Heavy Artillery

ANNOTATED MASTERLIST
You've all been waiting so patiently, and I'm glad to announce that it's finally time for the big reveal! Here is the annotated masterlist for this year's Rolling Remix, complete with author names and how's and why for's as to remixing choices where provided. The first fic on each track is the starter fic, and thus does not include a remix note. If you're curious about what your fellow participants guessed vis-à-vis authorship, I have unscreened the comments on this post for your perusal.

( Click here for the Bird Track. )

( Click here for the Tree Track. )

HOW IT WORKS
You can think of a rolling remix like a game of telephone! It's an anonymous challenge that functions like a relay, with every participating author remixing the fic of the (anonymous) author preceding them. In terms of steps, the whole shebang goes like this:

1. Sign-ups open and stay open for a week.


2. Once sign-ups are over, the mod (that would be me, your friendly neighborhood thrillingdetectivetales) will send out a schedule to all participants detailing their individual date slot as well as the final dates that the AO3 collection will go live.


3. The first participant (let's call them Participant 1) on the list will receive a starter fic from an anonymous author. Participant 1 will be allotted one week to read that fic, remix it, and post it to a closed, anonymous collection on AO3.


4. Participant 1's remix fic will be passed on to the next participant (Participant 2) with no identifying author information. Participant 2 will likewise have one week to read/remix the fic they were provided and post it to the closed AO3 collection.


5. This pattern continues until the person who wrote the starter fic remixes the final fic in the list. (For example: if we have ten participants, there will be eleven fic once the cycle ends.)


6. Once all fic have been posted to the AO3 collection, the dates will be changed to reflect that they have all been posted on the same date (to preserve the mystery of which order fic were written in), and they will be released anonymously.


7. One week after the collection is open for reading, fic will be de-anoned and participation order will be released. Gloating points go to whoever managed to guess those details right beforehand.

Pinch hitters will step in to fill date slots as necessary throughout the process.

Pretty straightforward, right? If not, you can feel free to reach out to me here, on Tumblr (thrillingdetectivetales), or via Discord (thrillingdetectivetales#5966) for clarification on any point.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to the nature of this challenge, your assigned fic my include pairings or plot elements you don't usually read or write, but you're welcome to reinterpret to emphasize other aspects or be about different pairings. You're not obligated to carry over every element of your assigned fic so long as you do your best to provide a sincere reinterpretation.


SIGN-UP INFO
To participate in the Rolling Remix, you will need:

• an AO3 account—to post your fic to the collection


• a Dreamwidth account, or an e-mail, or both—to receive your assignment

A link to the sign-up form will be provided as soon as it goes live on May 1, 2020 at midnight CST.

SCHEDULE

Friday, May 1, 2020: Sign-ups go live at midnight CST.
Sunday, May 10, 2020: Sign-ups close at midnight CST.
Monday, May 11, 2020: Assigned dates and finalized schedule go out, the "starter" fic is sent to the first participating author on the list.

Further dates to be determined once sign-ups are closed.

FAQ
What does "remix" mean?
Exactly what it sounds like! In the same way that music artists take an original song and "remix" it by adding beats, changing tempos, or extracting samples for use in different songs, you'll be taking a completed fic and reimagining it into something new.

How similar does my fic have to be to the fic that I'm remixing?
The short answer is: as close as you want it to be. While I recommend doing your best to carry through a theme or a character or a trope, the whole point of a rolling remix is to end in a vastly different place than we started with a bunch of delightful variation along the way. (For example: if you receive a fic set in the Generation Kill canon that deals with PTSD, you can write a fic about those same characters that doesn't deal with PTSD, or you can write a fic set in the Band of Brothers canon that does deal with PTSD, etc.)

Is there a min/max word count or other fic specifications I need to meet to participate in the Rolling Remix?
Yes! Your fic must meet a minimum of 500 and a maximum of 3000 words and be written in English.

Can I choose my date slot?
I'll do my best to accommodate everyone's schedules, as I know that this is something of a tumultuous time for many of us, but I ask that you let me know your date slot won't work within 48 hours of receiving the confirmation message I'll be sending out after sign-ups close on May 10, 2020 at midnight CST.

How do I sign up to be a pinch hitter?
There will be an option on the sign-up form that allows to volunteer as a pinch hitter. Please be sure that you're prepared to turn around a 500-3K word fic in a short amount of time if you volunteer to pinch hit.

Where can I find the collection?
The collection will be hosted on Archive of Our Own. You can find it by clicking here.

RULES
As always, with every challenge and aspect of this community, the rules remain:

1. Don't be a dick. Pretty straightforward, right?


2. Make sure your fic is appropriately tagged. Yes, this includes the option not to tag, so long as you appropriately apply "Author Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings," etc.


3. No kink shaming. Keep it civil or get booted.


4. Do not troll fill. While you may not love every aspect of the fic you're remixing, trolling the author whose work you've been tasked to remix will see you booted from the challenge.


5. Do not post your work to the collection unless it's completed. As this is a remix challenge, once you post your fic to the AO3 collection it is essentially locked in. While you're welcome to adjust minor typos or misspellings, any actual content change at this point is not allowed, as your fic will have been passed on to the next author in the list for remixing.

Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, or if you require clarification on anything. I'm very looking forward to this challenge!