Community Profile

WHITE COLLAR REVERSE BIG BANG RULES, SCHEDULE, AND FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is a reverse bang? A reverse bang is the opposite of a big bang. Instead of authors writing fanfiction and artists making art for that fic, it goes the other way around. The artists create art and the authors get to choose a piece of art for which they want to create fan fiction.

How do I sign up? When sign-ups start, two sign up posts will go up. One for authors and one for artists. You can sign up as an artist and as an author, but you can't claim your own artwork.

Do I need a Dreamwidth account to take part? A Dreamwidth account will be needed to make the reveal post to the White Collar Reverse Big Bang community at the scheduled time of posting, so one member of the team will need to have one. If neither person in a team has a Dreamwidth account go ahead and send the post information to the mods and we will post it to on the teams behalf. Authors and artists are welcome to sign up with other accounts as long as a valid email address is provided so we can have contact with you.

SCHEDULE

Schedule for Round THREE of the White Collar Reverse Big Bang:

Sign Ups for Artists and Authors Open: May 15, 2017
Artist Check In (not mandatory): June 1, 2017
Artist Sign Ups Close: June 15, 2017
Art Drafts Due: June 20, 2017
Art Preview: June 22, 2017
Round One Art Up for Claims: Saturday, June 24, 2017 at NOON Eastern
Round Two Art Up for Claims: Depends on unclaimed artwork
Round Three Art Up for Claims: Depends on unclaimed artwork
Author Sign-ups Close: August 10, 2017
Author Check in (mandatory): August 15, 2017
Last day for author drop out: September 1, 2017
Pinch hit request: September 2, 2017
Posting Date Selection: September 10, 2017
Author Rough Drafts Due: Begins September 18, 2017, continues for one week
Challenge Closes, Fics and Finished Art Due: September 25, 2017
Posting Starts: October 1, 2017



ART REQUIREMENTS

What are the requirements for art? Artists are expected to make at least one new piece of art: a drawing or digital manip or picspam or fanvid. Art must be at least 400 by 600 pixels in size. Vids must be at least thirty seconds long.

For this reverse bang, artists are allowed to make up to six (6) separate art prompts which will be posted in two separate claimings. Artists will designate which pieces they want to go up with which claim post. We want to make sure that at least one prompt by each artist gets claimed, and hopefully every piece of art gets claimed. This may be subject to change, depending on how many artists and authors we get. This means separate art prompts, for one prompt you can make as many pieces as you want. If you make multiple pieces for one prompt please put it all together on a collage when you turn it in.

Posting Art Form (select and copy/paste into your comment entry):

<B>Dreamwidth User Name</b>: <B>Email Address</b>: <B>Preferred Pairings</b>: <B>Preferred Ratings</b>: <B>Things I Like/Want</b>: <B>Things I Don’t Like/Want</b>: <B>Crossover Fandom</b>: List if relevant, delete if not <B>Will I create additional images after the story rough draft is turned in</b>: Yes/No <B>Have I joined the community?</b> Yes/No

What is allowed – how explicit can I get? All ratings are allowed, all pairings are allows. There are pictures of naked Tim, and if someone can find pictures of naked Matt, then go for the full monty! You can use any image from any source, but the resulting artwork should be centered around White Collar, even if it’s an A/U. The only exception to this is no use of any images of any of the actor’s children will be permitted.

Can I create a crossover or fusion piece? At this time we are going to allow crossovers but we want artists to keep in mind that there is no way to guarantee potential authors will know the crossed over fandom. We will do our best to see that every prompt gets filled, but the preferred fandoms of our authors is out of the mods control, and if that prompt goes unfilled, the artist assumed that risk.

Fusions are allowed (fusions have the characters of one fandom replace the characters of another, or the characters are set in another story’s universe).

What happens if the number of authors doesn’t match up with the number of artists? We will do several rounds of claiming so that EVERY piece of art has a fic in the event that the art pieces outnumber fan fiction writers. If it's the other way, we may open up the pieces of art so that more than one fic writer is assigned to the same piece of art. Either way, everyone who wants to participate will get to participate.

