Paperlegends

[einahpets]

So if any of you don't know, paperlegends had their announcement post today!  Yay! 
I've met the best people through this event, seriously. 

Anyway I was looking through the schedule and I noticed artists now have to submit drafts.
This is actually pretty cool, cause it makes artists more involved. 
But I think there's probably more that would make it a little more involved/better for the artists.

Question for my writer friends and artists too!! --
As it's done now, drafts aren't due until after artist/author matchups happen. 
Before matchups, the 15K word counts are taken in faith.  I can't tell you how many of my artist friends got burned because the author didn't have the suggested amount, and ended up dropping out or the artists were not able to make art to the fullest of their abilities since time is shorter for artists.
I was wondering if submitting a minimum 15K rough draft before match-ups is something you think would benefit your Big Bang experience?
As an artist, I see it as more of a guarantee that you're serious about finishing and I have more confidence going into the anon matchups.  ALSO!  I have so much more material to work with and create beautiful art from.  And please tell me of a writer who doesn't want to see beautiful art?

Question for my artist friends --
How would you feel to have betas required for artists too? 
There are so many talented artists in fandom who would be more than happy to take a look at your in-progress work.
In the past year I started sharing my IP work with fellow Merlin artists and it makes a world of difference. 
Be it for anatomy, composition, perspective issues, coloring, the atmosphere in the piece, how to do a certain technique, etc. 
Having an online critique makes such a difference, and it created such a supportive community. 
It's like an art class, but for free, and on your time!!
Would you guys be interested/supportive of this?

I've already talked to a few friends, but I wanted to see if there were similar/different thoughts from my flist/the Merlin community.

Feel free to pass this along!

Comments

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

Exactly! So hopefully now that we're aware we can do stuff to change it. :)

I would hate to have a friending post without all the PL participants. Cause then it makes it feel divided, you know? Though I think there should definitely be something social when new participants come in.

[sheswatching.livejournal.com]

This will be my first year actually writing in a BB but being a cheerleader for what ended up being quite a few people last year, I've seen both sides of the story.

I think a 15k minimum when matching is done is a good start, since a full draft might require a complete timeline rework and it seems a bit too late to do that this year.

I also think that 15 gives artists and writers a chance to be more collaborative, especially if outlines for the rest of the story are mandatory, where artists might contribute a bit more to the story itself, but that's not how it always works. :P

But it would probably be advisable for anyone who wants a story that includes manips and graphics like articles etc for throughout the story, the collab aspect would be very helpful. But I don't want either artists or writers to feel too rushed, so...y'know.

15k minimum is reasonable, with a full outline. I'd even probably volunteer to actually help the_muppet check, because I want this to be successful.

[gfeather.livejournal.com]

As a writer, I find firmer deadlines an essential motivator. Just like the weekly word count check ins we have at paperpushers, except with a firm number expected. I really don't think it's too much to ask for the great work the artists do. I know not everyone works with a super detailed outline and follows a super rigid schedule. I know I tend to have bursts of super productivity and lulls where things 'just won't write dammit!' but I don't think it's in any way unreasonable to expect 15k to be finished before getting matched with an artist.

Also, as someone who wrote over 100k last time... I don't think it's unreasonable for a massively longer fic to be expected to have 50% of the estimated final word count or close to it. I don't know if other massive fic writers would agree with me, but 15k of a fic that's estimated at over 80k isn't very fair to the artist either. Then again, I may have really overwhelmed my artist by sending 50k+ of fic to her right out of the gate... um... oops on that reni...

Anyway... I'm agreeing with, well just about everyone here it seems, that having a concrete, 'you must have at least this submitted' rough draft commitment from writers before they get an artist seems more than fair to me. It doesn't stop people from writing as Cat 2 or prevent writers from seeking out an artist on their own if they so choose. It just makes sure that artists have more fic to work with, which makes for better art :)

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

Yes, you brought up a very good point. Every writer/artist team works differently. Some go full out collaboration, while other times it's almost like solo ventures, and then there is everyone who falls in-between. Though I think having at least the 15K you can give a fair advantage to both the writers and artists no matter which way they work.
Thank you for stopping by and leaving your opinion!

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

I can see how an epicly long BB writers would appreciate a more rigid schedule!
And btw, I thank you for having so much of your story to give me! Especially since I was able to give you art for various scenes throughout the story.

Thank you for stopping by and leaving your thoughts!

[gwyntastic.livejournal.com]

I have to admit I was going to grab your story for that Bigbang. I wanted to really badly. Just from the summary I wanted to make a mock up of the nat geo that Merlin wrote. I had so many IDEAS. I heard about your artist troubles and I kick myself every single day for not grabbing you up when I had a chance. I KNEW your story was going to be amazing just from the summary. And it was amazing, when I read it I was so mad at myself for not picking you. I'm STILL mad at myself to this day that I didn't beat up your artist and steal you from them.

[mellacita.livejournal.com]

LOL. Don't worry about it! I am very flattered you liked it and the idea was interesting at all! It was cool to have art for the fic at all--I have never had art for a fic before except my own photos, so it was still a cool experience. I just wish I could have had one of those cool, collaborative experiences. I'm still glad I did it and I get a bit nostalgic for it sometimes. :)

[yue_ix]

May I ask if you've got any reply back from the mod about these issues we've all raised?

I've heard second hand but would love to have something written publicly just so that I'm not accidentally rumourmongering. I think a bit part of why not many people realise that some things could be even better for everyone with very little inconvenient is that we haven't said things aloud often enough.

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

No problem asking!
Yeah, I didn't hear anything back.