the marauder big bang rules
1. All fics must have at least one of the approved characters (Sirius, Remus, James, Peter, Severus, & Lily) from the Marauder era in a main role. If you're not sure if you're fic is following this rule, please don't hesitate to ask before it's too late!
2. All stories must be at least 20,000 words, and they must be written for the challenge and completed by June 13th to enter the second part of the challenge. The second part of the challenge is the creation of art to accompany your fic and the posting of your fic in this community as well as it being linked in our master list at the end.
3. No WIPs are allowed if they have been previously posted on the internet. Read the FAQ or contact one of the mods for more information.
4. Authors are allowed to write whatever they wish as long as they follow the first rule. You can't write RPF or minors under the age of 16 involved in sexual activities. Crossovers and threesomes are allowed. For more information on this rule, visit the FAQ, where it is explained in detail. Outside of those restrictions, your options (for story ideas, pairings, etc) are almost endless! There are no restrictions on time periods, settings, or anything else. Just as long as you are focusing on at least one of the approved characters from the Marauder era, you'll be all set!
5. By signing up for this challenge, you are not required to complete it. But if you do decide to sign up, we expect that you're fairly certain you'll be able to complete your story on time. Also, when you include your pairing and genre/idea in the form, it is not a binding contract that you have to use that pairing or genre/idea. If you change your mind, just let us know so that we can make sure we have an artist lined up for you that will be able to illustrate your story without feeling uninspired or unable to draw the specific characters you're including in your story.
6. All fics must be beta-read. There are no exceptions to this rule. If you already have your own beta, make sure they are comfortable with not only pointing out typos and grammar mistakes, but problems with characterization, plot holes, and canon inconsistencies. We will still (most likely) ask one of the betas that has signed up to take a look at your work before it's posted.
7. Even though we plan on all fics being beta-read, the mods will be reading all of the fics before they are posted. Of course, there are only a couple of us and a lot of you, so we will be finding additional help with this part of the challenge. We reserve the right to reject work, ask for revisions, or assign a second beta to look over your work if we feel there are too many problems with it. We will do our very best to catch any problems (big or small) early on so that everything goes smoothly later.
8. Artists are assigned based on your rough drafts, so if you start drastically changing your story during the editing process, you need to contact one of the mods through email so that we can let the artist know. You should also know that art will not have any higher ratings than the fic, so don't worry about your story being PG and getting R-rated art. We won't allow that to happen.
9. Now, don't start thinking we've forgotten about the artists! Art, just like fic, needs to be good quality. No stick figures, please! We reserve the write to reject art or ask for revision if we feel it needs more work.
10. Final copies of fic and art must be sent to our email by August 11, 2010. (For contact information, take a look at the profile!) This just gives us time to create a posting schedule and go through all the fics to make sure everything is coded correctly and errors fixed. We realize that there may be a few people that need an extra day or two, so we will work with those artists and authors when those problems present themselves. For now, we expect that you will all be finished on time. We know that things come up that we don't expect (death of a loved one, etc), but finals week and going back to school isn't something we accept as an excuse. So, please finish on time. We'd hate to turn people away at this last part of the challenge, but it's going to be very hectic for us.
11. The fics and art will be posted over the course of one week. The mod account will be used to post the fics and art in this community. The fic and accompanying art will be posted together in this community, along with both author & artist information in the heading. The types of art will vary. We hope this is clear enough for you, but if it isn't, we will explain it a little more thoroughly as we get closer to this part of the challenge.
12. We hope to assign more than one artist to our longest fics submitted (we know there are some overachievers out there that will write 30,000 words or more), and some artists will choose to illustrate more than just one fic. Artists will be assigned to fics by us. We will try our very best to assign artists to stories that will inspire them and we will make sure to take their preferences about what they're willing to draw/create into consideration when making assignments.
13. You are not allowed to post your fics in pieces as you go. No one but your beta(s), artist(s), and mods are allowed to see your fic before your posting day. (Posting starts on August 15th, but you aren't allowed to post your fic or art anywhere else until August 22nd.)
14. Authors must be 18 if they wish to submit or read adult fanfiction. Artists must be 18 if they are drawing or creating art for fiction that has an adult rating.
15. Please refrain from bashing characters or pairings when you're discussing your ideas/fics. We know that not everyone likes every character in Harry Potter, but there's no need for bashing. If you're unsure whether or not a post or comment is considered bashing, don't hesitate to ask us. We won't be bothered by any questions about this or any other problems you're having in this (or the author discussion) community.
