Not yet...but we need pinch-hitters every year.

Pinch-hitters are writers willing to step in and take over a set of prompts if one of our writers has to drop out. They are the people who help the mods make sure everyone in Summergen received a story. They are heroes!

To be a pinch-hitter you need to be able to write really fast because while deadlines are a bit more flexible for pinch-hits, by definition there is less time to write.

If you are interested in pinch-hitting for summergen this year, please join and watch our sister community spn_genpinchhit. You must JOIN the community, not just 'friend' it, because all the requests for pinch-hitters will be locked.

You won't be assigned a pinch hit automatically, so there's no danger of getting an assignment you don't want. When we have a writer drop out we'll post the prompt set in spn_genpinchhit. The first person to claim will be assigned that set. Pinch hit deadlines are assigned individually.

There's more than a month to go before the deadline of June 30th, so no one panic. But for those over-achievers who are done or nearly done, here are the submission guidelines. You can turn your submission in at any time - early will make the mods really happy :)

First, just in case anyone is confused about this point, you only need to work with one of the prompts you've been given (though mixing two or more is allowed) and you are only expected to submit one story.

The minimum story length is 1,000 words. There is no maximum.

( Submission Guidelines and required header info )

( Deadline and extensions )

( Essential Links )

I am still waiting for assignment replies from

ETA: All replies received - thank you!

Guys, if we don't get a response there are three possibilities

1. You never got your assignment
2. You did, and replied, and we never got your reply
3. You did, and forgot to reply

But we have no way of knowing which of the three it is. You absolutely must reply to your assignment email. I have just re-sent the assignments to each of the people named above.

If this is you please reply asap. If I don't get a reply by the end of the weekend, I will have no other choice but to assume you are in default.

If anyone else knows these four, could you please point them in the direction of this post. It's really, really, really important.

Also zuben_eschamali we sent you a query from your writer and I can't see your reply to that. Could you please get in touch asap?

I am still waiting for assignment replies from

Chase (chasingtides)
faithburke
lyryk
minviendha - reply received!
nwhepcat
rainylemons
ratherastory - reply received!
rince1wind - reply received!

Many of you are summergen regulars so I'm guessing this is the internet's fault, not yours. If you have already replied, it didn't get through so please reply again.

If your silence means you did not receive your assignment please let me know, either by commenting here or by emailing supernatural @ summergen . co . uk (without the spaces).

It is really important that you let us know you received your assignment by replying to the email. Don't just drop me a PM or a comment. If you reply to the email, your reply gets tagged to your assignment so we know for certain everything is as it should be. A comment can go astray and a PM only reaches of the three mods.

IF YOU DO NOT REPLY TO YOUR ASSIGNMENT EMAIL YOU ARE IN DEFAULT because we have to assume you're not working on your fic.

(And, I shouldn't have to say this but since it's happened before, please don't default by ignoring all attempts to contact you. Just email and let us know you're out. No hard feelings, but it's common courtesy, okay?)

All of the assignment emails have now been sent out. If you have not received yours, please check your spam folder before you email us to chase it up. If you use any sort of 'whitelist' software, make sure you have supernatural @ summergen . co . uk (without the spaces) on your list of allowed senders.

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU REPLY TO THE ASSIGNMENT EMAIL SO WE KNOW YOU HAVE RECEIVED IT.

I hope everyone is happy with their assignments, but if you've got a prompt set you simply cannot work with do let us know. You might not be the only one and if so, we can sort out a trade. If it turns out a trade isn't feasible, there are still options as long as we know asap.

If you haven't seen it, there's a general advice post which might help you get started with your prompts, and we're collecting everyone's "Dear writer" letters here.

Posts about pinch-hits, betas and submission guidelines will appear next week. In the meantime, if you need any help, email the mods at the address above.

Now get writing! And have fun!

Assignments for spn_summergen will be going out this weekend. We'll be sending the emails out in batches over Saturday and Sunday. A new post will be made in this community once all assignments have gone out. Please don't contact the mods asking where your assignment is until after that post goes up.