Will my art be archived anywhere? The mods will upload all art to Photobucket or Dropbox album in order to post claims and for authors to view before they make a claim but that is the only place we (the mods) will be putting the art. At any time after the challenge is ended the artist can request for their art to be removed from the album. Artists will be responsible for where they decided to upload and post the final version of their art.


WRITING REQUIREMENTS

What type of requirements are there for a fic? Authors will write a completed fic with a minimum of 5,000 words, based on the artwork prompt you choose in the Art Claims post. Claims will be first come, first serve.

How do I know what art I'm writing for? / How do I make a claim? When the artists turn in their rough drafts, we'll make a claims post. In this post we'll include a preview of their work, as well as any warnings the artist gives and the artists preferred pairings. You can choose which piece of art you'd like to create a fic for, and then that person's art will get crossed off the list.

This post will be up for preview the day before claiming goes live, giving authors at least 24 hours to preview the art and make their selections. Comments on the post will be enabled on at a pre announced time (usually decided by a poll to authors). If an author is unable to make the announced time they can arrange for a proxy to claim for them.

This is the comment form that you will use to make a claim (select and copy/paste into your comment entry):

<B>Dreamwidth User Name</b>: (if you are using a proxy, be sure that the proxy notes YOUR name) <B>Email Address</b>: <b>Choice #1:</b> <b>Choice #2:</b> <b>Choice #3:</b>

I've already been writing a fic, can I use that one? No. The fic you write must be based around the art you choose, using that as your prompt.

What genres/warnings are allowed? You may write a White Collar story for whichever genre of fic you choose that works with the artwork you’ve claimed. The only exception to this is that this challenge excludes RPS/RPF. You will need to work with your artist and observe their likes/dislikes (as stated in their claims post), but please remember, this isn't a collaboration. Authors must remain aware of what their artist is comfortable with it, but artists do not have veto rights to content outside of what they've specified in their dislikes statement.

Can I write with someone else? Yes, this year co-writing is allowed but the word minimum is 8,000 words for co-written pieces.

Will my fic be archived anywhere? No, where the story is posted will be up to the author.

Does my fic have to be complete when I submit it the “final draft”?, Can I post my story as a WIP? No, as said above, stories have to be completed at the time of posting. We do allow stories to be posted as a part of an author’s existing series or ‘verse, as long as they are able to stand on their own. If you are having trouble completing your story in time please let us know and we will try to work with you. We rather arrange for a delayed posting date (or allow the artist to post just their art within the posting period) then have an incomplete fic posted. However, if we find out an author posted an incomplete work while leading us to believe it was complete they will not be allowed to participate in the next round of the challenge.

I’ve written an epic, can I post over a period of days? While the challenge has a 5000 word minimum, we do recognize that many authors in the White Collar fandom embrace the epic format and posting a multi-part fic on a single day can be stressful. If and when your story exceeds the 20,000 word mark and wish to post over consecutive days, please let the mods know.

The rule of thumb is that stories should be kept under wraps until the assigned posting date, but if you need three or four days to post, you can start posting on day you are assigned and continue posting on your journal until the story is complete. Your post on the WC Reverse Big Bang Comm should be a Master Post with the art and links to all of the parts of the story, which you should update as those parts go live.


SCHEDULE INFORMATION

What's a check in? They're something to give you a feel on where a typical artist and/or author should or could be at in their creation process. They're used for encouragement and motivation only.

What are the artwork rough draft requirements? Artwork should be 80% complete, whether it’s a series of partially completed compositions that are finished enough for claims, or a single piece complete with additional pieces to follow. That's hard to measure, of course -- basically it does not need to be a finished piece but it should be finished enough to give the author wanting to claim your art a good idea of what it will look like. Time should go into it. Remember that this piece (and any additional pieces an artist decides to make) will be what the author bases their story on.

I am an artist, how should I submit my rough drafts? Please email your mods at wcreversebb@gmail.com with your draft artwork as an attachment in .jpg or .png format only. Please don't send links, we need the actual files this time.

