Queer Fest Rules 2013

[queer_fest_mods]

Hi, and welcome to the 2013 edition of queer_fest ! Please be sure to read the rules carefully before participating. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to leave a comment to this post or to PM queer_fest_mods.

Q. What type of prompts/stories are allowed?

A. The purpose of queer_fest is to celebrate and examine the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, genderqueer, asexual, intersex, and trans* characters through fanfic. There are many themes of intersectionality that you can explore through prompts/stories about disabilities, being poly, being kinky, and race and all of those are welcome, as long as they focus on lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, genderqueer, asexual, intersex, or trans* characters.

Q.  What types of themes are allowed?

A. Themes can include, but are not limited to: stories about coming out, figuring out sexual orientation or gender identity, planning your awesome same-sex wedding, attending pride celebrations, figuring out your place in the queer community, the politics or social structures involving queer individuals in fictional worlds, or dealing with prejudice.

We want to make it very clear: positive stories about queer experiences are very much welcome and encouraged, but this is a safe space for many who have not had a positive experience, whether with family or society. Please do not bash prompts on either end of that spectrum. If you cannot be respectful of multiple types of queer experiences, this is not the fest for you.

Q. Do characters have to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, genderqueer, asexual, intersex, or trans* in the canon source?

A. No.

Q. What types of fandoms are allowed?

A. All fandoms are allowed, including RPF. For RPF fandoms, characters involved must be at least 18. This is only an RPF fandom rule, and characters in fictional fandoms do not have to be 18.

Q. What's not allowed?

A.  We want this fest to be as open as possible, but the following are not welcome here:

• PWP stories ARE AWESOME. But they are not the point of this fest. Stories that are merely hook-up stories, or which focus on the relationships between characters and not their gender identities or sexual orientations, are not within the spirit or scope of the fest.  Stories can definitely include characters having sex, but should be about the experiences of being lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, genderqueer, asexual, intersex, or trans.*



• Prompts/stories that focus on non-queer individuals or allies are not in the spirit of the fest. This includes their reactions to their queer family/co-workers/teammates.



• Prompts/stories in which characters question their sexual orientation/gender identity and decide that they are not queer after all are not welcome here. The focus for this fest is on individuals who do identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, genderqueer, asexual, intersex, or trans.*

Q. What are the story requirements?

A. All stories must be at least 1000 words long.

Stories are not gifts, but they should be in the spirit of the prompt you claim. This means no changing the gender identity or sexual orientation from the original prompt. For example, if the prompt you claim specifies a bisexual character, do not change that to a gay character or vice versa. It's our goal to respect all members of the queer umbrella, and changing the original request doesn't really do that.

Stories posted to the community should be respectful of all aspects of the queer community. If your story is about sexual gay men, it should not bash aromantic asexuals. If your story is about lesbians, do not bash bisexual women. This is not to say that homophobic/biphobic/intolerant characters cannot be included. Those themes are within the scope of the fest. But the story itself should not be used as an excuse to bash other types of queer individuals.

Q.  What type of warnings do I have to include?

A.  The following must be warned for: rape/non-con, dub-con, underage, child abuse, character death, incest.  Anything else is up to the author.  If your story features one of these elements and you do not wish to warn for it, you must include a "Choose Not to Warn" or similar type of warning.

Q. Where can I post?

A.  You can post your fic anywhere you want - LJ, DW, AO3, your own website, tumblr. Anywhere you feel comfortable. But you must post at least a link on this community.  Additionally, there will be an AO3 collection.

All posts should be tagged with the appropriate fandom(s), using the fandom: fandom name tag.

Q. What type of headers do I need to use?

A. All posts should include the following information in their header:

Title:
Author:
Fandom:
Pairing/characters:
Rating:
Prompt:
Summary:
Warnings: (if any)
Author's Notes: (if any)

Q. How does claiming work?

A.  Everyone may claim up to 3 prompts and every prompt may be claimed up to two times. When  you claim a prompt, you must claim a posting day. Up to 10  people may sign up for each date. If you pick more than one prompt, you will need to pick different days, one for each prompt.

You do not have to prompt in order to claim and prompting does not obligate you to make a claim.

Q. About the Amnesty Period

A.  During the Amnesty Period of June 17 - June 30, anyone can submit fic of any length from any unclaimed prompt on the prompt list.

Q. What happens if I am inspired to write fic after the fest is over?

A. After the fest closes on July 1, a post will go up that allows you to link to any fic that you post during the year that is inspired by any of the prompts.

