Writer Sign-Ups are now open for the Rusty Quill Mini Bang 2026
Writer Sign-Ups are now open for the Rusty Quill Mini Bang 2026!
Please read through the information carefully to understand what will be expected of you as a participant.
The sign-up link is at the end of the post under the spoiler cut!
You do not need to have decided what you will be writing at this stage, but please consider whether the fic requirements are compatible with what you have in mind, and be sure that you can commit to contacting us on the below deadlines to share your progress (or withdraw your participation if necessary).
Schedule for 2026 (all deadlines at 23:00 BST / 5pm CDT)
Writer Sign-ups: July 5th-12th
Full First Draft & Summary Due: August 30th
Artist Sign-ups: September 6th-13th
Match Send Out: September 15th
Check-in: October 4th
Final Fic & Art Due: October 18th
Posting: October 30th 23.00 GMT
Info for Writers:
Minimum Final Word Count: 5,000
Maximum Number of Fics per Writer/s: 1
Maximum Number of Writers per Fic (collaboration): 2
Confirmation e-mails for sign-ups will be sent out after sign-ups close; if you have not received a confirmation by July 18th, please contact us at [email protected]. We ask that you check your email (including the spam folder!) and reply so we can confirm that your registered email address is correct and you still intend to participate.
Participation Requirements:
You must choose whether to join the Mini Bang as an artist or writer. You may not do both.
Writers will require an AO3 account; if you do not have an AO3 account, please request one via AO3’s login page.
If you wish to write M or E rated fics you must be aged over 18.
All participants must read and adhere to the Expected Conduct guidelines (see below).
Fic Draft Requirements: At the draft deadline (August 18th), we will require a complete draft of at least 4,000 words. “Complete” means that the fic is written from start to finish with no indispensable scenes missing or left as outlines—think, “If I posted this right now, would I be happy with the story it tells?”
Ideally, you will refine and polish your draft in the remaining time, but it can also be your final draft if you prefer.
Drafts will be handed in via a form that will be sent out to you before the deadline. Drafts should be available in Google docs, or if need be in PDF format.
Summary Requirements: A form for the summary will be sent out to you before the deadline. Summaries should briefly outline the general premise, and include rating, ships, triggers and other warnings, and any other relevant details.
Eligible Fics:
Fics of any rating and with any warnings are permitted, as long as they meet the minimum word count (5,000), are centered around at least one Rusty Quill original podcast (The Magnus Archives, The Magnus Protocol, Rusty Quill Gaming, Stellar Firma, Inexplicables, Chapter & Multiverse, Trice Forgotten, Cry Havoc!, Neon Inkwell), and are tagged appropriately.
We encourage authors to take this opportunity to challenge themselves to take on a project that they might not otherwise—though please consider what is realistic in terms of the deadlines as well!
Fics must be stand-alone (requires no knowledge of previous fics to enjoy), complete (resolves all main plotlines within the story, as opposed to being part I of a trilogy, etc.), and previously unposted.
Crossovers are allowed, but the focus should be on the RQ podcast involved. For example: a fusion crossover with the Leverage Team replacing the LOLOMG in the RQG!verse would not be permitted, though the RQG characters in the Leverage!verse would be.
Please be aware that fics with obscure crossovers, common squicks, higher ratings, etc., may be more difficult to match, and thus take a little longer to get snapped up. We will do our best to find you a suitable match, though!
If you have any questions about the suitability of your fic, please contact the mods.
Matching Process:
The artist sign-up will include a list of the anonymised fic summaries. Each artist will select 3 fics which they would be interested in creating for, with additional preferences (favourite show/shows they do not follow, OTPs and NoTPs, Do Not Wants, etc.) indicated in the comment field. Mods will then match writers to artists, taking preferences into account as much as possible.
If fics are oversubscribed or if it is otherwise necessary for matching, they may be removed from the list of eligible fics before the end of artist sign-ups.
If you have an issue with your match, please let the mods know as soon as possible.
Do Not Wants:
In this event, you will have an opportunity to Do Not Want (DNW) the types of content that you do not wish to work on. Similarly, if you’ve had conflicts with certain people in the past and do not want to risk matching to them, you can include this in your sign-up or draft submission, and we will avoid matching you with them (details of these will not be shared beyond the mod team).
