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On Exchange Letters

Exchange Letters (also known as “Dear Creator", “Dear (Event) Author”, or “Dear Santa” letters for holiday exchanges) are documents created to include with a gift exchange sign-up. They are sometimes used in place of the Prompt field and sometimes in conjunction with.

These letters often contain more in depth information which might not fit in the AO3 Prompt field due to length; it can also be easier to include non-text information (like links and images) in a letter as the Prompt field requires basic HTML knowledge to do so. Letters often have information on general likes and preferences, do not wants (DNWs), preferred formats for writing, art preferences, in depth prompts, AUs, kinks, tropes, what you like about certain ships or the fandom in general, etc. In exchanges that allow Original Characters (like Arlathan eXchange) letters can also contain info on your OCs.

An all encompassing letter should contain everything your creator would need to know in order to create a gift you would enjoy. A letter designed to be used in conjunction with the Prompt field is usually shorter, containing only the general information which applies to every request being made while the prompts for the specific requests are placed into the Prompt field. Once written, you can drop a link to it in each request in the Letter/Additional Info field of your sign-up.

What to Include​

If you’re writing your first letter or are revising your current one, you might be wondering where to start. We recommend starting by scrolling through your AO3 bookmarks and want to reads and jotting down any additional tags you see repeated often or by thinking about what you use to filter when you’re searching for something to read.

For Do Not Wants, think about what squicks you avoid, any triggers you might have, things you exclude when you search, or things that just make you hit the back button and not read a fic.

You can include things like specific points of view, tenses, styles of writing, general tropes (fluff, angst, smut), or more specific tropes (wump, "only one bed", etc). If that’s not helping or you feel like you’re forgetting something check out the helpful links below with lists of common tropes, AUs, and kinks/fetishes. As you scroll through them make sure to note your likes and DNWs.

It’s definitely not necessary to list everything in the below lists as a like or DNW. There are certain things which are going to be rare or non-existent in the Dragon Age fandom (for example, underage fic isn’t common because most characters are adults, compared to other fandoms like Harry Potter) but there are others which are exclusive to Dragon Age (for example, MCiT - Modern Character in Thedas). It’s more important that your letter hit the big points. If your creator has questions they can always contact you on anon (if you have a tumblr ask box with anon on) or work with the mod team so we can get more details.

For Do Not Wants, you can also say, "DNW: Kinks other than requested." to make sure that you're not surprised by sexual content you're not familiar with.

Helpful Links

Where to Host Your Letter​

The below options are useful for hosting your letters in a place where your gifter can access it easily.

  • Google Drive/gDocs

    By far the most popular place to host exchange letters currently, particularly if you have lots of text or want to include things like images, but are not familiar with code. You can create jump links or link to other docs and external sites, add images, make lists or tables, use templates, etc.

    Using Google can be especially helpful if you’re requesting fanart of an original character. Simply drop your OC refs into a gDrive folder along with your character’s profile, and grab the share link for the whole folder (make sure to set to people with link can view ONLY) to put into your sign-up form.

  • Tumblr

    You can also drop your letter into a regular tumblr post or page. If you would like to keep your letter off your mutuals’ dashes you can make the post private and then a few hours (or days) later make it public. It will not appear on their dash if they sort by popularity or by timeline unless it suddenly gets a lot of likes.

    caution

    Please be cautious about using tumblr pages as there are issues with them working for mobile users; the Android tumblr app often redirects from a page back to the blog homepage not allowing people to see the page.

  • Dreamwidth/Wordpress/Other Blogging Site Although not as widely used now as tumblr, Dreamwidth is still around and you can post on this site for your letter. Wordpress or other blogging sites like Blogger are not as popular for fandom endeavors, but they can absolutely be used for a fandom letter, too.

  • Free Webhosts

    If you're planning on reusing your letter, this can be a good option to make sure you don't lose it, particularly if you'd like to include images or other formatting. There are two main camps for free webhost: No/Low Code and Coding Required.

    • No/Low Code

      • https://sites.google.com - Google site builder. This is free as long as you have a gmail account. Templates are basic, but it's quick and simple to build a site with them.

      • Wix.com - Has a site builder, but you can do some coding if you'd like. The disadvantge is that it forces a banner on your site for a free plan.

      • Weebly.com - similar to wix above!

    • Coding Required

      • Neocities - an homage to the old school geocities. We use them for the exchange website. They offer a large amount of space and allow all content (including adult content).

      • Netlify and Vercel - provide free webhosting with other benefits like automatic deployment from Github. More complicated than is necessary for just an exchange letter but are a great resource for anyone who has some coding knowledge and wants to build a website.

  • Your AO3 Profile

    Exchange Letters are not allowed to be posted as separate works on AO3; however, according to the AO3 Content FAQ (we recommend using CTRL+F to search for “letter” to find the right question) you can post general likes/preferences on your profile which means you could use this space for a general letter designed to be used in addition to your Prompt field. Although you can do this, we think one of the other options above is a better idea, as profile space is relatively limited.

    We do ask that you do not post your letter as part of a separate work for this exchange since it is against AO3 rules. If we see that your letter is hosted on AO3 for the exchange, we'll ask you to move it somewhere else.