DC Universe Big Bang

We're open to any and all pairings here, and pretty much any idea sounds like a good one to us. These are the basic guidelines that you'll have to follow while writing, but pretty much anything else is a go:

-10,000 words is the minimum length for each story. There is no upper limit. Stories can be written with a partner or by a group; the minimum word count is still 10,000 words, no matter how many people are involved.

-Stories must have at least one beta reader. If you don't have a beta reader, check out the beta post and see if anyone there fits your needs.

-This challenge is for new stories. If your story has appeared online in its entirety, it's not eligible for dcu_bang. You can complete a story you’ve already started posting as long as no more than 2,000 words have already been posted, and you don’t post any more until your posting date.

-Sequels are great! If you write a sequel to something you've written in the past, include a link to the original story in your author's notes, so people can read from the beginning if they haven't already.

-If you need some inspiration, check out the prompt post. Take the prompts as literally or as figuratively as you want - use part of one, use three or four, use half of one and half of another. It's entirely up to you.

-In order for your story to qualify for this challenge, you cannot post it anywhere online until the due date. On that day, you can post it wherever you'd like - Livejournal, Dreamwidth, AO3, Tumblr, your personal website, or anywhere else - and link to it here. Just don't put it up before the reveal. (Posting details will be given closer to that time.)

-Rough drafts are due on 28 August. A rough draft is a document with a beginning, middle, and end; it must be at least 80% complete (with the unfinished parts at least sketched out). It does not have to be beta read at this point. Completed, beta-read stories are due on 13 October and posting will start on 16 October.

-You can sign up to write two stories for this challenge. These can be individual or group sign-ups. (To clarify, you can sign up twice by yourself, or once by yourself and once as part of a group, or twice as part of a group.) Just make sure to complete a separate sign-up for each story.

If you'd like to sign up as an author or an author group, fill out the form at Google Docs. Make sure you join and friend this community - all check-ins and reminders will come through here, so you'll have to watch us to stay informed. We'll send a confirmation email no more than 48 hours after we get your sign-up.

Since we are doing sign-ups via Google Forms this year, we have turned off the comments on this post. If you have any questions, please contact us at our page-a-mod post.

Sign ups close 8 May.

If you'd like to volunteer as a beta reader or a cheerleader, please sign up below. Please note that signing up doesn't ensure that you'll get paired with a story - authors are free to contact whichever beta or cheerleader they think might help them the best, and your particular skills might not match with what our authors need. We thank everyone for volunteering their time and skills, but we can't ensure that every volunteer will be matched with a story.

Sign-ups close 7 September.


<br /><b>User name:</b> <user site="livejournal.com" user="your name here"></lj> <br /><b>Email:</b> <br /><b>Are you signing up as a beta or a cheerleader?:</b> <br /><b>What fandom(s) do you want to work with?</b> (Batman family, JLA, Teen Titans, etc.)<br /><b>What pairings/genres are you willing to read?</b> <br /><b>What are your strengths as a beta reader?</b> (grammar, plot, characterisation, etc.)<br /><b>What kind of turnaround time can an author expect from you?</b> (give a rough estimate - how quickly can you work through a 10k story?)<br />

Hey everyone! It's hard to believe that it's been almost an entire year since we started this comm and held our first bang, but it has - and that means it’s time for another round!

We've learned from our first run last year and have tweaked the timeline a bit to hopefully make things run more smoothly, so please take a good look at the schedule. Sign-ups for everyone open on 1 May and we hope to have another amazing turnout this year.

2013 Dates
1 May: Sign-ups open (author, accompanying fanworks, beta/cheerleader)
8 May: Author sign-ups close
1 June: Author check-in
1 July: Author check-in
1 August: Author check-in
28 August: Author rough drafts due (at least 80% complete)
30 August: Fic summaries go up for fanworkers to peruse
31 August: Claiming opens
7 September: Claims close; no more fanworker signups
1 October: Mandatory check-in for authors and artists; posting sign-ups open
13 October: Final drafts due
16 October: Posting begins
13 November: Posting ends

Remember, you can find our guidelines with all the rules for this round here.

If you have any questions, please ask them at our page-a-mod post here.

And finally, you may want to check out our prompt page here to get ideas or leave some for others.

Don't forget, if you missed any of the fanworks from last year, you can find them all on our Pinboard or the master list. We can't think of a better way to fill the month before sign-ups than reading through the wonderful work created last year :)