The mods will always account for DNWs within reason; however, attempts to manipulate matches via DNWs or otherwise acting in bad faith will result in the rejection of your sign-up or draft. We are also not private detectives, and will thus not be fielding any requests such as “do not match me with anyone who has ever drawn/written XYZ.” Please keep that in mind when considering whether this event is right for you.
Expected Conduct:
By signing up for this event, you agree to do your best to meet the deadlines. If you might need a little more time, please email the mods to explain your situation before the deadline passes. Those who miss deadlines without contacting the mods beforehand may be dropped from the event without further contact.
In order to participate in this event, you must be willing to contact the mods directly in the event that you have a question, concern, or issue with your participation (as in the deadline example above). We are happy to help participants with anything that arises, but cannot accept “telephone”-style communiques on behalf of others.
Be in regular contact with your match—if you’re going to be offline for a significant length of time, let them know. Radio silence from your match in events of this kind can be very concerning. (If you are having trouble getting in touch with your match, please contact us!)
Please take care to credit your artist/writer in your own final post.
Our Discord server has its own list of rules, which are listed within the server. If you decide to join the server, we require you to read and abide by those rules.
Be kind and courteous towards your match and fellow participants. This naturally means that all forms of bigotry and discrimination are prohibited, but even where those are not at play, you are expected to treat others with respect.
We, like Rusty Quill, have an “all headcanons are valid” policy. Harassment or mockery of those with different interpretations will not be tolerated. This does not mean you cannot discuss how you see the characters with others or that your artist/writer should not take it into account at their discretion, but insistence that any one interpretation must be adhered to is not allowed.
If you have concerns that a work or participant may be in violation of the rules, please bring it to the mods directly. Harassment of other participants (including but not limited to callout posts, name-calling, baiting, etc.), either publicly or in the Piles of Nonsense discord server, over their identities, fanworks, or headcanons will result in an instant default.
A full overview of the Guidelines can be found on our Challenge Guidelines page. We also have an FAQ. (Please note that blog pages do not work on the app - you may need to use a browser.)
The writer sign-up form can be found here.
Thanks for reading, and we look forward to working with you!
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sometimes u headcanon a character as a sexuality but then also ship things that contradict that. sometimes you ship things you would NEVER EVER want in canon. this is because these things are fun and silly and not legally binding.
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not gonna lie i increasingly just find myself thinking... what are single disabled people supposed to do? basically everything assumes that either a) you have never been independent and are fully reliant on caregivers, whether this is parents or a paid carer that you are somehow funding, or b) you have a partner who can look after you, drive you to appointments, pick you up after you've had sedation, advocate for you, be your proxy, do the housework when you're sick, push your wheelchair, be your companion when travelling (e.g. handle the luggage if you're using a wheelchair), etc
and like. first of all even for people with partners that's assuming they're abled themselves and can handle all that. you can't assume that. secondly: what about people who are single, who live alone, who will probably always do so
"get someone to keep an eye on you when you start this new medication" who. "don't over exert yourself" nobody else is going to do the tasks. "this can be a walker or a transit wheelchair so your partner can push you when you get tired" my what
like it's not a coincidence that amatonormativity discussions started / developed in care contexts because it is so often the assumption that intimate partners will fill these needs. but I feel like this is often discussed in the context of "and this is too much to ask and puts too much unpaid labour on the unqualified partner" which is not untrue and needs discussing but like. also. what about people are single, independent adults who are neither emotionally nor geographically close to their siblings etc and are not Disabled Enough to have a paid carer (a group that grows as resources shrink). like are they just fucked then. they're on their own. punishment for failing to be enough of an adult to couple up.
Everything changes, everything stays the same. For how long, though?
Some new teasings for Rivages Lointains - Adam, releasing in exactly two months. I reread the PDF to approve everything, last finishing line, that's it: his story is gonna exist. I am so, so excited. More of Madeline to celebrate!
I have an itch to relistening TMA in its entirety, and I wonder what platform I should go to to make it the most profitable for you guys? I'm using Spotify now, but I've heard they are pretty bad about paying the creators.
