Author Sign-ups for the 2025 NCIS Reverse Bang **OPEN**
Welcome to our 2025 NCIS Reverse Bang Challenge!
Author Sign-Ups Close: Friday, 10 January
Are you interested in signing up to receive our Challenge email alerts?
Check out our POST HERE.
Artwork will be posted anonymously for Authors to claim. Authors are to write a minimum 3000 WC story based on the artwork and prompt they claimed. Your story must be based on NCIS characters, although crossover characters are okay if approved or requested by the Artist. Gen, Het and Slash are all welcome, as are all ratings. Stories must be beta'd.
Art claims will be held at our Live Journal community, however, you may sign up through LJ or DW.
DW Authors and Artists may participate in the LJ art claims using a Facebook, Google, LJ, Twitter, or OpenID account, or may use a proxy.
*Authors who were previously late posting a story, or who failed to submit a rough draft or post a challenge story in previous years, may be ineligible to sign-up in 2025. If you're not sure if this means you, feel free to email the mod and I will be happy to discuss.
You are required to stay in touch with your Artist. By participating in this challenge, someone else is depending on you. It's not fair to drop out of communication and leave them with no story and no idea of what happened to you. If you fail to respond to your Artist or the moderator within a reasonable amount of time, and do not produce/post a story, you will be banned from future challenges.
Minimum Communication Expectations:
1) After the claims - Within 1 week of the matchup post
-Introduction, discuss partner expectations, etc.
2) When you receive work from your partner - ASAP (rough draft, completed story, artwork draft, completed artwork)
-"Got it" or "Thanks for sending" are acceptable responses.
3) If your partner or mod emails you at any time, for any reason, you are expected to respond within 1 week.
-There is no excuse for not clicking 'reply' and typing in a few words within a reasonable timeframe. It only takes a few seconds.
You can read the full Communication Post HERE
If you fail to post a story on your scheduled date, you lose all rights to use the artwork you claimed. The artist may then allow others to use the artwork, or if it is not used by next year, they may resubmit it for another claim.
- In previous years, we have had Authors drop out, or fail to turn in a rough draft or story or respond to their Artist or the mod. We have had other Authors advise they are willing to pick up abandoned artwork. Authors who are close to 80% completion of their rough drafts may reach out to the mod to request an extension NO LATER THAN THE ROUGH DRAFT DUE DATE. For Authors who fail to turn in a rough draft by the due date, or by a mod granted extension date, the Artist may opt to release the art to be picked up by a backup Author. Artists will need to make this decision within 5 days of the rough draft due date. If a story has been claimed by a backup Author, they will be allowed to post their completed story. If the original Author suddenly reappears with a completed story by April 30th, it will be up to the Artist if they're willing to allow a second story to be posted. In this case, only the backup author would be given a posting date for the community. The original author would be allowed to post, but their story would only be linked to the master list. There is no need to be concerned unless you may be late. If you feel you need to drop from the challenge, please notify both your Artist and challenge mod ASAP. If an Author drops out early, with notification, and the artwork is picked up by a backup Author, the original Author will not be banned from the following year's challenge.
- Email addresses are required to participate in this challenge. I will not give out your email. I usually only contact participants who have missed a deadline or have failed to communicate with their challenge partner. When I send challenge emails, I send them to myself and BCC the participants so others will not get your email from me. If you do not want to post your email publicly, you may email it to me as noted below. I'm sorry, but I do not have the time to PM multiple people if/when needed, so an email address is required.
Please note: You will still need to sign up below to participate in the challenge and will need to reach out to your partner via email to exchange art/story files.
LJ or DW username:
Author name:
Email* where we can reach you:
Do you understand and are willing to abide by the minimum communication expectation?:
Have you reviewed the schedule and understand the due dates for this challenge?:
What characters are you most interested in this year?:
What pairings (if any) are you most interested in this year?:
[*If you prefer, you may email your email address to ncischallenge (at) gmail (dot) com.]
All participants should join this community to watch for updates. You must be a member of the community to be given posting access.
All participants are encouraged to join our Support Community: ncis_discuss
We have sister communities on DW if you prefer to participate there.
Community FAQs on LJ or Community FAQs on DW.
If you have other questions, feel free to ask!
2025 NCIS Reverse Bang Schedule:
Author Sign-ups Open - Tuesday, 5 November
Artist Sign-ups Open - Tuesday, 5 November
Artist Sign-ups Close - Tuesday, 31 December
Artwork Due - Wednesday, 8 January
Artwork Preview - Thursday, 9 January
Author Sign-ups Close - Friday, 10 January
Art Claims Open - Saturday, 11 January
Art claim will open at 17:00 GMT World clock, GMT, you can switch this to a 24-hour format if you
Rough Draft Due Date: Sunday 13 April
- We must receive your rough draft or hear from you by this date. If we do not hear from you or receive your rough draft by this date, your claim may be reassigned to a backup author.
Availability check and schedule posts - mid-April
Completed Stories and Art Due: 30 April
Posting Begins - TBA May
Progress check-ins are not mandatory, but we do appreciate hearing from our participants.
Check-In # 1: 1 Feb
Check-In # 2: 1 Mar
Check-In # 3: 5 Apr
Progress check-ins are not mandatory, but we do appreciate hearing from our participants.
