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Sign-ups Begin - March 30th
Sign-ups Close - April 14th
Check Point #1 - April 21st
Check Point #2 - May 5th
Snippets Due - May 19th
Art Claims Begin - May 23rd
Check Point #3 - June 2nd
Check Point #4 - June 16th
Rough Drafts Due - June 23rd
Posting Claims Begin - June 27th
Check Point #5 - June 30th
Posting Claims Ends - July 4th
Final Drafts/Art Due - July 11th
Posting Begins - July 11th

What is the WIP Big Bang?
Good question! This is a Big Bang with one goal in mind: to clean out your drafts folder. These are stories that were unfinished for whatever reason, that authors returned to and completed, and the art that goes with them!

Do I need a Livejournal/Dreamwidth/AO3/etc. account to participate?
No! You don’t have to have an account on anything to participate, though you will need to have somewhere to post your finished work. Having one or more accounts will help for you to follow what is going on with the bang (we crosspost to Livejournal, Dreamwidth, Tumblr, and Twitter), but they are not required to participate. You can always leave comments anonymously or with an opensource ID.

Will I get emails about the bang?
We do send out some emails, mostly for snippets and art claims and to ensure communication between authors and artists, but please do NOT rely on getting an email to remind you of due dates. We currently do not keep an updated email list of participants, so we only send individual emails as needed rather than mass emails.

However, email is the fastest way to communicate with the mods. If you have any questions or are having trouble communicating with your artist/author, please do email us! We will do our best to respond quickly.

Is there a minimum word count?
7500 words, but the sky's the limit, right?

What do you mean by minimum word count to enter?
This is a WIP Big Bang, therefore we ask you to have at least 500 words of your story drafted when you enter. It's okay if you have posted a few chapters of your fic already (you never know when the muse deserts you, after all), we just require you to refrain from posting more until posting begins here.

Is there anything not allowed?
As long as you wrote it and you want to finish it, you're welcome to participate. Just bear in mind that original fic generally can't be posted to AO3 and might make it hard for artists to work with. But we'll make a dedicated post for that if there will be any.

What are 'Check Points'?
These are a way for us to see what you've been up to and for you to make sure you're still on track. It will give you a little nudge/reminder if you need it but they are not compulsory.

What are the snippets requirements?
In order to allow the artists to make art for the story they claimed, we require you to supply three snippets from your fic, between 500 – 1500 words each. The snippets will be sent to the artist after they have claimed your story. They're to help the artist match your story for artwork the best way he or she possibly can.

What are the rough drafts requirements?
For the rough drafts, stories should be at least 80% complete. You will not have to turn them into us, just assure us that you are at that point. Anything less is at the discretion of the mods and those authors should speak to one of the mods asap.

What is, and do I need, a beta?
A beta is basically a person who goes over your work to make sure that there are no spelling/grammatical errors and they can even be of assistance in helping you with story lines, etc. It is highly recommended that a beta looks over your work before posting.

Where can I post my fic/art?
Stories and art can be posted to your own personal journal,Tumblr, ff-net, AO3, or wherever you like. For those of you with AO3 names, we will set up a collection that will go live on the day of the posting. Also, we've enabled posting to the comm for members. We will post a template for posting artwork and stories to the comm closer to the posting date.

How do I know when to post?
Posting will be tiered, you'll each get your own posting date that you and your artist will decide on together. There will probably be two fics, plus art, posting per day between July 11th and August 31st. The post with date claims will go up on June 27th and you'll have to choose your date by July 4th.

If you want to post your story in chapters on AO3 or your own blog (or wherever you usually post), you may do so starting July 4th. However, posting has to be finished by your chosen posting date to the comm. One of the things we're hoping to do with the posted dates is to give everybody on the comm a little bragging time in the spotlight. You know, "this story was incomplete for this long, but I finished this sucker." If you don't have time to post on your chosen posting date, you can queue up a post ahead of time and we can post it on the date you picked. Either way works for us. Art will be due on the chosen posting date to the comm.

Is there a minimum/maximum requirement for my art?
There is no strict minimum, but we do ask artists to remember that the authors are writing a minimum of 7,500 and your artwork should reflect that. You can do anything you like, including banners, wallpapers, icons, mixes, vids, gif sets, picspams, etc. Suggested guidelines for art are 500x500px (or equivalent of smaller pieces like banner + spacers, cover + icons, etc.) for traditional art, digital art, and manips; 2 minutes for vids; 10 songs + cover art for mixes; and 6 images for gif sets and picspams. We also ask that when you are in contact with the author, you work with them to see if there is anything specific they would like (i.e. a wallpaper). The art is your work, but having ideas doesn't hurt!

What are 'art claims'?
The claims are when anonymous summaries of the story go up for artists to choose from. It is based on a 'first come, first served' basis and artists may choose up to three potential stories (in case their first choice is unavailable). If there are more stories than artists, there will be a second round of claims wherein artists may choose a second story to work with. In the event that there are more artists than stories, the remaining artists may choose a story to work with and those stories will have two artists working independently of each other.

Can I get an extension?
Community extensions may be given in the event that the majority of the authors/artists need one. They may also be given individually under certain circumstances, but this must be discussed with the mods and will only be a short extension for posting. If you are certain that you won’t be able to finish your story in time, please let us know by May 19th.

What do I do if I have problems or concerns about my author/artist?
Sometimes authors and artists do not get along and this may cause problems with working together. If this happens to be the case with you, please PM or email the mods and this will be dealt with immediately so that everyone has a chance to have fun at WIP Big Bang!

Can I drop out?
We have high hopes that everybody who signs up can actually finish the round and share in the joy of the reveal with us, but real life can unfortunately get in the way and we completely understand! If you feel like you just cannot finish in time and no amount of assistance from us can help you, just let us know by May 19th (if at all possible).

Is it possible to be banned?
As was announced last year, we are enacting a banned users list. We hope to use this to encourage participants who are having issues to communicate with the mods. We want to help you! The way the ban works is that participants, either authors and artists, will be banned for dropping out without notifying a mod. This means that anyone who has not posted or talked to a mod by the time the posting period ends will be banned. Dropping out is not in and of itself a banning offense, so please do not panic if you have to drop out! We understand that there are many reasons you may need to drop, and we want to work with you.

Bans will last one round or until the issue is resolved, whichever comes first. To resolve a ban, authors will have to finish and post the story they signed up with and artists will have to finish and post the art for the story they claimed. Three bans will result in a permanent ban from the bang.