Hey this is a kind question but strap in, the answer is more complicated than you might think.
So in terms of where to listen, as always first port of call is our membership platforms like Patreon etc. you get all the episodes ad-free and a bunch of bonus content and in exchange we get more reliable income that lets us plan better etc.
We try to keep our prices lower than average but I totally get that some people can't afford stuff right now so then the next best port of call is a dedicated podcatcher app. There's not much difference between them: Pocket Casts , Podcast Addict etc. all work the same way so ads served will work as normal and we still get a kickback that pays for production. I will exclude AI driven tools that do things like clone episodes, summarise them into soundbites or strip ads entirely. Those are actively harmful to us and are often acting illegally.
After that things get a bit more confusing.
Spotify is... an odd platform for Podcasts. To massively oversimplify: Podcasts do not get a per-play payment like music tracks do on the platform unless they are hosted by Spotify directly. Instead we have to provide the podcast with ads attached. They then take that copy and add their own ads on top of the existing ads. We keep our money from the ads we attached originally and they keep the money from those extra ads. That means we don't have a say in how many extra ads there are or what they are advertising and we don't get any extra money even if they attach loads of extra ads. We do however, indirectly benefit from being seen as popular on an app with such a large market share (because that lets us convince people to spend more advertising with us directly) so it's a bit of a mixed bag at the moment. It's a better system than it used to be but there are multiple reasons that historically we have chosen not to be hosted by Spotfy and I won't get into that here. (not throwing shade, just businesses doing business things)
Another confusing one is Youtube. On the one hand, listening via Youtube is good for us as it boosts our visibility on the platform meaning the algorithm is more likely to encourage people to listen. On the flip side though the monetary value on ads is far, far lower than for the other podcast platforms etc. so again it's a mixed bag.
And all of that is before factoring in a push for Video-first driven by major corporate entities which messes with that balance.
This is actually a huge topic with tons of nuance and ongoing changes. Our marketing lead Callum gives presentations to major players in the space on just this question, explaining how it all works and interrelates etc. ( I am NOT the expert in that regard so I could be mistaken on some points without realising.)
If I had to summarise it all into something simple though:
The most profitable way to listen is on our membership platforms. If you cant do that then dedicated podcast apps that serve ads are a good choice.
That said, by far the most helpful way to listen is with as many of your uninitiated friends as possible so that you can pollute their minds with our horrific nonsense and turn them into fans.
Sorry to give a complex answer to a simple answer but... well... that's life I suppose.
the site has been pretty stable the last two days but thought I'd post my current character sheets here as well, since profiles are not visible without an account
i dont know if i'll add more OCs to this artfight (I doubt it bc it'd require a lot more work than these). currently, all the OCs on the list are antagonists
Made this post about 15 minutes after the repair guy who fixed the pump on my dishwasher packed up his tools and left, as the dishwasher was whirring along doing my dishes from that morning.
He said the exact same thing, which I did not know before that, so spreading this knowledge.
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friend whos always planning everything: hey guys lets do something this week!! when are you all available?
friend whos always available: i can do whenever
friend whos constantly busy: im sorry i have work and then school and then the labyrinth and then more work :( i can do tuesday at 3:00 am for five minutes tho
friend with the randomly generated sleep schedule: (no response)
friend who went missing in the woods behind their house 12 years ago and hasn't been heard from since: (no response)
friend whos really into genshin impact: does anyone want to play genshin impact
🌳 and intimacy explorations under the cut. mind the tags!
guy who doesn't think qifrey would be this intimate but wants to explore it anyways because plant-gore is fun. rooting for that tree (but only for this instance. i want them to be happy canonically ;u;)
i remember having more thoughts on this last night but I just woke up and have some work to do so mayhaps I will update this blurb sometime later (or not--thank god for readmores)
anyways hope the art is still interesting :)
I’m sorry for adding directly to a post but I went to a wedding once where the groom’s name was Loren and the bride’s name was Lauren and at the end the officiant was all “introducing Loren [surname] and Lauren [surname], husband and wife” and the entire assembled lost it
also sorry for adding on but at my high school there was a Dominic and a Dominique who were dating and everyone just called them “Dom and Dommer” which is honestly the funniest shit ever
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
