murderbotreversebigbang

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Author signups are closed!

Thank you to everyone who signed up!!

Matches will be officially assigned in one week.

Meanwhile, podficcer signups are still open, as are signups for pinch-hitters and beta-readers! And any participant is welcome to sign up for multiple roles.

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Two Hours Left to sign up as a writer for the Murderbot Diaries Reverse Big Bang 2025!

for information on how to sign up, go here!

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Author Sign-ups for the Murderbot Diaries Reverse Big Bang are OPEN!

We've had 17 incredible artist submissions thus far—and they are now open for author claims! If you're interested in participating as a writer, check them out in the sign-up form here! Deadline for author signups is March 31, 2025.

Author signups!

Podficcer signups!

Beta-Reader Signups!

Pinch-Hitter Signups!

Still on the fence? Can't decide whether you want to sign up? You can peruse the artwork WIPs and see if those spark some ideas.

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For more information on the event:

Reverse Big Bang FAQ

AO3 Page and Rules

Discord

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WRITER, PODFICCER, BETA-READER, AND PINCH-HITTER SIGNUPS OPEN!

The artists have begun their artworks. Now it is time for the authors to claim which sketches they want to write for!

Podficcers will also sign up now, but wait to claim until the writers have written part of their work. Beta-readers and pinch-hitters don't make claims per se; rather, they will be put in a pool of people interested in participating, and if the call goes out, can decide then whether they want to jump in.

If you are interested in creating for the 2025 Murderbot Diaries Reverse Big Bang...

Here are the author signups and claims!

Here are the podficcer signups!

Here are the beta-reader signups!

Here are the pinch-hitter signups!

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WRITER, PODFICCER, BETA-READER, AND PINCH-HITTER SIGNUPS OPEN!

The artists have begun their artworks. Now it is time for the authors to claim which sketches they want to write for!

Podficcers will also sign up now, but wait to claim until the writers have written part of their work. Beta-readers and pinch-hitters don't make claims per se; rather, they will be put in a pool of people interested in participating, and if the call goes out, can decide then whether they want to jump in.

If you are interested in creating for the 2025 Murderbot Diaries Reverse Big Bang...

Here are the author signups and claims!

Here are the podficcer signups!

Here are the beta-reader signups!

Here are the pinch-hitter signups!

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Sketch WIP submissions are closed! Thank you to the 16 artists who are participating! We're super excited!

Tomorrow, get ready for writer claims and podficcer/beta-reader/pinch hitter signups to open!

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Author, Beta-Reader, and Podficcer Signups coming soon!

If you are interested in signing up for the Murderbot Diaries Reverse Big Bang as an author, podficcer, or beta-reader, signups will open on Monday!

Stay tuned!

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If you signed up for the Murderbot Diaries Reverse Big Bang as an artist, you should have received the submission form to submit your WIP sketches for author claims!

If you signed up as an artist but have not received the submission form, please message @specialagentartemis or @grammarpedant ASAP.

Sketch submissions are due in 24 hours!

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And 2025 Reverse Big Bang artist sign-ups are now closed! Thank you to our artists - we hope you're excited!

Artists will now have some time to work on their art pieces.

Writer, podficcer, and beta-reader sign-ups will open on March 17.

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Artist sign-ups close in 7 hours!

Today is the last day to sign up if you want to be an artist for the 2025 Murderbot Diaries Reverse Big Bang!

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TMBD Reverse Big Bang FAQ

Just a few days left for artist sign-ups! If you're interested but have been on the fence, now is your chance!

So far, the energy and excitement has been fantastic. We have also gotten a few questions about how the event will work.

How much of an art piece needs to be finished by claims time?

It should be a sketch, a lineart, a rough draft, thumbnails + paint underlayer, whatever is relevant to your medium, that shows the big idea of what your finished piece is going to be, and shows that you’ve put effort into it and are committed to it. Give a sense of the mood and artistic direction of the finished piece, but there aren’t any specific expectations of “doneness”.

Can I submit more than one piece of art?

Please focus on a single piece of artwork for claims. We want authors to claim artworks based on a single image. After that, though, in collaboration with your writer, you can make as many for the fic/art collab as you want!

If you want to submit two pieces of art for two separate claims and two separate collab teams, please contact the mods. We want to make sure people don’t over-commit, but if you’re confident, we can talk about it.

How will claims work?

By March 16, mods will contact artists, and artists will send the mods their in-progress art pieces, along with an image description, and a brief list of Do-Not-Wants. On March 17, mods will post a document of anonymized art pieces with their descriptions and associated DNWs. This will function as both claims and signups for the writers. Writers will sign up by listing their top 5 choices. After all writers have signed up and submitted their list of preferred pieces, the mods will match writers to artists and announce the pairs.

