Author Rules

## Author Rules and Guidelines

* Fics must be a minimum of 10,000 words. There is no maximum word count.
* You are obliged to keep in touch with your artist, since the two of you are making magic together.
* It is important you discuss the content of the fic with your artist to make sure your artist is not squicked or triggered by what you wanna write before you write it! This includes, but is not limited to any major archive warnings, any kind of sexual activity, any graphical violence, etc.
* Your fic must be posted in its entirety on your posting date. Serial posting is not allowed on any website.
* Keep in mind the Schedule. There will be 3 check-in points. The first one will be a gentle reminder of what you engaged in.
* Come December 6th, you will need to have 30% of your draft done. If you do not send in this draft, you will get a warning to deliver before X date, or be disqualified. Remember: you’re in a team. Your artist is committing too.
* Next check-in is February 7th, when you will need 60% of the draft to send in. Miss this one, and we will be disqualifying you.
* Final Draft is due on March 25th. Needless to say, this one should definitely be met.
* Authors are not allowed to commission art for a fic written for the PPB, since this would be unfair to your artist. Again: you’re in this together. This includes asking artist friends to create illustrations or photo manipulations as a favor. Even if your artist agrees, it is against the rules and we can disqualify you. Any extra art done by your artist (even after your posting date) is allowed to be added.
* You may register as both an author and artist, but you will not be able make art for your own fic. This Bang is about chemistry and creating a story together.

## Fic Content Guidelines

* Your work should be brand new for the challenge. Definitely not a previously published work, or an unpublished WIP (this includes sneak peeks on social media). Using an old concept that was never published is acceptable as long as the actual content is new and your partner approves of the concept as well.
* Please don’t discuss your fic in private groups that may include people who are not participants in this challenge. It is perfectly fine to discuss privately one-on-one with your alpha / beta reader, or in the challenge-only spaces created by the Matchmakers.

* Fics must be written in English.
* You must tag/warn for any of AO3’s major archive warnings. (MCD, Explicit content, etc)
* You may not choose to withhold a major archive warning from a fic posted for our Bang.
* Cliffhangers are not allowed in the the PPB. If you submit a draft that ends with a cliffhanger, it will be rejected.
* This band is focused on Dean and Castiel. Side-ships are allowed, but only if both author and artist agree.
* All genres of fanfic are welcome from canon compliant to modern AUs, to sci-fi and fantasy! So long as you and your partner are excited about it you can go for it!
* All characters engaged in sexual activity or sexualized situations must be at least 16 years old. Fics featuring 16- and 17-year-olds engaged in sexual activity must be labeled as underage. Underage sexual situations featuring 16- and 17-year-olds can't include anyone above the age of 18 and the acts most be consensual.
* If your story includes a past history of sexual abuse involving an underage character, you should tag appropriately but *no graphic mentions are allowed* of the actual act.
* We understand that, if you’re writing a historic AU, certain underage situations may have been common and not taboo during the time period of your story, but our participants include parents, teachers, and community leaders and we don't want anyone to have any issues with their home life due to the content of a story in this challenge. We appreciate your understanding and are glad for it.

## Beta Readers

* All fics must be beta read and spell checked. You can use any beta reader of your choosing; they do not need to be registered for our Bang. We are happy to help you find one if you need them, but you will not be assigned a beta reader as a part of this challenge. It's ultimately up to you to find someone to work with.

Many of these rules have been adapted from rules, guidelines, and policies created by Muse, Jojo, and Diamond for DCBB.