#hpwlwbb2020

Title: your hand in mine (feels so good) Pairing: Luna/Ginny Author: @inamamagic​ Rating: Explicit Warnings/Content Notes: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, AU: Voldermort was defeated in 1981, AU: No Second War, Butch Ginny Weasley, Auror Ginny Weasley, Magical Researcher Luna Lovegood, Journalist Romilda Vane, Mutual Pining, Miscommunication, Political Corruption, Background Activism, Undercover, Auror Investigations, Accidental Kissing, Toxic Ex-Girlfriend, Fred Weasley Lives, Sex Club, Strap-Ons, Explicit Sexual Content. SEE FULL TAGSET ON AO3 Summary: After a disgraceful exit from the Holyhead Harpies two years prior, Ginny Weasley is settling into her new career as an Auror, but a new mission has her questioning everything she’s repressed since leaving the team. Luna Lovegood is responsible for creating an antidote for blood maledictions, but when she gets attacked, Ginny is assigned to guard her round the clock. Though they were old friends at Hogwarts, they haven’t seen each other or spoken in four years, and their once strong friendship is strained.

Ginny has her reasons for mistrusting Luna. The distance brought on by Ginny’s Quidditch career and Luna’s global travels was enough to drive a wedge, but Luna’s sale of her cure to the Burdock Corporation caused a deep crack. With personal experience driving her resentment, Ginny doesn’t understand why Luna would make her cure inaccessible for people who’d need it, but she can’t help but wonder if there’s more to the story than it seems. 

Stuck in the safehouse together, old feelings begin to resurface, even without answers to all of Ginny's questions. Soon enough, keeping a level head to focus on her assignment grows more difficult than she anticipated. Word Count: 81558 Author’s Note: This is long, please bear with me.  I owe an indescribable debt of gratitude to the mods, @violetclarity​ and @yrfrndfrnkly, for putting this fest together. Last year’s HPWLWBB started posting at a time when I was bed-ridden, and this year’s BB is one of the main things that’s kept me on my feet. My gratitude to you runs very deep. Thank you for re-igniting my sense of hope.  Huge thanks also to the amazing artists that collaborated on this story, @showknight​, @runsquidling​, and @narrowredoubt. Thank you for your enthusiasm about this story and producing such beautiful pieces. It was a privilege to be able to collaborate with you and to have your amazing work standing alongside this fic.  Thank you to the HPWLWBB discord, for all the support and fun, and to everyone I ran sprints with - they were instrumental in getting the words out, and it felt so much better to have some company. I’m looking forward to getting to read all your awesome work.  Finally, a big shoutout to the three people who stopped this fic from becoming an unmitigated disaster.  To Satan_i, for all the sweltering, pre-lockdown afternoons at [redacted], and for enduring those horrible chairs with me. This story owes its all of its structural integrity to you. Thank you for untangling the knots with me, for taking chapter four from mess to yes, and for the last-minute emergency read-through. This story would make ZERO sense without you. Thanks for always being my creative partner.  To chaseandcatch, for jumping in to beta read for me, running copy edits, and offering a much-needed objective gaze. This story owes a lot of its clarity and cohesion to you. Thank you so much for doing all you did in such little time. I’m so very grateful <3 To R, my dearest one. Thank you for looking over the sexy bits, and for helping me keep things in perspective. Sayang you, so, so much.   Artist’s Medium/Notes: @runsquidling​ Medium: Dip pen with acrylic ink, Copic liner pen, and watercolor on 140lb hot press paper Notes: Thank you so much to the mods for putting this all together and Inamamagic for the great story! :heart: @showknight​ Medium: a mix of traditional and digital art Notes: N/A @narrowredoubt​ Medium: Digital Notes: I’m so happy I had the opportunity to collaborate on such an excellent work! Shout out to the mods who made this all possible :)!

