Rules and Requirements

Below are all of the rules and requirements for participation in the Dean/Cas Pinefest. If you are unsure about any of the rules or requirements, it is up to you to reach out to the mods ASAP to ask for clarification.

## Eligibility

* The challenge is open to participants of all experience levels over the age of 15, however we will not accept or promote mature or explicit material submitted by minors. As such, authors under the age of 18 may not submit fics with mature or explicit content, and artists under the age of 18 will not be permitted to select mature or explicit fics during claims, or produce mature or explicit artwork.
* Authors must register between August 7 2022 and September 30 2022 in order to submit a fic to the challenge.
* Artists must register between August 7 2022 and November 26 2022 in order to be eligible to request a fic during the first round of Art Claims.
* Artists who miss the registration deadline may claim a fic during the public round of Art Claims on December 4, should any fics remain. Details on participating in the public round will be made available on the Pinefest blog closer to the date.

## General Requirements

* It is the responsibility of all participants to familiarise themselves with the rules, requirements, and schedule of the challenge. Failure to adhere to these may result in disqualification from current and future rounds of the challenge. If there are any aspects of the challenge which you do not understand, or which you feel require clarification, please contact the mods as soon as possible for assistance.
* Any participant who engages in racist, homophobic, transphobic, sexist, ableist, or any other discriminatory speech or behaviour, including any kind of harassment, will not be tolerated.
* **All author, artist, and team check ins are mandatory.** These check-ins enable us to make sure that everything runs smoothly throughout the challenge, so it is imperative that all authors and artists complete them on time.
* Check-in forms will open no less than three days before the deadline, and links to these forms will be sent to the email address provided during registration.
* Draft submission forms will be open for seven days before the deadline, and a link to these forms will be sent out to the email provided during registration.
* Author/artist teams are formed through an anonymous claims process which will take place on December 3 & 4. You may not form teams outside of this process, and you may not switch teammates after you have been paired up.
* Due to the collaborative nature of the challenge, all participants must communicate regularly and respectfully with their teammates. If you are having trouble with your teammate and cannot resolve it yourselves, please contact the mods as soon as possible so that we can attempt to find a solution.
* If you anticipate being unable to access the internet during a check-in or draft submission period, it is your responsibility to reach out to the mods for assistance prior to the deadline.
* Extensions will only be considered in unavoidable circumstances, and are granted at the discretion of the mods.
* All fic draft submissions must be made in the following file formats: .doc, .pdf, or a google doc “share” link.
* All art draft submissions must be made in the following file formats: .jpeg, .png, or a google doc “share” link.
* **All due dates operate on Pacific Time.** If a deadline is listed as November 21st, your submission should be completed by 11:59pm PT on that date. Please use an online time-zone converter if you’re unsure of what time that is in your part of the world.
* While the challenge is still taking place, participants may only promote their fic and art with the official promotional posts.
* After the challenge is over–-meaning, once all author/artist teams have posted–-you may promote your work in whatever way you see fit. Until then, participating in the challenge means sharing an equal amount of promotion with all other participants.

## Author Requirements

* Fics must meet a minimum word count of 20,000 in order to qualify for the challenge, and should be wholly unpublished prior to your scheduled posting date.
* Fics must be complete & stand alone at the time of publishing; no cliffhanger endings will be accepted in this challenge. As artists should not be able to guess who wrote the fic based on the summary shared during claims, any story that relies on having read a previous fic in order to understand what is happening will not be suitable for this challenge.
* Though you are welcome to participate as both an author and artist, you may not claim your own fic as an artist.
* To ensure that the anonymous claims process remains fair to everyone, authors who are also participating as artists will not have access to the fic discussion chat group before claims. Authors must avoid publicly sharing any identifying information about their fic prior to claims.
* Authors may only submit one fic for this challenge.
* There is no penalty for authors dropping out of the challenge prior to claims. If you must drop out, please let us know so we can remove you from our mailing list.
* The rough draft which you are required to submit on the November 26 deadline should be at least 80% of your planned final word count, or 90% if you’re also participating as an artist. Any unwritten scenes should be outlined clearly in bullet point form. Please note that the outline you provide for unwritten scenes will not be included when determining your current word count.
* We’ve included a general word count guide below for reference, but do ask that you double check your word count percentage with a calculator to ensure you’ve met the minimum requirement before submission. If you’re still unsure, feel free to ask in the Pinefest Discord chat, or by emailing the mods ahead of the due date.

