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See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

Sounds perfect Wahhhh, I don’t wanna
braezenkitty
museaway

I’m struggling with a summary for SPN Horror Minibang and that reminded me I wanted to share my thoughts on fic summaries for claims.

In any challenge with blind claims, your summary is the only piece of information an artist has about you – the writer – and your fic. 

Depending on the size of the challenge, you might be competing against 100+ other writers for an artist’s attention. Artists don’t know your name, or your style, or what you usually write. They don’t know if you’ve written fifty stories or if this is your first. They literally have a handful of sentences to go on, and that’s it. 

The goal isn’t to convince someone to read your story; you need to convince someone to make art for it. Write your summary with visual elements in mind. Don’t be coy. Give an honest overview of your fic. This isn’t a time to worry about spoilers, but only provide what’s necessary. (If you can’t figure out how to include critical visual elements in the summary itself, add a second paragraph and list a few. Eg. Visual elements that might interest an artist include a Doo-wop beachfront motel and a dragon.)

Spelling and grammatical mistakes are red flags. If your summary has mistakes, what does that say about your draft? (Your draft might be flawless! but an artist doesn’t know that.)

And warn sufficiently. Don’t shock an artist with surprise MCD or a side pairing. Again, this is not the time to worry about spoilers. Be up front with artists about sensitive content they will encounter in your fic so they can make an informed decision about whether they can comfortably work with you. 

dustyjournal

Every artist has a different priority list when they’re looking at a summary, but I usually have a process when I’m selecting from a challenge with 20 or more summaries:

  • Does the summary (or tags if the challenge has a tags field for the summary) tell me what genre or era the fic is set in? I look for fic that hit the spot of what I’d be interested in drawing (e.g. noirs, or sci-fi, or 50s-era spy fic).
  • If a fic is heavily based on an episode/idea from canon, include the reference point/inspiration. If your fic is heavily based around an episode that I loved or didn’t care for, that’s important information for your artist. It may also help your artist understand your visual language. Did you choose a really stylish episode? That might be a selling point to an artist.
  • Does the summary evoke a particular kind of mood? Funny, sad, melancholy, inspirational, angsty etc. I like to draw for fic that’s on the sad/horror/this fic will suck your soul out of your eyeballs and replace it with tears, so I look for summaries that capture that tone.
  • Does the summary actually include visual elements in it? This is catnip for me. If your summary says stuff about long vistas, or landscapes, or other kind of beautiful imagery, I’m down for that. If your bang doesn’t ask authors to include these, consider talking to your mod about adding them. Visual elements are the single best way for artists to connect to your fic without actually reading your draft.
  • List all of your pairings/warnings. It’s rare that I would choose not to claim a fic because it had a pairing that I wasn’t interested in (as I draw mostly gen art anyway), but other artists may feel differently.
  • It’s never okay to surprise your artist with things like untagged non-con or untagged MCD. Your artist is going to be spending a lot of time with your story, and creating alongside you. Be respectful, and err on the side of over-tagging for claims.

In the past, I’ve participated in a lot of bangs where authors listed their visual elements, and I selected based on that. Or they listed their AU inspiration, and I selected because the AU itself had inspiring visuals that I could connect with.

braezenkitty

@anonymousantonym saw your question to @dcjbigbang and thought this might be of interest :)

dcjbigbang

Lots of thanks to @braezenkitty for passing this great and informative piece along to us. Anyone who is interested in knowing more about what artists look for in summaries, take a look at this and definitely take it into consideration when writing your summaries for the upcoming art claims.

Source: museaway FAQ summaries writing resources writing summaries fic summaries artist claims dcjbb dcjbigbang dean/cas/jimmy dean/cas/jimmy big bang helpful info
theydraggedmein replied to your post “Right, stupid question time: Are you guys going to set up those who…”
It answers the question as far as betas go, but how about the artist-part!?

Apologies, @theydraggedmein, when we posted this we missed the artist part and focused solely on the beta. 

All authors will submit summaries which must include: rating, all archive warnings, major tags, and a description of the work. Any explicit/major side pairings should also be listed.
After all authors submit we will post the summaries for artists to view. We do this without revealing the author so it gives everyone a chance to possibly work with someone they don’t know.
The next day artist claims open. The artists will fill out and submit a form with their first five choices of fics they’d like to create art for. It is first come first serve, so the sooner you submit your choices, the better chance you have of getting your first choice.
As the claims come in we will update which ones have been claimed and send out emails to the artists and authors to inform them who they will be working with. Art claims will stay open until all fics are claimed. Some artists have expressed interest in possibly doing more than one fic, that is fine, as long as the deadlines are still able to be met
It is up to the author and artist at this point to open a line of communication for creating as they move forward. Remember, as with any relationship, the one between author and artist/beta included, communication is key

We hope that this answers the rest of your question. If you need further clarification please let us know, we love to hear from you and want to do our best to make this fun, we can only do that if we make sure that all questions are answered. 

Remember: communication is key!

theydraggedmein FAQ Artist claims dcj dcjbb dcjbigbang dean/cas/jimmy deanjimstiel