TW Femficfest 2011 FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What's the timeline?
September 14-23: signups
September 24-25: assignments go out
October 25: check-in / last day to drop out
November 1: stories go live, posted or linked at the comm
November 3: bonus round stories start going live, post whenever
2. What's this all about anyway?
The "Torchwood Female Characters Are Awesome" ficathon is about celebrating the many women and girls who make up the Torchwood universe. They all have stories to tell, and this is a fun way of telling those stories. All genres and characters are welcome, but please keep the focus on the women. (Ex: Your story is about how Tosh awesomely saves the day with her brain. Jack and Ianto can be canoodling in the background, but the story should be about Tosh, not Tosh worried about Jack and Ianto's relationship.)
3. Who do I get to pick for my requests, and how many can I pick?
You must make three requests in your signup about three different characters who appeared in or were referenced during the first three seasons of Torchwood (Ex: Lucia Moretti). You can just list three characters, or you can list characters and prompts, anything from song lyrics to story seeds. (Ex: "Agent Johnson gets a part-time job at McDonalds." "Tosh, There's more than one answer to these questions pointing me in a crooked line.") Any female character who appeared in S1-S3 of Torchwood is fair game, from Gwen and Tosh to Mica and the Frobisher girls. Want to know Janet's history? Would you like to read an AU where Beth the sleeper agent didn't die and had to pick up the pieces of her life? Want a story where Toshiko is actually a Time Lord? This is the place. You can list the characters in groups (Ex: Gwen and her bridesmaids get together after the honeymoon. What do they think happened?) and you can overlap the groups (Ex: Gwen and Tosh, "The power of two") but do not make all three requests be about the same character, and that includes the male characters. (Ex: Please do not ask for "Owen/Katie," "Owen/Diane," and "Owen/Gwen" as your three prompts.)
There is an optional fourth request you can make. You can request a fourth character that you didn't request before. You can make a second request about a previous character. You can also select a wildcard character. Characters who appeared during Miracle Day are wildcard characters.
4. What's a wildcard character?
In your optional fourth request, you can pick another prompt from a wider range of female characters. Female characters from Miracle Day are in this category, as are characters from the audios and radio plays, the novels, and characters from Doctor Who (2005 and on) and the Sarah Jane Adventures (Jo Grant ftw!), with a focus on their interactions with Torchwood. Did Rose drop Handy and come work for Torchwood in this universe instead? What if Sarah Jane helped Gwen rebuild after Children of Earth? Lois, Esther, and Donna go to a pub quiz together, and coincidentally prevent an alien invasion. (For the purpose of this year's ficathon, Anwen will be considered a character from the first three seasons. Prompts involving her may go with your first three requests.)
Wildcards will be harder to match on, but we'll do our best.
5. What are "Preferences" for?
The preference field will help your writer with what you want to see, and help your mods find an assignment that best fits you. If you really like AUs, this is a good place to mention it. If you'd prefer no femslash, that also goes here. If you'd prefer lots of femslash, mention that too. The format for the things you don't want is "Prefer no *whatever*." If you wouldn't mind seeing other characters from the Whoniverse at large, say so. If you prefer your writer ignore the plots of certain seasons while using the characters, put that here. (Ex: "I like canon-deviation AUs and Who crossovers. I like the characters from Children of Earth but prefer to ignore the events.")
NOTE: This is not the place to say Jack/Janet is the ickiest pairing ever and anyone who ships it is a stupidhead and that Janet is a whore. No character bashing (ANY character), no ship bashing (ANY ship), no actor bashing (NO REALLY), no bashing of other fans (INCLUDING that one fan you'd like to feed piece by piece to hyenas OR that one group of fans you spend your free time mocking on your own LJ), or I will smack you. That includes during signups, during discussions, and during posting and commenting on stories. By no means should you feel obligated to present all the characters as perfect (they're not -- I find flawed characters are more interesting anyway) but if you can't participate without grinding your personal ship/character/fandom axe, feel free to start your own "We Hate Jacknet" ficathon elsewhere and sit this one out.
