FAQs
What is this blog?
Torchwood Fan Fests is a blog that organises fests where fans can sign up to create Torchwood-themed fanworks, primarily fanfiction and fanart. The whole point of this project is to get more people involved with the fandom and hopefully to encourage and aid fans who might want to put their creative energies into fanworks but aren’t sure where to start or could benefit from a little direction.
Who runs this blog?
This blog is currently the collective team effort of these three folks: Estelle (@thatlastdanceofchances), Esmeralda (@welcometocrapvale), and Elle (@this-is-quite-homoerotic).
What are the fests going to be like?
We plan to organise many different types of fests. From the traditional big bangs (where writers are grouped with betas and artists) to individual-entry fests such as prompt-based challenges (where artists and writers are given prompts and can submit whatever fanworks these inspired), the idea is to present you guys with a diverse and fun array of choices so that hopefully everyone who wants to can get involved in some way. (Each fest will be explained in detail before it starts, as the rules might change a bit for each of them.)
What kind of fanworks will be accepted?
We want this project to encourage fans to create whatever fanworks they feel inspired to make, so any type of art will be happily accepted: writing of all genres, traditional and digital art, moodboards, gifsets, edits, crafts, etc. Requirements might become slightly more strict for big bangs because of the collective nature of the challenge, but individual-entry fests will accept any and all submissions of transformative works. If you want to make something a bit less common that is not covered by this list then feel free to send us an ask :)
Can I submit more than one fanwork/more than one type of fanwork?
Absolutely! The more the better! If you want to create several pieces or you want to make art and write fic you are more than welcome to, just make sure you don’t sign up to do more than you can handle.
While there is no sanction if you need to drop out, we do require that for exchanges and team projects you let us know as soon as possible if you won’t be able to complete what you signed up to do. As these types of fests are collaborative and there’ll be people counting on your contribution, we are updating our conditions slightly in 2021 to add a small penalty in the case of people who sign up for exchanges or other collaborative projects and then drop out without letting us know or answering our messages when we try to contact them. The penalty will be that people who do this will not be allowed to sign up for the next collaborative fest (they can still participate in free-for-all fests).
Let us clarify, dropping out will not be penalised, we understand that life happens and sometimes there are changes we couldn’t have foreseen that mean we don’t have the time to dedicate to a fest. Dropping out is understandable; ghosting us is not. All we ask is that participants contact us to let us know if they need to drop out so we can look for pinch-hitters. The penalty will only apply to people who didn’t let us know they would be dropping out (past the posting date) and then didn’t answer our messages when we tried to contact them. The penalty is specific to the next collaborative fest after this has happened, but if we notice that the dropping out without letting us know and then ghosting us becomes a pattern, we might ban those people from collaborative fests altogether.
So I can drop out after I’ve signed up?
Of course! Life happens, we understand this. We only ask that you let us know in the case of an exchange or for a team project so that we can start looking for a pinch-hitter as soon as possible, and so that they have as much time as possible to complete their entry.
That said, if you won’t be able to make the deadline but are mostly done with your project and only need a little more time to finish it, please get in contact with us to let us know. We prefer that you complete your part and post a little late rather than scrambling to find a pinch-hitter at the last moment who will have to start over from scratch.
What are pinch-hitters?
Pinch-hitters are fan creators who agree to fill in for the people who need to drop out of an exchange or team project, whether as an artist, writer, or beta reader. Whenever someone drops out we’ll make a post asking for pinch-hitters for that specific role (so asking for artist pinch-hitters for a project with X characteristics when the artist for that team drops out, and so on).
What is a beta reader?
A beta reader is someone who reads over your story before your fic is posted in order to point out to you any mistakes or to help you out in the outlining or writing process. There are many types of betas, some only check grammar and spelling, some help you brainstorm ideas or comment on the content of your story to help you get a sense of how it’s going, some do brit-picking (help you catch words that a Brit wouldn’t use/situations or things that don’t fit in with British culture,) or some other dialect/setting-picking, some help you do research on topics for use on your story or can be specialists on a topic so that you can just ask them, etc. Basically, they’re a second pair of eyes to look at your writing and offer suggestions before you post it. Note that these are just suggestions, you don’t have to take them, and you can always ask your beta to do one or some of these things for you (for example: a grammar and spelling check) but not others (no comments on content and no suggestions on where the story might go).
