Mega Flare! A Final Fantasy Big Bang

Hello authors! The rough draft deadline is almost upon us, as we prepare for story selection to open next week.

Story Submission Form

You will also need to include a summary -- these are what the artists will use to select their story. All summaries and drafts are due by Sunday, September 18th at 11pm Pacific Time (click here for the date and time in your area).

Remember, we aren't necessarily looking for a complete or polished draft, just enough progress that an artist can be reasonably confident that you will finish by the deadline. The required minimum draft wordcounts for each level are:

Flare: 1,700
Ultima: 3,400
Mega Flare: 6,700
Giga Flare: 13,400

If you signed up as a team with an artist, there is no need to submit your summary or draft. Stories without artwork are also more than welcome in the collection!

Any questions? Let the mods know! Thanks, and happy writing!

This is your official notice that author sign-ups for Mega Flare 2011 are now closed! We have 34 authors participating! Thanks for such a great turn-out, and we look forward to seeing everyone's rough drafts in September! Watch the community for more reminders.

Artist signups will stay open through September 25th.

The Sign-Up Form

We will be running the boss_battle support community again this year. Come on over for our first activity tomorrow, and feel free to join the community if you haven't already done so. Remember that this community is for Mega Flare participants only. If you're still a member because participated last year, but aren't doing so this year, feel free to stay! Cheerleading from past Mega Flare folks is more than welcome. :)

Thanks again to all the authors who signed up, and we look forward to seeing more artists join us!

Hi everyone! Signups are going great so far. As of this writing, we have 18 authors signed up to participate, at every level, including one brave soul who is taking on the Giga Flare challenge of writing 40,000 words!

To date, we only have one artist signed up to participate, so if you've been on the fence, get off the fence and come sign up! :) We'd love it if people would spread the word, too; renay and I have big plans for advertising in artist communities, but the more advertising, the merrier. If you have ideas of places for us to post, to attract both artists and authors, please let us know!

The Sign-Up Form

1. What is Mega Flare?
Mega Flare is a Big Bang for the Final Fantasy community. It's an opportunity for writers and artists to work together to create long stories illustrated with awesome art! Authors will write a story of at least 5,000 words, and artists will chose at least one story to illustrate with a high-quality artwork. For more details, see the rules.

2. Sounds great! When can I sign up?

• Sun Jun 5: Sign-ups Open


• Fri Jul 9: Author Sign-ups Close


• Fri Jul 9: Mega Flare 2010 Collection Closes


• Sun Sep 18: Rough Drafts Due


• Mon Sep 19: Story Selection Begins


• Sun Sep 25: Story Selection Closes


• Sun Sep 25: Artist Sign-ups Close


• Fri Oct 28: Posting Begins!


• Sun Nov 13: Posting Ends - All stories and artwork due

All closing times and due dates are 11pm Pacific Time (UTC -6).

You can find a complete list of our rules on this page, including expectations for writers and artists as well as details on signing up as a team.

3. What's the deal with the different length options?

After gathering feedback from last year's participants, we decided that more people would be able to participate in the challenge if we offered a little more flexibility. So this year, we are offering authors the opportunity to choose their own wordcount goal, as follows:

Flare - 5,000 words
Ultima - 10,000 words
Mega Flare - 20,000 words
Giga Flare - 40,000 words

4. What counts as "Final Fantasy"?
Any media property with the words "Final Fantasy" in the name, including all the main game titles, spinoff titles, and movies, that has been released to the public. ( Complete list behind the cut: )

If you do not see the Final Fantasy title you wish to write about, please ask!

Also, please note that this does not include Kingdom Hearts or Vagrant Story. You are, however, welcome to write a crossover with either (see below). Also check out hardmode, a Big Bang for all game fandoms. Signups are currently closed, but keep an eye out for next time!

5. So, what about crossovers? Or Alternate Universes?
Allowed and encouraged! Just make sure that at least one Final Fantasy canon is an important element of the story in terms of setting and/or characters.

6. Do I have to write one long story, or can I write a bunch of short stories that add up to to my word count goal?
Like most Big Bangs, the intent of Mega Flare is to encourage and support writers who are interested in writing longer Final Fantasy stories. Therefore, we require that writers write a single story rather than a series of shorter stories. Of course, stories can be broken into shorter sections such as chapters, but they should be posted all at once.