### Co-Writing

* Writing partners/teams are allowed, but must register separately, and only need to inform us of their status as a team at the draft submission stage.
* The co-written fic will count as your one allowed submission, meaning you may not submit a second fic as a solo author or as part of another writing team.

### Quality, Style, & Language

* Fic submitted for this challenge should meet acceptable standards of spelling, grammar and readability. For this reason, all fics must be read and edited by at least one beta prior to submitting the final draft on February 10–yes, even those written by seasoned fanfic pros.
* A sensitivity reader is also recommended if you are writing about a marginalised group of which you are not a part.

* Authors who have not worked with a beta before and need assistance finding one are encouraged to seek advice and assistance in the Pinefest Discord chat.
* Unfortunately, we cannot accept fics in languages other than English.

* All fics submitted must be in prose format. This means we will not accept long form poetry, scripts, roleplays, or dialogue-only submissions. If you have an idea for an experimental style that you think may still be suitable, we do ask that you contact the mods to check before your start writing! We have unfortunately had to turn away authors in the past who wrote 20,000 words of pure dialogue, and would hate to have to do so again.

### Fic Drafts and Promo Details

There are three check-ins during which authors will be required to submit drafts and/or information.

* On November 26, authors must submit an 80% complete rough draft of their fic, in addition to the following information. This will be compiled into a preview to be shared with artists ahead of the Claims Process. Note that a title is not required at this stage, as your fic will be assigned an ID number for claims.

**(\*Or 90% for any authors who are also registered as artists)**
 **Any applicable Major Archive Warnings, or Trigger Warnings** | Authors must indicate whether the fic includes Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, or Rape/Non-Con. **Please keep in mind that this challenge will not accept any explicit sexual content involving underage characters.**

 **A list of tropes, visuals, and thematic elements** | Authors must provide a list of any applicable tropes (eg. only one bed, hurt/comfort, rule!63, fake relationship, A/B/O dynamics, truth spells, hurt/comfort, Coffee Shop AU, etc.) as well as a list of visual or thematic elements that might interest an artist (eg. "several scenes take place at the circus" or "gothic architecture is important in this story" or "the ghosts in this fic appear as glowing clouds" -- anything that might give an artist a better idea of what things look like in the world of your fic)

For a long list of tropes to jog your memory, check out the writing resources page, or feel free to reach out to the mods or your fellow writers in the fic discussion channel on Discord!

* On January 22, authors must submit their final title, final promo summary and a promo teaser excerpt. This should be the promo which will eventually appear on the author’s Ao3 post. The excerpt should be no more than 500 words long, and preferably from somewhere near the beginning of the fic. These details will be compiled into a promotional post like these from previous rounds.

* On February 10, authors must submit their final fic drafts. While authors may continue to edit up until their scheduled posting day, the fic should have been beta read by this date, and should meet acceptable standards of spelling, grammar and readability.
* Failure to submit drafts by the due date and a lack of response to mods reaching out in the following 24 hours will be taken as an unannounced drop out. If there is some extreme situation that has precluded you from being able to respond within this timeframe, please let us know when you are able so that we know you’re alright!

### Posting Your Fic

For step-by-step instructions for posting, see our detailed Posting Guide.

