but I do find larger freeform sets overwhelming, and I think that might have made this exchange too complicated for me. And I agree that with the exchange theme already a bit niche, matching on freeforms doesn't need to be a priority, but as a way to codify casefic-specific likes it could be nice.
6) I would have appreciated a bit longer for the creation period. For a normal exchange, I think 1k/month is good, but this one took more planning/plotting upfront for me so I got a slower start and could have used some more time (as evidenced by my extension request).
7/8) I did consider the default deadline a bit of a check-in to take stock of where I was at and whether I could finish on time (at least with an extension), and I did find it motivating for getting myself to a far enough along place to be reasonably sure of completion.
9) As someone who did need an extension this round, I think the two-date model would be helpful. As long as I get a reply of some kind (an email back or a copy of the form emailed to me), I don't mind whether extensions are by email or form.
10) I think being able to request a specific recipient would be fun if it's not too much mod effort, but I also think not having it is fine. I was conservative about what I offered, but I'd still do that given that a "please match me to" request wouldn't be guaranteed, so I don't think it would change much about how I signed up.
Additional comment: I really appreciated all of the resources available from the start about how to write casefics specifically! I was a bit intimidated when I first came across this event because it's not something I've written much of, or feel like I've written very well, but those were super helpful in making the event feel accessible for a newer case writer!

[kanadka]

1. I would super love another round! Sidenote, I really loved all the case-themed stuff around the exchange and how much effort went into it. It made it extra fun!!
2. Personally I would be down with earlier in the year, but I would make the time for this exchange no matter. Earlier means I'd probably have more chance to do stuff like pinch hit or offer as beta, so for me it means having the higher participation potential.
3. Friday deadlines worked pretty well for me, but I'm flexible. I liked using EDT as it seems to be what a lot of exchanges also use so it's familiar (even if I'm also not in EDT).
4. Minimum 3k was really good. It's easy to shoot for and usually overshoot depending on the plot, and I think it can help keep to a mindset towards simpler plots over a ballooning one. I feel like it also ensures there's a good spread of final wordcounts as some will inevitably balloon but many won't.
5. No firm opinion on freeforms, but it wouldn't be a draw for me to use them. I'd probably just select everything and forget about them. Speculating, it could be useful for creators to gauge whether the recip wants something more dark themed (murder) or more lighthearted (stolen item) but I typically see that guidance in letters/requests anyway.
6. Creation period was perfect for me, I would even be OK with 2-2.5 mos. I would not recommend going much longer.
7. I don't think the check-in period would be useful for me personally, but I would honour it if others find it helpful.
8. I didn't really notice the default deadline /o\
9. I would super appreciate the staggered/2-date extension deadline structure (as someone who needed an extension), but I'm not finicky about google form vs email. I would be OK using whatever method is easiest for you and/or other participants.
10. I would probably not use swaps! I've never used them in an exchange that featured them before so I have no opinion here.

Thank you for running it this year!! I hope we'll see it again in 2026 :D

[kantayra]

Thank you so much for running this exchange! It was tons of fun to write and read for, and I loved all the little case-fic nods/jokes in the comm posts. It was like an extra bonus case-fic just in the comm. ❤️

1. Yes, I would definitely be back!
2. This year's schedule worked great for me, but I would make something earlier in the year work too. This is definitely an exchange that I would prioritize over others on the calendar.
3. No opinion - whatever works best for you and others.
4. I thought 3k was just right. That's long enough for a complete case, but not so long that it's a stretch for case-fic ideas that are more straightforward. Also, it made this exchange feel lower pressure; if it was 5k or higher, I think I'd have more anxiety whether the idea I came up with would meet that minimum.
5. I generally prefer exchanges without freeforms, especially in an exchange like this where the initial idea is the trickiest. I also always feel like I understand my recipient's likes way better if they write them out rather than pick from a drop-down list. However, if there were general category freeforms like F5K, that wouldn't put me off.
6. I thought the creation period was just about right. I definitely wouldn't want it shorter, because getting an idea together for this exchange can take longer and also it's harder to shorten/truncate an idea with case-fic than with some other genres. (Plus, given that there are doomed to be conflicts with other exchanges, it allows more flexibility to have a slightly meatier writing period.)
7. I liked the 'soft' check-in you had: at least something to remind me of where I should be writing-wise. I don't think a mandatory one would help me, though.
8. No opinion - as mentioned in previous, I like some kind of "reminder in the middle" that we're nearing the middle, but I don't care what form that takes.
9. No opinion - whatever works best for you/others.
10. Maybe? I did game exclusively for one request, which happened to be easy this round because it was the only request in that fandom. I can see how I might want the ability to request a specific assignment if there was a fandom/pairing with multiple requests and I got a full case idea from one of those requests' prompts. I can definitely see an advantage to this, if it's workable.