Q. What is the 2013 Schedule?

A.  Prompt submission: March 1 to March 15
Prompt claiming: March 19 to April 2
Posting begins: May 1
Posting ends: June 16
Amnesty Period: June 17-June 30

Q. What happens if I find a prompt offensive?

A. Please let us know. We will be checking each of the prompts and making that call, and it's possible we simply haven't seen that prompt yet. You can PM us or leave a comment to this post. 

Comments

[quadruplify]

Will last year's unclaimed prompts be available again this year? I saw some unclaimed prompts from last year that I thought were interesting, and I was wondering if any of those are going to "roll over" into this year.

[eerian_sadow]

i was also wondering this, as there was a prompt I wanted to work on from last year's list that i didn't have the time/energy for until recently.

[redfiona99.livejournal.com]

A quick question about prompts - I have a prompt I'd like to submit but it's for a fandom with various versions in different media. I don't mind which it goes in so should it be labelled as Star Wars (any verse) or should I submit it once for each version?

[queer_fest_mods]

Star Wars (any verse) is a fine way to submit your prompt! You don't have to submit it multiple times.

[w_thit]

I have a prompt I'd like to make, but it's applicable to basically any fandom where a character from another world (magical world or actual different planet) could come to live on Earth. Can I list that as a fandom, or ..?

[queer_fest_mods]

In the past, people have used something like:

Any Fandom, Any character from a world other than earth, prompt here.

[(Anonymous)]

Are we allowed to claim our own prompts? I'm thinking of submitting a few, but at least one of them is something I might want to write if the muse takes me.

[queer_fest_mods]

Yes, claiming your own prompts is allowed! As long as two people haven't claimed them before you, that will be fine.

[gehayi]

Stories are not gifts, but they should be in the spirit of the prompt you claim. This means no changing the gender identity or sexual orientation from the original prompt.

This means "if the prompt OVERTLY specifies a gender identity or sexual orientation", correct? Because the other possibility--that you have to worry about not interpreting a prompt the way that the prompter expected--worries me. I've made (and provided) prompts for other ficathons in which I only saw one possibility for a story, and it was only after I read the stories written for those prompts that I saw all the different directions the prompt could go.

[queer_fest_mods]

If a queer identity is not explicit in the prompt, then the prompter is free to interpret that as they wish as long as it fits the scope of the fest.

For example, Any fandom, any character, the five worst ways to come out and Tierra de Lobos, Isabel Lobo, five times Isabel was attracted to women (can include Cristina). could both describe multiple types of queer identities and since they do not specify, the prompter would be free to pick whichever identity they liked as long as it fit the prompt and the spirit of the fest.

However, Stargate SG-1, Janet Frasier, She still can't believe her luck, having a daughter without needing to have sex to get her. is pretty explicitly a prompt requesting asexual Janet, even though it does not specifically use the term asexual in the prompt.

[minkhollow]

SO GLAD this is over here this year! LJ's been a pain in the ass for me leaving-comments-wise; this'll be so much easier.

[queer_fest_mods]

LJ unfortunately gave us a lot of issues last year during the fest, and the accessiblity issues were twice as difficult this year. :(

Re: TW incest (pointing it out in a prompt)

[queer_fest_mods]

Warnings are only required for the fic fills. They are not required for prompts.

[(Anonymous)]

Do we have to claim all prompts we want to fill at once, or can we claim one then add another 1 or 2? (As long as all three happen within the claiming dates.)

[queer_fest_mods]

As long as you claim your additional prompts during the claiming period, you can claim them whenever you like.

[with-rainfall.livejournal.com]

Hi! You guys have two prompts (Circle of Magic & Fairy Tales) mushed together like so:

Circle of Magic, Rosethorn/Lark, what's appropriate for their students to know about their relationship, and how do they tell them?Fairy tales, any, a character subverts the traditional Heterosexual Happy-ever-after trope by being LGBT (relationship optional).

Also, Emelan and Circle of Magic are the same fandom. :)

[queer_fest_mods]

Thanks for the smushed prompt notifications!

We're going to leave the fandoms the way that they were requested on that one, because it's more work to move them aroud at this point.

[alexseanchai]

I left a whole bunch of Supernatural prompts and they're not on the list. Comment here and comment here. I notice my Greek myth prompts are all on the list, but none of my Supernatural prompts, even the ones in the same comment as the Greek myth prompts. What's going on?

[queer_fest_mods]

What's "going on" is human error. It happens sometimes.

We'll add your Supernatural prompts ASAP.

[with-rainfall.livejournal.com]

Mythology - Greek, Hestia, The only reason she swore never to have sex was to get everyone off her back about why she didn't want to. Gunnerkrigg Court, Gamma, Zimmy might not care about what coming out entails, but Gamma does.

