House Big Bang

Hi, artists!

The THIRD AND FINAL ROUND of artists' sign-ups is NOW OPEN, HERE.

All artists from the second round should have received their drafts. If you haven't, please contact the mods.

Hi, artists!

At this point, all the stories have been claimed by artists in the first round. It is, therefore, time for THE SECOND ROUND.

You may now go here and sign up for the stories again, commenting with its NUMBER and TITLE. If you haven't gotten a story yet, now would be the time; if you've already signed up but you think you can handle a second story, then this is your chance.

As before, we won't be accepting third artists until everyone has a second artist, so if someone beats you to the story you want we'll ask you to pick a different number. We don't know if we'll have a third round; it depends, at this point, on everyone getting a second artist. Bring your friends! Bring your neighbours! Tell your communities! It's all good.

Enjoy!

ETA: Artists from the first round should all have received the complete draft of the story they signed up for. If you have not received a story, or if you have received the wrong story (*facepalm*), then please email the mods.

Hi, Big Bangers! Just a few reminder points for everyone, as things are moving inexorably on towards the Artists' Portion.

Writers

As you know, the revised deadline for your complete drafts is tomorrow, February 22. We will, however, probably be accepting drafts right up until the next post for the artists' consideration. Still, earlier is better! Good luck on the final thirty hours or so!

Artists

The next round of stories For Your Consideration will be posted Saturday, February 23, at 12:00 PM Mountain Standard Time. The details on signing up for a story are, as ever, here.

Also, there are still stories from the first round that haven't found artists yet. You can sign up for those at any time.

Once all stories have artists, we will be opening up the sign-ups for second and third artists.

Enjoy the anticipation!

Hi, Big Bangers!

Just a quick note to let you know what's happening.

The ARTISTS' PORTION of the challenge begins at 12:00 PM Mountain Standard Time tomorrow, February 16. All writers' submissions that are received before that time will be included in the first post for the artists' consideration.

Artists, feel free to browse the summaries and choose stories to create art for, as per the FAQ. But remember, because the writers' deadline has been extended, there will be more stories to choose from as the week goes on. We'll try to post them in batches of five or more, if possible.

There will be the opportunity for artists to choose a second story if they would like to create more than one piece of art. We will let you know in updates when we open up the stories for second (or, dare we hope it, third) artist sign-up.

As ever, comments and questions are welcome.

Hope everyone is as excited as we are!

Hi, Big Bangers!

Wow, time certainly flies, doesn't it? Here we are with only two weeks left before the authors' complete drafts are due, and artists' portion begins! Remember that date: FEBRUARY 15!

We are still looking for artists, because more art is always better! To sign up as an artist, fill out the form HERE.

Cheerleading and handholding is always going on at housebigbangers.

In short: YOU CAN DO IT!

*\o/*

Hi, Big Bangers!

Today is a BIG DAY, as there is only ONE MONTH REMAINING to finish your complete drafts and send them to the mods! In one month and a day, the artists' portion of the challenge begins! With that in mind, we have a few details for both groups.

Writing Participants

Behind the cut is a list of participants who answered the Important Questions email, and are currently STILL IN THE CHALLENGE. If you have not answered your Important Questions email, then you have until tomorrow, January 16, to do so. Anyone who does not answer the Important Questions by January 16 will be considered a drop-out and will not proceed to the artists' portion of the challenge. If you believe that you answered the email, and that your name should be on the list, but it isn't, please leave a comment or email the mods ASAP and ask for a correction! If you never received the Important Questions email, it is because there was a problem with your contact information. To remain in the challenge, you must comment or email the mods in order to be asked and answer the Important Questions. Why? Because they are Important.

( Masterlist of Writing Participants as of January 15 )


Artist Participants

Artists! It's been a long time, but finally your day to shine draws near! We will be accepting artist sign-ups until February 15, so you have one month to decide if you'd like to contribute to the challenge as an illustrator, photo manipper, or vidder. If there is a community where you believe the Big Bang Challenge should be pimped to House fanartists, please either tell us--or talk it up yourselves!

