#rqbb2021qs

[pilesofnonsense]

Sorry, I should have been more clear, I meant tweaking the rules of the big bang itself. I know it's audacious to come in and suggest how to run your own event, but a minimum word count of 20k can feel like a really high barrier of entry for fic writers who might want to challenge themselves without having to write a novella. This is just the minimum, after all, having it a bit smaller can make it more accessible to fan creators who might be strapped for time and energy while still enabling those who want to go all out on something big. A lot of big bang events have minimum word counts of 8-12k and I think that feels like a good middle ground

We’re aware that the 20k is a barrier to entry for some - but apparently not for the over fifty people who have signed up so far. We are not running this event with the intention that everyone will be able to join it - moderating this is something that we do in our spare time, alongside our day jobs, and the higher the participant count goes, the more difficult that becomes, hence our selected challenge criteria. While we do feel for those who would like to join but cannot, as fan creators strapped for time and energy ourselves, it is not in this or any other year feasible for us to accommodate every person in RQ fandom. As for other events, you may be interested to learn that the traditional minimum wordcount for Big Bang fics is 50k. If you are unwilling to attempt participation in an event with a minimum wordcount of 20k, you are not obliged to join ours - there is at least one other bang event that ran for TMA last year, and we run other RQ fandom events throughout the year with much lower wordcount minimums. We’ll be deleting further asks on this topic.

[pilesofnonsense]

For the big bang event, I know the guidelines say we can't sign up to be both writers and artists, but can we sign up as both a writer and a beta reader? Also what are the sign up dates for beta readers (I only saw writer and artist dates on the FAQ)?

Yes, it’s fine to sign up to beta read even if you’re involved as a writer or artist!

We haven’t decided yet when we’ll open beta sign-ups - it depends on mod availability - but it will probably be late May/early June. Once beta sign-ups are available, they will stay open til the end of the event, though, so you don’t need to worry about missing the window!

[pilesofnonsense]

An extension of the last ask you posted: would a sequel to our previous RQBB fic be acceptable, or would it violate the principle of "must stand alone"?

"Standalone" means that the story must be able to be understood and enjoyed without any knowledge of plot, setting, characterization, etc. established in previously written fics, and similarly does not leave plot points or cliffhangers to be resolved in future fics. As such, direct sequels (or prequels, or part 1 of a trilogy, etc.) would not meet the requirements.

Fics that are set in the same universe as a fic you have previously published but are entirely self-contained (i.e. adhere to the guidelines above) are acceptable.

When considering whether your idea would qualify as a sequel or a stand-alone, we recommend erring on the side of caution, as artists for this project will have a limited time to read your material and prepare their companion pieces, so surprise!background reading is liable to cause issues down the line.

[pilesofnonsense]

RQBB question: are you going to be collecting or adding to the prompt list for 2021?

As most people have an idea of what they’d like to write already, we’ve found that expanding the prompt list is not the best use of our moderation time, so we aren’t planning on actively soliciting prompts this year.

Discussing ideas in the Discord has been sufficient for past Big Bangs, but if that doesn’t work for our participants this time around for whatever reason, we’ll look into alternate routes for collecting ideas!

[pilesofnonsense]

Hi, I had a question about the Big Bang if you don't mind. I noticed the rules mention that fics must be previously unposted. Would a continuation of a snippet/short fic that has already been posted go against this rule? I've posted publicly a couple of short things that I considered potential opening scenes for longer things I wanted to write, and I wondered if it would be against the rule to work on those things for the event.

Your fic doesn’t have to be a concept that you’ve never posted a snippet of previously, but your finished work should be readable as a stand-alone. So, it would be fine if you want to to rewrite or revise a scene that you previously posted and incorporate it into your BB fic, or write your BB story in the same universe and link to your old snippet as a sidestory/prequel etc., as long as the finished BB work is a full story in itself (as opposed to like, parts #3 - 20 of a plotline spread across multiple works on AO3).

Hopefully that makes sense!

[pilesofnonsense]

hi! this might be a silly question, but are we allowed to post about/talk about our rqbb fic during the writing process? (like what it's about, talking about specific scenes, etc.)

thank you!

Not a silly question at all; thank you for asking!

Please avoid talking about the specifics of your fic on social media until artist sign-ups are over. (This is to maintain the anonymity of sign-ups and avoid biasing large numbers of artists toward signing up for fics by those with greater social media presence.)

It is okay to discuss your WIP with friends privately or in the RQBB discord earlier, however!

[pilesofnonsense]

i can't remember if this was in the big information post or not, but does the rqbb event have beta reader sign-ups?

Hello, yes we will have a beta reader sign-up! But we haven’t decided yet when we’ll open them - it depends on mod availability - but it will probably be late May/early June. Once beta sign-ups are available, they will stay open til the end of the event.

[pilesofnonsense]

Hello! I'm an artist and I was wanting to collaborate with writer on an au I wrote and I was wondering if I'd be able to sign up specifically for them? With an understanding that I'd be unable to work with a different writer of course

Sorry, this is not possible, because of how our matching process works. You are free to sign-up as an artist but with no guarantee that you will be matched to one specific writer.