#shadowmonkeys big bang 2024

[shadowmonkeysbigbang]

✨ SHADOWMONKEYS BIG BANG GAME ✨

As we're now officially into the second posting window and the gloomier half of the year, we thought we'd share something hopefully a little fun to keep everyone feeling motivated!

If you're taking part in this year's Big Bang in any way (whether that's as an artist, writer, beta-reader, or just as someone who's going to be reading and supporting the collaborations when they're posted!) and feel like sharing a little about you and your relationship with fanfic/fanfart then please reblog this post with your answers to the questions below 🥰

Introduce yourself! What’s the story behind your username/what should people call you? 

How will you be participating in the Shadowmonkeys Big Bang 2024 (e.g. organiser, artist, writer, artist, reader etc)? 

What are your favourite fic tropes? 

If you’re a writer/artist, what’s your favourite piece of work you’ve created for this fandom? Feel free to link it! 

What’s a fic/piece of art in this fandom you’ve loved recently?

Do you prefer reading/writing from Miles or Alex’s POV? 

What’s an album that you love reading/writing/drawing to? 

If you’re a writer/artist, what do you struggle with most in your creative process? Is there anything that helps? 

Have you participated in a fandom big bang before? 

On a scale of one to ten, how excited are you for the Shadowmonkeys Big Bang 2024?

[glorious-blackout]

Happy to say that after finally getting rid of a year-long writer's block and questioning whether I should back out and quit once or twice, I finally have a completed first draft of my Big Bang fic 🥹

My projected 8 chapters has turned into 10 and it's all handwritten so I have *a lot* of work still to do, but just knowing I'll actually have something to post next month is such a relief 💖

[uhbasicallyjustmilex]

Would I be able to submit a piece of art and a fic as my own team? (My teammate had to drop out so Im okay just filling the slot)

hello lovely! 💓 i've checked with minnie and we both think that sounds like a wonderful idea 🌟 just to note that if the art is in any way related to your teammate's prompt then you'd need to check with them that they're okay with you going ahead with the idea yourself, and also please be aware there's no obligation to fill the slot by yourself - but if you'd like to then that's absolutely great, go ahead and we can't wait to see what you come up with! 😍😍

[shadowmonkeysbigbang]

Sign-up time!

Hi everyone! 🪩

After officially announcing that the Shadowmonkeys Big Bang 2024 is a go, it is now sign-up time! We hope you're all still as excited for this event as we are, and we look forward to finding out who will be participating in this year's Big Bang 💫

Just a few notes before we're off:

Sign ups will be open for two weeks. Sign ups close on Sunday 14 April 2024 at 00.00 GMT (what time is that for me?)

Please make sure you've checked the Big Bang guidelines (below) before signing up.

The sign-up form below is both for authors and artists.

GUIDELINES

SIGN-UP FORM

If you have any questions at this point, you can let us know via the sign-up form, by sending the @shadowmonkeysbigbang account an ask, or by emailing us at shadowmonkeysbigbang@gmail.com.

That's it for now! Looking forward to getting creative with you all 💗

[shadowmonkeysbigbang]

Hi everyone,

We hope you're all doing well and have been enjoying working together on your different collaborations for this year's Shadowmonkeys Big Bang!

This is just to let you know we've sent out a check-in email to all participants, so please be sure to check your emails and get in touch if you have any questions or updates regarding your team's project at this stage 😊

Stay tuned for some fun interactive posts from us on this page soon!

Love from,

Your Mods 😘

[shadowmonkeysbigbang]

Hi! Thank you so much to everyone who participated in our polls. We're very happy to officially announce that a new Shadowmonkeys Big Bang will take place this year! 🎉🎉🎉

It will be run by @subtle-as-an-earthquake (Minnie) and @uhbasicallyjustmilex (Lulu), and details about how to get involved will be posted later this month.

If you have any questions, please feel free to drop the Shadowmonkeys account a message/ask, and we'll respond as soon as we can 😊

We're so excited to get into the creative spirit with you all! 💖

[shadowmonkeysbigbang]

Hi everyone!

We’re delighted to announce that all teams have now been allocated - the Shadowmonkeys Big Bang 2024 is officially underway! 🎉🎉🎉

A huge, HUGE thank you to all the wonderful authors and artists who’ve signed up this year, we absolutely can’t wait to see what you create together (and to share our own creations too)! 😍 This fandom is full of so much talent and it’s amazing to see everyone coming together and having fun sharing their ideas 🥹🥹

We will shortly be posting information about the different posting windows, and will also be sharing various writing resources/fun little big bang activities over the next few months to help keep you feeling motivated! 🌟

For now though, that’s all from us! Happy creating, and as always if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch (NB as mentioned in a previous post, we’ve realised we can’t get access to the askbox or inbox for this account, so please direct any queries to the Shadowmonkeys email account or either @subtle-as-an-earthquake or @uhbasicallyjustmilex on tumblr)!

