Question Asking Post

[clachnaben]

We appreciate this is a new format for a challenge, so we wanted to give people a chance to ask questions. This is a post to ask questions where everyone can see and we can post public answers. If you’d like to send us a question privately, you can email us at remixapod@gmail.com, or send us a dm @remixapod.

Comments

[eafay70]

Will there be a tag set for writer sign-ups so we know what fandoms are being offered?

[frecklebombfic]

We won't have a tag set the way a conventional exchange run through the AO3 would - the way AO3 does matching just isn't feasible for us, because we intend to hand-match assignments. Instead we're going to maintain a list of offered fandoms (probably in a google spreadsheet) and update it as podficcers sign up, for authors to view.

[eafay70]

What are the expectations (for want of a better word) at each check-in? Is it a certain percent of the work done, for example?

[frecklebombfic]

In general, our modding style will be a bit more hands-off than getting involved with your word-count. All we'll need at check-ins is a response from you. If we don't get a response within the specified time frame, we'll try to contact you via the contact details you've given us, and if we can't then we'll start looking for a pinch-hitter.
Additionally, at check-in #1 we'll be reminding authors to decide on and listen to their chosen podfic (and hopefully be trying to clear up any issues with assignments).

[calliatra]

Will there be any possibility for writers to write treats without signing up?

[frecklebombfic]

This is GREAT idea that we hadn't thought of, but will absolutely be using!

We'll make a list available of podfic from podficcers who are participating in treats after we have finalised the assignments. Anyone may write any number of treats (although bear in mind we are also likely to need pinch-hitters), and the will be no minimum word count on treats.

[calliatra]

Ooh, fantastic! Thank you!

[yue_ix]

Yay!!

Also, questions :
1) is this strictly podficcer and writer remix? No visual or audio remix allowed for this round?

If yes, does the remix text:
A) have to be a written down? Could it be an oral!not!fic?

B) could it be a not!fic at all?

C) does it have to be a fic or can it be poetry or meta or something else, as long as it is 1k?

[frecklebombfic]

Ok, to answer your questions in some kind of order:

1) this time, yes. we can't wear all the hats, and this challenge is promarily going to focus on podfic-to-fic remixes.

A&B) Given that, unfortunately, not everyone regards not!fic as being on the same level as classic fic and we don't want to disappoint people who have signed up to be matched (and we weren't talking about it from the outset), not!fic and oral not!fic won't be included in the challenge.

C) Smilarly with poetry and meta (and other remix interpretations), we're not including those within the scope of the challenge.

However! All these restrictions only apply if you sign up as a writer to be matched to a podficcer by us. We are going to be making a list of all the submitted podfic available for the purpose of making treats. If you want to make a treat, you may make a remix of any kind, with no minimums. We would still ask that you provide a transcript for accessibility reasons.

[yue_ix]

Would you be open to reconsidering? From a moderator perspective, there's implementation complexity, width of challenge and broadcasting of changes to weight in, but since this is the very beginning of your fest it seems like now or never to suggest it.

I, personnally, think it would benefit your fest to include other types of fanworks than fanfiction. At least other types of written works. My reasoning is:

Considering podficcers are often the "not everyone likes it so we aren't allowing them in our challenge" fan-works;

Considering the popularity of not!fics read by podficcers and the latest steep rise of oral!not!fics on Ao3 and conventions;

Considering this challenge seems worried it might not get a high podficcer/writer ratio, to the point of having already considered maxing out the number of podficcer participants to make sure everyone could get matched;

Considering the apparent love for meta and experimental fanworks in my podfic circle (of course not representative of the whole fandom, but perhaps indicative of some trends);

Considering the sign-ups are not yet open for anyone, so adding an opt-in change now won't blindside anyone;


I think it would serve and represent podficcers better to permit other types of fanworks to be welcomed and treated as equally desirable outcomes. It will certainly opens the fest to more participants and allows the fic-writers more remixing options. If "what types of remix would you like to be made of your work?" is presented in the sign-ups, no one who doesn't want that type of remix would get matched on it. (Here I am working on a basis that even people who do prefer fics over meta might prefer meta to not being matched to anyone because of lack of writer). Last but not least, allowing meta/poetry/rewriting/not!fics and other written works should, hopefully, not add a sudden load of extra work on the mods since everything but some wording can remain the same.

And all that said, since I cannot speak for anyone but myself, and this is your fest and your spoons and your reasons are valid: if you are wiling to reconsider this, what I am really asking is if you could please run a poll about it and see the reception the concept gets?

