rules and information
Welcome to this year's (slightly belated!) Band Girls Big Bang challenge! Band Girls Big Bang is a writing challenge that features and focuses on the often forgotten girls of bandom.
Important Dates:
Writer sign-ups close: September 25th
Rough Drafts Due: November 1st
Summaries Go Up for claiming: Super, super ASAP
Final drafts, mixes, and art due: December 1st
Posting begins: December 10th
Information for the Writers
This year, we're changing the minimum word count for the challenge -- since we want as much fic about band girls as humanly possible, we'll be accepting stories of 5,000 words or longer. However, since our ultimate goal is to encourage longer fic about bandom girls, only fic of 10,000 words or longer will be eligible for both mixes and artwork. Stories beneath that word count will be eligible for mixes only. (Please note that while we'll do our best to make sure every fic receives bonus material, we can't guarantee that every fic will be claimed!)
All interested writers should sign up by September 25th and submit a first draft to bgbbmods@gmail.com by November 1st. The people who submit their 10,000 words (or more!) stories the earliest are guaranteed art, pending on how many artists sign up. This first draft does not have to be perfect and ready to be posted, of course! It only needs to exceed the minimum word count of 5,000 words so that we know it will be completed, with unfinished parts outlined or summarized to give the mixers and artists a sense of what the final story will be like. If you sign up and discover that you cannot make the deadline, there's no need to email the moderators; just don't submit a first draft! This way, you can sign up without feeling obligated to finish. On this day, you'll also have to submit a summary of the fic, which will be what the mixers and artists look at to determine their claims. More information about the first draft submissions will be posted before they're due.
Writers will have from November 1st to December 1st to edit, expand, and have their stories looked over by a beta. Final drafts are due on December 1st, and posting will begin on December 10th. The length of the posting period will depend on the number of submissions received but won't run past December 15th.
If you've made it this far and are wondering who we're counting as "band girls," we're looking at the following criteria:
The stories themselves can be gen, slash, het, and everything and anything else. If there are multiple pairings, the main one should include a band girl. If there isn't a pairing, the central character of the story should be the band girl - but we also encourage this with the pairing-centric stories, of course. With pairings, the other half of the pairing can be anyone famous in their own right with a decent canonical basis.
Since we mentioned that the girls are "easily-forgotten," and others have mentioned that they have an unfortunately limited amount of knowledge about them, there is also a separate post of primers. Our primers post is woefully outdated, though, and we'd definitely appreciate any love you could give it -- links to newer primers, as well as older primers that haven't been locked, would be fabulous. Also! We've set up a Tumblr account at bandgirlsbang.tumblr.com where we plan to post/reblog pictures, video, and quotes of band girls, so feel free to check it out if you're looking for inspiration!
And speaking of inspiration, if you're interested but don't have any ideas, check out our prompt post! It's totally optional -- you don't even need to look at it, much less write something from it, but if you're stuck for ideas, it might be a good place to look.
If you've read everything and are interested in writing for this challenge, please sign up in the writer sign-up post by September 25th.
Information for the Mixers
We're leaving sign-ups for mixers open this year, but we'd love it if you signed up early so we can have a good idea of participation. Story summaries will be posted for claiming ASAP after the drafts come in on November 1st -- the claims post should be up within a day or two of that date. Once you have claimed a summary, you have until December 1st to complete a mix and send it to bgbbmods@gmail.com with a link to an upload on either Mediafire or Megaupload. A decent sized mix is one that contains 10-12 songs, the minimum being 10, but the upper limit is 14 songs. Cover art isn't obligatory, but please include the track-listing of the mix in a .txt or .doc file! Your mix will be sent to the writer and posted by them along with their story.
Please only include one to two songs by any musicians featured in the story (for example, if it's about Greta Salpeter, Janis Joplin, and Lady Gaga fighting crime with Pete Wentz as their butler, you are only allowed to include one or two songs by any of the aforementioned people). This is to encourage a variety of music. Once you're finished with your first mix and have sent it in, you're welcome to claim another story to mix for!
If you've read everything and are interested in mixing for this challenge, please sign up in the mixer sign-up post ASAP!
Information for the Artists
Sign-ups for artists will remain open as long as possible, but again, we'd love it if you signed up early so we can gauge participation. Story summaries will be posted for claiming ASAP after the drafts come in on November 1st -- the claims post should be up within a day or two of that date. Once you've claimed one, you have until December 1st to complete it and send it in to bgbbmods@gmail.com. There's no limitation on the media, but there is a limitation to which stories will be up for art claiming. The number of artists that sign up by November 1st, when first drafts of stories are due, is the number of summaries that will be offered up for claiming, starting with the very first submission. However, we know that not every artist is familiar with every bandom girl, so we're willing to be slightly flexible with the last few summaries. If we have artists who want to get involved after that date, we'll work something out!
Again, once you're finished with your first piece of art and have sent it in, you're welcome to claim another one, including something from the later summaries. Also, please note that your artwork will be sent to the writer and posted by them along with their story.
If you've read everything and are interested in creating art for this challenge, please sign up in the artist sign-up post ASAP!
General Information
Important Dates:
Writer sign-ups close: September 25th
Rough Drafts Due: November 1st
Summaries Go Up for claiming: Super, super ASAP
Final drafts, mixes, and art due: December 1st
Posting begins: December 10th
Information for the Writers
This year, we're changing the minimum word count for the challenge -- since we want as much fic about band girls as humanly possible, we'll be accepting stories of 5,000 words or longer. However, since our ultimate goal is to encourage longer fic about bandom girls, only fic of 10,000 words or longer will be eligible for both mixes and artwork. Stories beneath that word count will be eligible for mixes only. (Please note that while we'll do our best to make sure every fic receives bonus material, we can't guarantee that every fic will be claimed!)
