It all started with the Big Bang

[owlmoose]

So as often happens, I got to talking with people about fandom projects, and what all we'd like to see, and one idea that came up was the possibility of doing a Big Bang in Final Fantasy fandom.

What's a Big Bang? The short answer is: a fanwork challenge where authors write longer stories over a time period of a few months (most Big Bangs run 5-6 months, and goals are usually either 20,000 or 40,000 words), and artists collaborate with the authors to illustrate the stories, and everyone gets lots of shiny longfic to read and arts to admire. (The long answer is here.)

The discussion went on for awhile, and naturally the first logical step was a poll. To that end:

Here's a poll.

It's based in Google Docs, so you don't need to have an account on any particular service to fill it out. Curious who's responding and what they said? Check out the responses here. Leave your answers in the poll, then come back here to share your thoughts! (Anon and OpenID commenting are on.) And please feel free to send it on to your long-fic writing friends! The more, the merrier.

Comments

[auronlu.livejournal.com]

I filled out the whole thing and then realized (a) I'm so slow at writing bigfic I could never participate in a Big Bang challenge and (b) I started fantasizing about some artists getting inspired to illustrate my current bigfic, but that's not fair because I started posting it long before this Big Bang challenge will start.

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

yeah, a Big Bang is really more about starting a new project than fleshing out an existing one. I do agree that it would be grat to have more ways to hook up writers and artists who are interested in illustration, though.

[rabbitprint.livejournal.com]

That's really tempting -- art is such a great bribe to dangle too, not to mention an event where everyone's joining up together. If it wasn't for the length, I'd be inclined to sign up; the length alone doesn't bother me, I'm just not sure when I'd be able to fit 20k-40k reliably on top of everything else going on. :/ Though the advance notice of when during the year it might be helps a lot.

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

The length is the point, though: there are so many challenges that encourage shortfic, and this is meant to be something different. One thing that might help us the long time-frame. Most Big Bang challenges run five or six months. Might that be enough to lure you in?

[rabbitprint.livejournal.com]

The length is the point, though: there are so many challenges that encourage shortfic, and this is meant to be something different.
I know, I know. ;) And I like that there's something specifically to encourage longfic, too -- it's simply that the deadline + commitment makes me leery at this point due to my own work schedule. That being said, I think having 5-6 months would be a huge help, especially if we're allowed to start concepting now (or have an idea of the allowable concepts.) I admit that having to start from scratch for an idea is a downside, unless that only counts for if you haven't already started posting an idea; ie, I'd love to take advantage of this to flesh out a few drafted ideas.

With 5-6 months, that gives me enough time to try and adjust my schedule, so I'd go for it.

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

Very cool. :)

We haven't started working out the rules yet, so I'm not sure what the exact answer to your question is, but I can say with some confidence that there's no way that we'd force everyone to go in cold. I'm already pondering ideas that might work, and I don't anticpate we'd launch before June!

Many more details to come....

[ovo-lexa.livejournal.com]

I am frightened.

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

In a good way or a bad way? ;)

[ovo-lexa.livejournal.com]

Both. XD

[renay (from livejournal.com)]

*tempts*

[chaosraven.livejournal.com]

I mentioned this briefly to Nay but I would also like to put it out for the general public: basically, I feel like artists get a sort of second class treatment in Big Bangs since we usually have to wait until the authors have written stuff before we start illustrating... and we're illustrating for the author instead of having things written for us.

I don't have a good solution (except maybe pairing artists and authors earlier in the challenge) but I would like it to be something that is considered when the challenge is structured.

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

Thanks for raising this issue! I agree that it's an important one to consider. Artists should feel like full partners in the challenge, not afterthoughts. I'm not exactly sure yet how to best balance it, either, but we will definitely keep it in mind as we plan. If anything comes to you, definitely let us know.

[chaosraven.livejournal.com]

It's been on my mind since I joined Star Trek Reverse Bang, where the art comes first and fics are written based on pics instead of the other way around and all my artist friends have been like: we're important? AMAZING.

I wonder if there is any reasonable way to have both at the same time? Like have the fics start and have artists draw some stuff. And then at the mid point, have people who are more interested in drawing/writing for a "prompt" so to speak, pick a piece of art of fic that they would like to write/draw to. It seems a little bit unnecessarily complicated but that's the only idea that's come to me so far.

[justira.livejournal.com]

So, question!

Is there any particular reason artists and writers can't be treated in perfectly symmetrical ways? Because I know a lot of artists have stories to tell, or ideas they put into pictures that they would love someone to make whole fics out of, or artists who just outright tell stories with single arts. There are so many arts out there that would themselves make fabulous fic prompts... and a lot of writers who want to write but aren't sure they have the ideas, or just need a spark of inspiration.

so... is there any reason we couldn't just do it in two steps?

Step one: if you have ideas, author or artist, start making stuff for them!

Step two: if you want to make stuff but aren't sure how to get started, or want ideas, or whatever, join in once the step 1 folks have something started (at the point where artists join in most bigbangs).