16. We're pretty sure that we've covered all of the things you need to know (either in here or the timeline or FAQ), but if we feel the need to add another rule, we will make a post in the community letting you know. We won't try to trick you and add it in without letting you know.
2. All stories must be at least 20,000 words, and they must be written for the challenge and completed by June 13th to enter the second part of the challenge. The second part of the challenge is the creation of art to accompany your fic and the posting of your fic in this community as well as it being linked in our master list at the end.
3. No WIPs are allowed if they have been previously posted on the internet. Read the FAQ or contact one of the mods for more information.
4. Authors are allowed to write whatever they wish as long as they follow the first rule. You can't write RPF or minors under the age of 16 involved in sexual activities. Crossovers and threesomes are allowed. For more information on this rule, visit the FAQ, where it is explained in detail. Outside of those restrictions, your options (for story ideas, pairings, etc) are almost endless! There are no restrictions on time periods, settings, or anything else. Just as long as you are focusing on at least one of the approved characters from the Marauder era, you'll be all set!
5. By signing up for this challenge, you are not required to complete it. But if you do decide to sign up, we expect that you're fairly certain you'll be able to complete your story on time. Also, when you include your pairing and genre/idea in the form, it is not a binding contract that you have to use that pairing or genre/idea. If you change your mind, just let us know so that we can make sure we have an artist lined up for you that will be able to illustrate your story without feeling uninspired or unable to draw the specific characters you're including in your story.
6. All fics must be beta-read. There are no exceptions to this rule. If you already have your own beta, make sure they are comfortable with not only pointing out typos and grammar mistakes, but problems with characterization, plot holes, and canon inconsistencies. We will still (most likely) ask one of the betas that has signed up to take a look at your work before it's posted.
7. Even though we plan on all fics being beta-read, the mods will be reading all of the fics before they are posted. Of course, there are only a couple of us and a lot of you, so we will be finding additional help with this part of the challenge. We reserve the right to reject work, ask for revisions, or assign a second beta to look over your work if we feel there are too many problems with it. We will do our very best to catch any problems (big or small) early on so that everything goes smoothly later.
8. Artists are assigned based on your rough drafts, so if you start drastically changing your story during the editing process, you need to contact one of the mods through email so that we can let the artist know. You should also know that art will not have any higher ratings than the fic, so don't worry about your story being PG and getting R-rated art. We won't allow that to happen.
9. Now, don't start thinking we've forgotten about the artists! Art, just like fic, needs to be good quality. No stick figures, please! We reserve the write to reject art or ask for revision if we feel it needs more work.
10. Final copies of fic and art must be sent to our email by August 11, 2010. (For contact information, take a look at the profile!) This just gives us time to create a posting schedule and go through all the fics to make sure everything is coded correctly and errors fixed. We realize that there may be a few people that need an extra day or two, so we will work with those artists and authors when those problems present themselves. For now, we expect that you will all be finished on time. We know that things come up that we don't expect (death of a loved one, etc), but finals week and going back to school isn't something we accept as an excuse. So, please finish on time. We'd hate to turn people away at this last part of the challenge, but it's going to be very hectic for us.
11. The fics and art will be posted over the course of one week. The mod account will be used to post the fics and art in this community. The fic and accompanying art will be posted together in this community, along with both author & artist information in the heading. The types of art will vary. We hope this is clear enough for you, but if it isn't, we will explain it a little more thoroughly as we get closer to this part of the challenge.
12. We hope to assign more than one artist to our longest fics submitted (we know there are some overachievers out there that will write 30,000 words or more), and some artists will choose to illustrate more than just one fic. Artists will be assigned to fics by us. We will try our very best to assign artists to stories that will inspire them and we will make sure to take their preferences about what they're willing to draw/create into consideration when making assignments.
13. You are not allowed to post your fics in pieces as you go. No one but your beta(s), artist(s), and mods are allowed to see your fic before your posting day. (Posting starts on August 15th, but you aren't allowed to post your fic or art anywhere else until August 22nd.)
14. Authors must be 18 if they wish to submit or read adult fanfiction. Artists must be 18 if they are drawing or creating art for fiction that has an adult rating.
15. Please refrain from bashing characters or pairings when you're discussing your ideas/fics. We know that not everyone likes every character in Harry Potter, but there's no need for bashing. If you're unsure whether or not a post or comment is considered bashing, don't hesitate to ask us. We won't be bothered by any questions about this or any other problems you're having in this (or the author discussion) community.
16. We're pretty sure that we've covered all of the things you need to know (either in here or the timeline or FAQ), but if we feel the need to add another rule, we will make a post in the community letting you know. We won't try to trick you and add it in without letting you know.