notacowfest

[notacowfest]

and with that, authors are live!!

thank you so much to everyone who participated in the fest this year — whether it was by submitting prompts or writing fic or cheering people along in either endeavor. there was a lot going on in stars fandom during this last stretch of the fest, between the playoffs and all the moves made so far in the offseason, so getting to share in this with everyone was amazing!!

the collection is staying open for new submissions, so if you would still like to participate via fic, you absolutely can. i'm going to be periodically checking the collection but if you want to shoot me a message here on tumblr telling me when you've just submitted a new fic, please feel free to do so!! for right now, the plan is to leave the collection open until next year when there's a new prompting period for NAC 2025, so there's plenty of time to check over all of our unclaimed prompts & see if any spark your inspiration.

speaking of prompting, prompting will not be opening back up. the collection is simply staying open for new fic submissions. if you do have a new prompt you want to put out in the ether, however ...... might i suggest checking out .......... the waiver wire?

[notacowfest]

the first batch of fics is live!

[notacowfest]

hi everyone! in light of AO3's planned downtime when fics were set to go live on july 1, fics will now go live whenever the downtime ends on july 1. also in light of this, please feel free to get your fics in at any point between now & july 1 in order to have them be part of the collection whenever fics do go live!

in other news — following some conversations had with people who signed up & want to participate in the fest, the collection will not be closing for new contributions after authors go live. plenty of people (myself included!) have claims that they won't be able to fulfill before july 1 but that they/we would still like to get to. leaving the collection open allows everyone to have a place to eventually put those finished fics; it also means that more prompts might have fics written for them! a win-win!!

any fics submitted to the collection before july 1 (fics go live) or july 5 (author reveals) will be part of the Big Fic Drops, but i will continue to periodically check the collection for any new fics to be added to the collection. for right now, the plan is to leave the collection open until next year when there's a new prompting period for NAC 2025.

speaking of prompting, prompting will not be opening back up. the collection is simply staying open for new fic submissions. if you do have a new prompt you want to put out in the ether, however ...... might i suggest checking out .......... the waiver wire?

anyway, thanks so much for bearing with this update post! i hope everyone's excited for fics going live!!

[notacowfest]

two week notice: fics are due june 28th!

hey everyone!! i just wanted to drop a quick reminder that the end of the fest is in two weeks — there's still a little time to keep working on your fics or to start something new. also, you can still claim a prompt! if you missed the prompting & sign-up period but want to participate in the fest, you can absolutely still claim a prompt and be part of the fun when fics go live on july 1.

fics will stay unposted & unrevealed until they go live, so whenever you're done and satisfied with a fic you can go ahead and post it to the collection! even if you're still tweaking or working through minor updates and edits, you can post it to the collection so it'll be ready to go when fics go live in two weeks. as always, more information can be found via the fest's rules & faq; and please feel free to reach out here if you have any further questions about the fest, or need help with something while we're in the home stretch. i hope everyone's having fun!!

remaining schedule: 

Fics due: June 28, 2024

Fics go live: July 1, 2024

Authors revealed: July 5, 2024

[notacowfest]

Hey, I put in a prompt when they were open so it says I'm signed up. I didnt plan to actually write anything so I didn't claim a prompt. In the tiny chance I do get inspiration this month and write something, can I still claim a prompt and post it? Because it says the deadline closed end March. (I don't wanna promise anything so I won't claim unless I've actually written it already but yeah I was curious)

absolutely!! so, first of all: with the way collections work on AO3, signing up means leaving prompts. if you left a prompt when prompting was open, you're already signed up! you absolutely can claim a prompt if there's one that speaks to you, but if you have inspiration for a fic featuring members of the dallas stars org that doesn't fit any of the existing prompts, you can post it to the collection by typing 'notacow2024' in the spot where AO3 prompts you to post to a challenge or collection. no prompt needed!

also, since signing up on AO3 means leaving prompts, the march deadline for sign-ups was the deadline for prompting. you can still claim prompts up until the posting deadline!! this doesn't apply for you so much since you're already signed up thanks to having left a prompt (thank you for leaving a prompt!), but even people who missed that march prompting deadline can still participate in the fest so long as they claim a prompt.

[notacowfest]

today's the last day to sign up & leave prompts!!

[notacowfest]

sign-ups close on friday!

the prompting & sign-up period is nearing its end! if you've been thinking about participating in the fest but haven't gotten around to signing up yet, now's the perfect time to check it out. there’s already so many fantastic prompts to take a look at & get inspiration from, but having more prompts to get more inspiration from never hurts! if you have any ideas for prompts you haven't added to the fest yet, now's also the perfect time to make that happen. submit a prompt for the stars fic you want to see in the world! sign up so you can write the stars fic you want to see in the world!

reminder — you don't need to claim a prompt to participate in the fest. and if you want to leave some prompts but aren't sure if you'll be able to write for a the fest, that's also perfectly fine! more information can be found via the fest's rules & faq. have fun!!

remaining schedule: 

Prompts & Sign-Ups Close: March 29, 2024

Fics due: June 28, 2024

Fics go live: July 1, 2024

Authors revealed: July 5, 2024

[notacowfest]

take a look at some of our prompts or sign up with some of your own

[notacowfest]

take a look at some of our prompts or sign up with some of your own

[notacowfest]

also — it seems that whatever issues there were with ao3 limiting the amount of prompts people were able to leave has been cleared up! part of the initial issue was the 'edit sign-up' page only allowing people to add new prompts one-by-one after their initial sign-up, though still with a limit of ten.

even that looks to be cleared up now, though, so prompt away!