After the cut is the masterlist of artist participants. If you need to drop out, please let the mods know before February 15. If you think your name should be on this list and it isn't, please let the mods know.

( Masterlist of Artist Participants )


The artists' portion of the challenge will proceed as follows:

February 15 - Writers' complete drafts are due.
February 16 - Story summaries and excerpts will be posted in the community.

Based on the summaries and excerpts, artists decide which story they would like to illustrate, and comment with first and second choices. This process is FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED, which means that if there is a previous claim to your first-choice story, we will assign you your second-choice story. Please be open to the type and genre of story you are willing to create art for; remember that it is possible to create gen art for a shippy story.

When ALL STORIES have an artist, we will open up the selection process again, and you will have the opportunity to volunteer to create a second piece of art for another story if you wish.

If you would like, you can create more than one piece of art for the story you choose. One is the minimum. More art is always welcome.

Once the mods have confirmed your story selection, we will send you the writer's complete draft of the story. You can illustrate a particular scene or moment from the story, but this is not mandatory. Mostly you have the draft for inspiration or clarification. If you need to speak with the writer to get further nuances, please contact the mods. Writers may have ideas of what sort of art they would like to see, but it is entirely up to the artists what they would like to create.

February 21 - By this point, all stories should have artists, and all artists will have received the draft of the story they picked.

March 25 - Art submissions are due. In the case of vids, please upload the file to sendspace and send the link to housebigbangmods@gmail.com. In the case of art (manip, illustration, cover art, etc.), please provide a small thumbnail image, 125x25 pixels; a larger preview, 250x100 pixels; and the full-size image. More details on this process will follow closer to the date. As with the writers' stories, we ask that you not share your art with anyone outside of small beta groups until the archive goes live.



ALL Participants

Questions, queries, and inquiries can be directed to the FAQ Post first, and failing that, housebigbangmods@gmail.com.


Good luck in the final month, writers!

Start getting excited, artists!

Your mods,

thedeadparrot and queenzulu.

Dear Big Bang Participants:

Greetings from your mods! At this point, we would like to wrap up some housekeeping details in order to ensure that the challenge proceeds smoothly once the deadline and artists' portion of the challenge arrives.

There are approximately five weeks left before the February 15 deadline. This deadline requires that you have a complete draft of your story finished and submitted to the mods. The COMPLETE DRAFT must meet the minimum 20 000 wordcount, and it must be a FINISHED STORY, that is, all the events/plot are wrapped up, and the ending is, in fact, the ending. Stories that are truncated at or after the 20 000 word mark but which are not finished will not be accepted.

The reasons for this are as follows:
1. Your mods require a guarantee that a complete story will be available for the archive.
2. Your artist will be given the complete draft in order to create art.
3. The deadline is, in fact, A DEADLINE, not a "gee, maybe nowish would be good, if that's all right with you".

HOWEVER, the complete draft is not necessarily the final draft. The FINAL DRAFT is due on March 15. The final draft may differ from the complete draft in that it has been fully betaed, edited, nitpicked, and searched for typos. The final draft is the text as it will appear on the archive; the mods will make NO alterations or corrections. Not even if you beg prettily. Get those typos out NOW.

One further note about the difference between the COMPLETE and FINAL drafts: The FINAL draft should not suddenly have road trip hijinks and alien abductions. That is, the final draft should not have a completely different plot or structure from the complete draft. The difference between the two drafts is four more weeks to tweak wording, language use, spelling, and grammar: it is not so that you can overhaul and rewrite.

Your mods would like to note that as they will be coding the website as quickly as possible after the March 15 deadline, THEY WILL LOVE PARTICIPANTS WHO HAND IN THEIR FINAL DRAFTS EARLY. Earn the love of your mods and you will be rewarded in some unspecified but stunningly amazing way at some point in the future.