[frecklebombfic]

Because we don’t know what the workload is going to be like for this challenge, we aren’t going to consider changing the scope - THIS time. Next time it gets run, when we have a better understanding of what the hand-matching process is like, then we can assess whether we are willing to take on a higher workload by complicating the assignment matching process. Neither of us has ever modded a challenge like this before! Please bear with us.

(We are aiming to get a 1:1 podficcer to writer ratio, and closing podficcer sign-ups early would be step that we hope we won’t have to take.)

Thank you so much for your response here! It’s really given us a lot to think about!

[lunatique]

While I fully acknowledge your modding decision, I would simply like to add my voice to support the possibility of future challenges be open to more than fics. I believe that opening up the event to creators other than writers will widen the pool of potential participants and allow podficcers to receive more varied and creative remixes of their work. (EX: making an animatic of a scene! creating and cooking a recipe to enjoy while listening! a stained-glass style fanart of a scene that u can color while u listen! creating an original cover song or bgm! inspired oral not!fic! etc etc)

I would love to participate in this challenge but writing fic is probably the one medium I cannot handle. :( While I could participate as a podficcer, I know for a fact that none of my podficced fandoms would be matchable. Thus I am sad to have to sit this one out.

[frecklebombfic]

I'm sorry you feel that this challenge isn't the one for you. Please know that you can still participate, though! As I said in my first response in this thread:
"All these restrictions only apply if you sign up as a writer to be matched to a podficcer by us. [...] If you want to make a treat, you may make a remix of any kind, with no minimums. We would still ask that you provide a transcript for accessibility reasons."

[bessyboo]

While I’m absolutely sympathetic to the points you’re raising here, I just want to emphatically add, as an experienced mod uninvolved in this challenge, how MONUMENTALLY more complex this would make this challenge from a mod-side perspective. I agree that more things should be more open to more formats! You’re right that podficcers on the whole tend to be more open to that than larger fandom communities! But the fact that the mods want to make sure that this first-year challenge is doable without adding further complications actually gives me a huge amount of confidence in them, and makes me want to sign up more. Further, I think that allowing more experimental and non-text forms of remix as treats is a perfect compromise.

I get it, I feel you—you know I do, as someone who creates basically everything BUT traditional text-based fic. But not every fest or exchange can have EVERY thing, this is just a practical modding fact.

Re Permissions

[semperfiona]

I think permission would also be required from the original author of the text that was podficced?

Re: Re Permissions

[frecklebombfic]

We agree!

We've addressed this in the rules for podficcer sign-ups, on the sticky Intro & Rules post:
"-The podfics selected must either be of Blanket Permission works, or of works specifically permissioned for this challenge. (You can see example wording here)"

We've provided a template permission request for podficcers to use, if they'd like a starting point.

Re: Re Permissions

[semperfiona]

Oh, that itty bitty "of" makes all the difference. I didn't notice it af first, and thought the permission statement was about the podficcer giving permission.

Sorry!

Re: Re Permissions

[frecklebombfic]

No problem!

(I guess we don't say it anywhere explicitly, but it's assumed that any podfic being submitted automatically comes with permission to be remixed.)

[akamine_chan]

It's not really clear to me after reading the rules, but the podficcer is submitting previously created podfics? They're not creating podfics just for this challenge?

[frecklebombfic]

Our intention was for podficcers to submit already existing works, yes! (We're certainly not going to ask podficcers to create three-plus pods in order to participate.) Thank you for pointing out our lack of specificity on this, we'll add some wording to the rules post to clarify it.

(If a podficcer really, really wants to create a pod specifically for this challenge, and they're able to in the time provided, then that's fine too! But we imagined that most or all people would submit pods from their existing catalog.)

[duendeverde4]

oh i'm glad you asked that! i was wondering too, wasn't even going to sign up because of it. I thought maybe everybody was so great at making podfic they could do 3 in such short time

[frecklebombfic]

We are not expecting anyone to make podfic specifically for this challenge, and it is definitely not a requirement to participate!
I'm sorry that we weren't clearer about this! We assumed that not including any time for podfic recording/editing in the timeline, and the high number of podfic (3-6) would be enough.

We've added wording on the sticky post to the intro, Podfic Rules and the FAQ to make this clearer.

[duendeverde4]

Yeah i saw that! I'm happy you did :3 I just wanted to thank akamine for asking, i didn't because i thought maybe it was a dumb question but if they did it wasn't dumb! I feel kinda validated, i think akamine is super cool and smart =p

[akamine_chan]

I am firmly of the school that there are no stupid questions. :D

Also, <3 <3 <3

[annapods]

I know that only traditional fic (no meta, aural not!fic, etc) was allowed for the written remixes, but does that extend to the podfics as well? To be more specific, I have poems (original works), in-universe meta (original works/sports RPF) and language meta (with kind of original fiction?) that I'd love to submit. No problem if that's out of the bounds of this challenge! I'd totally understand a general "please don't". Just, you know, thought I'd try :p
Also, do you count several original works as belonging to one fandom?

