[ ficathon ] 6 SIMPLE RULEZ
Never been involved in a ficathon before and don't know where to start? YOU'RE IN THE RIGHT PLACE.
I cannot make sweeping generalizations about ficathons not hosted by me, but for ones that I do host, I beg of you to read and follow these 6 simple rules. It will make my life so much easier.
1. Trigger Warnings: USE THEM (This is Not a Request)
This one comes first because it's mandatory. It is beyond mandatory. I have yet to have a problem with people not attaching warnings to their fic, and I hope I never will. If there's ever an issue, please contact me immediately and I will take care of it. If you post and forget to warn, please delete immediately and repost with warnings attached at the top.
You never know the past of the people that are going to be stumbling upon your fic and we want ficathons to be a fun and safe thing for everyone involved, so please educate yourself if you need to and be sure to attach proper warning to fic.
2. Claiming: With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility
You know what the worst thing about ficathons is? It's not when your prompt goes un-replied to, or even when someone expresses some interest but doesn't get a chance to fill. It's when someone does a drvie-by 'CLAIMED!!!!' comment and then is never seen on the prompt again.
Let me explain a little further. There's nothing wrong with expressing interest in a prompt. Maybe letting someone know that you want to give the prompt a shot or that you are working on something for it. But leaving a comment that doesn't go much beyond "claiming" does two things, 1) pisses me off and 2) strongly discourages other willing writers who might be scrolling through from filling that particular prompt. There is nothing wrong with more than one author filling the same prompt and a ficathon is in fact about filling and not hoarding prompts, so just take a minute or a few hours and consider if you will actually be able to fill the prompt before replying to the OP. And for the love of God, don't just write 'claimed!'.
3. Reviews: Don't Be An Asshole, Do Them
The fill you receive may be the greatest thing you've ever read or it might be something that really doesn't work for you at all, but in the end it doesn't matter. You need to reply in some fashion. I don't care if it's just a simple 'thank you for filling', a in-depth review or some concrit. Someone took the time to fill the prompt you posted, so please, take the time to at least shoot them a thank you.
4. Part 1/?: The Worst Thing Ever
Did this prompt hit you with so much inspiration you now want to write a multi-chaptered fic about it? That's awesome, don't you dare post that entire fucking thing in this ficathon. If you a) have a fic that will take up more than 4 comments to post or b) have a fic that has no foreseeable end, you need to post it on your own journal (or AO3 or whatever you please) and reply a single link to it on the ficathon. Single link. And we absolutely do not need a new link posted every time it's updated.
5. Yes, Those Time Restraints Are For Real
Look, I know it blows to miss out on a ficathon, but if it ended 2 months ago, don't try to restart it. In fact, turn around and walk away.
If a prompt gives you inspiration, I get wanting to fill it. Fill it at your own journal, post a link to it in the ficathon simply so the prompter can see. That's it. That's the only exception to this rule.
6. It's Our Party, But I'm Hosting
Look, I want everyone to have a lot of fun and get creative and for everything to just generally be really awesome. But at the same time, I don't want to get stressed and annoyed and passive aggressively hate everything and everyone. So, just follow these rules and we will all have a kick ass time.
I cannot make sweeping generalizations about ficathons not hosted by me, but for ones that I do host, I beg of you to read and follow these 6 simple rules. It will make my life so much easier.
1. Trigger Warnings: USE THEM (This is Not a Request)
This one comes first because it's mandatory. It is beyond mandatory. I have yet to have a problem with people not attaching warnings to their fic, and I hope I never will. If there's ever an issue, please contact me immediately and I will take care of it. If you post and forget to warn, please delete immediately and repost with warnings attached at the top.
You never know the past of the people that are going to be stumbling upon your fic and we want ficathons to be a fun and safe thing for everyone involved, so please educate yourself if you need to and be sure to attach proper warning to fic.
2. Claiming: With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility
You know what the worst thing about ficathons is? It's not when your prompt goes un-replied to, or even when someone expresses some interest but doesn't get a chance to fill. It's when someone does a drvie-by 'CLAIMED!!!!' comment and then is never seen on the prompt again.
Let me explain a little further. There's nothing wrong with expressing interest in a prompt. Maybe letting someone know that you want to give the prompt a shot or that you are working on something for it. But leaving a comment that doesn't go much beyond "claiming" does two things, 1) pisses me off and 2) strongly discourages other willing writers who might be scrolling through from filling that particular prompt. There is nothing wrong with more than one author filling the same prompt and a ficathon is in fact about filling and not hoarding prompts, so just take a minute or a few hours and consider if you will actually be able to fill the prompt before replying to the OP. And for the love of God, don't just write 'claimed!'.
3. Reviews: Don't Be An Asshole, Do Them
The fill you receive may be the greatest thing you've ever read or it might be something that really doesn't work for you at all, but in the end it doesn't matter. You need to reply in some fashion. I don't care if it's just a simple 'thank you for filling', a in-depth review or some concrit. Someone took the time to fill the prompt you posted, so please, take the time to at least shoot them a thank you.
4. Part 1/?: The Worst Thing Ever
Did this prompt hit you with so much inspiration you now want to write a multi-chaptered fic about it? That's awesome, don't you dare post that entire fucking thing in this ficathon. If you a) have a fic that will take up more than 4 comments to post or b) have a fic that has no foreseeable end, you need to post it on your own journal (or AO3 or whatever you please) and reply a single link to it on the ficathon. Single link. And we absolutely do not need a new link posted every time it's updated.
5. Yes, Those Time Restraints Are For Real
Look, I know it blows to miss out on a ficathon, but if it ended 2 months ago, don't try to restart it. In fact, turn around and walk away.
If a prompt gives you inspiration, I get wanting to fill it. Fill it at your own journal, post a link to it in the ficathon simply so the prompter can see. That's it. That's the only exception to this rule.
6. It's Our Party, But I'm Hosting
Look, I want everyone to have a lot of fun and get creative and for everything to just generally be really awesome. But at the same time, I don't want to get stressed and annoyed and passive aggressively hate everything and everyone. So, just follow these rules and we will all have a kick ass time.