Sorry, one more mushed prompt... (Mythology - Greek and Gunnerkrigg Court)

[with-rainfall.livejournal.com]

Cam I write a fic for this that also fills one of my bingo squares?

[queer_fest_mods]

Yes! Feel free!

[ashen_key]

Hey! Just letting you know that you've missed a bunch of my prompts when collecting/codifying/doing your magic:

MCU, Snow White and the Huntsman, RocknRolla, Twilight Saga, NCIS: LA

MCU, Twilight Saga

MCU, Stark Trek Reboot

Snow White and the Huntsman, The Losers, Tortall

And I think you've got all of my Any prompts, but I haven't 100% checked as midnight. Still, hopefully this helps?

[queer_fest_mods]

Your prompts have been added. Sorry about the mix-up!

[naraht]

I think the prompts list might be missing my Charioteer prompts?

http://queer-fest.dreamwidth.org/994.html?thread=20962#cmt20962

[queer_fest_mods]

Your prompts have been added. Sorry about the mix-up.

[calliatra]

Hey, you missed three of my prompts, too:

Marvel Cinematic Universe, Tony Stark, Tony stopped trying to live up to his father’s expectations years ago. He’s rich, he’s a genius and he’ll do whatever he wants whenever he wants. Except men. But that doesn't count. Because he doesn't want to. And because it's a Bad Idea. And because… yeah, okay, maybe he does have just a few residual issues there.

True Blood, Tara Thornton, She's not herself when she falls for Naomi. Or maybe that's not true, maybe here, far from everyone who used to tell her who she way, maybe now she finally is herself.

The West Wing, Josh Lyman/OMC, Josh isn't homophobic, but he's definitely straight. Definitely, absolutely, no question about it. So there's no way he could be falling for a man. And if his friends think they notice a change in him, they're definitely, definitely wrong. …Right?


Could you add them to the main list? Thanks!

[queer_fest_mods]

Your prompts have been added. Sorry about the mix-up.

[radondoran]

Hi there! I think you missed several of my prompts for Some Like It Hot, The Beebo Brinker Chronicles, The Gay Detective, The Price of Salt, and Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated.

It looks like another Some Like It Hot prompt was also missed.

[queer_fest_mods]

Your prompts have been added. Sorry about the mix-up.

[minkhollow]

On the topic of prompts that went astray, I think it was only these two that wandered off of things I recycled:

Crossover, Eureka/Warehouse 13, Claudia Donovan & or / Douglas Fargo, Claudia's got questions; Fargo doesn't necessarily have answers, but he's had questions before himself, so he's willing to try to help.

Daria, Jodie Landon, Having finally secured a little space to live her own life separate from her parents' high-octane agenda for her, Jodie hesitates to come out to her parents lest they start pressuring her to be the Model Minority for yet another underprivileged group.

Sorry about adding to the claims-post pile-on, but since comments are turned off on the prompt posts themselves I wasn't sure where else to say something.

[queer_fest_mods]

Your prompts have been added. Sorry about the mix-up.

[kasihya]

Hey! I saw the admin post, went to check and noticed that you missed two of my prompts:

Supernatural, Ruby. When she was alive, Ruby was intersex or MtF, and sold her soul for the right body.

Young Wizards, Dairine Callahan. The Manual can tell Dairine how to rewrite the fabric of spacetime, but it doesn’t have instructions on what to do if she gets a crush on another girl.

(link to original comment)

[queer_fest_mods]

Thanks! They've been added! Sorry about the mix-up.

[lexicalcrow]

I hadn't planned on it, but I think the fics I write for my two prompts are going to end up being set in the same established universe? They will have different main characters, and tell different stories. I don't intend for them to be, say, two chapters of a single fic, though. They will be separate stories. Is that something that's allowed? Or should I work on different, unlinked ideas?

[queer_fest_mods]

That is perfectly okay! As long as they are two separate stories and not two chapters, that will be fine.

[error_page]

Hey!

Just a quick question about the "[fics] should be in the spirit of the prompt you claim" rule - if a prompt is asking for a non-binary gender ID'd character, and the character is MAAB in canon, would it be pushing the 'spirit of the prompt' rule to write the character as FAAB? I haven't claimed the prompt in question yet, but I have an idea for what I want to write if I do, so I thought I'd check to see if that was acceptable before I claim it.

In the similar vein, this time asking about what falls within the scope of the fest, are fics where some of the plot isn't necassarily about being queer allowed? A significant chunk of the idea I had is about the character's queer identity/experience, but there's action and other stuff as a catalyst to a lot of it, and I'm not sure if that's pushing the rule or not.

Sorry to be a pain, and while I'm bugging you with quesitons, I'd just like to thank you for running this awesome fest!

