The Ninomiya Exchange

There's something very surreal about the fact that this is the last reveals post I'm going to make for this exchange. I thought I'd have a lot to say (in my heart I do, probably), and I was thinking of doing some kind of rundown of just how many words by how many authors in how many stories for how many pairings were created specifically for this exchange over the past ten years. But partly I'm lazy, and partly I believe that this exchange speaks for itself -- has been able to get to that point through a literal decade of support from each and every one of you.

So I'll just do the regular mentions: special thanks to my betas (including folks who haven't written for this fandom in years but still come to the rescue whenever Nino season comes around), and to two particularly wonderful pinch hitters, without whom we wouldn't have been able to finish our tenth year so smoothly: phrenk and selvage.

And of course, to you. Whoever you are, whenever you're reading this, in whatever capacity you've participated. It's been an absolute pleasure and honor to interact with so many talented and enthusiastic writers and readers, people who've come and gone and come back again, including more than a handful who've been here from the very beginning. I've lived almost a third of my life and met some of my closest friends over the course of this exchange, which is kind of wild to think about, but I suppose that's what ten years gets you.

So yes, you. Thank you for being here. It means so much to me.

Now, onto the reveals!

( Reveals! )

Now, while this is definitely the last time this exchange will exist in this format, I think we can still entertain the idea of having some kind of Nino Party in a different format (something like an AO3 prompt meme, which is less pressure for the writers and less work for your mod), if there's enough interest. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Also! Since the fic world has clearly shifted away from journal-based fic, I made an AO3 collection for the exchange: Ninomiya Exchange! Writers past and present, if your fic has been cross-posted to AO3, please consider adding it to the collection. Right now only my fic is in there, which is kind of embarrassing... Relatedly, I've never tried to keep it a secret, but if you didn't know specifically who I am, here's the big Mod Reveal. XD. To add your fic to the collection (when posting a new story or editing an existing story): Go to the "Associations" section, and in the "Post to Collections / Challenges" field, type in "ninoex" and this collection should appear. It would be absolutely wonderful if we could get a good chunk of the fic from this exchange in one place on a platform that's more current with the times. :3.


Hm. I think that's it! Thanks for ten years, y'all. See you around. <3

It's been quite the NinoEx season, for your mod and many others. Sorry for the mess yet again, and thank you for making it through till the end with me! The enthusiasm of all of the participants and readers means the world to me.

Of course, I'd like to extend the usual special thanks to my beta folks, and to my two illustrious pinch hitters this year: amh1988 and selvage, without whom this exchange would not have seen the light at the end of the tunnel.

Okay, that's enough, time for the goods.

( Reveals! )

I'm highly considering making the transition to AO3 next year. Last year when I ran a poll on Twitter, it hadn't seemed like a hugely popular choice (though there were some participants who were very adamant about it, as many people are starting to shift to doing fic things exclusively on AO3). It loses some of the formatting customization within posts, but as an exchange platform, I think it automates and simplifies a lot of the issues that end up causing delays (manual posting, timing, formatting fixes, etc.). It's also better equipped to handle long, multi-part stories because it has a chaptering function built in. The kicker is that (from what I can tell) there's much less wiggle room for late submissions, so we'd all have to be on our A-game and committed to being on time for this to work.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Nah bruh stick to DW? I plan to be here curating the annual Nino party for as long as people want it, so let me know what I can do to make it better. Hope to see you again next year! :3.