Thank you once again!

[alchemise]

1. Yes, this was a lot of fun!

2. This year's schedule was perfect for me, and I'm not sure I'll be able to switch to winter/spring but I get that you need to do what works best for your schedule.

3. Whatever works!

4. I like the 3k minimum, even though I wrote more than that, because it felt like less pressure.

5. I like the idea of non-matching freeforms for general case types.

6. It was just right.

7-8. I like either a check-in or default deadline just because it gives a mini-deadline for me to gauge my progress against.

9-10. No opinion.

[aspint]

1. I'm interested in another round for sure!

2. Current schedule worked well for me but I prefer the proposed earlier schedule, mostly bc I have nothing really going on in Feb/Apr. The creation period is long enough that it doesn't really matter which schedule you go with.

3. Friday deadline worked great and I prefer them, but Sunday works just as well if that's the general preference.

4. Looking over the other responses, it seems I'm in the minority, but I'd prefer a higher minimum. This may ofc be a skill issue, but I ended up starting over several times when my first few outlines calculated out to 20-40k fics, which I was was not willing to write for an exchange with a 3k minimum. If there were a higher minimum, I would feel more comfortable writing a longer work, especially knowing I would be receiving something of similar effort. That being said, I did manage a 5k pinch hit on a much shorter time frame, so perhaps I am an outlier who should not be counted.

5. Personally I really, really wanted freeforms for this. I agree on not having granular situational freeforms, but I'm not sure case type is the way to go either. During sign ups I found that for some character/pairing, the likes/DNWs of one req would be completely different from another, and, without freeforms, I'd be matchable to both. For ex, one would like "cozy neighbourhood mystery" and another "high octane heist." The case type doesn't matter, I'd just as likely write a high octane neighbourhood mystery as a high octane heist, but I would not like to write a cozy anything. Figuring out tonal freeforms might be tricky, and opening for participant suggestions with later clean up may help, but idk if you'd be fine with that from a mod stand point.

6. I found the creation period a little too long, but maybe artificially so due to all the work reveal delays. Longer is still better though, I think, since I can always just work closer to the deadline :P

7. I do not want a check-in period! I think it makes sense to make sure people are working on their gifts, but check-ins have never meshed with my workflow. If they're mandatory, you'll hear from me, but it may just be a "yeah I'm working on it" instead of even like an outline.

8. I generally wouldn't need to default unless an emergency happened, so a pre-deadline default deadline doesn't motivate me, bc I wouldn't know the emergency is going to happen :^Y

9. I prefer emails for extension requests!

10. Being able to request a specific assignment solves my problem with the freeforms lol. I already tend to "game" my offers, so even if they're not guaranteed it's fine. Very much like the option to do so, tho! As for swaps, I generally don't do them and have found it daunting to try (for FIAB) so I wouldn't use if offered here and have no opinion.

[isevsianne]

Thank you for running the exchange, it was smooth for me.

1. Yes! I was really shocked at how much I liked coming up with the case plot, even though I usually default to shipfic/getting-together or porny plots.

2. I personally get a bit stressed having two or more deadlines at once, so I try not to sign up for more than one exchange at a time. This timing worked perfectly since I had S4S wrap up just as this one began, so nothing concurrently. If it shifts to earlier, it clashes with S4S a bit, but who knows, maybe because they're so different it won't matter.

3. Fridays were fine for me.

4. 3k was what the basics of the plot for my own case demanded, and then I got to 6k by expanding the world, thinking about character dynamics etc. I think 3k is a good minimum, but it might lead to some cases feeling a bit bareboned. Depends a lot on canon, too. Some demand elaborate setups, some you can just have two people figure things out by dialogue or even one person figure it out via inner monologue. In the end, I'd say no need to bump it up to 5k.