Author Sign-Ups Close: Friday, 10 January
Are you interested in signing up to receive our Challenge email alerts?
Check out our POST HERE.
Artwork will be posted anonymously for Authors to claim. Authors are to write a minimum 3000 WC story based on the artwork and prompt they claimed. Your story must be based on NCIS characters, although crossover characters are okay if approved or requested by the Artist. Gen, Het and Slash are all welcome, as are all ratings. Stories must be beta'd.
Art claims will be held at our Live Journal community, however, you may sign up through LJ or DW.
DW Authors and Artists may participate in the LJ art claims using a Facebook, Google, LJ, Twitter, or OpenID account, or may use a proxy.
*Authors who were previously late posting a story, or who failed to submit a rough draft or post a challenge story in previous years, may be ineligible to sign-up in 2025. If you're not sure if this means you, feel free to email the mod and I will be happy to discuss.
You are required to stay in touch with your Artist. By participating in this challenge, someone else is depending on you. It's not fair to drop out of communication and leave them with no story and no idea of what happened to you. If you fail to respond to your Artist or the moderator within a reasonable amount of time, and do not produce/post a story, you will be banned from future challenges.
Minimum Communication Expectations:
1) After the claims - Within 1 week of the matchup post
-Introduction, discuss partner expectations, etc.
2) When you receive work from your partner - ASAP (rough draft, completed story, artwork draft, completed artwork)
-"Got it" or "Thanks for sending" are acceptable responses.
3) If your partner or mod emails you at any time, for any reason, you are expected to respond within 1 week.
-There is no excuse for not clicking 'reply' and typing in a few words within a reasonable timeframe. It only takes a few seconds.
You can read the full Communication Post HERE
If you fail to post a story on your scheduled date, you lose all rights to use the artwork you claimed. The artist may then allow others to use the artwork, or if it is not used by next year, they may resubmit it for another claim.
- In previous years, we have had Authors drop out, or fail to turn in a rough draft or story or respond to their Artist or the mod. We have had other Authors advise they are willing to pick up abandoned artwork. Authors who are close to 80% completion of their rough drafts may reach out to the mod to request an extension NO LATER THAN THE ROUGH DRAFT DUE DATE. For Authors who fail to turn in a rough draft by the due date, or by a mod granted extension date, the Artist may opt to release the art to be picked up by a backup Author. Artists will need to make this decision within 5 days of the rough draft due date. If a story has been claimed by a backup Author, they will be allowed to post their completed story. If the original Author suddenly reappears with a completed story by April 30th, it will be up to the Artist if they're willing to allow a second story to be posted. In this case, only the backup author would be given a posting date for the community. The original author would be allowed to post, but their story would only be linked to the master list. There is no need to be concerned unless you may be late. If you feel you need to drop from the challenge, please notify both your Artist and challenge mod ASAP. If an Author drops out early, with notification, and the artwork is picked up by a backup Author, the original Author will not be banned from the following year's challenge.
- Email addresses are required to participate in this challenge. I will not give out your email. I usually only contact participants who have missed a deadline or have failed to communicate with their challenge partner. When I send challenge emails, I send them to myself and BCC the participants so others will not get your email from me. If you do not want to post your email publicly, you may email it to me as noted below. I'm sorry, but I do not have the time to PM multiple people if/when needed, so an email address is required.
Please note: You will still need to sign up below to participate in the challenge and will need to reach out to your partner via email to exchange art/story files.
LJ or DW username:
Author name:
Email* where we can reach you:
Do you understand and are willing to abide by the minimum communication expectation?:
Have you reviewed the schedule and understand the due dates for this challenge?:
What characters are you most interested in this year?:
What pairings (if any) are you most interested in this year?:
[*If you prefer, you may email your email address to ncischallenge (at) gmail (dot) com.]
All participants should join this community to watch for updates. You must be a member of the community to be given posting access.
All participants are encouraged to join our Support Community: ncis_discuss
We have sister communities on DW if you prefer to participate there.
Community FAQs on LJ or Community FAQs on DW.
If you have other questions, feel free to ask!
2025 NCIS Reverse Bang Schedule:
Author Sign-ups Open - Tuesday, 5 November
Artist Sign-ups Open - Tuesday, 5 November
Artist Sign-ups Close - Tuesday, 31 December
Artwork Due - Wednesday, 8 January
Artwork Preview - Thursday, 9 January
Author Sign-ups Close - Friday, 10 January
Art Claims Open - Saturday, 11 January
Art claim will open at 17:00 GMT World clock, GMT, you can switch this to a 24-hour format if you
Rough Draft Due Date: Sunday 13 April
- We must receive your rough draft or hear from you by this date. If we do not hear from you or receive your rough draft by this date, your claim may be reassigned to a backup author.
Availability check and schedule posts - mid-April
Completed Stories and Art Due: 30 April
Posting Begins - TBA May
Progress check-ins are not mandatory, but we do appreciate hearing from our participants.
Check-In # 1: 1 Feb
Check-In # 2: 1 Mar
Check-In # 3: 5 Apr
Progress check-ins are not mandatory, but we do appreciate hearing from our participants.