7. How do I post to AO3?
Everyone will need an AO3 account to participate. If you don't have one yet, please contact the mods as soon as possible and we will get you one. Alternately, you can sign up for the invite queue.

( Posting tutorial is behind the cut! )

8. When will I be able to post?
We will allow posting starting in early October, so you can post as soon as you're done! Note that the stories will be hidden until we officially open on October 28th, so you will still be able to edit up until that date.

9. Can I post my story elsewhere?
After the collection officially opens on October 28th, you may cross-post your story and artwork wherever you like. But please don't post your story or artwork publicly before that date.

10. Oh no, I'm not going to finish by the deadline! What do I do?
First, don't panic. We understand that life happens, and that things don't always go according to plan. If you run into trouble at any point during the process, up to and including half an hour before the reveal, please contact the mods, and we will do our best to help you. The sooner you contact us, the better, but even at the last minute it's better to contact us than to disappear.

11. I defaulted last year. Can I still sign up this year?
Yes. We will not penalize anyone for having defaulted on last year's challenge. However, please do consider whether you will be able to commit this year, especially if you plan to submit a story for artwork or sign up to illustrate a story.

12. I finished my story but haven't heard from my artist/I finished my artwork but haven't heard from my author. What do I do?
Contact your author/artist, let them know that you are ready to post, and ask them for a timeline. You should also ask them if they mind if you post your creation separately. If you aren't comfortable doing this yourself, drop the mods a line and we will be happy to do it for you!

13. How do I contact the mods?
Email is the best way -- megaflareff@gmail.com!

Hey everyone,

Don't forget to take our feedback poll! We had over 70 signups for Mega Flare last year, but as of this writing only 15 people have filled out the poll. Whether or not you finished, or even if you're just interested in participating next time, we want to know what you think! The poll will remain open through Monday, April 25th.

Thanks,

KJ & Renay :)

Hey everyone,

Your mods have discussed the issue, and we've decided that only a week for story claiming is not enough time, especially if we want to recruit in our canons with less representation. To that end, we have extended the story claiming period by one week, to Sunday, September 19th. (Click here for your local date and time!) Since rough drafts are not due until October 1st, this should still give artists who sign up later plenty of time to connect with their authors in advance.

Claiming post is here! And the sign-up form for new artists is here!

Of course, we don't want to forget everyone who got their claims in on time, because we love you all! Therefore, we will start sending emails with contact information sometime tomorrow. We hope you are all excited about getting started on your projects!

Thank you for your patience with the ever-shifting deadlines! As always, let us know if you have any questions, or suggestions of good places to advertise.

Reminder for all authors participating in Mega Flare: your summaries are due tomorrow, Sunday September 5th. (Time and date in your location.) If you would like to be eligible for artwork, you need to submit a summary by this time. The summary should be somewhere around 75-200 words The form for submitting your summary is here.

A few people have asked about this, so I wanted to extend the invitation to everyone: if you want to share more information about your story with a potential artist than can fit within 200 words, you are welcome to link to a "Dear Artist" letter in your journal or elsewhere. Just include the link with the summary. This is by no means required, but if you want the option, you are welcome to take it! You should still submit a summary, however.

Finally, come share a piece of your work in progress over at boss_battle! We're planning to do a "snippet sharing" post every week for the rest of the month, and the first of these is up. Check it out!

Because we forgot to post a reminder yesterday, we have extended the sign-up deadline for authors until Sunday, July 4th, at 11:59 pm PDT (check this time in your location). This is your last reminder for author sign-ups!

The deadline for artist sign-ups is still Friday, September 3rd.

The sign-up form for everyone is here.

Also, don't forget to join boss_battle, our support community -- although membership is totally optional, we're hoping it will fun and useful for everyone!

Cheers, your mods, owlmoose and renay.

We've been open for fewer than 24 hours, and as of this writing 23 people have already signed up for Mega Flare. This is very exciting! Keep it coming!

