Do not edit other writers' sandboxes without permission.
Most authors on the wiki have half-finished drafts sitting in their sandbox that they know could be awesome but also realistically know they'll never complete - you can't figure out the right approach, the story doesn't have an end, you just don't have the time, whatever. The aim of the draft swap is to free authors of that burden in a fun and constructive way.
The Rules
The concept is simple - every entrant into the draft swap will submit one of their unfinished SCP drafts1 to an organiser, and on the first day of the swap, those drafts will be shuffled and redistributed - the entrants then have until the closing date to submit a first draft to the organisers from what they were given. This does NOT need to be a final polished draft ready to post, you simply need to produce something that can be read as a story and ready for critique. Of course, if you want to polish or even post it, that's allowed.
Once a draft has been given to you, it is yours. You may rework it as if it was your own idea, add and subtract elements, change the entire format, whatever works best for how you want to adapt it. Within the bounds of common sense, anything goes. This also extends to showing the drafts to whoever you want, collaborating with others2, whatever - the draft swap is not a closed system, and you are encouraged to do whatever you want in order to make your entry shine. You should be in mind of the fact that this goes both ways - whoever gets your submission will likely take it in places you didn't expect, and that can be good or bad in your opinion, but you need to accept it as part of the experience going in.
This is not a competition. This is about community spirit and helping each other out, there will never be a winner. The only thing you're aiming to do is produce a finished draft - if you want to post that, awesome. If you want to give it back to the original author to reconsider, also awesome. Ideally, everyone finds a wonderful new interpretation of each draft and we end up with as many posted skips as we do entrants, but realistically it's totally ok for you to have had a good time participating in an interesting writing exercise without having something big and shiny to show the world.
For the sake of writers being confident that their draft will not end up in bad hands, all participants must have at least one article of any kind posted on the site, with a rating of at least 50. Individual cases will be considered.
The Specifics
All drafts must be submitted by November 3rd, 2018.
On November 4th, 2018, drafts will be shuffled and redistributed.
Finished drafts should be returned by November 18th, 2018.
All submissions go through the organiser, Rimple. IRC PMs are preferred, but wikidot will also of course work.
The Chat
The Draft Swap has a dedicated IRC channel, #draftswap. Any participants who use IRC should add this channel to their autojoin, and within their limitations should participate in brainstorming, crit and general discussion there for the duration of the swap.
Standard chat rules apply - if you're a douchebag, you'll be kicked. Common sense applies. Assume there are minors. Beyond that, try to carry a spirit of positivity and collaboration within the chat - you won't be kicked for being snarky or skeptical, but it might bum people out.
Memes are banned and I will report dabbing to the police.
The Participants
| Recipient | Draft Recieved | Finished article |
| Decibelle | SoullessSingularity | Extension granted. New deadline: Nov 25. |
| OthellotheCat | SeraDomiCher | SCP-4725: The Insurgency's Solution |
| SoullessSingularity | not_a_seagull | IRL difficulties, will not be done within timeframe (no penalty) |
| UncleNicolini | Casponaut | RAISA-6147 (PENDING ASSIGNMENT) |
| Casponaut | weryllium | Involuntary Tiger Parenting |
| MaliceAforethought | TyGently | Extension granted. New deadline: December 1 |
| Meserach | plaguebearer | SCP-3694 America's Diner is Always Open |
| Varaxous | ihp | Attracted to Cars |
| Plaguebearer | UncleNicolini | SCP-4988: Outsourced Customer Service Contact Center Solutions by Avelar Professional Products, Inc. |
| hot-coles | Varaxous | |
| FloppyPhoenix | hot-coles | SCP-4416: Tales of Site-42: Why The Foundation Punches Sharks |
| Aers | TheGreatHippo | (Unfinished) The Divine Associate; Fallen |
| TheGreatHippo | Rimple | IRL difficulties, will not be completed within timeframe (no penalty) |
| not_a_seagull | OthellotheCat | SCP-4248: Alphabet and Omega |
| NineVolt | FloppyPhoenix | Lots of work done, partially completed (no penalty) |
| ihp | Meserach | SCP-3495: St. Brendan's Howler Monkey |
| weryllium | Dog Teeth | Extension granted. New deadline: November 25. |
| Dog Teeth | MaliceAforethought | SCP-4411: At Long Last Landing |
| SeraDomiCher | Aers | Transient Train of Meat and Dreams |
| Roget | NineVolt | |
| TyGently | Roget | Extension granted. New deadline: November 25 |
| Rimple | Decibelle | Extension self-granted. New deadline: November 25. |
If you're not involved and would like to be, please contact the organiser (Rimple) via IRC or wikidot PM. A check mark indicates a draft has been received from the participant - please ensure you have one by your name before the deadline.
FAQ
What qualifies as a draft?
Drafts should be more than simply an idea: you should already have put some work into developing the idea, figuring out rules and structure, writing some parts out etc. You don't have to have a lot done, but we won't be accepting anything that's nothing more than a title. Drafts should not be of a work that would need to be very long to work (say 7000+ as a guideline), as this places unfair amounts of work on the person receiving it in the time given.
My draft is kind of hard to write without my perspective/knowledge, is that ok?
Nothing that requires specialist knowledge to write (high level science stuff, deep fandom lore, a leaning toward complex historical accuracy etc), or if you do you should be committed to sticking around in chat to help out and provide information.
If I want to post what I wrote, do I need to credit the original author as a co-author?
Before posting, you should ask the original author what they would like, and go along with that.
I've put a lot of thought into my draft, but most of it isn't on the actual page. Is that ok?
If this is the case for you, I'd suggest including a note to the recipient explaining ideas you'd had for the draft, what you wanted to get across with it etc. They're not beholden to it, but it might help them.
If you're active in the IRC chat, you can also just talk directly to whoever gets your draft and chat/brainstorm with them about it.
