Welcome to Pod Together 2012!
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pod_togetherWelcome to pod_together! A challenge where authors and readers work in a partnership, the author writing something specifically to be podficced, and the reader recording it. At the end of the challenge, the text version and the audio version are posted simultaneously.
Please take a moment to check out the Rules/FAQs behind the cuts.
What does a work written specifically to be podficced look like?
That's up to you! Part of the goal of this challenge is to explore answers to that question.
Last year we had some great variations, including submissions with filk, sound effects, music and art. While this challenge primarily produces stories, so long as your submission has a written and audio component and all group members are happy, the form your submission takes is up to you.
There's no wrong way to do it, but if you want a place to start, you might look at this post about ways to make a story easier to perform or these posts (DW|LJ) on how groups did it last year.
Okay, so how exactly will the collaborations go?
Here are last year's entries if you'd like to see how others have done it in the past.
Again, the specifics are up to you but remember, this is a collaborative effort. You need to be flexible with the ideas you bring to the table. Authors shouldn't look at this as an opportunity to get a guaranteed podfic for a specific fic idea and podficcers shouldn't think this is the chance to have someone write them a specific prompt.
Here are some suggestions for any groups needing a place to start collaborating:
1. After a conversation about shared interests, the author can start to write several possible works they have in mind (perhaps summaries or specific scenes) and the podficcer can pick the one they connect with most for the author to continue and finish
2. After a conversation about shared interests, the author can write a piece and the podficcer can beta it AND/OR the podficcer can do a test-read and author then adapt the piece based on that.
3. After a conversation about shared interests, the author can write the beginning of a piece, send that to the podficcer for early beta, test-read, and perhaps a follow-up conversation, and then take that feedback into account before continuing with the writing.
During the conversation about shared interests, it's a good idea for all group members to discuss what their strengths and weaknesses are; try to see if you have any matching strengths you can both work off of.
It can also be useful to use free tools like Google Docs to share the written story, so all group members can leave notes and suggestions and also so the podficcer can start preparing for their performance as early in the process as possible.
These are just suggestions, though. This should be an equal collaboration, although ultimately, the author gets the final say over the words of the work and the podficcer gets the final say over the performance of it. Beyond that, the details will be yours to decide. Be creative, have fun, and see what works best for you!
Is there a minimum and maximum length for these stories?
The minimum length is 1000 words. Authors will need to talk to their podficcers to decide on a maximum length, since it will vary from one podficcer to another how much they can do in the allotted time. Here are a few statistics that might help with this decision: 1500 words is about 10 minutes of podfic, 10,000 words is about an hour, and one minute of finished podfic takes anywhere from 3 to 20 minutes of editing.
What is the Timeline?
June 18th individual sign ups open.
June 25th group sign ups open.
June 30th sign ups close for both individuals and groups.
July 3rd assignments go out to individuals.
July 10th check in #1.
July 24th check in #2.
July 28th completed writing due.
August 3th check in #3.
August 12th podfics due.
August 15th posting starts.
Posting will end depending on how many people sign up.
What’s the difference between Individual sign ups and Group sign ups?
If you sign up as an individual, the mods will assign you to a group. If there are authors and podficcers that already want to work with each other, they can sign up as a group rather than have a mod assign them to one. Group sign ups start almost a week after individual sign ups.
For individuals, when you sign up, we’ll ask you to list the fandoms you’d be interested in working in. Because this is a multifandom challenge, we encourage you to list as many fandoms as you’d be willing to work in. If you only list one or two rare fandoms, we run into the danger of not being able to match you up with anyone.
I signed up as an individual, but now I have a group, what do I do?
First of all, make sure you sign up at the group post sign ups. Group sign ups open June 25th.
To cancel out your individual sign up, please leave a comment in response to your sign up comment stating that you’d like it withdrawn and a mod will screen it for you.
If you’re feeling adventurous you can leave your individual sign up as is and get a second group when assignments go out.
Will all groups have just one author and one podficcer?
Not necessarily. When people are signing up they’ll be asked if they’d be willing to do more than one assignment if needed so we’ll hopefully be able to make sure everyone’s in a group that way but if need be we might assign more than one podficcer per author.
