09 March 2021 @ 03:10 am
2021 Schedule + FAQ  
Schedule


All times are by 8:59pm PST. Convert time zones.

Sign-ups Begin- April 1st
Sign-ups Close- April 15th
Check In #1- April 22nd
Check In #2- May 15th
Snippets Due- June 1st
Art Claims Begin- June 17th
Check In #3- June 22nd
Check In #4- July 6th
Rough Drafts Due- July 15th
Posting Claims Begin- July 23rd
Posting Claims Ends- August 1st
Final Drafts/Art Due- August 7th
Posting Starts- August 8th

FAQ


What is the WIP Big Bang?
Good question! This is a Big Bang with one goal in mind: to clean out your drafts folder. These are stories that were unfinished for whatever reason, that authors returned to and completed, and the art that goes with them!

Do I need a Livejournal/Dreamwidth/AO3/etc. account to participate?
No! You don’t have to have an account on anything to participate, though you will need to have somewhere to post your finished work. Having one or more accounts will help for you to follow what is going on with the bang (we crosspost to Livejournal, Dreamwidth, Tumblr, and Twitter at the moment), but they are not required to participate. You can always leave comments anonymously or with an opensource ID.

Will I get emails about the bang?
We do send out some emails, mostly for snippets and art claims and to ensure communication between authors and artists, but please do NOT rely on getting an email to remind you of due dates. We currently do not keep an updated email list of participants, so we only send individual emails as needed rather than mass emails.

However, email is the fastest way to communicate with the mods. If you have any questions or are having trouble communicating with your artist/author, please do email us! We will do our best to respond quickly.

Is there a minimum word count?
7,500 words, but the sky's the limit, right?

What do you mean by minimum word count to enter?
This is a WIP Big Bang, therefore we ask you to have at least 500 words of your story drafted when you enter. It's okay if you have posted a few chapters of your fic already (you never know when the muse deserts you, after all), we just require you to refrain from posting more until posting begins here.

Is there anything not allowed?
As long as you wrote it and you want to finish it, you're welcome to participate. Just bear in mind that original work is only allowed on AO3 if it has a fannish connection and might make it hard for artists to work with. But we'll make a dedicated post for that if there will be any.

What are 'Check Ins’?
These are a way for us to see what you've been up to and for you to make sure you're still on track. It will give you a little nudge/reminder if you need it, but they are not compulsory.

What are the snippets requirements?
In order to allow the artists to make art for the story they claimed, we require you to supply three snippets from your fic, between 500 – 1500 words each. The snippets will be sent to the artist after they have claimed your story. They're to help the artist match your story for artwork the best way he or she possibly can. It’s helpful to choose scenes or parts of scenes that you feel best represent your fic, but don’t feel like they have to be perfect to be submitted. Along with the snippets, we will send your artist the basic fic info and your email, so the two of you can collaborate more if you would both like.

What are the rough drafts requirements?
For the rough drafts, stories should be at least 80% complete. You will not have to turn them in to us, just assure us that you are at that point. Anything less is at the discretion of the mods and those authors should speak to one of the mods asap.

What is, and do I need, a beta?
A beta is basically a person who goes over your work to make sure that there are no spelling/grammatical errors and they can even be of assistance in helping you with story lines, etc. It is highly recommended that a beta looks over your work before posting. If you are having trouble finding a beta, try this post.

Where can I post my fic/art?
Stories and art can be posted to your own personal journal, tumblr, ff-net, AO3, or wherever you like. For those of you with AO3 accounts, we will set up a collection that will go live on the day of the posting. Also, we've enabled moderated posting to the comm (Livejournal and Dreamwidth) for members. We will post a template for posting artwork and stories to the comm closer to the posting date.

If you don’t currently have an AO3 account but would like one, you can contact the mods for an invitation code to see if they have any available. You can also add yourself to the AO3 Invites Request queue.

How do I know when to post?
Posting will be tiered; you'll each get your own posting date that you and your artist will decide on together. There will probably be four fics, plus art, posting per day between August 8th and September 30th. The post with date claims will go up on July 23rd and you'll have to choose your date by August 1st.

If you want to post your story in chapters on AO3 or your own blog (or wherever you usually post), you may do so starting August 1st. However, posting has to be finished by your chosen posting date to the comm. One of the things we're hoping to do with the posted dates is to give everybody on the comm a little bragging time in the spotlight. You know, "this story was incomplete for this long, but I finished this sucker." If you don't have time to post on your chosen posting date, you can queue up a post ahead of time and we can post it on the date you picked. Either way works for us. Art will be due on the chosen posting date to the comm.

Is there a minimum/maximum requirement for my art?
There is no strict minimum, but we do ask artists to remember that the authors are writing a minimum of 7,500 words and your artwork should reflect that. You can do anything you like, including banners, wallpapers, icons, mixes, vids, gif sets, picspams, etc. Suggested guidelines for art are 500x500px (or equivalent of smaller pieces like banner + spacers, cover + icons, etc.) for traditional art, digital art, and manips; 2 minutes for vids; 10 songs + cover art for mixes; and 6 images for gif sets and picspams. We also ask that when you are in contact with the author, you work with them to see if there is anything specific they would like (i.e. a wallpaper, book cover, etc.). The art is your work, but having ideas doesn't hurt!

What are 'art claims'?
The claims are when anonymous summaries of the story go up for artists to choose from. It is based on a 'first come, first served' basis and artists may choose up to three potential stories (in case their first choice is unavailable). If there are more stories than artists, there will be a second round of claims wherein artists may choose a second story to work with. And on until all stories are claimed for art.