[notacowfest]

we've officially reached 60 prompts! here's a selection of some of the unclaimed prompts you can check out — and feel free to sign up with some of your own!

[notacowfest]

hey everyone! the prompt limit should be ten but it looks like despite me setting it, ao3 is limiting people to five prompts.

i'm not super sure why this is going down but in the meantime while i try to figure it out & fix things — if you have more than five prompts you'd like to leave, please feel free to commit prompt meme fraud & use a burner ao3 account to leave more prompts. ask your friend who has no intention of participating in the fest to leave prompts for you. etc etc etc. i won't know!! neither will anyone who sees the prompt & gets inspired!!!

[notacowfest]

take a look at some of our prompts or sign up with some of your own!

[notacowfest]

Is there any chance the fills can be posted as they're submitted? I remember there was some concern last year when all the fills posted at once but with the submission date (they got buried on the AO3 feed until dates were manually adjusted).

hi! I definitely understand being worried about your fic getting buried, but I think part of the fun of organized events like fests or exchanges is that all fics go live at once. there's almost a fun sense of community that builds up when everyone (writers AND readers!) is looking forward to the day that fics go live, and then the day that authors get revealed.

if this is something people are worried about, I can make sure to post an update here reminding people to change the dates on their fic in the lead-up to them going live! there's a couple days between when fics are due and when they go live, so I think that time period's great for going in & doing general updates — making sure your fill is posted and not drafted, checking to make sure all placeholder text is gone, updating the date published, etc.

if you'd just like a personal reminder to update your fill's publication date, you can always reach out privately here on tumblr & ask for one!! if you give me a place to contact you, I would be more than happy to do so.

[notacowfest]

Welcome to Not a Cow 2024 — the second year of this Dallas Stars fic fest!

There’s been an explosion of new players & narratives in Dallas over the past couple of seasons and we’re here to take advantage of that. Has all the talk about how this team feels different struck you with a burning need to write some fic about it? Now’s your chance!

We’re not explicitly a rarepair fest because everyone has a different threshold for rarepairs — but we'd absolutely love to see love for everything from the biggest ships to the ones you'll have to originate the tags for. Let's have some fun with it! Go wild!

ao3 collection  —  HERE!

faq  —  HERE!

rules  —  HERE!

Schedule 

Prompts & Sign-Ups Open: March 1, 2024

Prompts & Sign-Ups Close: March 29, 2024

Fics due: June 28, 2024

Fics go live: July 1, 2024

Authors revealed: July 5, 2024

[notacowfest]

Not a Cow 2024: Rules 

Fics must be complete and at least 500 words, with no maximum word count. If you choose to write something as part of an existing series, it must be able to work as a standalone while authors are unrevealed.

At least one of the main characters must be a member of the 2023-2024 Dallas Stars organization. All pairings/threesomes/moresomes/etc. that meet that criteria are welcome, including gen team fic, fic including original characters, & fic including players from other teams or leagues.

You don’t have to claim a prompt in order to participate if you don’t need the inspiration to get started. So long as your fic centers on members of the Stars organization, we’d love to see it!

Do not submit any AI-generated writing as either a prompt or a fill for the fest. If your fill includes artwork or a visual component, that also cannot be AI-generated.

Please make appropriate use of the archive warnings (or make use of the “Choose Not To Warn” option) & be sure to adhere to standard tagging conventions. If certain tags will spoil the contents of your fic and might trigger someone, put clear additional content warnings in the notes of your fic.

Have fun! And please feel free to contact us on tumblr with any additional questions.

[notacowfest]

Not a Cow 2024: FAQ 

What is the schedule?

Prompts & Sign-Ups Open: March 1, 2024

Prompts & Sign-Ups Close: March 29, 2024

Fics due: June 28, 2024

Fics go live: July 1, 2024

Authors revealed: July 5, 2024

Is this an exchange fest?

No, this is a prompt challenge! You don’t have to write based on anyone else’s requests and will not be receiving a fic based on your own requests. AO3 has a useful tutorial for participating in prompt challenges that you can take a look at for further information. 

How do I participate?

This fest is run through AO3, so you will need an AO3 account to participate and sign up to the Not a Cow 2024 collection by leaving a prompt! 

Do I have to claim a prompt?

Nope! Prompts are fun; it can be helpful to see the sorts of fic others would be interested in reading, but they’re just meant for inspiration. If you already have a fic you want to write that fits the parameters of the fest, go ahead and write it! Any and all Stars fic is welcome here.

Why do I have to leave at least one prompt to sign up?

Prompts are fun! No one's obliged to fill a prompt to participate in the fest, but prompts are a great way of offering up inspiration to people — especially anyone thinking about writing fic for the team for the first time. If you have a pairing you’d love to read or a trope you think would be fun to see, now’s your chance to suggest it!

Can I submit a prompt without filling one myself?

Yes! Absolutely! You can submit prompts without even the intention of writing something for the fest — this fest is for the Stars fic community and that includes readers as well, so if you want to suggest the sort of fic you’d like to read, go for it!

Can I claim multiple prompts? Can I claim a prompt for Pairing X to write Pairing Y?

You are more than welcome to claim multiple prompts! If you have a fic in mind that could reasonably be seen as a fill for two prompts, only claim one one them. And be sure to only claim pairing-specific prompts if you intend to fill them with that pairing.

I have more questions!

Please send them to us here on tumblr!