Which opens up all kinds of possibilities, like script format for multiple voices. If you’re at all interested in that kind of thing, we encourage you to leave a comment to that effect when you sign up.
If you’re signing up as a group you can have as many people in your group as you want. If you want to write and podfic your fic on your own, sign up as a "group" of 1. If you have multiple authors/podficcers that want to work together, go for it!
What about artwork?
A lot of podfics are posted these days with covers, or music mixed in, which we encourage and think is awesome, however due to the complexity of sign ups already, we won't be assigning artists to groups (this year, at least). You are welcome to create these things on your own, though, or if you know of an artist/mixer/filker/etc. that you'd like to invite to join your group, the mods will fully support you in this.
I’ve gotten my assignment, now what?
We strongly encourage authors and podficcers to start discussing their project right away. Find out what kind of work you both want to create. You may share more than one fandom, there may be squicks that have to be considered. Even though it’s ultimately the author who writes the work, podficcers should be open about what kind of works they excel at recording and what they maybe struggle with. For example the reader might be awesome at crack but have trouble with sex scenes. Or maybe they are great with description but find dialogue harder.
Authors can help their podficcers out by talking about what kind of mood or atmosphere is in their work, what the characters are feeling, etc.
Groups will also have to figure out what kind of time line they want to work with. We’ve given groups 6 weeks from start to finish and we've set a deadline for when the author has to get their work to the podficcer(s) however your group may have to set different personal deadlines internally. Some authors/podficcers are really quick others are slower. You’ll want to talk amongst yourselves to find out how much time each will need and what length the story is going to be to get things done on time.
What are the check in points?
There are 3 scheduled check ins. Check ins help you make sure you’re on track to meeting your deadlines and also give you the chance to ask for help if you need it.
On the date in question one of the mods will make a post asking teams to check in. Comments will be screened so you can let us know privately if there’s anything wrong or if you’re on track.
Edit (July 17, 2012): Please note, these check-ins are mandatory, for all groups (whether mod matched, or group sign ups).
What if I need to drop out?
Please let the mods and your group know right away. Please remember this is a group collaboration and if you think you might have to drop out, please consider your group members.
How do groups hand in their finished assignments?
Posting and hand ins will be happening on AO3, under the Pod_Together 2012 collection. The collection is moderated and set to "unrevealed" so the stories will show as "mystery" works until the mods reveal them on the scheduled posting day.
For detailed instructions on how to post to AO3, please see this post.
Both authors and podficcers will need an AO3 account.If you don't have one already, please let the mods know and they can send you an invite.
Podfics should be mp3 files. You’re welcome to send an m4b file as well; otherwise the mods will create one for you. All podfics will be hosted onparaka's website so we can ensure active downloads/streams when we post. We ask that everyone leave their podfic up for at least 6 months, however after that if you ever want/need to have it taken down, please email paraka at parakaproductions at gmail dot com.
When will my group's story be posted?
Once assignments have been handed in, the mods will make a posting schedule so you can know when to expect your story to be posted. The mods will post your group's story to the comm, after which you are free to link to or crosspost in your normal places.
Podficcers please feel free to use the download link provided elsewhere if you wish.
Thanks, mods! What can we do to support you?
The best way to help us out to to communicate, communicate, communicate. If you can't get a hold of someone in your group, please let us know. If you need to drop out, we'd rather hear it from you, than try to scramble something together at the last minute. If you even think there might be a problem, keep us in the loop. We're here to support you guys and make sure everyone has an enjoyable experience, but we can't help if we don't know there's a problem.
I want to participate, but I've got a busy month ahead and I'm not sure I can commit
If you find the time later (or if you finish your project early and want to do another) you can always create a Party Favor, which is a no-commitment extra project that can be submitted and posted on the last day. Party Favors have no word minimum, no pressure or commitment, and are made completely outside the bounds of the challenge, until the day they show up in our inbox as a delightful surprise! The last day to submit party favors is the day before the end of the posting schedule, whenever that turns out to be.
