How To Turn In Your Rough Drafts
All right. So a few people have been asking us how the whole draft-turning-in part works, and we thought we’d post now so you have plenty of time to ask questions (here, via email, or at next Saturday’s chat at 4:00pm EST on Skype).
What counts as a draft?
First off, let’s talk about what constitutes a draft. Officially, we’ve said that a draft needs to be at least 80% complete. But please keep in mind that your project isn’t 100% done until it’s been beta’d if it’s a fic, or edited if it’s a podfic, or had the ends woven in and been blocked if it’s a wool sweater. You will have just six short weeks after the draft deadline to finish working, get it beta’d or whatever, revise it, add the finishing touches, and get your polished, high-quality things uploaded on AO3 by October 7th.
You guys know us by now. You know we’ll cheer you on until we’re blue in the face, and that we’ll never stop supporting our participants. We are not planning on going through drafts with a fine-tooth comb and rejecting things we feel aren’t far enough along. If you tell us you’re going to make it, we’ll believe you. But remember that every draft that gets turned in will be matched with another creator, and someone will be hard at work for a month producing a complementary piece to your primary work. Please do not put us in the position of having a beautiful complement made for a primary piece that drops out at the last minute. It’s not fair to the person who’s been working for a month on that complementary piece, and it’s just sad for everyone. Okay?
Bottom line: if you turn in a draft on August 25th, make sure there’s enough there for a complementary artist to work with, and please be sure that you will be able to have it completely finished and ready for prime time by October 7th.
How will we “turn in” our drafts?
Drafts will be handled by emailing your friendly neighborhood mods at dsc6dbbmod@gmail.com. When you email, use the format below:
***
Subject line Format- Title - Username - Complete/Incomplete (make sure you put which one applies to you)
Body
Percentage Complete -
Do you need time for it to be beta'd?
Username -
Title -
Fandom(s) -
Word Count/time/number of pieces -
Type (gen, slash, het) -
Characters/Pairings -
Summary for complementary work claiming (please include relevant warnings!!) -
Then attach or link to your work.
***
So an example draft submission will look something like this: (I don't want to jinx myself on finishing my actual fic, so I'm making up some crack to use for illustrative purposes...)
Subject: fic - Edmonton Block Heaters -- Hazelwho - incomplete
Body:
85% complete
Needs to be beta’d (already have one lined up)
Username - hazelwho
Title - Edmonton Block Heaters, or: The HCL HVAC AU
Fandom(s) - Hard Core Logo
Word Count/time/number of pieces - 20,925 words
Type (gen, slash, het) - gen
Characters/Pairings - Billy Tallent, Joe Dick, John Oxenberger, Pipefitter
Summary for complementary work claiming -
In a world where global warming has caused Canada to experience winters so bitterly cold that even native Canadians are saying, "Bit chilly this year, eh?", the people are crying out for heroes. Billy, Joe, John and Pipe step up to fill the void. They are....the Edmonton Block Heaters! This is an AU where the boys of Hard Core Logo are HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) repair men in E-town, Alberta.
Warnings: Excessive swearing, someone gets crushed by a falling piano AC unit
And then I’ll attach a .doc/.docx/.rtf/.pdf/whatever of my fic.
Do I have to wait until August 25th to turn in my draft?
Absolutely NOT! If you’ve got a draft ready, please send it early. We’d love to get a jump on getting the Claiming Post ready. Plus, it’s really exciting, seeing the progress everyone has made :)
And then what happens?
As soon as we’re awake and on email, we’ll send you an acknowledgement email so you know your stuff made it to us. Then miz and hazel will get together and make a giant list of everything that was turned in (we love lists, in case you hadn’t noticed). We’ll start drafting a post for complementary works selection that includes all the important info on each piece (fandom, pairing, summary, etc). It is our intention to post the list as soon as possible, to give all the complementary artists/writers/whatever a chance to look over the list and think about their choices. On Complement Claiming Day, we’ll open the post to comments at a pre-determined time, and it’s first come first serve on claiming. (More details about this part to follow.)
After the claims are made, we’ll hook up the complementary and primary creators and you all can exchange the most up-to-date draft you’ve got. Then everyone’s got a month to finish polishing their primary work or to create their secondary piece and get it uploaded to AO3 by October 7th. The whole thing goes live when miz and hazel throw the switch on October 14th and then it’s Happy Canadian Thanksgiving, dS/c6d Fandom! We’ll link to the usual places when we go live, and at that point you all are free to link and pimp and share and squee about what you’ve made. And then we all flail over what everyone else has made and it’s an awesome, awesome few weeks as we make our way through all the good stuff in this year’s big bang. =)
Sound like a plan? Any other questions?