I mean, I imagine there are logistical nightmares, but are they insurmountable? Are there hurdles? Am I missing something obvious? I've never done a bigbang, so I might be saying something very silly! =|

On the surface at least, this feels more evenhanded and like it would be more of a collaboration instead of a "Hey artists here is your yoke, get to haulin'."


Well, whatever comes of this suggestion, chaosraven, thanks for bringing this up!

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

These are the two thoughts that come to mind, and that I would like to throw out to the floor.

1) What is the artistic equivalent of 20,000 words?

2) I have the sense that many writers -- not all, of course -- would have difficulty writing a very long story to a prompt. Am I right about this? How does compare to creating art to prompts, which I freely admit to knowing nothing about? ;)

edited for stupid wording error

[darthneko.livejournal.com]

1) Not sure, but most 20k word bangs ask for 1 (or sometimes 2) really good drawn pieces from the artists, or one vid/fanmix.

2) trekreversebang is the first bang I know of that's flipping it - the artists create first, the writers pick art to write from as a visual prompt. They acknowledged that it's harder to write a story based on a picture than it is to illustrate a written fic, so the word count for the writers was dropped to only 6k, instead of the 15-50k normal for big bangs.

[wounded-melody.livejournal.com]

Well, I intended on writing this long FF fic, soooo...I guess it all depends on whether this happens or not XD

[regann]

I have to say I am interested, if for no other reason that I would have a reason to work on the many self-indulgent plotbunnies I've been storing up!

[renay (from livejournal.com)]

OMG I would do many illegal and questionable things for the chance to have long fic from you! *sparkles*

[justira.livejournal.com]

Soooo what does one do if one both writes and draws? >.>

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

I guess one would have a decision to make. ;) (if the decision is "yes", I'm not sure exactly how it would work, but we would figure it out.)

Hey, any thought on chaosraven's point, above?

[justira.livejournal.com]

I actually had not seen it when I posted my reply but I will not totally go wade in.

As for myself personally, well! Now that I know of it, my answer might actually depend on how chaosraven thread goes.

[renay (from livejournal.com)]

I think as long as you weren't your own artist it would be fine. ;)

[darthneko.livejournal.com]

The later timing actually would be ideal imo - so many big bangs schedule earlier in the year to avoid winding up anywhere near nanowrimo or yuletide, but it means the first part of the year is jam packed and there's next to nothing later on. Which is to say I'd be all for it!

(I've also writing and drawing for several other big bangs, which will end before this one would start, but yeah - writing and drawing for the same bang is totally possible. ^_^)

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

so many big bangs schedule earlier in the year to avoid winding up anywhere near nanowrimo or yuletide, but it means the first part of the year is jam packed and there's next to nothing later on.

This is an excellent point, and I'm glad to hear it! Thanks. :)

[xianghua.livejournal.com]

Have to admit, a bigbang would be SO much easier than the fic exchange, where I ran into so many issues with making the story compact that I ended up with length issues from lack of plots.

[renay (from livejournal.com)]

Hahaha it is like we are lengths twins! *sparkles at you*

[cygna-hime.livejournal.com]

So I really have no right to stand around going "Yes! Yes!" considering that the last and only Big Bang I tried participating in I didn't even make the minimum wordcount (I need to actually write that story...), but... *waves pompoms* Yes! Yes! Please yes!

[nan (from livejournal.com)]

So I kind of feel this is necessary for my continued well-being! \o/

[seta-suzume.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I have any long ff fic ideas, but I would absolutely love to illustrate someone else's fic!

[nagia (from livejournal.com)]

I want this so badly I can taste it.

[imadra-blue.livejournal.com]

This could be incentive for me to write the FF7 longfic that lives in my brain, and this happening later in the year would be fantastic beyond all reason...

[ellnyx.livejournal.com]

Answering belatedly, yes!

Would this challenge be prompt-based?

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

Would this challenge be prompt-based?

This is a good question. My first instinct is to say "probably not", but that can be up for discussion.

*is very, very late, and apologises*

[heaven-monument.livejournal.com]

This sounds like fun. I can fit it around school deadlines, which is great, and 20,000 words over six months isn't too arduous, but it's enough to make me focus.

[sarasa-cat.livejournal.com]

I've been meaning to reply to this but stupidly forgot in a storm of busy.

I would love to see this happen, as long as it starts after June 15th. Conflicting with NaNo isn't a problem at all.

I already have many of epic ideas that want my attention so I'm less inclined to participate in something that is a gift exchange or prompt based.


As far as ideas for collaborating with an artist, I'd would gladly share my plot notes, outlines, and early drafty scene drafts during the first month. I sometimes use fanart to inspire my writing so I can easily imagine a symbiotic writer-artist relationship.

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

Definitely not an exchange. This will be close on the heels of FFEX (starting June/Julyish), and will likely wrap up not long before Yuletide. I'm less sure about prompts, but my sense is that if we did them, it would probably be as an option for those who prefer them. I'm certainly planning on coming in with an existing idea.

From what I know about Big Bangs (I've never participated myself), what you describe is how the writer/artist collaboration usually works. I expect the details will be up discussion though.

[sarasa-cat.livejournal.com]

All of that sounds great, especially the timing!

I'm looking forward to seeing this happen, and also looking forward to all of the long fic it will produce.