Love from, your mods 😘

[shadowmonkeysbigbang]

ARTIST CLAIMS FORMS ARE NOW OPEN!

Hi everyone! 🪩

If you signed up to the Shadowmonkeys Big Bang 2024 as an artist, then please be sure to check your email. We've just sent out the claims forms and it's first come first serve, so make sure you get your choices in soon! Details about how claims work and how to submit your forms can be found in the email.

The deadline for submitting your Claims Form is 26 May, 00.00 GMT+1 (what time is that for me?)

(Please note that, in order to avoid any possible conflict of interest, as your mods we (@subtle-as-an-earthquake and @uhbasicallyjustmilex) have not submitted our fic prompts for claims. We will each be writing a fic for this year’s big bang, but we we will not be pairing up with any artists)

A huge thank you to all of you for signing up, we're so excited to see all the incredible art you'll be creating 😍

**If you signed up as an artist and did not receive this email, then please let us know asap**

As always, if you have any questions then please don't hesitate to get in touch with us here or via email. Happy browsing! 🐢🐒

Love from, your mods 😘

[shadowmonkeysbigbang]

1st ROUND OF TEAMS OFFICIALLY ALLOCATED

Hi everyone! 👋

We are delighted to announce that the first round of teams for this year’s Shadowmonkeys Big Bang have now been allocated. Please check your email for details of who is in your team and reach out to each other to start the collaborative process!

If you’re an author and have not yet received an email then please don't worry just yet. As previously mentioned, more authors than artists have signed up for this year's bang, which means unfortunately not all prompts submitted are guaranteed to be matched with an artist. However, a second round of claims will open on 3rd June for any artists who want to sign up for a second collaboration. This second round of claims will run to June 10th, and we hope to be able to announce a further round of teams following it.

If any authors are not matched with an artist after the second round of claims, they can decide to continue with their fic for the bang without artwork (as both @uhbasicallyjustmilex and @subtle-as-an-earthquake will be doing as the mods), or to withdraw from the bang this year. If anyone is not matched with an artist we will reach out to them and let them know this is the case asap.

** Please remember that whether or not you are matched with an artist is NOT a reflection on the quality of your work - it is simply to do with the individual preferences of the artists contributing **

If anyone has any questions or would find it helpful to discuss anything then please as always feel free to reach out to us! 😊

To everyone who's received their teams today - happy collaborating! 📝 🎨✨

Love from, your mods 😘

[shadowmonkeysbigbang]

FINAL CALL FOR PROMPT SUBMISSIONS

Hi everyone!

This is just a reminder to all authors that the final deadline for your prompts is Sunday 12th May at 00:00 GMT. That means you only have 48 hours left to get your prompts in!

Guidance on how to submit your prompt can be found here and also in the email all authors received from us on 22nd April.

It’s been wonderful to read the prompts that have come in already (there are some really fantastic ideas!), however the total number of prompts we’ve received so far has been quite small. If you still want to take part as an author then please do make sure you submit your prompt so the Bang can go ahead as planned.

Please don’t worry about your prompt being perfect - it’s absolutely fine for it to be a rough outline at this stage, we really just need a sense of its key points so the artists can decide which fics they want to sign up for.

If you have any questions or need any help, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us!

We can’t wait to read all your ideas 😊

Love from your mods 🫶

[shadowmonkeysbigbang]

Hi everyone!

This is just a reminder to all artists that you have *48 hours left to submit your claims* 🎨 The final deadline for claims submissions is Sunday 26th May 00:00 GMT (What time is that for me?)

The claims form and guidance on how to submit your claim can be found in the email we sent all artists on 19th May. If you didn't receive this email or you have any issues or questions, then please don't hesitate to get in touch with us either here or via email 😊

Thanks so much to everyone who's already submitted their claims - we can't wait to see the amazing art that's to come!

Love, your mods 😘

[shadowmonkeysbigbang]

CLAIMS FORMS ARE OFFICIALLY CLOSED

A huge thank you to all the artists who submitted their claims! 🎨

We are currently in the process of reviewing the claims forms and will be allocating teams in the next few days. You will receive an email with information about who you will collaborating with soon, so remember to check your inbox!

Once the teams have been announced, we will be opening a second round of claims on 3rd June. We currently don’t have as many artists as we do fic prompts, so this will give artists the chance to do a second collaboration if this is something they’re interested in.

We’re really excited to get the teams allocated so everyone can start collaborating! 🌟

As always, any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch either here or via email.

Love from, your mods 😘

[shadowmonkeysbigbang]

Hi everyone!