What counts as a draft?
First off, let’s talk about what constitutes a draft. Officially, we’ve said that a draft needs to be at least 80% complete. But please keep in mind that your project isn’t 100% done until it’s been beta’d if it’s a fic, or edited if it’s a podfic, or had the ends woven in and been blocked if it’s a wool sweater. You will have just six short weeks after the draft deadline to finish working, get it beta’d or whatever, revise it, add the finishing touches, and get your polished, high-quality things uploaded on AO3 by October 7th.
You guys know us by now. You know we’ll cheer you on until we’re blue in the face, and that we’ll never stop supporting our participants. We are not planning on going through drafts with a fine-tooth comb and rejecting things we feel aren’t far enough along. If you tell us you’re going to make it, we’ll believe you. But remember that every draft that gets turned in will be matched with another creator, and someone will be hard at work for a month producing a complementary piece to your primary work. Please do not put us in the position of having a beautiful complement made for a primary piece that drops out at the last minute. It’s not fair to the person who’s been working for a month on that complementary piece, and it’s just sad for everyone. Okay?
Bottom line: if you turn in a draft on August 25th, make sure there’s enough there for a complementary artist to work with, and please be sure that you will be able to have it completely finished and ready for prime time by October 7th.
How will we “turn in” our drafts?
Drafts will be handled by emailing your friendly neighborhood mods at dsc6dbbmod@gmail.com. When you email, use the format below:
***
Subject line Format- Title - Username - Complete/Incomplete (make sure you put which one applies to you)
Body
Percentage Complete -
Do you need time for it to be beta'd?
Username -
Title -
Fandom(s) -
Word Count/time/number of pieces -
Type (gen, slash, het) -
Characters/Pairings -
Summary for complementary work claiming (please include relevant warnings!!) -
Then attach or link to your work.
***
So an example draft submission will look something like this: (I don't want to jinx myself on finishing my actual fic, so I'm making up some crack to use for illustrative purposes...)
Subject: fic - Edmonton Block Heaters -- Hazelwho - incomplete
Body:
85% complete
Needs to be beta’d (already have one lined up)
Username - hazelwho
Title - Edmonton Block Heaters, or: The HCL HVAC AU
Fandom(s) - Hard Core Logo
Word Count/time/number of pieces - 20,925 words
Type (gen, slash, het) - gen
Characters/Pairings - Billy Tallent, Joe Dick, John Oxenberger, Pipefitter
Summary for complementary work claiming -
In a world where global warming has caused Canada to experience winters so bitterly cold that even native Canadians are saying, "Bit chilly this year, eh?", the people are crying out for heroes. Billy, Joe, John and Pipe step up to fill the void. They are....the Edmonton Block Heaters! This is an AU where the boys of Hard Core Logo are HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) repair men in E-town, Alberta.
Warnings: Excessive swearing, someone gets crushed by a falling piano AC unit
And then I’ll attach a .doc/.docx/.rtf/.pdf/whatever of my fic.
Do I have to wait until August 25th to turn in my draft?
Absolutely NOT! If you’ve got a draft ready, please send it early. We’d love to get a jump on getting the Claiming Post ready. Plus, it’s really exciting, seeing the progress everyone has made :)
And then what happens?
As soon as we’re awake and on email, we’ll send you an acknowledgement email so you know your stuff made it to us. Then miz and hazel will get together and make a giant list of everything that was turned in (we love lists, in case you hadn’t noticed). We’ll start drafting a post for complementary works selection that includes all the important info on each piece (fandom, pairing, summary, etc). It is our intention to post the list as soon as possible, to give all the complementary artists/writers/whatever a chance to look over the list and think about their choices. On Complement Claiming Day, we’ll open the post to comments at a pre-determined time, and it’s first come first serve on claiming. (More details about this part to follow.)
After the claims are made, we’ll hook up the complementary and primary creators and you all can exchange the most up-to-date draft you’ve got. Then everyone’s got a month to finish polishing their primary work or to create their secondary piece and get it uploaded to AO3 by October 7th. The whole thing goes live when miz and hazel throw the switch on October 14th and then it’s Happy Canadian Thanksgiving, dS/c6d Fandom! We’ll link to the usual places when we go live, and at that point you all are free to link and pimp and share and squee about what you’ve made. And then we all flail over what everyone else has made and it’s an awesome, awesome few weeks as we make our way through all the good stuff in this year’s big bang. =)
Sound like a plan? Any other questions?