## Artist Requirements

* Artists must create a minimum of two artworks for each fic they claim. You are welcome to create a title card or dividers for your author’s fic if you wish, however these will not be counted toward the two piece minimum.
* Each piece must be an original illustration created specifically in response to the claimed fic, and may be created using either digital or traditional media. Please note that for the purposes of this challenge, photomanips, “paint filtered” photos, and collages are not included under the umbrella of “digital art”, and as such will not be counted toward the two piece minimum if submitted. If you are unsure, please ask the mods via email.
* Photomanips, icons, dividers, collages, playlists, and videos are not being accepted for this challenge, however if artists wish to create any of these in addition to their required pieces, they are of course welcome to do so.
* Art may not be shared publicly prior to your assigned posting date–this includes progress shots and sketches. You may share your work in progress with an art beta or with your fellow artists in the dedicated artist chat.
* The Pinefest assigns artists to authors using a first come, first served anonymous claims system, and as such you may not plan to team up with a particular author ahead of time.
* Though you are welcome to participate as both an author and artist, you may not claim your own fic for this challenge.
* You may host your final artwork on whichever platform you choose, so long as it is publicly accessible via a direct link.
* Artists should not publicly discuss the content of their author’s fic prior to the scheduled posting date.
* Artists under the age of 18, or artists who have been paired with an author under the age of 18, may not submit mature or explicit artwork for this challenge.
* All art submitted must be of finished quality and reflect your best efforts at creating something to fit the story you have chosen. We recommend finding an art beta and/or consulting with your fellow artists for feedback and encouragement during your process. We recommend looking through previous year’s collections to get an idea of what is usually created!
* Artists may claim multiple fics provided that there are still fics available after the first round of claims has been completed.
* If an artist is not interested in claiming any of the fics available, they may choose to drop out without claiming. There is no penalty for doing this.

### Art Drafts

* There are two check-ins during which artists will be expected to supply drafts.
* On January 22, artists must submit work-in-progress screen captures of their two required pieces. These can be as simple as sketches or rough outlines, but must show that you have been working on your pieces by this date.
* On February 10, artists must submit screen captures showing rough drafts of their two required pieces. Artists may continue to work on their pieces up until their posting date, but artists should be well beyond the outline stage by this date.
* Failure to submit drafts by the due date will be taken as an unannounced drop out, and a pinch-hitter artist will be assigned to your author.

### Posting Your Art

For step-by-step instructions for posting, see our detailed Posting Guide.

## Pinefest Chat Server

* New participants will be able to join the Pinefest chat server for the 2023 round once we’ve confirmed their registration, within 24 hours of signing up
* This chat server is invite-only, and has separate channels for artists and authors, along with a general off-topic channel.
* Rules for using the Discord server will be sent out with the invitation to join, and these must be read and adhered to.
* If you sign up to create art as well as write fic, you will only be able to access the off topic and artist channels until after art claims have been finalized. You are of course able to chat with your fellow authors in direct messages to get advice, but as an artist you should not be privy to the details of other author’s fic. This is to ensure that the anonymous claims process is not compromised at any stage–unfortunately we have not yet found another way to work around this.
* Participants who fail to adhere to the rules of the server may be removed from the chat, and depending on the nature of the rule(s) broken, may also be disqualified from the challenge.

## Dropping Out

* If a participant drops out before art claims, they may continue to sign up for future rounds without limitation.
* If a participant drops out after art claims, we ask that they do their teammate the courtesy of letting them know via email, in addition to contacting the mods.
* Except for in extenuating circumstances or emergencies, dropping out after art claims will result in disqualification from future rounds.
* All drop-outs are final. Once a participant has dropped out, they may not re-join the current round.

## Disqualification

There are only a few ways that an author or artist might find themselves disqualified from participation in the current or future rounds:

* Failing to adhere to the schedule and ignoring reminders sent by the mods
* Failing to adhere to the rules of the challenge
* Ghosting their teammate
* Demonstrably mistreating their teammate or other participants of the challenge

Depending on the specific circumstances, an author or artist may receive a warning during a first instance of the above behaviours. Failure to adhere to the rules after a warning will result in disqualification.

In the event that an artist is disqualified from the challenge, or simply stops responding, a pinch hitter artist will be arranged to step in and create art for the author who had been paired with them.

If an author is disqualified, or simply stops responding, and the artist has already completed art for them, we can either post the art as a standalone piece on the assigned day, or arrange a reverse-pinch-hitter to write a short ficlet based off of the art if the artist prefers.

All disqualifications are final, and at the discretion of the mods.

**The mods reserve the right to update and alter these rules for clarification or if otherwise necessary. In the unlikely event of any major changes to the rules or the schedule, an email will be sent to all participants.**