How do I sign up to be a beta?
You can sign up to be a beta here. We will be compiling a list of betas for writers to contact, so please be aware that all the information you input on that form will be shared publicly on our beta contact list. If you put down your name to be a beta and later change your mind or find you don’t have the time to dedicate to it anymore, you can let us know and we’ll to remove your name from the list.
When do we post/what happens when we post?
We ask that you make a post with your fanwork on your own blog with the appropriate content warnings (see below) and submit the link so that we can reblog it. We will have a google form for each fest where you can submit the links; this is so we don’t miss any fanworks, as tumblr isn’t the most reliable when it comes to tagging and mentions. This post doesn’t have to contain the entirety of your fanwork, just the warnings and a link if you post it elsewhere (for example, for fic a title, content warnings and a link to ao3 would suffice).
Depending on the fest, we might establish a posting day or a closing day. For the ones with a closing day, you may post at any time since the announcement of the fest up to and including on closing day. For the fests with specific posting dates we ask that you wait until then. Once you post your fanwork, we’ll reblog it, and once the fest closes we’ll make a masterpost with all the submissions for each fest for easy browsing! For fics, we’ll be creating collections on ao3 as well, which we encourage you to use, but you don’t have to post there, just somewhere with open access (just tumblr is fine!). For art, you can also post on ao3 and here on tumblr, as well as on any other site you want, we just need a post to reblog and we’re good ;)
Are there any requirements to participate?
Requirements will change depending on each fest, so stay tuned for each announcement post.
Are there any restrictions on the kind of content we can include in our fanworks?
We firmly believe in giving fan creators the freedom to explore whatever topics they might be inclined to in their work, so there are no restrictions except for it being somehow related to Torchwood.
We do, however, ask that you add content warnings for sensitive or potentially triggering or upsetting subjects. We have a list of topics we ask that you use content warnings for, in whatever way you choose (an author’s note before a fic, tags on ao3/tumblr, etc.) and we consider these warnings mandatory. The list will include all the usual suspects: sexually explicit content, the big 4 (non-con, underage, graphic depictions of violence and major character death), hate speech, and any specific triggers we are asked to include. Likewise, any such content (including sexually explicit art or writing) should be under a cut if you post it on tumblr so that minors and folks who don’t want to see that can avoid it.
If I have a trigger, can I ask you to include it on the list?
Yes! You can do this through an ask or a message to this blog. We are aware this puts the burden of tagging or warning for this content on the creators (we could do it for the art but we can’t commit ourselves to read every fic to add the warnings that may apply ourselves), we have weighed this against the harm triggers can cause on unsuspecting readers and have decided to err on the side of caution. Torchwood is a small fandom these days and we don’t think the list of things to warn for will be that long, so we’ve opted to ask creators to take a minute to do this on tumblr posts as we will be reblogging them to this blog. Ao3 is its own institution and following its warning system there will be enough for us.
What happens if I fail to add a content warning?
We will contact you to ask that you add it. If you refuse we will not reblog your post or link it to our masterpost for the fest.
What if I can’t finish my piece by the deadline?
If you can’t finish it by then, then we simply don’t include your piece, but you can (and should!) finish it on your own time and post it whenever you’re done. If you’re only a few hours late to post it, however, we can and will look the other way, and we’ll include your work in the masterpost. We can give you a short grace period in the interest of fairness and differing time zones ;) As we’ve explained, if it’s a team project or an exchange we ask that you let us know as soon as you know that you won’t be able to finish on time so that we can try to find a pinch-hitter.
This doesn’t answer all my questions!
You can send us any further questions you have :) Our askbox is open and accepting anonymous submissions if you’re shy ;)