If a fic up for claiming is rated explicit (R, NC-17, etc.), please only claim the story if you are over 18 years of age. Some authors may be uncomfortable working with underage artists on explicit works. We do not verify ages in any way for the bang, so this is solely on the honor system.

Can I get an extension?
Community extensions may be given in the event that the majority of the authors/artists need one. They may also be given individually under certain circumstances, but this must be discussed with the mods and will only be a short extension for posting. If you are certain that you won’t be able to finish your story in time, please let us know by June 13th.

What do I do if I have problems or concerns about my author/artist?
Sometimes authors and artists do not get along and this may cause problems with working together. If this happens to be the case with you, please email the mods and we will try to do what we can so that everyone has a chance to have fun at WIP Big Bang!

If you have not heard from your author/artist in some time after trying to contact them, you can reach out to us via email and we will try to get in touch with them for you.

Can I drop out?
We have high hopes that everybody who signs up can actually finish the round and share in the joy of the reveal with us, but real life can unfortunately get in the way and we completely understand! If you feel like you just cannot finish in time and no amount of assistance from us can help you, just let us know by July 13th (if at all possible).

Is it possible to be banned?
We do have a banned users list. We hope to use this to encourage participants who are having issues to communicate with the mods. We want to help you! The way the ban works is that participants, either authors and artists, will be banned for dropping out without notifying a mod. This means that anyone who has not posted or talked to a mod by the time the posting period ends will be banned. Dropping out is not in and of itself a banning offense, so please do not panic if you have to drop out! We understand that there are many reasons you may need to drop, and we want to work with you.

Bans will last one round or until the issue is resolved, whichever comes first. To resolve a ban, authors will have to finish and post the story they signed up with and artists will have to finish and post the art for the story they claimed. Three bans will result in a permanent ban from the bang.

I have a question/concern that’s not mentioned here.
If you need help, you can always contact a mod and we will do our best to make sure that you get your story/art finished. The best and fastest method of contact is through our email, [email protected].
 
 
( Post a new comment )
(Anonymous) on April 1st, 2021 01:42 pm (UTC)
Hello mods!

Just passing through (this looks fun!) but I figured I'd tell you just FYI: the link to the Dreamwidth comm on your Tumblr page goes to dreamwidth.com instead of dreamwidth.org, so it fails to open. :)

Thanks for running this, and have a great day!
penaltywaltz: I'm A Mod[personal profile] penaltywaltz on April 2nd, 2021 07:40 am (UTC)
Thank you for letting me know! I'll go fix it now.
flowersforgraves[personal profile] flowersforgraves on April 6th, 2021 12:21 am (UTC)
Hi,

Is it possible to opt out of artist claims for this round?
penaltywaltz: I'm A Mod[personal profile] penaltywaltz on April 7th, 2021 04:57 am (UTC)
Yes, it is. Closer to the time of snippet submissions there's a check-in. Fill out that check-in and in the notes tell us you want to opt-out of art so we have it on our spreadsheet.
flowersforgraves[personal profile] flowersforgraves on April 8th, 2021 03:20 pm (UTC)
Perfect! Thank you. I must have missed that in the rules somewhere /o\
jedi_of_urth[personal profile] jedi_of_urth on April 10th, 2021 05:41 pm (UTC)
Small question, but when you say final drafts are due on Aug. 1, if you claim a posting date later on, can it still be in beta mode? I get that the artist needs to have the whole thing to work with (probably well before then), but there's likely going to still room for tweaking up until whatever deadline I end up with; I'm finicky that way.
penaltywaltz: I'm A Mod[personal profile] penaltywaltz on April 11th, 2021 02:38 am (UTC)
You are absolutely allowed to tweak your fic all the way up to your posting date. Just give your artist a heads up if you make any major changes to the story after they get the snippets or the story from you.
(Anonymous) on June 19th, 2021 12:46 am (UTC)
Can you offer to do art for someone else if you're an author? Or should you just do the art for your own fic?
penaltywaltz[personal profile] penaltywaltz on June 19th, 2021 07:36 am (UTC)
You may absolutely do art for someone else, even if you're an author. You are also more than welcome to do art for as many stories as you want within the parameters of each art claim round (so one the first week, two the second week, three the third week and as many as you want the last week, as long as you use a new ID for each claim).
⟪ skargasm ⟫[personal profile] skargasm on July 13th, 2021 08:29 am (UTC)
Question for posting art
Do the artists post the art or are they posted by the authors as part of their story? I'm trying to figure out if I do a 'series' and give each set of art a link to the story (of course), then post a chapter for icons, spacers, etc or whether I just do one chapter per story I did art for?

Sorry for the questions - hope they make sense.
penaltywaltz: I'm A Mod[personal profile] penaltywaltz on July 16th, 2021 04:10 pm (UTC)
Re: Question for posting art
I am so sorry for taking so long to answer this!

I would suggest doing each chapter for a separate fic (or each "story" if you do an actual series). That way you can link to that story's chapter when you post your bragging rights on the day your author posts their fic.

Now, you don't have to post the art on your own; if you want to give your artist permission to post the art on your behalf with their fic's bragging post, you can submit that URL for the "I did it!" form that we have everyone fill out at the end of the round. But I think with as much art as you did, it deserves the chance to shine on its own and you serve the right to brag about it.
Lunar[personal profile] shopfront on August 10th, 2021 12:52 pm (UTC)
Is there anything specific I need to do or fill out to officially drop out, or does a message here suffice? Sorry this wasn't done before July 13, I've been largely absent/offline for various reasons since the third check-in.
penaltywaltz: I'm A Mod[personal profile] penaltywaltz on August 11th, 2021 02:28 am (UTC)
just send an email to the mod account with your user ID(s) and that will be enough.
 
 
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