How do I write an image description?

This website has some helpful advice if you're unsure what to write.

As an artist, can I include a description of what story I have in mind for my art piece?

We encourage you to let the image speak for itself.

Part of being an artist here is the visual storytelling—whether you include lots of details that make it clear what the narrative of the image is, or draw something more broad or abstract. A sketch of Murderbot carrying a beat-up-looking Ratthi over its shoulder as it runs through a a space station plastered with ads is going to suggest a specific story, versus Murderbot and ART watching media, or a plan for a stained glass window depicting Consuela Makeba. That's up to the artist, but the creative interpretation of the art by the writer is also part of the collaborative nature of the event. Your submitted image description should focus on the image, so as to leave room for the writer to contribute their interpretations.

You can instead provide a short description of what you don't want the story to be. In this event, Do Not Wants (DNWs) can be any content that you do not wish to work with for any reason—e.g. "DNW: Murderbot shipping," or "DNW: character death," or "DNW: anyone eating pineapples," for instance. Being clear and up front about your lines can help make sure you get a collaborator you will be happy to work with—remember, during claims and matchups, your submitted piece will be posted anonymously and claims will be submitted blind!

What if there is someone I don't want to be matched to?

If there are any individuals that artists—or writers, or podficcers, or anyone—would prefer not to work with, you can add that on the sign-up form or DM a mod, and we will make sure to avoid that when matching.

Do writers have to respect their artist’s DNWs?

Yes. So, only claim an art piece that inspires you, and for which you’re willing to write something that abides by the DNWs.

Is shipping allowed?

Shipping is allowed if both the writer and the artist want it.

Is there anything categorically disallowed?

Smut and sexually explicit material are not allowed for this event, for simplicity of moderation. Hate speech of any kind is not allowed, nor is deliberately calling out or insulting other fans. Otherwise, anything you want to draw or write is allowed as long as all the participants in the collab are happy with it. .

When will podficcers claim?

Podficcers will start claims on May 5 when authors have written at least part of their written work. However, podficcers will sign up at the same time as authors.

What is the full schedule?

The full schedule can be found HERE.

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Will there be a discord server for this event?

Yes! It went live today. You can join it here.

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Artist Signups are OPEN!

Here is the artist signup form.

Artist signups will be open until February 23.

If you sign up, make sure to join the event discord as well!

Happy creating!

[murderbotreversebigbang]

Introducing the Murderbot Diaries 2025 Reverse Big Bang!

Wait, a reverse Big Bang?

Yes!

Do you like the idea of a collaborative event like a Big Bang, but you are a writer who likes to write shorter works or write from prompts, an artist who wants to set the creative direction this time, or a podficcer who wants to be involved in more fandom events?

A Reverse Big Bang has the artist create a sketch, thumbnail, or rough draft of their artistic vision, and then writers make claims on which piece they want to write a fic inspired by! Podficcers will also get the chance to claim written works they’d like to podfic—and then all collaborate to produce an artwork, the associated fic, and podfic that release all at once in a big bang of new fanwork!

For this Reverse Big Bang, the visual art is the initial creative direction, and the written part emphasizes short-form works. There are no wordcount minimums, but there is a maximum wordcount of 5,000 words!

(If a more traditional Big Bang is more your speed, a concurrent one is running simultaneously at @murderbotbigbang. This is a complement, not a competition, opening the event field to a different audience. I reached out to @griseldagimpel and got her blessing.)

Artists who have a cool idea they want to create, writers who want to work from an art prompt or create short-form or non-traditional written works, and podficcers who are looking for inclusive fan collab events without high wordcount expectations - this is for you!

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Event Mods

The mods are @specialagentartemis and @grammarpedant.

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Schedule

The schedule and other information can also be found at the AO3 Collection Page. All deadlines are measured from US Pacific Time.

February 3: Artist signups open. Artists may start planning and creating as soon as they sign up. February 23: Artist signups close. March 10: Artist check-in. March 16: In-progress sketches submitted to the mods. March 17: Sketches will be posted for claims. Writer and beta-reader sign-ups will open. Podfic sign-ups open, though podfic claims will happen later. March 31: Writer and podficcer signups close April 7: Team matches of artists, writers, and beta readers assigned. April 14: Artist and writer should have talked to each other by this date. May 2: Progress check-in. May 5: Podfic claims open. May 19: Podfic claims close. May 26: Progress check-in 2. June 30: Art, writing, and podfic should all be ready by this date. July TBD: Reveals and posting!