The title of your email should read: YOUR DREAMWIDTH USER NAME - Artwork - X (number of images) Images Attached

Your draft post should contain the following (cut and paste into your email):

<B>Dreamwidth User Name</b>: <B>Email Address</b>: <B>Preferred Pairings</b>: <B>Preferred Ratings</b>: <B>Things I Like/Want</b>: <B>Things I Don’t Like/Want</b>: <B>Crossover Fandom</b>: List if relevant, delete if not <B>Will I create additional images after the story rough draft is turned in</b>: Yes/No <B>Have I joined the community?</b> Yes/No

If you are submitting multiple art prompts, please send in separate emails, and add X of X Prompts to your email title.

What are the writing rough draft requirements? Stories should be 75% of the challenge minimum word count – i.e., 3750 words. But if you know your story is going epic, please try to have fifty (50%) of your story done by the rough draft date. Remember that this is an exchange-type challenge, and if you can’t complete by the challenge closing day, we will need to get pinch hitters for the artists whose authors dropped out. So, be adult and plan accordingly. And remember that your mods are human, too.

Authors will be given a full week to check in. If you cannot make this timeframe please let us know in advance.

We will chase you for your rough drafts. You will have a week to submit your rough drafts and we will reach out to you if we don’t hear from you. If 48 hours pass and you don’t reply to our contacts, we will default you and look for a pinch hitter. Of course, if you then contact us and tell us that external forces kept you from replying, we will work with you to see that you get back on track.

I am an author, how should I submit my rough draft? Please email your mods at wcreversebb@gmail.com with your draft story as an attachment in .doc format only. You do not need to include artwork.

The title of your email should read: YOUR USER NAME - Story - TITLE (even if just working) - ARTIST USER NAME

Your draft post should contain the following (cut and paste into your email):

<B>Dreamwidth User Name - Author</b>: <B>Dreamwidth User Name - Artist</b>: <B>Title</b>: (Can be final or working) <B>Email Address</b>: <B>Current Word Count</b>: <B>Summary</b>: (Can be final or working) <B>Have I joined the community?</b> Yes/No

What should the author's final draft look like? You are expected to turn in a complete draft when the challenge period closes, but you will until your posting date to finish your story. So, if the challenge closes on April 1st, and your posting date is two weeks after that, we expect you to have sent in a story that is complete, but we also realize that those two weeks can mean everything to a writer working on a deadline. What we don’t want is to hear that you plan to write your entire story between the challenge close date and your posting date.

While we get events can happen in real life to delay writing we have to make sure that every art prompt submitted gets a completed story at the end of the challenge.

What if I need an extension? We will be granting extensions on a case-by-case basis for fics and art. We would hope, however, that you use the checkpoints and all your available creating and writing time to its fullest.


POSTING REQUIREMENTS

Who will be posting to the community? That is to be decided among the artist and author team. Either can make the post to the community.

How will I know what day to post? / What if I have a posting conflict? When fic drafts are due authors and artists will be asked what days they can’t post during the posting schedule. We will do our best to avoid any conflicted dates a team gives us.

Then at least a week before posting the posting schedule will go up, with up to three teams posting a day. Teams will be assigned a specific posting date to date. Anyone that has a conflict with their date should contact us as soon as possible!

Does my fic need to be beta read?, Where can I find beta readers? We strongly encourage every author to have at least one other person read the story for basic spelling and grammatical errors. After the non-mandatory check in, but before the rough drafts are due, we will put up a post where people can offer and ask for beta reading services.

What should my post to the community look like? The White Collar Reverse Big Bang Community post should contain a preview of the art, no larger than 500 pixels wide, along with the story header (see below) that includes a summary, all appropriate warnings (there will be more about warnings when we get to posting time) and links to the full version of the art and the accompanying fic. You can link back to your own Dreamwidth Journal, DeviantArt, LJ, IJ, etc. so long as your post remains unlocked.

If your artwork preview is Not Safe For Work (NSFW) or has explicit elements, you will need to put it under a cut.