All interested writers should sign up by September 25th and submit a first draft to bgbbmods@gmail.com by November 1st. The people who submit their 10,000 words (or more!) stories the earliest are guaranteed art, pending on how many artists sign up. This first draft does not have to be perfect and ready to be posted, of course! It only needs to exceed the minimum word count of 5,000 words so that we know it will be completed, with unfinished parts outlined or summarized to give the mixers and artists a sense of what the final story will be like. If you sign up and discover that you cannot make the deadline, there's no need to email the moderators; just don't submit a first draft! This way, you can sign up without feeling obligated to finish. On this day, you'll also have to submit a summary of the fic, which will be what the mixers and artists look at to determine their claims. More information about the first draft submissions will be posted before they're due.
Writers will have from November 1st to December 1st to edit, expand, and have their stories looked over by a beta. Final drafts are due on December 1st, and posting will begin on December 10th. The length of the posting period will depend on the number of submissions received but won't run past December 15th.
If you've made it this far and are wondering who we're counting as "band girls," we're looking at the following criteria:
- female members of bandom bands, where "bandom" refers to the bands listed at bandombigbang, bandslashmania, and dotcoms_refresh
- women from associated acts of those bands; for example: Sierra Kusterbeck of VersaEmerge, the women of Lucent Dossier, etc.
- current or former girlfriends and wives of bandom band members with a public presence -- examples of these would be Keltie Colleen and Ashlee Simpson, whose respective careers are in the public eye. If you're not sure if the girl you want to write about qualifies, please email the mods or comment in the FAQ.
The stories themselves can be gen, slash, het, and everything and anything else. If there are multiple pairings, the main one should include a band girl. If there isn't a pairing, the central character of the story should be the band girl - but we also encourage this with the pairing-centric stories, of course. With pairings, the other half of the pairing can be anyone famous in their own right with a decent canonical basis.
Since we mentioned that the girls are "easily-forgotten," and others have mentioned that they have an unfortunately limited amount of knowledge about them, there is also a separate post of primers. Our primers post is woefully outdated, though, and we'd definitely appreciate any love you could give it -- links to newer primers, as well as older primers that haven't been locked, would be fabulous. Also! We've set up a Tumblr account at bandgirlsbang.tumblr.com where we plan to post/reblog pictures, video, and quotes of band girls, so feel free to check it out if you're looking for inspiration!
And speaking of inspiration, if you're interested but don't have any ideas, check out our prompt post! It's totally optional -- you don't even need to look at it, much less write something from it, but if you're stuck for ideas, it might be a good place to look.
If you've read everything and are interested in writing for this challenge, please sign up in the writer sign-up post by September 25th.
Information for the Mixers
We're leaving sign-ups for mixers open this year, but we'd love it if you signed up early so we can have a good idea of participation. Story summaries will be posted for claiming ASAP after the drafts come in on November 1st -- the claims post should be up within a day or two of that date. Once you have claimed a summary, you have until December 1st to complete a mix and send it to bgbbmods@gmail.com with a link to an upload on either Mediafire or Megaupload. A decent sized mix is one that contains 10-12 songs, the minimum being 10, but the upper limit is 14 songs. Cover art isn't obligatory, but please include the track-listing of the mix in a .txt or .doc file! Your mix will be sent to the writer and posted by them along with their story.
Please only include one to two songs by any musicians featured in the story (for example, if it's about Greta Salpeter, Janis Joplin, and Lady Gaga fighting crime with Pete Wentz as their butler, you are only allowed to include one or two songs by any of the aforementioned people). This is to encourage a variety of music. Once you're finished with your first mix and have sent it in, you're welcome to claim another story to mix for!
If you've read everything and are interested in mixing for this challenge, please sign up in the mixer sign-up post ASAP!
Information for the Artists
Sign-ups for artists will remain open as long as possible, but again, we'd love it if you signed up early so we can gauge participation. Story summaries will be posted for claiming ASAP after the drafts come in on November 1st -- the claims post should be up within a day or two of that date. Once you've claimed one, you have until December 1st to complete it and send it in to bgbbmods@gmail.com. There's no limitation on the media, but there is a limitation to which stories will be up for art claiming. The number of artists that sign up by November 1st, when first drafts of stories are due, is the number of summaries that will be offered up for claiming, starting with the very first submission. However, we know that not every artist is familiar with every bandom girl, so we're willing to be slightly flexible with the last few summaries. If we have artists who want to get involved after that date, we'll work something out!
Again, once you're finished with your first piece of art and have sent it in, you're welcome to claim another one, including something from the later summaries. Also, please note that your artwork will be sent to the writer and posted by them along with their story.
If you've read everything and are interested in creating art for this challenge, please sign up in the artist sign-up post ASAP!
General Information
- You can co-write, and you can write more than one story, as long as you submit all of the drafts by the deadline. However, if you submit multiple stories, we ask that you choose only one of your stories to be put on the claims list. Once all other first stories are claimed, we'll open any other stories up for claiming.
- You can do all three of the above (writing, mixing, and creating art), if you would like.
- We’ll accept fic about anyone in and/or associated with bandom who identifies as female, but for this challenge, genderswap/sexswap stories with a main focus on a character who, in real life, identifies as male will not be accepted.
- Email bgbbmods@gmail.com with any questions or concerns, or leave a comment on the FAQ post, and one of the moderators will get back to you ASAP.
- Submissions will be accepted as long as it is 11:59 PM or earlier on the submission date anywhere in the world.