Challenge Rules

These are the rules for the 2018 round of the Dean/Cas Big Bang. We have these rules to ensure this event runs smoothly for all of our participants and readers. If you are unclear on any point, please contact the mods.

The DCBB is open to participants of all experience levels. There are no prerequisites in order to sign up. Whether this is your first challenge or your twentieth, we’re happy to have you!

If you are under 18 years old, you may participate in the DCBB as a minor; however, underage artists may not claim fics containing explicit content, and underage writers must keep their ratings at PG-13 or lower. You must be at least 14 years old to participate in the DCBB.

Expectations for all participants

You must be registered for this challenge in order to participate in the Discord chat, submit drafts, and post as part of the DCBB.
You are expected to read, understand, and adhere to the DCBB challenge rules. Failure to adhere to the challenge rules may result in disqualification from future rounds. If you do not understand something, it is your responsibility to ask the moderators for clarification. We are available by email, Twitter, and Discord (for participants over 18).
Although you will receive periodic reminder emails, it is your responsibility to be familiar with the challenge schedule and manage your time. We will not grant extensions except in cases of emergency such as a natural disaster.
You will meet all check-in points and submit drafts at the time they are requested.
You will communicate with your partner(s) and the moderators in a timely and professional manner.
You must have reliable internet and email access.
You must have the knowledge and equipment/materials to make your fic or art, and backup plans in place in the case of equipment or software failure.
No participant may offer services in exchange for payment or solicit donations/tips from other participants for any work they do as part of the DCBB. If a registered DCBB beta reader asks you to tip them in exchange for their services, please contact the moderators.
You may not promote your fic or art on your own social media accounts prior to your posting date, except for your official promo which you can reblog from the DCBB tumblr and twitter accounts.
You will be paired with a partner through our Art Claims process and may not form your own teams. As is the spirit of challenges, you never know who you will be paired with. We ask that you be open and communicative with each other, and work together to make your posting date requests to avoid any conflict. At no point may you drop your team member and choose a new one on your own. If you are having trouble with your partner, please contact the mod team for a solution.
Teams are required to do an initial check-in with their partner during the first 48 hours of being assigned to each other. There will be several mandatory check-in points throughout the challenge. Failure to keep in contact with your partner may result in being disqualified from the challenge and future rounds.

We volunteer our time to organize this challenge. If any participant disturbs the peace by causing conflict with other participants or the moderators, we will revoke their invitation from the challenge.

Author Requirements

Fics must be a minimum of 20,000 words. There is no maximum word count.
Your fic must be at least 80% complete, with the remainder outlined, in order to qualify for artist claims.
Each author may write one fic for this round. You may co-write, but that fulfills your eligibility for the round. You may not submit a second fic as a solo author or as part of a second writing team.
If you are co-writing a fic, each author must register individually. Do not sign up as a pair. We need each participant to agree to receive emails and declare their age. When you submit your rough draft for claims, you’ll select both of your names for the “Author(s)” field, which will link you together in our records.
Your work should be brand new for the challenge or a previously unpublished WIP, and no part of it may have been published prior to your posting date. If you are uncertain whether your WIP qualifies or have circumstances not outlined here, please email the moderators with details.
Drafts you submit must be typed. We will not accept photos of your notebook or your word that your handwritten manuscript meets our requirements.
To ensure the anonymity of claims, please don’t reveal any details of what you’re working on publicly prior to claims. This includes discussing your fic in private groups that may include people who are not participants in this challenge. If you need group feedback, please take advantage of our discord channel where your fellow author participants are available for discussions. (We want to clarify: It is perfectly fine to discuss privately one-on-one with your alpha or beta reader!)
Finished fics should be posted to Archive of Our Own and remain publicly available for at least one year. There will be an official AO3 collection for this round and all fics are expected to be added. If you do not have an AO3 account, the moderators can help you set one up. If you decide to remove your affiliation with the fic at a later point, we would encourage you to consider orphaning the work rather than deleting it.
Your fic must be posted in its entirety on your posting date. Serial posting is prohibited on any website.
You must tag for any of AO3’s major archive warnings, including MCD, non-con, underage, and graphic violence.
Authors may not commission art for a fic written for the DCBB due to the team nature of the challenge, since this would be unfair to your artist. This includes asking artist friends to create illustrations or photomanipulations as a favor. And remember, you can’t illustrate for your own fic. Even if your team artist agrees, it is against the rules and we will disqualify you.
You may register as both an author and artist, but you may not make art for your own fic.