Your community post will need to contain the following information>

<b>Title:</b> <b>Artist:</b> <b>Author:</b> <B>Word Count:</b> <b>Characters/Pairings:</b> <b>Rating:</b> <b>Warnings:</b> <B>Spoilers:</b> <B>Summary:</b> Artwork Preview <img src="ARTWORK URL" width="500"> Link to the art post <a href= ART WORK URL>Artwork for Story</b> Link to the fic post <a href= STORY URL(S)>Story Post</a>

Can I post it to my journal/AO3 a few days early to show my friends? No, the first time you post this must be on your reveal day. You can post snippets it to the support community for feedback or show select friends in advance. We prefer works aren’t posting to journals or AO3 until the signed date of posting (if they can’t be locked for your eyes only) but do understand that coordinated times between a team can be difficult. Just let us know if you need to post your work a day or so early because of this.

NOTE: If you do wish to post to your Tumblr account, we ask that you repost there after you’ve posted to a more text-friendly archive.

I am posting an epic, how do I do that? Back when you picked your date selection post, we asked you to alert us that you'll need a few days to post all the parts of your story (so, we're expecting that you did this). If you need three or four days to post, you can start posting on day you are assigned and continue posting on your journal until the story is complete. Your post on the White Collar Reverse Big Bang Comm should be a Master Post with the art and links to all of the parts of the story, which you should update as those parts go live.

To be fair to all writers, if you are posting over several days, each part of your fic should be no less than 9k, including your header (to take into account Dreamwidth’s maximum per-post requirements). If your final post is very short, we encourage you to post that on the same day as the next to last post.

Except for the final post, posting stories in smaller increments is actively discouraged.

Where can I upload my art? There are several free resources such as Sendspace, or Mediafire that can be used for large files. Tinypic is recommended for images or .gif files, along with Photobucket and Imgur. You can also use the public folder on Dropbox, as well as various other places. Most people have their preferred hosting sites but if you need help finding one feel free to ask!


What if I fail to post on my assigned posting date? The heavens will turn black at noon. Frogs and lizards will fall like rain from the sky. Blood will seep from the eyes of every garden gnome statue in the world.

No, seriously. If you miss your posting day, you will post on the next available free slot (i.e., the next day were there aren’t three fics scheduled to post).

YOU DO NOT GET TO WAIT UNTIL THE END OF THE POSTING PERIOD TO POST.

(Sorry, but that’s just a free pass for bad planning.)

If you still don’t post on your reassigned day, you’re out. Of course, you can always finish your fic and with your artist’s consent, use the artwork, but your fic will not be part of the year’s challenge. Also, you’re out for the next round.

We are not hard hearted or rigidly wedded to a pre-determined posting date. If you realize AFTER you’ve selected your posting date and before it is your posting date that you can’t make it, contact the mods ASAP and we’ll slot you into a more doable date. Come on, we’re adults and this is supposed to be fun for everyone. Tell us you need an extension and we’ll accommodate you as much as we can. Don’t tell us and face the consequences.

WARNINGS

How does White Collar Reverse Big Bang define "warning"? The White Collar Reverse Big Bang strictly defines a warning as a potential trigger, as commonly recognized in fandom. Warnings are used to notify community members of content containing potential triggers so that individuals can avoid reading/viewing something they would view as harmful to themselves.

We know that some writers don’t feel that warnings are necessary. We’ve seen arguments made that published books don’t come with warnings, but that’s a different animal all together. First of all, books in book stores (whether on-line or brick and mortar) are classified by category. Horror is not kept in the same section as light romance. Furthermore, traditional publishers have been including warning in both e-books and paper books for the past few years. Some are fairly light-hearted; others are very specific to the extreme content of the story.

Suffice it to say, your mods most strenuously believe that warning are an essential part of the compact between the fan fiction writer and reader. All fic published for the White Collar Big Bang challenge must contain a warning statement. If your story’s content contain any content that matches the mandatory warnings listed below, you must include a warning (subject to the spoiler/warning policy below).

What is the difference between a kink and a warning? One person’s kink may be another’s trigger, and vice-versa. Our intent with the inclusion of "warnings" is not to kink shame. Rather, it is intended to give our community members and readers the necessary information to judge if a work could be triggering for them.

What are White Collar Reverse Big Bang's mandatory warnings?

