May. 6th, 2021 16:05
Launch the Ship -⚓︎- Round 1
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launchtheshipLaunch the Ship is a low-pressure multifandom challenge to write the first fic for a ship. It was strongly inspired by the wonderful bethefirst (which challenges people to write the first fic for a fandom) and is similarly meant to provide a friendly little community during what can often be a lonely voyage.
All you need to do is choose a ship that has zero fics, and complete a fic for it before the deadline. Everything else is optional—you don't even need a Dreamwidth account. So let's set sail, shall we?
Important Dates:
Sign-ups open: August 15th
Deadline: October 15th, 23:55 UTC (Countdown)
Fic Reveals: October 16th, 00:01 UTC
NOTE: Click here (or add ?style=site to the end of the URL) to view this comm in the mobile-friendly site style. While it's less pretty, indented content will be actually readable.
FAQs
Quick section links: 1. How do I know a ship qualifies? | 2. Are there content restrictions for the ship? | 3. Does my fic have to fulfill certain requirements? | 4. How do sign-ups work? | 5. How does the AO3 collection work? | 6. How does the prompts and promos post work?
1. How do I know a ship qualifies?
The short version: The relationship (whether romantic/sexual or platonic) should have zero fics. Fics where it is not the main relationship do not count against it. Neither do fics written in a non-English language.
The longer version: Unfortunately, neither Archive of Our Own nor FanFiction.net have a perfect way of filtering by primary ship. On AO3, for instance, the otp:true filter can be a useful tool, but it will often leave out legitimate fics for the ship as well, so using it exclusively is flawed. The same goes for the Pairing checkbox on FFN.
For that reason, this challenge will operate on the honor code. Use your best judgement. If you've made a reasonable effort to check for fics, and haven't found any, it's all good. Nevertheless, if you'd like to double-check with me, feel free to do so.
If a fic for the ship gets posted after sign-ups begin for the current round, that doesn't count. You can still write for it!
Even if other fanworks for the ship exist (e.g. meta, art, vids), it still qualifies if no fics have been written for it yet.
Some ships may be nominally present in multiple fandoms, such as historical figures or loosely connected canons. If a ship has no fic in fandom A, but does have fic in fandom B, it is still okay to write the ship for fandom A as long as fandom A and B are distinct, and the characters are as well.
2. Are there content restrictions for the ship?
No. RPF, crossover ships, ships with more than two characters, selfcest, etc. are all fine. Ships with OCs or readerfic are also tentatively permitted this round, though if there are issues, I might reconsider.
3. Does my fic have to fulfill certain requirements?
It should be a complete fic. Anything beyond that is up to you.
If it's fic written for another fanwork event, or a 100-word drabble, or was originally an old never-posted WIP, etc. that is all fine.
Your fic can have multiple ships as long as the main one(s) meet the zero-fic requirement.
If you are writing multiple fics for this event, they should each be for different zero-fic ships.
Fics can be co-authored.
4. How do sign-ups work?
Reply to the sign-ups post with the ship you want to write, plus the fandom. That's it!
Sign-ups are open all the way to the end of the round in October. Leaving a comment on Dreamwidth does not require a Dreamwidth account: you can either leave an anonymous comment, or sign in using OpenID.
Signing up is optional but encouraged, since it's a neat way for people to get a peek at what others are working on, and it can give a sense of accountability. However, even if you don't comment on the sign-ups post, you can still take part.
It is totally fine to change your mind about what you want to write. If you miss the deadline, don't worry. There's always next year.
5. How does the AO3 collection work?
Once you've finished writing your fic, you can post it to the AO3 collection, which will remain unrevealed (i.e. all works in it will be invisible to everyone) until reveals day.Upon the posting deadline, the collection will be closed, meaning that you cannot add your fic to it—so make sure you get it in on time! Update for Round 1: The collection will not close on reveals day, but will be left open until the end of the week (Sunday), meaning that you can add your fic to it until then! I encourage you to take advantage of this if you need a little more time.
It is optional but encouraged because it makes browsing easier for readers of the challenge. If you don't post your fic to the collection, do still share a link to your work with me so I can add it to the round-up post I'll make on this comm.
You can post your fic to the collection by going to the exchange profile and clicking "Post to Collection" or by filling out the "Post to Collections / Challenges" field in the fic's editing view with the collection name for the current round (launchtheship2021). If you don't have an AO3 account, but would like one, I can get you an invite.
This probably won't come up much, but I reserve the discretion to remove fics from the AO3 collection if I notice they feature ships that do not qualify. I will always make an effort to privately contact the writer first, though, and I won't ban anyone over it. Mistakes happen!
6. How does the prompts and promos post work?
It's an optional, casual place to share and read thoughts/ideas about ships with no fics. Want to say, "I think Character A/Character B would be hot"? This is the place. "Prompts" and "promos" may overlap, but here are some things to go off of, if it helps:
To make it a little easier to browse, each fandom (no matter how big or small) has its own top-level comment. Prompts and promos are posted in reply to them. (If it's a crossover ship, feel free to post wherever makes sense to you, such as under one of the fandoms, or in the general thread.)
Please follow these simple steps:
I have a different question!
Reply to this post (anonymous posting is on and IP logging is off), PM me on Dreamwidth, or email me at mossy.birch@gmail.com
bethefirst (which challenges people to write the first fic for a fandom) and is similarly meant to provide a friendly little community during what can often be a lonely voyage. All you need to do is choose a ship that has zero fics, and complete a fic for it before the deadline. Everything else is optional—you don't even need a Dreamwidth account. So let's set sail, shall we?