6. What about my "Eras" field?
This is where you list the seasons you are willing to read and write for, as well as how much DW/SJA you are willing to include. You may exclude specific characters from the seasons. (Ex: "Willing to read/write S1-4, except Gwen and Jilly. Willing to write Eleven-era DW characters, no SJA." "Willing to read S1-2, willing to write S1-3, except Suzie and Alice. Willing to write all DW and SJA characters.")
7. Should I sign up to pinch hit or beta?
Yes, please. But you don't have to. If someone drops out, we'll be looking for backup writers. It helps to have a list ready to go. (Pinch-hitting means you're willing to take on another story for someone in case of a dropout. Betaing means you're willing to edit someone else's story after they've written it.)
8. I have my assignment. Now what?
Read it through. You will have been matched on at least one character you offered. You may have been matched on all of them. Pick the prompt you like best, and write at least 500 words before November 1st. Try to keep your recipient's preferences in mind; if the recipient put "Prefer no Martha/Owen," don't make it 500 words of Owen and Martha's true love. If you really can't do your assignment, contact the mods and we'll switch you with someone.
Beta readers aren't mandatory, but would be nice to have.
9. I can't finish my assignment. What do I do?
Drop the mods a note before October 25 if possible. Just reply to any post, or to the check-in post, and we'll find a pinch-hitter for your assignment. If you can complete your story during the bonus round, please consider posting it then.
9. What's the bonus round?
During signups, there are a lot of great prompts generated. Say you saw "The Doctor accidentally brought Jack home a year later, and Gwen had to lead the team through the plots of series two," and despite not getting that as your assignment, you suddenly have this fantastic idea. Write it. Bonus stories can be any length, from a half-drabble to an epic. Starting November 3rd, you can post these stories to the comm. The person who made the request gets an extra story, you get to write something that appeals to you, and we all get more awesome fic about the female characters. Everybody wins.
The bonus round is open to anyone, so if you didn't sign up, or you had to drop out, you can still pick up a prompt and post it.
10. Can you provide some example signups?
Example signups:
A.
My LJ username: nancybrown
My contact info: nancyelizabrown AT aol DOT com
Prompts:
1. Gwen is awesome.
2. Tosh is awesome.
3. Suzie is awesome.
Eras: S1-3, no DW or SJA
Preferences: Prefer no Gwen/Rhys, prefer no CoE references
Willing to Pinch Hit? Yes
Willing to beta? Yes, and I can Britpick
B.
My LJ username: nancybrown
My contact info: nancyelizabrown AT aol DOT com
Prompts:
1. Gwen, "this song lyric I totally dig"
2. Martha, "this song lyric I totally dig".
3. Lisa. What was she really like before the Cyber conversion?
4. How did Carlie wind up working for Torchwood London in the first place?
Eras: S1-2, except Suzie, only willing to write Rose, Martha, Sarah Jane Smith and Rani Chandra
Preferences: Prefer no het except Ianto/Lisa
Willing to Pinch Hit? No
Willing to beta? Yes
C.
My LJ username: nancybrown
My contact info: nancyelizabrown AT aol DOT com
Prompts:
1. Agent Johnson gets a part time job at McDonalds.
2. Alice fights aliens while chaperoning a school field trip.
3. Lois, AU where she works with Team Torchwood proper (prefer no one dead, including Owen)
4. (optional) Esther/Vera, "the cool line of poetry I totally dig"
Eras: S1-4, Eleven-era DW, SJA, willing to read Nine and Ten era DW but I can't write it.
Preferences: I love AUs of all kinds. Feel free to ignore canon events after S2 and play with the characters.
Willing to Pinch Hit? Yes!
Willing to beta? no
D.
My LJ username: nancybrown
My contact info: nancyelizabrown AT aol DOT com
Prompts:
1. Tosh and Martha do something awesome.
2. Anwen tells her children the same fairy tales she learned when she was a little girl.
3. Martha meets the Creepy Tarot Girl, who has something to tell her.
4. (optional) Rhiannon is young for having a ten year old. What's the story?
