Queer Fest

Hi, and welcome to the 2014 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/art 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 and fanart. There are many themes of intersectionality that you can explore through prompts/stories about disabilities, race, being poly, being kinky and all of those are welcome, as long as they focus on lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, genderqueer, asexual, intersex, or trans characters.

Q. How much of the of the prompt/fanfic/art has to be devoted to the character's experience of being queer?

At least some of it. That's a vague answer. But what this means in practice is that if you want to prompt/write/draw the adventure of Steve Rogers and Tony Stark slaying a dragon together and you want that to be the main plot, that is fine as long as the experience of being queer is mentioned in the fic! Maybe Steve is really disappointed that this is the third time that his attempt to visit the queer friendly toy store has been thwarted by a dragon attempt. Maybe Tony is happy to be slaying dragons and away from asshole republican reporters. Maybe they are both getting texts from Bucky, who has decided to catch up on Bomb Girls without either of his two partners.

Importantly: Simply having Steve and Tony in a relationship is not exploring the experience of being queer. That's your standard slash fic, and that's cool! But not the point of this community or this fest.

Alternately, if you want the entire prompt/fic/art to focus on the experience of being queer, that's cool too.  

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.

Again, because it comes up multiple times each year: Happy fics and art and prompts are loved and encouraged. Not so happy fics and art and prompts are loved and encouraged. If that's not okay with you, 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. If the characters are lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, genderqueer, asexual, intersex or trans in the original canon, can I request them to be a different type of queer character? AKA, can I request a gay male character to be a bisexual male character?

Yes. This is true of RPF fandoms, too. However, you may not change the gender identity or sexual orientation of a prompt. If someone prompts a gay male character, you cannot write them as a bisexual male character.

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/art length requirements?

A. All stories must be at least 1000 words long. As for art: you should put comparable amount of effort into it and it should be complete, not a sketch of what you would have finished if you'd had more time. Most types of art are acceptable: i.e., Tumblr gif sets are fine, traditional art is fine, comic strips are fine. Icon sets are not acceptable.

Q. What other story and art requirements are there?

Stories and art 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 Free For All Period
A.  During the Free For All Period 
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, 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 2014 Schedule?

A.  Prompt submission: March 14 to March 29
Prompt claiming: April 1 to April 15
Posting begins: May 15
Posting ends: June 15
Free For All: June 16-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.

It's that time of year again! Beginning on March 1st, queer_fest will be open for prompts. This year features a few important changes:

1. Most importantly of all, this year we'll be hosting the fest on Dreamwidth. Since you can post your story anywhere you like, this should not be an issue. We'd like to remain on LJ, but the site is currently giving your mods some serious accessibility issues and we do not want to have to fight with the site when it comes time to compile prompts.

2. The schedule for 2013 is as follows:

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

3. The 2013 Rules Post is listed here.

4. Two of the mods are unavailable due to health and work commitments this year. The remaining two would really like to have some additional help, especially when it comes time to compile prompts. If you would like to help out in that capacity, please leave a comment or PM us to let us know.

5. If you any suggestions for improvement from previous rounds, now is the time to let us know so we can consider changing that policy before the next round begins.

Hope to see you on March 1st!