Important Dates:
Sign-ups open: August 15th
Deadline: October 15th, 23:55 UTC (Countdown)
Fic Reveals: October 16th, 00:01 UTC
NOTE: Click here (or add ?style=site to the end of the URL) to view this comm in the mobile-friendly site style. While it's less pretty, indented content will be actually readable.
FAQs
Quick section links: 1. How do I know a ship qualifies? | 2. Are there content restrictions for the ship? | 3. Does my fic have to fulfill certain requirements? | 4. How do sign-ups work? | 5. How does the AO3 collection work? | 6. How does the prompts and promos post work?
1. How do I know a ship qualifies?
The short version: The relationship (whether romantic/sexual or platonic) should have zero fics. Fics where it is not the main relationship do not count against it. Neither do fics written in a non-English language.
The longer version: Unfortunately, neither Archive of Our Own nor FanFiction.net have a perfect way of filtering by primary ship. On AO3, for instance, the otp:true filter can be a useful tool, but it will often leave out legitimate fics for the ship as well, so using it exclusively is flawed. The same goes for the Pairing checkbox on FFN.
For that reason, this challenge will operate on the honor code. Use your best judgement. If you've made a reasonable effort to check for fics, and haven't found any, it's all good. Nevertheless, if you'd like to double-check with me, feel free to do so.
If a fic for the ship gets posted after sign-ups begin for the current round, that doesn't count. You can still write for it!
Even if other fanworks for the ship exist (e.g. meta, art, vids), it still qualifies if no fics have been written for it yet.
Some ships may be nominally present in multiple fandoms, such as historical figures or loosely connected canons. If a ship has no fic in fandom A, but does have fic in fandom B, it is still okay to write the ship for fandom A as long as fandom A and B are distinct, and the characters are as well.
2. Are there content restrictions for the ship?
No. RPF, crossover ships, ships with more than two characters, selfcest, etc. are all fine. Ships with OCs or readerfic are also tentatively permitted this round, though if there are issues, I might reconsider.
3. Does my fic have to fulfill certain requirements?
It should be a complete fic. Anything beyond that is up to you.
If it's fic written for another fanwork event, or a 100-word drabble, or was originally an old never-posted WIP, etc. that is all fine.
Your fic can have multiple ships as long as the main one(s) meet the zero-fic requirement.
If you are writing multiple fics for this event, they should each be for different zero-fic ships.
Fics can be co-authored.
4. How do sign-ups work?
Reply to the sign-ups post with the ship you want to write, plus the fandom. That's it!
Sign-ups are open all the way to the end of the round in October. Leaving a comment on Dreamwidth does not require a Dreamwidth account: you can either leave an anonymous comment, or sign in using OpenID.
Signing up is optional but encouraged, since it's a neat way for people to get a peek at what others are working on, and it can give a sense of accountability. However, even if you don't comment on the sign-ups post, you can still take part.
It is totally fine to change your mind about what you want to write. If you miss the deadline, don't worry. There's always next year.
5. How does the AO3 collection work?
Once you've finished writing your fic, you can post it to the AO3 collection, which will remain unrevealed (i.e. all works in it will be invisible to everyone) until reveals day.
It is optional but encouraged because it makes browsing easier for readers of the challenge. If you don't post your fic to the collection, do still share a link to your work with me so I can add it to the round-up post I'll make on this comm.
You can post your fic to the collection by going to the exchange profile and clicking "Post to Collection" or by filling out the "Post to Collections / Challenges" field in the fic's editing view with the collection name for the current round (launchtheship2021). If you don't have an AO3 account, but would like one, I can get you an invite.
This probably won't come up much, but I reserve the discretion to remove fics from the AO3 collection if I notice they feature ships that do not qualify. I will always make an effort to privately contact the writer first, though, and I won't ban anyone over it. Mistakes happen!
6. How does the prompts and promos post work?
It's an optional, casual place to share and read thoughts/ideas about ships with no fics. Want to say, "I think Character A/Character B would be hot"? This is the place. "Prompts" and "promos" may overlap, but here are some things to go off of, if it helps:
- Prompts: Share fic and story ideas. These can be very brief or detailed or anything in between. However, keep in mind that this is not a commission or an exchange request, and set your expectations accordingly. The main goal of this challenge is to bring fic into existence for ships that have none—not to get fic tailored to your preferences.
- Promos: Talk about why you think a ship is interesting. What could the characters bring out in each other? It's an opportunity to sell others on the ship (and even the canon as a whole). One place to find inspiration for how to go about this is ship_manifesto . You can also list similar, more well-known ships to give people an idea of the dynamic or vibe.
To make it a little easier to browse, each fandom (no matter how big or small) has its own top-level comment. Prompts and promos are posted in reply to them. (If it's a crossover ship, feel free to post wherever makes sense to you, such as under one of the fandoms, or in the general thread.)
Please follow these simple steps:
- Look over the index to see if the fandom you're interested in has been posted yet.
- If so, follow the link to the corresponding comment.
- If not, check the comments on the post to verify no one has posted it already, as the index may not be up to date. If you still don't see the fandom, reply to the journal entry with a comment that has the fandom name in the title.
- Reply to the top-level comment for your fandom with your prompt(s) and/or promo(s). You can add the ship to the comment title (e.g. Fandom - Ship) but it's not required. If you don't have prompts or promos yourself, you can wait for others to post some, or leave a comment asking for them.
I have a different question!
Reply to this post (anonymous posting is on and IP logging is off), PM me on Dreamwidth, or email me at mossy.birch@gmail.com
If you have comments related to the running of this event and how it could be improved, I'm open to hearing those too. I can't promise I'll make changes once the current round's already begun, but I'll still consider them for the next. In addition, since this is the first round Launch the Ship is running, there will be a feedback post at the end where you can share your opinions.
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