ROUND 2 - INFO/RULES
Hello, and welcome to Round 2 of the
Merlin Prompt Fest
This is a prompt-based fest for fanfiction and fanart focused on the BBC show Merlin, and its cast.
All pairings/threesomes/etc are welcome in this fest, including RPF and gen.
What?
For this fest we want YOU to submit prompts for fics/art.
These prompts can be in any form, from a quote to a pic to a detailed outline, and you can submit as many prompts as you can think of.
Unlike an exchange fest, if you submit a prompt it doesn’t mean that you have to create something in return (though it would obviously be wonderful if you did). This means that even if you're not a writer/artist or you don’t have time to create something yourself, you can still join in with the fest.
Once the list of prompts has been posted, writers and artists are free to pick the one they would like to work with. Each prompt can only be claimed once for fic and once for art (but no claiming your own prompts, please!).
Whilst this is not an exchange fest, it WILL be an anon fest. This means that writers/artists will not know who has submitted the prompt they claim until their submission is posted. All fic/art will be posted to the comm with the writer’s/artist’s name removed.
Reveals will go up approximately a week after posting finishes.
When?
Prompting opens: 24th June
Prompting closes: 8th July
Claiming opens: 10th July
Claiming closes: 4th September
Submissions due: 18th September
Posting starts: 2nd October
Prompts:
• Prompts can be in any form, but each prompt should include the following information:
Prompter: your LJ name
Characters/Pairings: Het, Slash, Femslash, RPF, Threesomes/Moresomes or Gen, everything is welcome. You can include more than one pairing, but for the purposes of organising the prompts, the first pairing listed should be the "main" pairing. For RPF prompts ALL the main characters/pairings MUST have already been in at least one episode of Merlin. For example, Katie/Joe Dempsie would be fine; Colin/David Tennant would not.
Era: Canon era, Modern AU, Historical AU... It's up to you! Be as precise or as vague as you like, but if you have no preference please put "any" or "no preference" rather than leaving it blank. Also, if you would like reincarnation fic/art please specify that here.
Prompt: This is where you put the details of your prompt. If it is an image or a video, please post the direct link to it. Please DO NOT embed images/videos into your comment. If it is a song you can also include part of the lyrics in your comment, but please try to keep them to a minimum or simply leave a link to a lyric site instead. Please remember to warn for NSFW items
Squicks: This is the place to list things you really don’t want to see in this fic/art.
Maximum Rating: G to NC-17. Self-explanatory, really. What is the MAXIMUM rating you would like the fic/art to be? NB: This does not mean any potential fic/art based on your prompt will automatically be of the maximum rating you specify; it is simply a guideline for authors/artists so they don't, for example, go and write an NC-17 PWP for someone who only likes PG fics. However, if you really want the pr0ns, feel free to specify that in the "Additional Info" section.
Additional Info: For the declaration of the pr0ns-wanting and other "extras". ;D Also, feel free to say here if you would prefer fic/art for this prompt, but please be aware that ALL prompts will be open for BOTH fic and art. Also, please say here if you would prefer your LJ name to not be attached to any potential fic/art based on this prompt.
• Whilst this is an anonymous fest, anon commenting is not permitted. You must be logged in to post your prompts. All prompts will be screened and the prompter's name will be removed before it is transferred to the claiming post. NB: The prompter's name will be added back when the fic/art is posted, unless the prompter contacts one of the mods to request otherwise.
• If you have more than one prompt, please post as many in one comment as you can. We would ask that you use the form for each one, and remember to leave a gap between each prompt.
• Whilst there is no limit to the amount of prompts you can submit, please try to employ a certain amount of restraint and avoid spamming the post with ELEVEN HUNDRED AND A BILLIONTY prompts at once.
• NEW RULE: If you wish to re-submit a prompt from the previous round you are more than welcome to do so, providing the prompt was unclaimed. Prompts that were claimed but that we never received fic/art for will also be eligible to be re-submitted. You can find all the prompts from Round 1 HERE. Crossed out prompts are not eligible to be re-submitted.
• Further details on the prompting process will be provided in the prompting post on June 24th.
Submissions:
• All fiction and art MUST be new, and created specifically for this fest. It should NOT be posted anywhere else until after the Reveal
Fiction
• Stories should be a minimum of 1000 words.
• All submissions must be beta’d. We also encourage you to get your stories brit-picked. The name of the beta(s) and/or brit-picker(s) should be included in the header of your submission.
• As all fics should be beta'd, the mods will not be checking submissions for errors. Please double check your fics before submitting as they will be posted as they are received. Only fics with formatting errors will be returned to authors (e.g. if an italic tag has not been closed and the mods are not sure where the author intended for the italics to end).
• All work should be a stand-alone and MUST NOT be part of another series or a sequel.
• Your finished story must be supplied as a Word document in ".doc" or ".txt" formatting. It must come complete with all LJ (HTML) coding, such as bold, italic, centred. Appropriate warnings are required in the header info; feel free to white-out spoilery warnings, if you prefer.
Art
• Art should be a stand-alone piece, but can be in any form, including a comic or a photo manipulation (manip).
NOTE: This is a kink-friendly fest, and the only thing we will ask you not to prompt/write/draw/etc is underage non-con/dub-con, whether both characters are underage or just one of them is. For the purpose of this fest, underage will be defined as anyone under the legal age of consent in the UK, which is currently 16 years old. This rule still stands even if your prompt/fic/art is set in an era when the law was different.
Other than that, all kinks are welcome here.
Bashing/Flaming:
• Bashing/mocking/flaming of kinks/fics/art will NOT be tolerated in this fest. Similarly, character/pairing bashing and/or "ship wars" will also NOT be tolerated.
• We hope that the screening of prompts and the disabling of anonymous commenting will minimise the opportunity for bashing/flaming of any kind, but if one of the mods feels that your prompt/fic/art/comment does violate these rules we reserve the right to delete it and/or ban you from the comm. Please, let's just all play nice, yeah? ♥
Deadlines and Problems:
• Whilst deadlines are not set in stone, please try to keep to them. This is not an exchange fest, so we won't set the Great Dragon on you if you cannot manage the deadline or have to drop out of the fest. But please let us know as soon as possible, so we can re-arrange the posting schedule and/or offer the prompt up to a pinch hitter. Also keep in mind that prompters love to see their prompts come to life in a story or work of art.
• If you are having problems getting your submission finished in time, please contact us sooner rather than later. We will do our very best to help.
• NEW RULE: Anyone who went A.W.O.L from Round 1 will still be eligible to participate in this round, but anyone who goes A.W.O.L from two rounds in a row will be banned from the subsequent round. Basically, it's two strikes and you're out! So, if you claimed a prompt in the previous round but did not submit your fic/artwork and did not contact us to let us know you were dropping out, please consider carefully whether or not you will be able to fully commit to the fest before claiming a prompt.
Joining/Watching the Comm:
• Anyone taking part in the Merlin Prompt Fest should add merlin_muses to their friends' list to allow them to keep up with updates, etc.
Questions/Comments:
• If you have any questions/comments you can contact the mods via email at merlinmusesmod@gmail.com, by PM, or by leaving a comment on the Ask The Mods post.
Affiliate?
If you'd like to affiliate with the comm please leave a comment on the Ask The Mods post.
Pimping:
Please help us to pimp the fest! See this post for pimping codes to post to your personal journal. Thank you!