[frecklebombfic]

We've put very little restrictions on the kind of podfic you can submit to this challenge, but maybe a guideline would be to make sure that you have a good range of formats, durations, tropes, etc in your submissions, just to make matching easier for us.
All of these would qualify for submission (as long as you're not planning on putting the WHOLE superstition series in there, just one of the chapters), so go with your heart! Or, if that's too fraught, with what you think would give an author the most material to work with.

Finally, for the purposes of this signup we will be counting original works as one fandom. (Just in terms of matching people, it's easier if you don't submit lots of original works!)

[yue_ix]

I would like to sign-up as an author but would also like to include as many fandoms as possible in my sign-up. Your spreadsheet is super helpful for this, but might get new fandoms added to it I hadn't thought of after I've signed up.

Will I be able to add fandoms to my sign-up after it is submitted? May I include "almost any fandom, please ask me"?

I'd wait until the very last day so that the list is completed but knowing myself I will forget or something will happen that night and won't get to sign up at all.

[clachnaben]

Sign-ups are in screened dreamwidth comments, so you have two options to add in more fandoms as the spreadsheet grows. You can edit your comment to add the new fandoms, or just reply to your comment with the additional fandoms.

We'd appreciate if you'd avoid "almost any fandom" as we'll be doing hand-matching, and won't be able to check with everyone if they've left a fandom off. Thank you for being so flexible though - we'll definitely think to ask you if we need more flexible matching.

[(Anonymous)]

So, is there going to be an AO3 collection we can submit finished works to, or is there one already I overlooked?

[frecklebombfic]

We haven't made it yet, but there will be an AO3 collection! We'll create it, and make the link for it public closer to the deadline, at the same time that we let authors know about posting instructions.

[(Anonymous)]

Phenomenal! As, umm, I kind of already wrote my fic. +laughs+

[frecklebombfic]

Awesome, congrats!! Hang in there for the collection until after the first check-in (later this week). Aaaand apologies in advance for all the check-in emails we're going to be sending you :D

[eafay70]

I have a couple of questions regarding posting:

-My fic includes a plot point that came from a comment on the original work, but wasn't included in the podfic. (The podfic included freetalk in which the podficcer recommended reading that particular comment on the original work.) Should I therefore also link back to the original work as a "work inspired by"?

-Should I gift my fic to the podficcer and/or author of the original work? (They're two different people.)

Let me know if this doesn't make sense - I'm typing this on relatively little coffee because I'm in a rush, but don't want to forget to ask!

[deepestbluesky]

i had some of the same questions, as far as 'should works be gifted/linked to an original author as well if the podfic is of a fic by another person', so i'm also interested in this answer!

[clachnaben]

Hi - I posted an answer below, but short answer: the "inspired by" section should just be of the podfic, not the work that inspired the podfic, and gifting is not required. Thanks!

[clachnaben]

Hi!

to answer your questions:

- You don't have to link back to the original work that inspired the podfic, just the podfic itself, in your "inspired by". If you want to link to additional inspirations, feel free to link to it in the author's notes of your fic, but we'd prefer if the "inspired by" section just included the podfic.

- You also do not need to gift the fic to the original podficcer. You can if you want to, but this is not an exchange challenge, so the "inspired by" link should be sufficient. Please do not gift the remix to the author of the work that inspired the podfic.

Good luck writing and looking forward to reading!

[eafay70]

Thanks for answering! I hadn't thought of linking in the author's notes, but that's the perfect solution. :)

[eafay70]

Is there a specific time on Saturday at which the collection will be closed?

[frecklebombfic]

ok, this answer is in 2 parts.
1. Honestly, we're probably going to close the collection mid Sunday morning, UK time.
2. the collection isn't going to be closed until next week, when it's revealed on the 22nd. Instead, we'll change it from Open to Moderated, so people who have asked for extensions can still submit. (There's no penalty or anything for submitting past the deadline, but we'd check in with you by email if you did that without first telling us you wanted extra time.)

does that answer your questions? :D

[eafay70]

It does! :D Thank you so much!!

[(Anonymous)]

According to the timeline, it looks like this should have de-anoned yesterday. Checking on the status, as some people do like to do a monthly wrap-up and would probably like to include their works with this month.

[clachnaben]

As we had a bit of a delay around pinch-hits and due dates, which we did to give our authors the maximum flexibility we could, we'll be revealing the entire collection today. Probably within the next hour!