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[narya_flame]

 Goooood morning, TRSB-ers! 

Today is the day - final check in.  (Insert appropriately dramatic music here.) 

This reminder is going to be long - to save your eyes if you're in a rush, the key message for writers is, please check in within the next 24 hours to tell us you're on course to post your fic in the AO3 collection by 25th August.  As mentioned in the last check in email and the original posted schedule, if you don't check in this time you will be automatically defaulted and you will not be permitted to take part next year.  (A couple of you have checked in ahead of time, which is fine, you don't need to check in again.) 

Artists, if you haven't already, please supply your final art to your writers unless you've agreed another arrangements.  Writers, if you have an art-related problem, please speak up now!

 Other stuff...

 

Posting Fic

 

We're sure you know the drill by now, but fics should be in the collection, with the artwork embedded, linked or appropriately credited, by 25th August*.  The AO3 collection is over here. 

Fics must be complete.   If you're still making edits, please post anyway; we aren't checking your grammar, just that there is a complete fic for each artwork that meets the word count minimum.  Placeholders will be removed. 

Again, if you miss this date or submit incomplete fic, your claimed art will be reassigned to a pinch hitter and you will not be able to take part next year. 

If you are having an unexpected life emergency and anticipate a problem with the deadline, please tell us ahead of the 25th and we will do what we can to help! 

*In reality you may have a few hours' grace.  Due to work commitments and time differences, the mods are unlikely to be checking the collection until around 1200 BST/CET on the 26th.  However, please make every effort to observe the official deadline!

 

Posting Art

 

As per the FAQ, artists are responsible for posting their own artwork and supplying the link to their writer ahead of posting on the 25th.  Yes, we know this means that depending on how you go about things, the art may be revealed approximately a week before the fics.  This isn't breaching the rules so please don't worry. 

Please discuss posting logistics in your pairs - e.g. are you embedding the artwork in the fic, linking in the story notes, other?  It is up to each pair to decide how to do this; the mods are not responsible for sorting this out! 

There are several options commonly used when posting an Author/Artist collaboration:

“Co-Authors”: Creating a single AO3 work with both the Author and Artist listed as Co-Authors, with the artwork embedded into the story. (If you’re going with this option, the images need to be hosted somewhere because AO3 doesn’t offer image hosting. Please don’t use Tumblr hotlinks if you can help it. If you change your url, the links will die and sometimes they die anyway because Tumblr, so please choose something more reliable. Contact us if you need help with image hosting.)

“Inspired By”: The Artist creates an AO3 work for their artwork, and the Author posts their fic to AO3 as a work inspired by another work – this is a good option if your team prefers not to embed the artwork into the story

“Gift”: The Author creates an AO3 work, gifts the work to the Artist and either embeds the artwork or includes a link to wherever the artist has chosen to post their artwork (eg: Tumblr, Deviantart, Dreamwidth or Livejournal, etc.)

 

Tumblr Promotional Posts

 

This caused some confusion last year.  Hopefully this year the instructions are clearer, but please get in touch with any questions ASAP. 

To ensure the fruits of your collaboration get the love and admiration they deserve, one of your pair (it’s up to you who) should create a Tumblr promotional post after August 25th but before Sept 1st, advertising the amazing results of your collaboration.  The TRSB Tumblr blog will be reblogging these in staggered schedule until around Sept 10th, to ensure maximum exposure for each team. 

The Tumblr promotional post should contain: 

• A SFW crop of the artwork, or a story banner (note: Whole art pieces should only be included if the artist is posting the masterpost and if the art is SFW)
• Fic title and AO3 link
• Link to the artwork if posted separately
• Links to Author’s and Artist’s tumblrs and/or AO3 accounts
• Fic and Artwork Rating (G/PG/M/NC-17)
• Warnings (As per AO3 guidelines, please warn for graphic violence, underage, non-con or major character death) and use any other relevant tags as you see fit
• Relationships
• Characters
• Word count
• A blurb or story summary
• @ mention of the @tolkienrsb tumblr

Story Banner: the tumblr dashboard’s image width is 540px.  The largest image size is 1280x1920px.  Banner can be a SFW crop of the artwork by itself, a whole SFW art piece if the artist is posting the masterpost, or an actual story banner made up of a crop of the art which includes fic title, author, artist.

Tagging: the first 5 tags you use are searchable on Tumblr so we suggest tagging your promotional with: main pairing, main characters, name of author and artist, fest, warnings.

Reblog Dates:  Please discuss in your pairs if you have any preferences regarding when we reblog your post, and tell the mods so that we can accommodate these - for example, not posting on Shabbat.

 

Pinch Hits

 

We currently have one piece of art looking for love - no. 25 in the preview gallery, featuring Dwalin and Gloin (plus Gimli and Legolas) in the Glittering Caves of Aglarond.  If anyone is able to pick this up then please let us know by email ASAP!   

There may also be other pinch hits coming out in the next few days.  Given the time frames we are willing to flex the deadline for our pinch hitters - drop us a note to discuss. 

Treats are also highly encouraged - speaking of which...

 

Treats 

 

If you've finished your fic, missed author signups, didn't get your preferred artwork, or would like to help with the pinch hits but can't muster 5k words, then please consider treating!  Treats can be added to the collection any time between now and reveals (Sept 1st).  A treat can be any length from a semi-drabble to a full blown novel (though if you can write a full blown novel before Sept 1st, Mod Narya would love to know your secret). 

If you don't have access to the gallery, please get in touch with the mods and we will sort this out for you.  The sign up form for writing treats is here.  You don't have to be signed up to write a treat; this just helps the mods monitor which artwork we can expect fics for.

 

***

 

Phew - think that's everything, but as always, shout if anything is unclear or you need our help.  We can't wait to see what you've created! 

Mods Raiyana and Narya