Fic content requirements and restrictions

Genres and ratings

All fiction genres welcome. All ratings welcome. Real-person fiction (RPF), fusion fics, and crossovers are allowed.

Relationships

Fics must predominantly feature a relationship between Dean and Castiel (or Jensen and Misha). Dean/Other and Castiel/Other are permitted, but you shouldn’t expect your endgame Sam/Cas story to go over well with the audience this challenge normally attracts.

The relationship between Dean and Castiel (or Jensen and Misha) does not have to be romantic and/or sexual in nature; it may be portrayed as close friendship. If you plan to write RPF, we ask that you do not include the real-life children of the actors in your fiction.

Series and Cliffhangers

Fics that are part of a series or existing universe are permitted. We encourage you to write something that can function as a standalone but no cliffhangers, please.

Beta Readers

All fics must be beta read and represent your best effort at storytelling and grammar. You can use any beta reader of your choosing; they do not need to be registered for the DCBB. We'll also have a list of beta readers available to you later in the challenge. Moderators will assist anyone who needs help finding a beta reader, but you will not be assigned a beta reader as a part of this challenge. It's ultimately up to you to find someone to work with.

If you work with a beta reader prior to claims who is registered as an artist for this round of the DCBB, please let the moderators know before we go to claims. We'll make arrangements so that artist won't be able to claim your fic.

Are you looking for our Beta reader list?

Real-life tragedies

While it’s not prohibited, we urge you to exercise your best judgment if you plan to write a fic that takes place during a real-life historic tragedy. We’d also suggest you tag it “references to a real life event” or something similar so readers are informed.

Underage fiction

Beginning in 2018, all characters engaged in sexual activity or sexualized situations must be at least 16 years old. This includes but is not limited to sexualized situations with an underage character such as hand holding, cuddling, kissing, and romanticized grooming of a child. Fics featuring 16- and 17-year-olds engaged in sexual activity must be labeled as underage, especially if their partners are 18 years old or older.

If your story includes a past history of sexual abuse involving an underage character, you should tag appropriately and NO graphic mentions are allowed of the actual act.

We understand that, historically, certain underage situations may have been common and not taboo during the time period of your story, but our participants include parents, teachers, and community leaders and we don't want anyone to have any issues with their home life due to the content of a story in this challenge. Thank you for your understanding.

Artist Requirements

Artists will create at least 2 pieces of art per fic claimed. You are free to create more than the minimum number of required pieces at your discretion. You’re also welcome to make a promotional banner for your masterpost and separators/icons for your author to use, but they won’t count toward the minimum of 2 pieces.
Art may be an original illustration or a photo manipulation. Photo manipulations must be more than simple filter application and involve significant changes to the photographs that result in a unique image. All materials and styles of art are welcome, including traditional and digital. Art should be a minimum of 540px wide if it will be posted to tumblr, but the final size and orientation are up to the artist.
Artists are encouraged to work with an art beta, just as authors work with beta readers. This is someone who can give you feedback and help polish your final work. Your fellow artists are a great resource for this. Those in the Discord chat can find someone in the #artists channel.
Art can be embedded in the fic (if the author permits it), posted to the artist’s website of choice, or both. Where art is hosted is at the artist’s discretion.
If you decide to remove your affiliation with the work at a later point, please consider providing your author with the files so they can continue to be displayed.
You may register as both an author and artist, but you may not make art for your own fic.

New for 2018

We’ll be hosting the DCBB entirely on Tumblr this year and won’t be cross-posting to Livejournal.
To ensure the safety and comfort of our participants, our Discord channel will be limited to participants 18 years and older.
If you submit your team’s masterpost later than 11:59pm EST on your scheduled posting date, it will be held in queue until the following weekend.
We've reduced the number of check-in points
Beginning this year, we no longer allow characters under 16 years old to be portrayed in sexual or sexualized situations.