The complete draft should include the following headers:

Title: This is the FINAL TITLE, and will not be altered between the complete draft and the final draft.
Pairing: This is the primary pairing. You may mention secondary pairings if you wish, and they will be included; however, the story will be archived under the primary pairing. If your story is gen, please indicate that here, and name the primary characters.
Rating: Just for a refresher, this is how ratings will be assessed for the challenge. G - friendship or "pre-slash"; no coarse language; minimal violence. PG - romantic themes; limited coarse language; some violence. R - nudity (other than medical) and sexuality; coarse language; violence and mature themes. NC-17 - graphic sexuality; coarse language; graphic violence; disturbing themes. You are, of course, free to assign whichever rating you feel fits your story best.
Length: Word count of your complete draft. This may change with your final draft.
Spoilers: Indicate the timeline of your story. If it is AU, indicate that here. If it is a crossover, include the timeline of your second fandom as well.
Author's Notes: Thank your betas here. Please keep your notes brief.
Disclaimer: The archive has a complete disclaimer, and each individual story will have a disclaimer attached as well, with the text as follows: "House, M.D. and all its characters belong to David Shore, Bad Hat Harry Productions, and FOX Broadcasting. This is an unofficial fansite and we make no profit." This disclaimer will be attached by the mods automatically. IF YOU HAVE WRITTEN A CROSSOVER, and REQUIRE MORE DISCLAIMERS, please include them here.
Summary: This is your FINAL SUMMARY, and will not be altered between the complete draft and the final draft. Summaries should be short--no longer than thirty words--and engaging, as they will draw in your readers.


EXCERPT:

An excerpt of your story will serve several purposes, and MUST be included with your complete draft. The excerpt will NOT be changed between your complete and final drafts.

1. The excerpt will be used to help artists choose which story they would like to make art for.
2. The excerpt will be used in your post on the community pointing readers towards your story in the archive.
3. The excerpt will serve as a teaser to rev up excitement in the community for the full stories to come.
4. The excerpt should indicate the tone of your story. If your story is mainly humorous, it should be funny; if your story is mainly angsty, it should be serious.

The excerpt should be approximately 200 to 300 words long. You might want to choose a scene near the beginning of the story so as not to spoil it, but of course, this is up to your discretion.

This information will also be sent via email to all writing participants, with some IMPORTANT QUESTIONS ALSO ATTACHED. Please check your inboxes and REPLY ASAP; this is NECESSARY for all writing participants. ETA: winterwaltz and seriouslyjess, your emails are bouncing! Please reply here or email the mods with updated contact information.

Any questions, comments, queries, or concerns can be brought up in comments or by contacting the mods at housebigbangmods@gmail.com.

Thank you very much for your attention.

Your mods,
queenzulu and thedeadparrot

Hey, participants!

Please put your hands together for the newly created housebigbangers, a support community for all writers, artists, betas, and cheerleaders. Post your woes, your triumphs, your questions, your off-topic diversions that take you off on wild tangents. More individualized requests for betas and cheerleading can also happen in this community.

This one comes to you courtesy of a suggestion by usomitai, so many thanks to her.

Also, one final note: as we get nearer to the middle of the challenge, and people are beginning to have sections of their stories complete, we'd just like to remind people that sharing the stories should be limited to small beta groups only. We want the stories to be shiny and fresh when they're posted, so please don't ruin the surprise!

Enjoy!

This is the post containing the details for those who have volunteered their beta services, and also those who have requested a beta. Thank you very much to joe_pike_junior, who compiled the information, and to the_xarlster for the suggestion. If you would like to volunteer as a beta, the sign-up post is still here Thank you to all our volunteers!

( BETA VOLUNTEERS )
( WRITERS )

Here is the list of the sixty-six participants in the first-ever House Big Bang challenge!

( all pretty and alphebetized! )

Good luck, everyone!