Eras: S1-3, willing to read/write Amy and River, no SJA, willing to write characters from the novels (NINA!!!!)
Preferences: I love femslash (especially angsty Tosh/Martha), prefer no underage
Willing to Pinch Hit? No
Willing to beta? Yes but I can't Britpick
E.
My LJ username: nancybrown
My contact info: nancyelizabrown AT aol DOT com
Prompts:
1. Carys goes on with her life. What happens?
2. Mary's been in Cardiff a long time.
3. DI Swanson has to clean up another Torchwood mess.
4. (optional) When Jilly was six, she wanted to be a ballerina.
Eras: S1-4, willing to write DW characters Rose, Harriet, Francine, Donna
Preferences: I like minor characters and staying close to canon. Background Janto a plus but not required.
Willing to Pinch Hit? Y
Willing to beta? N
11. It's November 1st. Now what?
If it's after midnight in your timezone, post your story to the comm. You can post it directly to the community. You can post it to your LJ or DW account and link. You can post it to AO3 or your personal website and link. All we ask is that you post it somewhere public, and if you later choose to lock down or delete your journal/site, that you move the story. (AO3 has a feature where you can upload a story and then "orphan" it, which means the story stays in the archive without your name attached.) Starting November 3rd, you can post additional drabbles, ficlets and so on to the comm with the same rules.
12. Is fanart acceptable?
Sure! This ficathon is specifically for stories, but manips and artwork (and fanmixes) are more than welcome. Post them with your stories, or during the bonus round.
13. What's the posting format?
Title:
Recipient:
Author:
Rating:
Characters/Pairings:
Spoilers and Warnings: (Please warn for character death, sexual assault, and other common triggers.)
Summary:
Beta:
Author Notes:
Link to Story:
14. Can I crosspost my story? Can I tell my friends about the comm?
Feel free to spread the love. Just don't spam.
15. Who's running this place???
nancybrown, queenfanfiction, and alt_universe_me, but we always like extra help!
16. Have you thought of everything?
Probably not. If you've got additional questions, ask them here and we'll try to get back to you with an answer.
Signup Post
1. What's the timeline?
September 14-23: signups
September 24-25: assignments go out
October 25: check-in / last day to drop out
November 1: stories go live, posted or linked at the comm
November 3: bonus round stories start going live, post whenever
2. What's this all about anyway?
The "Torchwood Female Characters Are Awesome" ficathon is about celebrating the many women and girls who make up the Torchwood universe. They all have stories to tell, and this is a fun way of telling those stories. All genres and characters are welcome, but please keep the focus on the women. (Ex: Your story is about how Tosh awesomely saves the day with her brain. Jack and Ianto can be canoodling in the background, but the story should be about Tosh, not Tosh worried about Jack and Ianto's relationship.)
3. Who do I get to pick for my requests, and how many can I pick?
You must make three requests in your signup about three different characters who appeared in or were referenced during the first three seasons of Torchwood (Ex: Lucia Moretti). You can just list three characters, or you can list characters and prompts, anything from song lyrics to story seeds. (Ex: "Agent Johnson gets a part-time job at McDonalds." "Tosh, There's more than one answer to these questions pointing me in a crooked line.") Any female character who appeared in S1-S3 of Torchwood is fair game, from Gwen and Tosh to Mica and the Frobisher girls. Want to know Janet's history? Would you like to read an AU where Beth the sleeper agent didn't die and had to pick up the pieces of her life? Want a story where Toshiko is actually a Time Lord? This is the place. You can list the characters in groups (Ex: Gwen and her bridesmaids get together after the honeymoon. What do they think happened?) and you can overlap the groups (Ex: Gwen and Tosh, "The power of two") but do not make all three requests be about the same character, and that includes the male characters. (Ex: Please do not ask for "Owen/Katie," "Owen/Diane," and "Owen/Gwen" as your three prompts.)
There is an optional fourth request you can make. You can request a fourth character that you didn't request before. You can make a second request about a previous character. You can also select a wildcard character. Characters who appeared during Miracle Day are wildcard characters.