5. I don't like freeforms for this, since I'd rather people get guided by ideas more than feeling like they need to hit a freeform or combine one or two to make a good story. What might work as a good halfway point is a post with a list of ideas for casefic or mystery&detective story tropes, that people signing up can then pick out things to add to their signups. Whether things like "It was the butler!" or "the culprit helps the investigation" or "suspect POV" or whatever else, it might give people some ideas without restricting them to have to include a freeform or restrict matching by having to match on a freeform.

I really liked the casefic advice post and we should definitely have something like that again!

6. I thought the creation period was a tad too long, but YMMV. I'm a fast writer once I settle on an idea, and my mind focuses on the assignment as soon as I get it, even before I do canon review or anything. In my mind it could have been a week or two shorter, easily. Long creation periods just lead me to secondguess myself, and I couldn't find a beta, so I didn't have a chance to work that into the long period either.

7. I don't need a checkin personally.

8. For me, I didn't really see the point of it, but perhaps the mod saw an uptick in people defaulting early? I sometimes think the final deadline should be the final deadline, and then post-deadline PHs tend to move faster because there are delays are at stake. But this is from the outside, I don't know how it looked as a mod.

9. No opinion on this.

10. I don't think we should have swaps. I only had one match and I think I barely had that so...


Really my only suggestion would be to have more content around casefic in general to help newbies such as myself think about cases and potential ideas around it. It would help if more people had casefic specific likes and DNWs in their signups, but even just thinking about "hey if you liked this old detective novel, you can spin a story around that" or offering guides on how to build a case. Cases also tend to involve OCs so I would hope people don't mind that added layer of original character writing around that.

Oh and I'd love to pick up new canons for this for next year, especially shorter ones, so if anyone has a novel or a mini-series or such, maybe the nominations period can kick off with a fandom promo post or something? (Or if you nominate a series of novels but are cool with fic with knowledge of only 1-2 books, please mention it! Or S1 of a longer show. I'm kicking myself that -I didn't do this because I would be fine with fic that takes place in one season setting for my shows, no need to include all of canon.)

[nomadicwriter]

What might work as a good halfway point is a post with a list of ideas for casefic or mystery&detective story tropes, that people signing up can then pick out things to add to their signups. Whether things like "It was the butler!" or "the culprit helps the investigation" or "suspect POV" or whatever else, it might give people some ideas without restricting them to have to include a freeform or restrict matching by having to match on a freeform.

I think this is a great idea! I'm sure I'm not the only one who got excited and started writing all my requests well before signups opened and the full guidelines were posted, then scrambled to reassess whether they included enough casefic-specific themes after the fact. (My natural inclination writing prompts is more to talk about tone and canon themes and relationships I like explored but leave full discretion over the plot and case details to the writer.) So some kind of brainstorming post or something to get people already thinking in the direction of specific casefic tropes and genre likes before signups happen could be pretty helpful, I think.

[billykaplan]

1. Are you interested in another round?
ABSOLUTELY

2. That timeline sounds fine, especially with April built into the creation period.

3. Both days are fine with me!

4. Did the minimum requirements work for everyone? Is 3k and its equivalents too small? I have no interest in decreasing this minimum. I'd appreciate hearing from all types of creators—fic, artists, and podficcers.

3k was great for me as a first-timer but I'd also love to bite at 5k if that turns out to be a new minimum. I don't think I'd be up for 10k considering the triple crown & the way the timeline hits this exchange.

5. Freeforms sound very fun! Especially as someone who came into the first round wanting only cosy mysteries where no one dies and now has far wider interests, it'll be nice to see what the options are!

6. I wrote all of my piece not quite at once, but definitely within a shorter period. It was nice to be able to work on it and have plenty of time left for edits.

7. Nope, I am not a fan of check-ins! Optional check-ins are fine but I would not opt into them. I have a spreadsheet to track my assignments so I already know what I owe.

8. I honestly ignored it/just planned to write before it. No feedback.

9. I like deadline extension options and emails work better than forms for me too.

10. I'm going back and forth about how I feel on this one. I like exchanges where I can DNM and sometimes enjoy gaming for specific requests (obviously less possible without freeforms), but surprises recips and the semiorganic nature of the process are also nice!