New Fest Starting Soon!!!
Welcome to the new AS/S Fest! We're calling it AS/S Through the Ages. :D
Here's a banner, if you'd like to pimp it out. :D
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Okay - so here's the basic run-down of the fest. It might seem kinda complicated, but it's not, I promise!
First, I'll explain the basics, and then go into more detail, okay? Feel free to ask questions...comments are not screened, and we know many of you will have questions. The sign-up form and rules will be along in a new post soon.
The Basics
First off, this is a collaboration fest. That means, you get paired up with another fellow AS/S shipper, and work together to create a "project" to present to everyone else! This is not an exchange fest.
Secondly, it's an AU fest. However, there are some very specific rules regarding the AU side of things that I will explain below.
The Details
The collaboration side will go like this: In the sign-up form, we've listed questions to help us pair you up with someone. Answer each question as well as you can, so we can find you the most compatible partner. This is similar to an exchange fest, except you'll be working with the person we pair you up with. We do ask for your email, so please use one you check fairly often, so we can give you and your partner each other's contact information. You and your partner can then decided how best to communicate. (i.e. instant messenger, PMs, email, phone, etc.)
The questions include a little more than what your squicks are...we want to know, based on the AU part of this fest, what ideas you have, so we can better match you with someone, and hopefully, you and your partner won't clash too much, idea-wise. We also include a question asking about your talents. This part is very important. We are well aware that there are more "writers" than "artists" out there, but we also know many of you "writers" have other talents, be it knitting, scrapbooking, graphic arts, singing, video-making, etc. We want to know those talents. "Artist" is an ambiguous term here...it doesn't just mean people that can draw. For example, if you want to build a diorama of a scene, you can do that, just submit pics of your work with your partner's contribution!
Not every pair will be a writer/artist (w/a), either. Some may be a collaboration between two writers (w/w), or two artists (a/a), so we ask you to let us know if you want to collaborate with an artist, or a writer, or either!
The bottom line is, the more information you give us, the better we can serve you. :)
Based on the questions in the sign-up form, we will try to pair you up as best we can. There is also a question asking if there is someone you'd really like to work with, but putting down your LJBFF's name does not guarantee that you two will work together. We like to encourage people who don't know each other well to work together, so if you have a little bit of Fangirl Love for someone you watch and adore but don't really know, put their name down!
There is also a question about if you'd like to sign up to be a pinch-hitter, in case anyone needs to drop out. Hopefully, this won't happen, but it's always good to be prepared. There is also the option to sign up to work with multiple people at a time (on separate projects), if you're an artist. (If you're a writer and want to work with multiple partners on separate projects, that's fine too!)
Please keep in mind that if you are under the age of 18, you cannot submit a sexually explicit project, even if your partner is over the age of 18.
An important note: "Art" is anything creative that is not a fic. And we really do mean anything. (Er...except maybe real, live porn. lol.)
The AU side of the fest is the other exciting part. (Well, we think so, anyway.)
Below, you'll find a list of eras - periods in time. Your mission is to create something with your partner that puts Albus and Scorpius in one of these time periods. HOWEVER - and this is a big one - no time travel allowed. That's right. Al and Scorpius can't magically appear in 1764. Or go back in time to hang out with their grandparents. The idea here is to create something that reflects our boys in another time, or another culture. That doesn't mean you have to write the family dynamics the same...Harry doesn't have to be a war hero. As long as the canon is removed from the equation (meaning the original timeline of the canon), you can choose any time period. Anything goes, really, as long as you're having fun!
A few questions you may have are:
What about magic? Magic is totally allowed. We really want to see both magic and non-magic AU fics...and see how you incorporate magic into a different time. Re-write Wizarding History! :D
What about 1980-2017 (the years the canon takes place)? You can totally still use those years, but we'd like to see you use them differently than the canon. The year is 1985? Well, what music are the boys listening to? Did they sneak into the Muggle world to go see "Back to the Future" in the movie theatre? Where are they? America? England? Cuba? This is your chance to go ALL OUT and do whatever crazy thing you want to do.
Put the boys in Egypt in the 1920s, digging up the tombs of the Pharoahs. Are the Potters and Malfoys mob families from the 1940s? Are Al and Scorpius soldiers in the American Civil War? What about Sheiks in Arabia? Or Samurai in Feudal Japan? Really, the sky is the limit.
What about the future? Future-based projects are totally a go. That doesn't mean the future of canon, since, really, anything could be considered the future of canon...what we mean is, what if the year is 2156? What's going on in 2156? Has the world turned into a Judgement Day-esque world of civil war and death? Or is it a peaceful utopia? Is the year 2009, but we're living in space stations? Again, the sky is the limit.
Okay, so below, we've compiled a list of eras you guys can choose from. In the sign-up form, you can choose up to three, and even give us more details about the ideas or the specific year you want to set your project in, which will help us match you with someone who wants to do something similar!
You may set your fic/art in any of the following eras. We have provided some examples of key events with each era, but by no means are they the most important ones, or the only ones you should pay attention to! Feel free to focus on cultural, social or political events (or a combination of all) within your time period of choice. We are also providing you with a handy set of links so that you can conduct more research and easily pick a time/setting that appeals to you :)
3000 BC - 1 BC [i.e. Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient India, Roman Empire]
00 AD - 999 AD [i.e. birth of Christ, Constantine the Great, Arab Empire, Huns, Vikings]
1000 - 1499 AD [i.e. Crusades, Spanish Inquisition, Renaissance, Black Plague, Ming Dynasty, Aztec Empire, Incan Empire]
1500 - 1799 AD [i.e. Elizabethan era, Pilgrims, Great Plague, Peter the Great, Declaration of Independence, French Revolution]
1800 - 1899 AD [i.e. Napoleon, Victorian era, California gold rush, slavery abolished, Industrial Revolution]
1900 - 1929 [i.e. Wright brothers, Titanic, stock market crash, WWI]
1930 - 1959 [i.e. Great Depression, WWII, Holocaust, Hiroshima, Elvis Presley]
1960 - 1969 [i.e. Vietnam War, Beatlemania, Hippie Movement, first man on the moon]
1970 - 1979 [i.e. disco, Watergate]
1980 - 1989 [i.e. AIDS, end of Cold War, Berlin Wall]
1990 - 1999 [i.e. first Gulf War, IRA ceasefire, Internet, International Space Station]
2000 - 2009 [i.e. Y2K, World Trade Centre, second Gulf War, Asian Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, same-sex marriage legalised, Barack Obama, credit crunch, AS/S AU Fest]
2010 and beyond [i.e. up to you!]
Ancient Civilizations: http://www.timelines.info/history/empires_and_civilizations/ancient_civilisations/
World History: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001196.html
Millennium Milestones: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0781458.html
Historical Events of the 1990s: http://dcctwentythree.tripod.com/history_of_the_1990s.htm
On April 19th, we’ll be checking in with each pair to find out how you are doing together, if there are any problems, and if what you have decided to do for your project is fine. If you’re having trouble deciding on a time or setting for your project, please let us know, and we’ll provide some “prompt” words to get the ball rolling.
The Schedule:
Sign Ups: March 29-April 8
Receive Partners: April 13
Deadline to request switch partner / initial brainstorming due: April 19
Submission Due: August 15
Posting Begins: September 1
Please let us know if you have any questions. If you and your partner (whomever they turn out to be) want to try something but you're not sure if it fits in the guidelines, just ask! Hopefully, I've explained it in as much detail as possible. The basic idea is simple: collaborate with someone to create a project in an AU setting, and the only limit is that it can't be time-travel! That's it! Simple, right? (Well, we hope so, anyway...lol!)