Sign Up for SPN Summergen 2011

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Signups now closed.

It's here at last!

First things first: the sign up process is a bit different this year, so please read all of this post carefully before you sign up. You should also review the rules post if you haven't already, so you know what you're getting into.

Second thing: a reminder, Summergen this year is fanfic only. I do apologise to our artists and vidders; we tried, but there simply wasn't enough demand to make it worth the extra difficulties of matching three different kinds of fanworks.

About the signup form

The signup form looks very long and you will have to scroll down a long way to get to the end. But it's not as huge as it seems: the questions are the same as in previous years, it's just that instead of you writing in everything you can and can't offer, the options are listed as ticky boxes. There are a lot of options to choose from, so that makes the form seem long.

The required questions are marked with a red asterisk, but it's easy to miss, so be careful.

Section 1 is your name and contact info, basic stuff.

All the lists of options are in Section 2 which is about the kind of stories you can offer. Each of these lists has an 'other' option at the end so if something you particularly want to offer is missing, you can add it in. You can also use those checklists to inspire your own prompts, particularly for crossovers, as that's a list of fandoms others have already said they'd like to offer or request.

Please don't tick 'any' unless you really, really mean it.

At the end of Section 2 is a comments box: that's a chance to give the mods any extra notes about the kind of prompts your are hoping to get. We will TRY to take account of this but it's not always possible.

Section 3 is where you enter your prompts.

Your Prompts

Please remember this is a GEN exchange. Gen means no sexual or romantic pairings. You can give prompts for stories that imply a pairing (e.g. a fic about John and Mary Winchester, or about the time Dean was living with Lisa) but you can't give prompts that are focussed on them as a couple.

For example: "Lisa sees a ghost and freaks out and Dean has to deal with it" is perfectly okay. "The first time Lisa and Dean have sex" is not.

You MUST give at least three prompts, and you can give up to six. Only ONE of these can be for a crossover or fusion.

Possibly the most important question on the form is the very last one: Scenarios and stories I would rather not receive. What you enter here is an instruction to the person who will be writing a story for you and should be the things you really don't want to see in a fic. It is the ONLY part of your request that we ask the assignee to respect to the letter, so it's important to be clear and specific about your dislikes, but also not to go nuts in this part.

Submitting the form

When you get to the end of the form, there's a submit button. Yeah, I know that's obvious but bear with me.

When you click that button, if you have answered all of the required questions, your signup will be sent and the screen will refresh. If you have missed a required question, it will slightly highlight the one you've missed, and display a message at the top to tell you you've missed something.

If you've done everything right, when the page refreshes for most screens it will look blank - that's because it refreshes to the same place (i.e. the bottom of the form). You have to scroll back up to the top of the page to see the confirmation message.

This part is important. The "Thank you" message will include a link you can use to edit your signup. This link is unique to you and the mods have no access to it. If there is any chance at all you'll want to change anything in your signup later, you MUST bookmark this link yourself.

To bookmark the link...well, that varies depending on the web browser you are using. In most browsers, you should be able to click the link with the left mouse button and while still holding the left button down, drag the link to the bookmarks toolbar. Then let go. Don't click the link and then bookmark it, because that might not work - the form is embedded in another web page and you'll be bookmarking that, not the form. (Sorry, but this is the only way I could get it to work for everyone.)

Some final words

Summergen is a gift exchange. When you sign up, you take the risk that the person assigned to write a story for you will fail to come through. This can happen for a lot of reasons, some good, some not. The mods will do everything possible to make sure that every person who submits a story also gets one in exchange. The pinch hitters for Summergen have always been absolute heroes and we couldn't manage without them. But you must understand that this is just the risk you take with challenges like this. If you are not willing to assume that risk, don't sign up.

Lastly, I encourage everyone to create a "dear writer" letter in your LJ in which you give a bit more information about the kind of story you are hoping to receive. A few people did this last year and I know their writers found it very useful. If a writer is struggling a bit with your prompts, this can be a huge help.

If you want to see an example of what I mean, this is the "dear writer" letter I wrote for last year's Yuletide exchange.

If you create a dear writer letter, comment here with a link to it and I will include the link for your writer when assignments go out.

This is not compulsory; but I know many writers find it helpful.

Link to sign up form:

Have you read all that? Come on, have you really?

Okay then. Go to

http://supernatural.summergen.co.uk

to sign up. Signups are open NOW and will close on April 30th.

If you have any difficulties accessing the form (fair warning, it will not work on some older mobile phones) let me know as soon as possible, but please bear in mind I might not be in your time zone, and I have to both sleep and go to work. I will reply to you as quickly as I can, but don't expect it to be instant.

Signups now closed.