[queer_fest_mods]

For your first question: As long as your character comes to identify as a non-binary gender during the course of your fic, it would still be in the spirit of the fest to have zir be FAAB instead of MAAB.

For your second question, that is absolutely okay! Plots are great, and the entire fic doesn't have to resolve around their gender identification or sexual orientation. Life happens while we are queer, so definitely incorporate as much plot as you like.

And we never mind questions! Thanks for asking them.

[(Anonymous)]

Might there be a post where we could ask for betas? I don't know about anyone else, but I'd really like someone to go over what I wrote and make sure everything I was trying to get through got through before posting time. (Don't worry if not.)

-ang_the_adverse

[queer_fest_mods]

Sure, we can put up a beta post. That will most likely happen after claiming has finished.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi, I've just realised I've written a story (not to a prompt I've claimed, because I was planning on claiming after I've finished so I know I have finished and therefore have no stress) that was not really what the prompt said. I haven't changed sexuality/gender, but the fundamental difference is the prompt wanted a conscious 'I am coming out now' fic, and I've written a 'mentioning sexuality and *then* coming to realisations & identity' fic. There will be a powerful/prideful/actually clarifying what was said and coming out 'proper' moment later in the fic, but I don't know.

I'm not really sure what to do, but what I understand from the rules is that if I can't claim it then I can post it after the fest as an 'inspired by the prompts' fic? Am I correct? Because it was inspired *by* the prompt. It's just I wrote it offline, so didn't check the prompt, and I remembered it wrong.

(I like this story because it's dealing with my identity, so I don't want to write it off.)

from previous anon who wasn't sure if she'd messed up prompt

[(Anonymous)]

Having realised the original prompt, I've managed to edit the curve of the fic so that it more clearly adheres to the prompt. I'll check it over when I'm done, and maybe claim the prompt if I think the prompter will like my fic enough. I'd still like to know, in the case I think not, if I can post afterwards as an 'inspired by' thing.

Sorry for (what I remember as) the really worried comment :)

Re: from previous anon who wasn't sure if she'd messed up prompt

[queer_fest_mods]

We don't have a post for "inspired by" fics. Fics that are finished during the Amnesty Periods are still required to adhere to the original prompt.

As for your original question above, as long as you haven't changed the sexuality/gender, we think you are in the clear. You do mention that the prompt requested a "coming out" moment and that There will be a powerful/prideful/actually clarifying what was said and coming out 'proper' moment later in the fic, but I don't know.

So ... that sounds okay to us? Coming out is different for each of us, for some it is a really huge deal, for others it's a casual moment that is part of something larger. So it sounds like what you've done with the fic is perfectly okay.

Question re: characters that aren't officially 'outed' in their canon except subtextually (mostly)

[melsheartsthings]

Okay so I'm thinking about claiming a couple prompts but I have a question regarding a pair of female characters who weren't, at any time, until within the last decade or so, actually officially 'outed' in any way. The fandom is X-Men comics and the pair is Danielle 'Mirage' Moonstar and Rahne 'Wolfsbane' Sinclair. While not offically ever refered to as a couple explictly, there is a very special connection between them. In a mini-series/limited series entitled 'X-Men: The End', One of them told another character (a mutal friend/teammate) to tell 'Dani I---" just prior to dying in an explosion that destroyed the team's school/base of operations (Rahne). In the same series, the other one (Dani) died soon after though a combination of heartbrokenness because of losing Rahne (bc they were soulmates) and being murdered at a camp for mutants that were created by one of the team's biggest -and longest lasting-enemies. Bt they were clearly reunited on 'the other side' as the last two pages show. So what is the offical mod stace on not offically cannonically outed but clearly paired characters who might actually be on the LGBTQ spectrum?

Re: Question re: characters that aren't officially 'outed' in their canon except subtextually (mostl

[queer_fest_mods]

It depends on the context?

Characters that you choose don't have to canonically be on the queer spectrum - see the numerous Steve Rogers prompts in the Marvel fandom, for instance. So you are free to do whatever you want in most cases in regards to characters who are not officially on the queer spectrum.

If, on the other hand, the prompt calls for a canonically queer character, then they need to be shown as queer within the text. So while it would be okay to request Shatterstar during any point in his lives, if we were to time travel to 1992 and host this fest then, then the answer would be no?

We hope that's helpful?

[with-rainfall.livejournal.com]

If my fic ends up being finished before the posting date, am I allowed to post it to FFN/Ao3 when it's done, or do I have to wait for my scheduled posting date? Thanks!

[queer_fest_mods]

We ask you to wait to post it on your assigned date.

However, each of the Wednesdays during the posting period will be a free day. If you finish your fic early or late, you can post it on a Wednesday.