A couple of people have asked if they can promote the project, and of course the answer is a resounding yes! Any and all promotions and advertisements are more than welcome. In the past, we have found it challenging to promote Final Fantasy projects to people who aren't involved in the journaling communities, so ideas about places we can advertise off LJ and DW are especially welcome.

Another question came up about banners and graphics for promotion. Since neither renay or I are graphics people, we don't have anything like that made, and doing so is probably beyond our skills. But if anyone is inspired to whip up a banner or two, using Bahamut in any of his many incarnations as an inspiration, that would be fantastic! Icons would also be excellent. If anyone is interested, let us know. Thanks!

Signups are opening soon, and you know what that means: time for a FAQ! Got questions that aren't answered below? Drop a comment here or let the mods know. Watch this space for the sign-up form...

1. What is Mega Flare?
Mega Flare is a Big Bang for the Final Fantasy community. It's an opportunity for writers and artists to work together to create long stories illustrated with awesome art! Authors will write a story of at least 20,000 words, and artists will chose at least one story to illustrate with a high-quality artwork. For more details, see the rules.

2. Sounds great! When can I sign up?

• Sun Jun 6: Sign-ups Open


• Fri Jul 2: Author Sign-ups Close


• Fri Sep 3: Artist Sign-ups Close


• Sun Sep 5: Story Summaries Due


• Mon Sep 6: Story Selection Begins


• Sun Sep 12: Story Selection Closes


• Fri Oct 1: Rough Drafts Due


• Fri Oct 29: Posting Begins!


• Sun Nov 14: Posting Ends - All stories due

All closing times and due dates are midnight Pacific Time (UTC -7).

You can find a complete list of our rules on this page, including expectations for writers and artists as well as details on signing up as a team.

3. What counts as "Final Fantasy"?
Any media property with the words "Final Fantasy" in the name, including all the main game titles, spinoff titles, and movies.

( The complete list )

If you do not see the Final Fantasy title you wish to write about, please ask!

Also, please note that this does not include Kingdom Hearts or Vagrant Story. You are, however, welcome to write a crossover with either (see below). Also check out hardmode, a Big Bang for all game fandoms. Signups are currently closed, but keep an eye out for next time!

4. So, what about crossovers? Or Alternate Universes?
Allowed and encouraged! Just make sure that at least one Final Fantasy canon is an important element of the story in terms of setting and/or characters.

5. Do I have to write one long story, or can I write a bunch of short stories that add up to 20,000 words?
Like most Big Bangs, the intent of Mega Flare is to encourage and support writers who are interested in writing longer Final Fantasy stories. Therefore, we require that writers write a single story rather than a series of shorter stories. Not 20 ficlets or 200 drabbles; one 20,000 word story. Of course, stories can be broken into shorter sections such as chapters, but they still need to be posted all at once.

6. How do I post to AO3?
Everyone will need an AO3 account to participate. If you don't have one yet, please contact the mods as soon as possible and we will get you one. Alternately, you can sign up for the invite queue.

( Posting tutorial behind the cut! )

All artwork should be embedded within the story. This works the same as it does on Livejournal, Dreamwidth, or any webpage: <img src="" alt="" /> and you should be in business. If you need long-term hosting for your artwork, we are happy to provide it for you. Just e-mail us for the upload page URL. :)

If you have any questions or concerns about the posting process, or need assistance, don't hesitate to e-mail us.

7. When will I be able to post?
We will allow posting starting in early October, so you can post as soon as you're done! Note that the stories will be hidden until we officially open on October 29th, so you will still be able to edit up until that date.

8. Can I post my story elsewhere?
After the collection officially opens on October 29th, you may cross-post your story and artwork wherever you like. But please don't post your story or artwork publicly before that date.

9. Oh no, I'm not going to finish by the deadline! What do I do?
First, don't panic. We understand that life happens, and that things don't always go according to plan. If you run into trouble at any point during the process, up to and including half an hour before the reveal, please contact the mods, and we will do our best to help you. The sooner you contact us, the better, but even at the last minute it's better to contact us than to disappear.

10. How do I contact the mods?
Email is the best way -- owlmoose@gmail.com and bottle.of.shine@gmail.com. Please make sure to copy both of us for the fastest response.