4. What's a wildcard character?
In your optional fourth request, you can pick another prompt from a wider range of female characters. Female characters from Miracle Day are in this category, as are characters from the audios and radio plays, the novels, and characters from Doctor Who (2005 and on) and the Sarah Jane Adventures (Jo Grant ftw!), with a focus on their interactions with Torchwood. Did Rose drop Handy and come work for Torchwood in this universe instead? What if Sarah Jane helped Gwen rebuild after Children of Earth? Lois, Esther, and Donna go to a pub quiz together, and coincidentally prevent an alien invasion. (For the purpose of this year's ficathon, Anwen will be considered a character from the first three seasons. Prompts involving her may go with your first three requests.)
Wildcards will be harder to match on, but we'll do our best.
5. What are "Preferences" for?
The preference field will help your writer with what you want to see, and help your mods find an assignment that best fits you. If you really like AUs, this is a good place to mention it. If you'd prefer no femslash, that also goes here. If you'd prefer lots of femslash, mention that too. The format for the things you don't want is "Prefer no *whatever*." If you wouldn't mind seeing other characters from the Whoniverse at large, say so. If you prefer your writer ignore the plots of certain seasons while using the characters, put that here. (Ex: "I like canon-deviation AUs and Who crossovers. I like the characters from Children of Earth but prefer to ignore the events.")
NOTE: This is not the place to say Jack/Janet is the ickiest pairing ever and anyone who ships it is a stupidhead and that Janet is a whore. No character bashing (ANY character), no ship bashing (ANY ship), no actor bashing (NO REALLY), no bashing of other fans (INCLUDING that one fan you'd like to feed piece by piece to hyenas OR that one group of fans you spend your free time mocking on your own LJ), or I will smack you. That includes during signups, during discussions, and during posting and commenting on stories. By no means should you feel obligated to present all the characters as perfect (they're not -- I find flawed characters are more interesting anyway) but if you can't participate without grinding your personal ship/character/fandom axe, feel free to start your own "We Hate Jacknet" ficathon elsewhere and sit this one out.
6. What about my "Eras" field?
This is where you list the seasons you are willing to read and write for, as well as how much DW/SJA you are willing to include. You may exclude specific characters from the seasons. (Ex: "Willing to read/write S1-4, except Gwen and Jilly. Willing to write Eleven-era DW characters, no SJA." "Willing to read S1-2, willing to write S1-3, except Suzie and Alice. Willing to write all DW and SJA characters.")
7. Should I sign up to pinch hit or beta?
Yes, please. But you don't have to. If someone drops out, we'll be looking for backup writers. It helps to have a list ready to go. (Pinch-hitting means you're willing to take on another story for someone in case of a dropout. Betaing means you're willing to edit someone else's story after they've written it.)
8. I have my assignment. Now what?
Read it through. You will have been matched on at least one character you offered. You may have been matched on all of them. Pick the prompt you like best, and write at least 500 words before November 1st. Try to keep your recipient's preferences in mind; if the recipient put "Prefer no Martha/Owen," don't make it 500 words of Owen and Martha's true love. If you really can't do your assignment, contact the mods and we'll switch you with someone.
Beta readers aren't mandatory, but would be nice to have.
9. I can't finish my assignment. What do I do?
Drop the mods a note before October 25 if possible. Just reply to any post, or to the check-in post, and we'll find a pinch-hitter for your assignment. If you can complete your story during the bonus round, please consider posting it then.
9. What's the bonus round?
During signups, there are a lot of great prompts generated. Say you saw "The Doctor accidentally brought Jack home a year later, and Gwen had to lead the team through the plots of series two," and despite not getting that as your assignment, you suddenly have this fantastic idea. Write it. Bonus stories can be any length, from a half-drabble to an epic. Starting November 3rd, you can post these stories to the comm. The person who made the request gets an extra story, you get to write something that appeals to you, and we all get more awesome fic about the female characters. Everybody wins.
The bonus round is open to anyone, so if you didn't sign up, or you had to drop out, you can still pick up a prompt and post it.
10. Can you provide some example signups?
Example signups:
A.