Consent: non-con/non-con reference, dub-con, mindwipe, mind control
Other consent issues: incest (including incest play), underage/underage reference, bestiality, necrophilia, somnophilia (if consent is debatable)
Death, Grieving, Loss: character death, suicide/attempted suicide, severe or terminal illness, euthanasia, miscarriage/stillbirth/abortion, imminent future death, cannibalism
Violence: torture/torture reference, painplay, bloodplay, knife/swordplay, whipping, other graphic violence
Restraint: asphyxiation, bondage, slavery, kidnapping
Abuse/Self-harm: self-harm, child abuse/child abuse reference, domestic abuse, animal abuse, addiction, food and body issues

The only exception to the requirement to warn is if the warning is a spoiler for a major plot point. Please see the section below on how to handle this.

Suggested topics where the author may (but is not required) to include warnings:
● Intoxication
● Spanking
● Marking/Scarring
● Homophobia/Racism/other isms
● Sleep sex (if consent is debatable)
● Authority Figures (if consent is debatable)
● Infidelity

What should I NOT include in warnings?

1) Do not use warnings for squicks or judgment calls (e.g. OOC characterization)
2) Do not use warnings to list other kinks/perversities.
3) Do not list characters as warnings.
4) Do not list het, slash, femslash, etc. in warnings.

If you have any questions about what to include in your warnings, please contact us at wcreversebb@gmail.com before you post.

What if a warning is a spoiler? If you believe that posting a warning will reveal an essential part of your story (i.e., a major character dies in the end), you have two options:

1 - You can include, in bold text, the phrase: “Author Choses Not To Include Warnings, Please See Entry Tags on AUTHOR NAME’s Master Post (link to post).”

If you go that route, you MUST, without fail, include tags that encompass any of the mandatory warning items listed above. The mods will be checking for this.

2 – You can hide your warning text behind a color block, using this HTML code:

Warnings are spoilers. <span style="background-color: #666; color: #666" title="Please highlight to read.">WARNINGS.</span>

Authors may also modify this if they feel that warnings may in fact be triggering themselves.

Warnings may be triggering. <span style="background-color: #666; color: #666" title="Please highlight to read.">WARNINGS.</span>


For Readers . It is up to the reader/viewer to review the warnings (or take heed that the author has specifically chosen NOT to warn) and other content notes to determine if something contained therein is a trigger. Please do not request that a writer or artist edit their warnings with content not explicitly listed as a White Collar Big Bang mandatory warning list.

It also falls to you to be aware of your comments in response to a fan work. Let’s all give our authors and artists the benefit of the doubt that they didn’t intentionally leave something out of the warnings and content notes. Just as we ask authors to contact the mods if they have questions about what to include in their warnings and content notes, we ask that readers to contact the mods if you believe a work is missing a warning.


COMMUNICATING

How will I contact my artist/author? We will provide the artists and authors with contact information once claims have been made and accepted. From there it is up to the author to communicate with the artist and create a story that would fit the art. Artist are also free to contact the author that claims their art as soon as the claim is confirmed by a mod.

Contact can be done over email/Dreamwidth PM/chat/twitter/tumblr – really whatever works for you both! As long as contact is made and maintained.

I haven’t heard from my author/artist in a while, what should I do? Please let us know and we will try to reestablish contact with them on your behalf! For artists, if an author does not respond to our messages (both by email/PM/etc) we will then look into arranging a pinch hitter for your art. For authors, if an artist does not respond we want to encourage you to keep writing your story and post it with a link to the art that was claimed.

If you are having any problems with another participant in this challenge please bring it to us so that we can mediate. We expect all participants to be courteous to each other both on a personal level and a creative level. Please make sure you are especially courteous to your partner, and that if you have any conflicts with them bring it to us first!

If you have additional questions, please feel free to ask them in a PM or by email

Your mods:

elrhiarhodan - Email at elrhiarhodan1@gmail.com
theatregirl7299 - Email at theatregirl7299@gmail.com
kanarek13 - PM via Dreamwidth

Or you can email the comm at wcreversebb@gmail.com, the emails will be forwarded to all of the mods.

Remember, the whole point of this is to have fun and create new fanworks for the wonderful world of White Collar.


Updated 5/8/17