We have now sent out confirmation to all teams regarding posting windows, so please make sure to check your emails 😊

Teams will be able to start posting their work anytime between the first and the last day of their allocated window, either all at once, or at least the first 25% of the total fic. The final deadline for posting WIPs (i.e. the date by which the complete fic must be posted) will be 15 February 2025, so please keep that in mind while planning your work. If your work is not finished before this deadline, it will be removed from the Bang collection on AO3. 

More information about how to add your work to the AO3 collection will be sent out to you at a later date.

If you have not received the email or have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to send us an email or contact either of us here (we still can’t access messages/asks to this account so make sure you direct them to either @uhbasicallyjustmilex or @subtle-as-an-earthquake!)

We hope you’re all having fun creating, can’t wait to see what you come up with! 🌟

Love from,

Your mods 😘

[shadowmonkeysbigbang]

PROMPT SUBMISSIONS ARE OFFICIALLY CLOSED!

We just wanted to say a BIG thank you to everyone who sent one in - we’ve been having a read through them all today and are honestly blown away by the level of talent and imagination in this fandom! 🐒🐢

We’re currently in the process of compiling the prompts we’ve received and will share them with everyone who signed up as an artist on 19th May. Further information about how the claims process will work can be found here.

We’re so excited to see the finished collaborations - we can already tell they’re going to be absolutely amazing 🌟

Thanks again to everyone who’s got involved!

Love from, your mods 😘

[shadowmonkeysbigbang]

TIMELINE & POSTING GUIDELINES FOR SHADOWMONKEYS BIG BANG 2024 PARTICIPANTS

Hi everyone! Now that the sign-ups are complete, we wanted to post an overview of how this year's bang is going to work. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch via our ask box, dms, or email address 😊

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Timeline: 

1) Authors submit your prompts (deadline: 12 May)

2) Artists claim your prompts (round one: 19-26 May & round two: 3-10 June )

3) Teams are allocated (for round 1: by 2 June & for round two: by 17 June latest)

4) Get in touch with your allocated partner 

5) Decide on a posting window (dates TBC)

6) Work on your projects while communicating with your partner

7) Post your finished collaboration within your chosen posting window! (posting dates TBC, with 15 February being the final deadline for posting WIPs)

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

1) Authors submit your prompts

We will shortly be sending out a link to the submission form for everyone who has signed up as an author via email, after which we will also make a Tumblr post to remind everyone to check their inbox. The deadline for submitting your prompt will be 12 May. This means you have approximately three weeks to think of a fic idea and create + submit your prompt. Please bear in mind the guidelines when creating your prompt.

How to submit your prompt:

You will be asked to create a Google Slide, containing the following information about the fic you’re planning to write:

A working title 

The prompt itself. Ideally, this wouldn’t be a teaser-style prompt, but either a full summary or a description of your idea, containing information that might be helpful for artists. As this prompt is meant for the artists to base their decision of which fic they’d like to do art for on, please make sure to include some info and details that will appeal to artists (descriptions of visual appearances of characters or settings etc.)

Rating/tags/warnings you’re planning on using, in AO3-style. These can of course be adjusted at a later stage, but we’re asking you to include at least a few that you’re confident you’ll be using, so that artists have something to base their decision off

An author’s note: which should include information that might be relevant for artists, like the estimated length of your fic, how much of it has been written so far, any preferences for types of artwork you may have, the level of collaboration you’re looking for (i.e. whether you’d like input from the artist on your story as you’re writing it, or prefer to elaborate only on the scene(s) the artist will be creating artwork for, and only share the full fic once it’s finished, or anything in between), and anything else you think would be good for an artist to take into consideration

You can find an example slide (for a different fandom) that you can base your own slide on here. All the required information needs to fit on a single slide, and the font size should be Calibri 12. If you have any difficulty creating your slide, please get in touch with us and we will guide you through it. Your slide will be anonymous, and you will be asked to submit it via the Google form that we will be sending out to all authors via email shortly. 

What happens after you’ve submitted your prompt?

Once we’ve received all slides, the mods will combine them into a single presentation and number each slide. We will then share that presentation with the artists, so that they can browse the prompts and decide which fics they’d like to create artwork for. They will be asked to submit their top three choices via the Claims form that we will send out to them in due course, to maximise the chances of every author being matched with an artist. 

Please note: since more authors signed up to this year’s bang than artists, it is unfortunately possible that you will not be matched with an artist in the first round of claims. We will therefore host a second round of claims approximately a week after the first round, during which artists who might want to do artwork for multiple fics can claim another fic. If we are still unable to match you with an artist after the second round of claims, you are free to decide either to withdraw from the Bang, or to continue without artwork. Please remember that whether or not you are matched with an artist is not a reflection on the quality of your work - it might simply be a matter of subject preference and/or the fact that there are more authors than artists. 