If you have any further questions please feel free to ask here or email us at pod.together at gmail dot com.
pod_together! A challenge where authors and readers work in a partnership, the author writing something specifically to be podficced, and the reader recording it. At the end of the challenge, the text version and the audio version are posted simultaneously.Please take a moment to check out the Rules/FAQs behind the cuts.
What does a work written specifically to be podficced look like?
That's up to you! Part of the goal of this challenge is to explore answers to that question.
Last year we had some great variations, including submissions with filk, sound effects, music and art. While this challenge primarily produces stories, so long as your submission has a written and audio component and all group members are happy, the form your submission takes is up to you.
There's no wrong way to do it, but if you want a place to start, you might look at this post about ways to make a story easier to perform or these posts (DW|LJ) on how groups did it last year.
Okay, so how exactly will the collaborations go?
Here are last year's entries if you'd like to see how others have done it in the past.
Again, the specifics are up to you but remember, this is a collaborative effort. You need to be flexible with the ideas you bring to the table. Authors shouldn't look at this as an opportunity to get a guaranteed podfic for a specific fic idea and podficcers shouldn't think this is the chance to have someone write them a specific prompt.
Here are some suggestions for any groups needing a place to start collaborating:
1. After a conversation about shared interests, the author can start to write several possible works they have in mind (perhaps summaries or specific scenes) and the podficcer can pick the one they connect with most for the author to continue and finish
2. After a conversation about shared interests, the author can write a piece and the podficcer can beta it AND/OR the podficcer can do a test-read and author then adapt the piece based on that.
3. After a conversation about shared interests, the author can write the beginning of a piece, send that to the podficcer for early beta, test-read, and perhaps a follow-up conversation, and then take that feedback into account before continuing with the writing.
During the conversation about shared interests, it's a good idea for all group members to discuss what their strengths and weaknesses are; try to see if you have any matching strengths you can both work off of.
It can also be useful to use free tools like Google Docs to share the written story, so all group members can leave notes and suggestions and also so the podficcer can start preparing for their performance as early in the process as possible.
These are just suggestions, though. This should be an equal collaboration, although ultimately, the author gets the final say over the words of the work and the podficcer gets the final say over the performance of it. Beyond that, the details will be yours to decide. Be creative, have fun, and see what works best for you!
Is there a minimum and maximum length for these stories?
The minimum length is 1000 words. Authors will need to talk to their podficcers to decide on a maximum length, since it will vary from one podficcer to another how much they can do in the allotted time. Here are a few statistics that might help with this decision: 1500 words is about 10 minutes of podfic, 10,000 words is about an hour, and one minute of finished podfic takes anywhere from 3 to 20 minutes of editing.
What is the Timeline?
June 18th individual sign ups open.
June 25th group sign ups open.
June 30th sign ups close for both individuals and groups.
July 3rd assignments go out to individuals.
July 10th check in #1.
July 24th check in #2.
July 28th completed writing due.
August 3th check in #3.
August 12th podfics due.
August 15th posting starts.
Posting will end depending on how many people sign up.
What’s the difference between Individual sign ups and Group sign ups?
If you sign up as an individual, the mods will assign you to a group. If there are authors and podficcers that already want to work with each other, they can sign up as a group rather than have a mod assign them to one. Group sign ups start almost a week after individual sign ups.
For individuals, when you sign up, we’ll ask you to list the fandoms you’d be interested in working in. Because this is a multifandom challenge, we encourage you to list as many fandoms as you’d be willing to work in. If you only list one or two rare fandoms, we run into the danger of not being able to match you up with anyone.
I signed up as an individual, but now I have a group, what do I do?
First of all, make sure you sign up at the group post sign ups. Group sign ups open June 25th.
To cancel out your individual sign up, please leave a comment in response to your sign up comment stating that you’d like it withdrawn and a mod will screen it for you.
If you’re feeling adventurous you can leave your individual sign up as is and get a second group when assignments go out.
Will all groups have just one author and one podficcer?
Not necessarily. When people are signing up they’ll be asked if they’d be willing to do more than one assignment if needed so we’ll hopefully be able to make sure everyone’s in a group that way but if need be we might assign more than one podficcer per author.