My LJ username: nancybrown
My contact info: nancyelizabrown AT aol DOT com
Prompts:
1. Gwen is awesome.
2. Tosh is awesome.
3. Suzie is awesome.
Eras: S1-3, no DW or SJA
Preferences: Prefer no Gwen/Rhys, prefer no CoE references
Willing to Pinch Hit? Yes
Willing to beta? Yes, and I can Britpick
B.
My LJ username: nancybrown
My contact info: nancyelizabrown AT aol DOT com
Prompts:
1. Gwen, "this song lyric I totally dig"
2. Martha, "this song lyric I totally dig".
3. Lisa. What was she really like before the Cyber conversion?
4. How did Carlie wind up working for Torchwood London in the first place?
Eras: S1-2, except Suzie, only willing to write Rose, Martha, Sarah Jane Smith and Rani Chandra
Preferences: Prefer no het except Ianto/Lisa
Willing to Pinch Hit? No
Willing to beta? Yes
C.
My LJ username: nancybrown
My contact info: nancyelizabrown AT aol DOT com
Prompts:
1. Agent Johnson gets a part time job at McDonalds.
2. Alice fights aliens while chaperoning a school field trip.
3. Lois, AU where she works with Team Torchwood proper (prefer no one dead, including Owen)
4. (optional) Esther/Vera, "the cool line of poetry I totally dig"
Eras: S1-4, Eleven-era DW, SJA, willing to read Nine and Ten era DW but I can't write it.
Preferences: I love AUs of all kinds. Feel free to ignore canon events after S2 and play with the characters.
Willing to Pinch Hit? Yes!
Willing to beta? no
D.
My LJ username: nancybrown
My contact info: nancyelizabrown AT aol DOT com
Prompts:
1. Tosh and Martha do something awesome.
2. Anwen tells her children the same fairy tales she learned when she was a little girl.
3. Martha meets the Creepy Tarot Girl, who has something to tell her.
4. (optional) Rhiannon is young for having a ten year old. What's the story?
Eras: S1-3, willing to read/write Amy and River, no SJA, willing to write characters from the novels (NINA!!!!)
Preferences: I love femslash (especially angsty Tosh/Martha), prefer no underage
Willing to Pinch Hit? No
Willing to beta? Yes but I can't Britpick
E.
My LJ username: nancybrown
My contact info: nancyelizabrown AT aol DOT com
Prompts:
1. Carys goes on with her life. What happens?
2. Mary's been in Cardiff a long time.
3. DI Swanson has to clean up another Torchwood mess.
4. (optional) When Jilly was six, she wanted to be a ballerina.
Eras: S1-4, willing to write DW characters Rose, Harriet, Francine, Donna
Preferences: I like minor characters and staying close to canon. Background Janto a plus but not required.
Willing to Pinch Hit? Y
Willing to beta? N
11. It's November 1st. Now what?
If it's after midnight in your timezone, post your story to the comm. You can post it directly to the community. You can post it to your LJ or DW account and link. You can post it to AO3 or your personal website and link. All we ask is that you post it somewhere public, and if you later choose to lock down or delete your journal/site, that you move the story. (AO3 has a feature where you can upload a story and then "orphan" it, which means the story stays in the archive without your name attached.) Starting November 3rd, you can post additional drabbles, ficlets and so on to the comm with the same rules.
12. Is fanart acceptable?
Sure! This ficathon is specifically for stories, but manips and artwork (and fanmixes) are more than welcome. Post them with your stories, or during the bonus round.
13. What's the posting format?
Title:
Recipient:
Author:
Rating:
Characters/Pairings:
Spoilers and Warnings: (Please warn for character death, sexual assault, and other common triggers.)
Summary:
Beta:
Author Notes:
Link to Story:
14. Can I crosspost my story? Can I tell my friends about the comm?
Feel free to spread the love. Just don't spam.
15. Who's running this place???
nancybrown, queenfanfiction, and alt_universe_me, but we always like extra help!
16. Have you thought of everything?
Probably not. If you've got additional questions, ask them here and we'll try to get back to you with an answer.
Signup Post