YOU MUST REPLY TO YOUR ASSIGNMENT EMAIL TO LET THE MODS KNOW YOU HAVE RECEIVED IT.

If you don't reply, and we can't contact you when we chase it up, we'll be assuming you are in default before you start.

We've got 75 participants this year. Welcome and thank you to all those taking part in Summergen for the first time!

The assignment email will tell you who your recipient is, what her prompts are and give you a link to her journal.

About the matchups: The matching is done based mostly on positives, not negatives. That is, I look at what you've said you can do, not what you say you can't. This does not mean you won't receive a prompt or two for characters or genres you didn't include. I wish it were possible to give everyone a perfect match for their offerings and prompts, but it's not. Several times while working on this I thought I had a perfect match, only to find I was trying to give someone their own prompts! You should recieve at least two prompts that match what you offered to write.

Some prompts are very short and cryptic. Where a short prompt doesn't specify a genre, I haven't made assumptions. Where a long-ish prompt doesn't specify a genre, I've used my best guess but your interpretation of the prompt might be very different from mine.

Other prompts are pretty detailed. In these cases, I've tried to match character and time more than genre, on the understanding that the writer who gets it could choose to take the prompt in a different direction from what the promptee intended. You can also put your own spin on many prompts: a prompt for a casefic, for example, could be written as hurt/comfort, darkfic, comedy, angst, deathfic...anything that might blend well with the case.

So not all prompts are going to perfectly fit what you've asked for. What I try to do where people asked for particular consideration was to give prompts you can spin that way. So, for example, if JaneQ said she really wanted to get a Hurt!Dean prompt, I might have given her a set that includes, say, "Sam and Dean are trapped in a snowstorm." I figure JaneQ can throw Hurt!Dean into that situation easily.

( What NOT to write )

( Some advice for when you receive your prompts )

( Any questions? )

Most of all, if you get a prompt set you dislike or can't work with, I beg you not to post publicly about it. Think how your recipient will feel if she sees a post like that. If the mods have screwed up a match-up, it's OUR fault. Complain to US. Better still, don't complain, but let us know you can't do it. You might not be the only one. Sometimes we can arrange a trade and if that's not an option, we WILL find a solution for you.

( If you need help )

( Pinch-hitters )

Essential Links:

Rules, Schedule and FAQ

.

Hi, everyone!

The mods are working on the assignments for this year's challenge and I'm hopeful we'll be ready to send them out before next weekend.

In going through the signups, I found something a bit worrying, though. Although I've emphasised loads of times that this is a GEN fic exchange (it's right there in the name, after all) a lot of people still found it necessary to state in their signups either that they were happy to write sexy fics (so NOT allowed in Summergen) or that they absolutely did not want to receive a Wincest fic (I get being squicked by it, of course I do. But does anyone really expect to get wincest in a GEN exchange?).

So I can only conclude that several of you guys thought you were signing up for a challenge which includes or accepts het or slash fics. This is depressing, as I think we've been pretty damn clear that this is for gen fics only.

So, before we start sending out assignments - here is your last chance to pull out if you signed up for the wrong thing. I would really rather you quit now, before you get an assignment. No harm done.

Comment or email us at supernatural @ summergen . co . uk (remove the spaces)

Thanks!

Signups for 2012 are now closed.

Assignments will be sent out as soon as we can manage it, but not later than 14th May.

Watch this space!

This is it, folks. Signups for Summergen 2012 will close in roughly 10 hours.

We are at 66 signups. Can we make it to 70?

Come on, you know you want to!

Challenge rules: http://spn-summergen.livejournal.com/124568.html

How to sign up: http://spn-summergen.livejournal.com/124853.html

We have made it to 60 signups!

Here's your reminder: there are just three days left to sign up for SPN Summergen 2012. Signups close Monday April 30, so stop thinking about signing up and sign up!

Challenge rules: http://spn-summergen.livejournal.com/124568.html

How to sign up: http://spn-summergen.livejournal.com/124853.html