Marvel Cinematic Universe:
By the "legal" definition, the MCU is all of the movies made by Marvel Studios fall under the Marvel Cinematic Universe. These include such movies as Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, etc. However, for the purposes of this reverse bang, the mod has chosen to consider ALL movies that have been made of Marvel characters as a part of the MCU. Which means Spider-man, X-Men, Fantastic Four, etc.

What is a Reverse Bang?
A Reverse Bang is the reverse of the usual Big Bang challenges. Instead of artists claiming anonymous fic summaries, authors will be claiming anonymous art prompts, which will then be used to write a story of 3,000 words or more.


How do I sign up?
Sign-up posts for artists, authors, and betas will open on February 12, 2016.

What pairings/genres/ratings are allowed?
This reverse bang challenge accepts any pairings, ratings, or genres as long as they include characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Artists may choose to specify what pairings, genres and ratings they would prefer to accompany their story.

Are crossovers and fusions allowed?
Crossovers and fusions will be allowed so long as the focus of the prompt remains on the MCU characters. Crossovers will include comic book characters that have not been introduced yet in the cinematic universe. It will be the artist's responsibility to provide explanations of, or information about, characters from other fandoms or even from the comics (if the writer is not comic-savvy) included in the artwork to the author.

What about RPF?
RPF is not allowed.

Can I crosspost my fic/art to other communities/websites?
Of course. As long as your first official (master) post is here, you can crosspost to any other relevant communities and sites you want. With that in mind, there is a mirror group on Dreamwidth for this reverse bang and there will be additional information on AO3 and Tumblr for those there.

Can I post to my own journal a few days early?
If you are posting to your journal a few days early to set up the master post, please ensure that the entries are private until your assigned posting date. Your posting date should be the first time your fic/art for this challenge is made public.

Can I sign up as both an artist and an author?
Absolutely. If you think you can handle the workload, go for it. However, you can not claim your own art.

What happens if the number of authors doesn't match up with the number of artists?
In the event that the art prompts outnumber authors, I will do several rounds of claiming until every prompt has an author. If it's the other way around, I may re-open all art so that more than one author is assigned to the same prompt. Either way, everyone who wants to participate will get to participate.

How will I contact my artist/author?
Artists are encouraged to contact their authors as soon as they see their prompt claimed in the claims post. If this doesn’t happen, author/artist match-ups will be revealed a few days after claims end. Authors will have one week after the match-up post goes up to contact/respond to their artists.

What if my author/artist doesn't contact me?
If you're an artist, and your author either doesn't get in touch with you at all, or drops off the map, contact me and I'll issue them fair warning. If your author still doesn't respond, a pinch-hitter will be assigned. Please note: it is important that you notify me as soon as you feel you have cause for concern, so that your pinch-hitter will have more time to work.

If you're an author, please remember that since the art prompt is complete enough to work from, artists are allowed to have as much or as little contact as they want. If your artist doesn't get in touch with you, work from the prompt and preferences outlined in the claims post as best you can. Any artist who chooses to have little to no contact with their author assumes the risk that the story they get might not be exactly what they want.

Where can I sign up to pinch-hit?
A pinch-hitter sign-up post will go up sometime after claims end.

What are the requirements for art?
Artists are expected to create at least one new piece of art: a drawing, digital manip, fanvid, or fanmix. Art must be at least 400 by 600 pixels in size, videos must be at least 30 seconds in length, and fanmixes must include at least 8 songs, plus cover art (minimum 400 by 400 pixels). A download link for the mix needs to be included when the mix is turned in; that link will not be in the claims post but will be given to the author that claims it.

You must submit a completed draft of at least one piece per prompt by June 1, 2016. You may still make changes, but the art should be complete enough that a writer could work from it even if no changes are made.

You cannot submit art for this challenge that has already been posted elsewhere.

How many art prompts can I submit?
Artists are allowed to make two separate art prompts. You can, however, make as many pieces of art as you wish for a single prompt. If you do this, a collage of all pieces included in the prompt is encouraged for your submitted draft— i.e. the preview that will go up in the claims post. Additional pieces can also be made later as you are collaborating with your author, but this is completely optional.

Does my art need to be looked over by a beta?
It's not required, but it is recommended. There will be sign up post for beta volunteers that you can check out starting May 1st, or you can use your own beta. Betas will not be assigned for this challenge.

Will my art be archived anywhere?
I will upload all art to a public album/site for the sake of previews in the claims post. At any time after the challenge has ended, the artist can request that their art be removed from the album/site. Artists will be responsible for where they decide to upload and post the final version of their art.


What are the requirements for fic?
You will be expected to write a minimum of 3,000 words, based on the prompt you choose in the claims post. Your fic must be related to the art for which it is written, and it cannot have been already posted elsewhere. Rough drafts meeting the minimum required word count will be due August 14, 2016.

There will be required check-ins, draft deadlines, and a certain level of communication with your artist is expected. If you do not meet your deadlines or fail to communicate with your artist, you may receive one or more warnings, after which a pinch-hitter will be assigned.

Does my fic need to be beta-read?
Beta-read stories are strongly encouraged. There will be sign up post for beta volunteers that you can check out starting May 1st, or you can use your own beta. As with the art, betas will not be assigned for this challenge. If the story has not been beta-read, it will still be accepted but please ensure that it is proofread/spellchecked/etc.

Can I write with someone else?
Sure! If you're writing with a partner, only one of you needs to sign up, but be sure to include information for both writers.

How do I make a claim?
When the artists turn in their rough drafts, I'll make a claims post. In this post I'll include a preview of their work, along with a short description that includes the artists preferences, dislikes, etc.. You can comment with which piece of art you'd like to write for, and then that person's art will get crossed off the list. Claims will be first come, first served.

Once I have my prompt and start writing, can I ask for more art?
Artists are not required to make any additional art once you start collaborating. It's completely up to them. If they decide to make more, consider it a fun surprise, but don't go in with the expectation that they have to, and please don't be rude.

Will my fic be archived anywhere?
No. Where the story is posted will be up to the author. We do encourage authors to post their stories to Archive of Our Own. A collection will be set up there for this challenge. I may also create a Tumblr account where I'll share links to completed works.

A claims post will go up on June 6, 2016, approximately 24 hours before claims officially begin on the 7th, so that writers may take a look at all of the art before actual claiming starts. The art posts will contain thumbnail previews of all the art (that link to the full size versions) accompanied by an optional text description of the subject. All art will be posted anonymously, and claims will be first come, first served.

Proxies will be allowed, meaning you can get someone to make your claim for you, if you know you won't be around at the time of claiming.

The claims post will be members-locked, so please be sure to join and watch the community in order to participate.

Sign-ups Open: February 12, 2016
Artist Check-in (not mandatory): April 1, 2016
Sign-ups Close: May 12, 2016
Art Due: June 1, 2016
Claims Posted: June 6, 2016
Claims Open: June 7, 2016
Match-ups Revealed: June 14, 2016
Author Check-in (mandatory): July 14, 2016
Rough Drafts Due: August 14, 2016
Posting Schedule Announced: August 21, 2016
Posting Begins: September 1, 2016

I just want to do a shout-out to the mods of da_reversebang. I've never run a reverse bang before, and I didn't see one for MCU when I did a LJ search, so I lifted the verbage from their FAQ information for the FAQ information here because it was so clear and pretty much rocked