Malec Fic Library

Author Appreciation Day 2.0: Event Announcement

“The whole point of fanfiction is that you get to play inside somebody else’s universe. Rewrite the rules. Or bend them. The story doesn’t have to end. You can stay in this world, this world you love, as long as you want, as long as you keep thinking of new stories.”

– Rainbow Rowell

Without fanfiction, fandoms would be a much different place. Fic authors are often the unsung heroes behind the scenes, choosing to take time away from their other responsibilities to produce and update fics for our enjoyment, as well as their own. 

In order to recognize them, this blog will once again dedicate a single day to show gratitude to the amazing fic writers in the Shadowhunters fandom. Like last year, it will take place during National Author’s Day on November 1st.

With the event still six months away, you may be wondering why I am announcing it now. That’s because this year’s event will be slightly different: there will be two parts to it, one of which is much bigger than anything from last year.

Part #1: Personalized Thank You Card

The newest addition to this event is an opportunity for readers and/or authors to write a personalized thank you message to an author that they are assigned to through a sign-up and selection process. Once all of the messages have been submitted, I will have thank you cards printed and mailed or PDFed and emailed to the author based on their preference. This is a tangible and personal way for members of the fandom to interact and show their appreciation for fic writers and their works.

Part #2: Positive Messages

Readers and authors will once again have the opportunity to write responses about their positive experiences in the fandom. These supportive messages will be posted on November 1st during the event in order to help spread positivity and solidarity within the fandom.

More information for both parts of the event will be posted when the sign-up and response forms go live, beginning in a week. However if you’d like to learn more now, please feel free to visit the Author Appreciation Day page.

In preparation of this event, please read below the cut for its general guidelines and timeline.

*Shout-out once again to the incredible @ninwrites for her feedback and advice. Thanks so much for everything!

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General Event Guidelines: 

• This is designed to be a positive event, showing support for our amazing authors and helping strengthen the bond between fic readers and writers. As such, I reserve the right to disregard and/or not post any negative responses.

• Although this blog recs Malec-centric fics, everyone in the Shadowhunters fandom is welcome to participate in this event regardless of what pairings you prefer or kinds of fics you write.

• However, this blog is also dedicated to healthy representations of characters and relationships based firmly on equality. I reserve the right to deny the opportunity for participation to those who write homophobic and/or racist material (i.e., erasing a minority or a character’s sexuality).

• If an author and/or reader would like to participate in both parts of the event, they are more than welcome to do so.

• If authors would like to participate as both a reader and writer in either part of the event, they are more than welcome to do so.

Event Timeline:* 

• April 24th: Event Announcement. 

• May 1st: Author Sign-Up Goes Live. Authors who would like to receive a personalized thank you card from a reader in the fandom will have a two-week period of time to sign up.

• May 15th: Author Sign-Up Closes.

• May 26th: Author Claims List Goes Live. This will disclose the first name and pseudonym for the authors who have signed up to receive a personalized thank you card. It will also include a link to where they post their work. as well as general information about what characters, pairings, and general themes they tend to write about. This information will help thank you card writers decide who they would like to write to.

• May 29th: Thank You Card Writer Sign-Up Goes Live. Readers and/or authors who would like to write a personalized thank you message to a writer in the fandom will have a two-week period to sign up. Using the Author Claims List, which will be posted a few days prior, they will be asked to rank the top five authors that they would like to write to. Authors will be assigned on a first-come, first-serve basis. Thank you card writers will also have the option to not list a preference and/or write two thank you messages should the need arise.

• June 12th: Thank You Card Writer Sign-Up Closes. You will be contacted within a few days following this deadline – if you have not been contacted already – and will be informed of which author(s) you have been assigned to. Please try to familiarize yourself with their work if you are not familiar with it already.

• July 15th: Thank You Card Response Form Opens. Within the next month and a half, participants will be asked to type their thank you message into a Google Form and submit it to the blog.

• June 15th: Positive Message Response Form Opens. For the readers and writers who would like to participate in Part #2 of the event, they will be able to type their messages into a Google Form and submit them to the blog.

• September 4th: Thank You Card Response Form Closes.

• September 4th: Positive Message Response Form Closes.

• September: Prepare for Event. I will organize all of the responses that are received. Thank you cards will be ordered and printed and the responses will be added to the inside. Messages for Part #2 of the event will be queued in preparation for the event in November. 

• October: Thank You Cards Distributed by Mail. All thank you cards being mailed to their recipients will be sent out in mid to late October, depending on where the final destination is located. (I.E., cards being sent internationally will be mailed before those remaining in the U.S.). 

• October 28th – November 1st: Thank You Cards Distributed by Email. All thank you cards being emailed to their recipients will be sent out within the last few days leading up to the event. All of them should be sent by 9:00 AM EST on November 1st at the very latest.

• November 1st: Author Appreciation Day 2.0. Positive messages from Part #2 of the event will be posted throughout the day. If authors would like to share photos and/or their reactions to their thank you cards, they can do so if they wish.

* – I reserve the right to change these dates in the event of an emergency.