2) Artists claim your prompts

On 19 May, we will post all the prompts that have been submitted, and artists will be able to claim the prompt they want to create work for. In due course, artists will receive an email with a link to a Google Presentation containing all prompt slides, anonymously submitted by the authors. Once this email has been sent out, we will also be making a Tumblr post to remind artists to check their inbox. You will have one week to browse the submissions, after which you can use the Claims form (which we will also be including a link to in the aforementioned email) to submit your top three choices for fics you’d like to create artwork for. The deadline for submitting your Claims form is 26 May. 

3) Teams are allocated

After Claims have closed, the mods will do their very best to match as many authors with artists as possible, based on the artists’ preferences. All teams that are successfully matched after the first round of claims will then receive an email to notify them of who they will be collaborating with. We aim to notify the allocated teams within one week from when the Claims form closes (so by 2 June).

The second round of claims will open the day after (3 June), and will remain open for one additional week (deadline 10 June). Additional teams will be allocated and notified as soon as possible after the deadline, and anyone who we were not able to match will be notified asap as well. 

4) Get in touch with your allocated partner

As soon as you've been allocated your team, please get in touch with your partner to touch base and to discuss how you want to approach working together on your project. The Shadowmonkeys Big Bang is all about having fun and creating together, so don't be shy about reaching out and starting the conversation!

5) Work on your projects while communicating with your partner

This is the fun bit! Once you've decided how to approach your project, get to work and make sure you keep in touch with your partner for inspiration and motivation. We'll be posting tips on different ways to stay on track and plan your projects, and other fun little bits and pieces here and there to keep everyone feeling inspired!

6) Decide on a posting window

This year, we've decided that in order to make the bang as accessible as possible, there will be a series of posting windows. The posting windows are: 

Posting window 1: 30 September - 27 October

Posting window 2: 28 October - 25 November

Posting window 3: 26 November - 23 December 

After the teams have been allocated, we ask every team to discuss amongst themselves when they would prefer to post their collaboration. Teams can then submit their first and second preference for a posting window via a form, which we will be sharing with you in due course, and the mods will subsequently attempt to make a posting schedule that is as balanced as possible. Teams will then be notified of their allocated posting window by the mods via email.

7) Post your finished collaboration within your chosen posting window!

Teams will be able to start posting their work anytime between the first and the last day of their allocated window, either all at once, or at least the first 25% of the total fic. The final deadline for posting WIPs (i.e. the date by which the complete fic must be posted) will be 15 February 2025, so please keep that in mind while planning your work. If your work is not finished before this deadline, it will be removed from the Bang collection on AO3. 

More information about exact dates and times for the different stages of the Big Bang will be shared with you via posts here/the emails we will send participants at each stage of the process. 

You can also find all of the above information in this google doc.

Happy brainstorming, and we're very much looking forward to seeing everyone's no doubt incredibly creative and inspiring fic ideas! 🪩

[shadowmonkeysbigbang]

ONE WEEK LEFT TO SIGN UP!

Hi everyone! this is a reminder that you have one week left to sign up to the Shadowmonkeys Big Bang 2024. The final sign-up deadline is Sunday 14th April, so if you want to take part please make sure you've put your name down before that!

It's been so lovely to see so many people already signing up, so a huge thank you to everyone who has - we're so excited to have you on board! 🐒🐢 Also thank you so much to everyone who's supported us by reblogging the sign-up post even if they're not taking part themselves. It's wonderful (if unsurprising!) to see so much support and enthusiasm in the fandom 🥰

Q&A

A few questions have popped up from the forms that probably apply to a lot of people, so we've decided to share the answers here!

Am I able to do multiple pieces? You guys seemed to have less artists and if this is goin on for a while I might be able to do a few pieces to help even things out !

Absolutely! There is a slight shortage of artists, so if any artists want to do more than one piece then that would be amazing 🥰

i'm definitely signing up as a writer but i'm unsure whether i will have an artwork ready in time so i checked both in case, is that OK? also is there a deadline for finished fics or do they just have to have a first chapter and can be updated past the deadline? thanks

Of course! If you think you might like to contribute both as an artist and writer than definitely check both when signing up 😊

We'll announce more details about the timeframes for posting your fics/artwork soon, and also how the collaboration element between authors and artists will work - hopefully that will give you a better estimate of what will be manageable for you!

signing up as an artist but we’ll see how well i do… i might get too busy depending on life… adult life sucks :(

We totally understand that all of us contributing to the bang will have other things going on in our lives. All we ask is that you take your commitment to your Big Bang collaboration seriously, and if at any point you are struggling/unsure you will be able to complete your piece for the deadline then please communicate this as soon as possible to the person you're working with and to us 💗

Can you please post an estimated timeline of prompts, submission, etc? Thanks!

We will be posting this information shortly after the sign-up window closes next weekend, so stay tuned! 🥰

That's all for now! If anyone has any further questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch via the sign-up form, shadowmonkeysbigbang@gmail.com, or via our ask box here 💜

Have a wonderful week everyone! 🪩