Which opens up all kinds of possibilities, like script format for multiple voices. If you’re at all interested in that kind of thing, we encourage you to leave a comment to that effect when you sign up.
If you’re signing up as a group you can have as many people in your group as you want. If you want to write and podfic your fic on your own, sign up as a "group" of 1. If you have multiple authors/podficcers that want to work together, go for it!
What about artwork?
A lot of podfics are posted these days with covers, or music mixed in, which we encourage and think is awesome, however due to the complexity of sign ups already, we won't be assigning artists to groups (this year, at least). You are welcome to create these things on your own, though, or if you know of an artist/mixer/filker/etc. that you'd like to invite to join your group, the mods will fully support you in this.
I’ve gotten my assignment, now what?
We strongly encourage authors and podficcers to start discussing their project right away. Find out what kind of work you both want to create. You may share more than one fandom, there may be squicks that have to be considered. Even though it’s ultimately the author who writes the work, podficcers should be open about what kind of works they excel at recording and what they maybe struggle with. For example the reader might be awesome at crack but have trouble with sex scenes. Or maybe they are great with description but find dialogue harder.
Authors can help their podficcers out by talking about what kind of mood or atmosphere is in their work, what the characters are feeling, etc.
Groups will also have to figure out what kind of time line they want to work with. We’ve given groups 6 weeks from start to finish and we've set a deadline for when the author has to get their work to the podficcer(s) however your group may have to set different personal deadlines internally. Some authors/podficcers are really quick others are slower. You’ll want to talk amongst yourselves to find out how much time each will need and what length the story is going to be to get things done on time.
What are the check in points?
There are 3 scheduled check ins. Check ins help you make sure you’re on track to meeting your deadlines and also give you the chance to ask for help if you need it.
On the date in question one of the mods will make a post asking teams to check in. Comments will be screened so you can let us know privately if there’s anything wrong or if you’re on track.
Edit (July 17, 2012): Please note, these check-ins are mandatory, for all groups (whether mod matched, or group sign ups).
What if I need to drop out?
Please let the mods and your group know right away. Please remember this is a group collaboration and if you think you might have to drop out, please consider your group members.
How do groups hand in their finished assignments?
Posting and hand ins will be happening on AO3, under the Pod_Together 2012 collection. The collection is moderated and set to "unrevealed" so the stories will show as "mystery" works until the mods reveal them on the scheduled posting day.
For detailed instructions on how to post to AO3, please see this post.
Both authors and podficcers will need an AO3 account.If you don't have one already, please let the mods know and they can send you an invite.
Podfics should be mp3 files. You’re welcome to send an m4b file as well; otherwise the mods will create one for you. All podfics will be hosted on
paraka's website so we can ensure active downloads/streams when we post. We ask that everyone leave their podfic up for at least 6 months, however after that if you ever want/need to have it taken down, please email paraka at parakaproductions at gmail dot com.When will my group's story be posted?
Once assignments have been handed in, the mods will make a posting schedule so you can know when to expect your story to be posted. The mods will post your group's story to the comm, after which you are free to link to or crosspost in your normal places.
Podficcers please feel free to use the download link provided elsewhere if you wish.
Thanks, mods! What can we do to support you?
The best way to help us out to to communicate, communicate, communicate. If you can't get a hold of someone in your group, please let us know. If you need to drop out, we'd rather hear it from you, than try to scramble something together at the last minute. If you even think there might be a problem, keep us in the loop. We're here to support you guys and make sure everyone has an enjoyable experience, but we can't help if we don't know there's a problem.
I want to participate, but I've got a busy month ahead and I'm not sure I can commit
If you find the time later (or if you finish your project early and want to do another) you can always create a Party Favor, which is a no-commitment extra project that can be submitted and posted on the last day. Party Favors have no word minimum, no pressure or commitment, and are made completely outside the bounds of the challenge, until the day they show up in our inbox as a delightful surprise! The last day to submit party favors is the day before the end of the posting schedule, whenever that turns out to be.
If you have any further questions please feel free to ask here or email us at pod.together at gmail dot com.