Title: Fantastic Beasts and How to Ask Them Out Pairing: Cho/Luna Author: @tonftyhw  Rating: Teen and up Warnings/Content Notes: No Archive Warnings Apply. SEE FULL TAGSET ON AO3 Summary: Seven years after the battle of Hogwarts, life for its previous students has almost returned to normal. Cho is working and living above Flourish and Blotts, content to spend her days reading and reshelving books, and Luna is a traveling magizoologist content with spending her time getting to know magical animals instead of magical people. But when Hermione calls Luna back to London to help deal with a magical infestation at the ministry, Luna finds herself renting out Cho’s spare room. Old feelings resurface and suddenly neither girl finds herself content with her current situation, but instead finds herself wanting more. Word Count: 31620 Author’s Note: This was written for the 2020 HPWLW Big Bang fest, which is an incredible event that I'm so thankful to be a part of! Thanks to the mods for all they do!I absolutely could not have finished this story without my beta, @inamamagic, who was so wonderful and patient throughout this whole process. Thank you so much, you were brilliant to work with and helped make this story into a finished product.Also I am so lucky to have such amazing art for my story, by both @nosignofwings and theatricalities. You are both such amazing artists and I was blown away by your talent throughout this project. Artist’s Medium/Notes: @nosignofwings Medium: digital art Notes: N/A @32090810 Medium: digital Notes: This piece was a challenging one for me. I drew it several times, changing perspective and view, risking to lose myself in that grand chaos of books of Flourish and Blotts. In the end, I set for a close up view, finding it more intimate. This was also my first time drawing Cho, hope I did her justice.

Title: Piece by Piece Pairing: Ginny/Luna Author: @peace-wisepenguin Rating: M Warnings/Content Notes: Past sexual experiences mentioned with multiple partners(consensual). Sexuality confusion, homophobia (not between the main characters), bullying (not between the main characters). SEE FULL TAGSET ON AO3 Summary: Ginny and Luna meet at uni and become fast friends. Ginny crushes on Luna right away but Luna might be asexual. or Ginny loves Luna while they geek out and cosplay and learn how to love each other, platonically and romantically. Word Count: 28329 Author’s Note: Well this is my second fest posting and I'm so nervous but I've had so much fun! This was a great learning experience and I want to thank Violet and Frnkly for being wonderful and considerate people during this whole process. Tea, Charlotte and Kit have all been very kind and understanding for me being so new to all of this and I am very thankful to them for all of their hard work. Last but very not least the amazing, the awe inspiring, the glorious Aamina, who is the most amazing Beta in the whole wide world!! Thank you. Thank You. You are a beatiful soul, please check her out! https://aamina-edits-things.tumblr.com/ Artist’s Medium/Notes: @owlpostart​ Medium: Acrylic paint, gouache, crayon, collage and photoshop.  Notes: Thank you to the mods for yet again running this wonderful fest. And to Peace_wisepenguin, it felt particularly serendipitous to pinch hit for your fic as the subject matter is something very close to my own heart, having come to terms with my own asexuality over the past couple of years. It's been a pleasure to work with you. @32090810 Medium: digital Notes: This was a fun composition to draw, hope you enjoy! @everyoneinspaceisgay Medium: traditional media (pencil) Notes: This was my first fest doing art and my first Big Bang and I've had an incredible time. Working with the author has been really fun and I was also happy because Linny is a ship close to my heart. It was good to be able to use so much colour and I hope that the closeness and warmth I tried to convey comes through!

Rules

All stories must feature a romantic/partnership relationship between two or more characters who are not canonically men. The primary ship should comprise characters from the original seven books. We welcome ace characters, poly ships, and trans or non-binary interpretations of characters, but the intention of this fest is to celebrate wlw pairings, and to encourage the creation of longer, richer stories that these ships don’t often get. If you have a question or concern about this rule, you are welcome to contact the mods, but please respect the intentions of the fest.

The format we are using will be writer sign-ups first, and artist sign-ups later, after writers have completed a 50% check-in and provided a summary of their story. Moderators will be pairing up artists with writers, however if an artist and a writer know they want to work together and would like to sign up as a team, that is fine.

You must be 18+ to sign up as a writer or artist for HP WLW Big Bang. This does not mean your fic/art needs to be E rated, only that artists and authors must be 18 or older to sign up. Hype readers of all ages are welcome, provided they engage only with fics and art rated T or lower.

Yes, we will have Hype Readers again this year! We know that wlw ships tend to get less attention than other ships. In an effort to provide a way for people to participate without writing or making art, and to make sure that our lovely creators get a good response, we are keeping the position of hype reader. If you are interested in being a hype reader, you can sign up at the beginning of June, and pledge to read and comment on at least two stories and corresponding art from the fest.

Schedule and Requirements

For writers: Minimum word count is 25,000 words.

Writer timeline: 7 Feb - 29 Feb: writer sign-ups 30 March: 25% check-in 21 April: 50% check-in and summary due 24 April: writer and artist matches will be sent out by this date 15 May: 80% check-in 31 May: deadline for submitting fic 21 June: posting begins

For artists: Minimum art requirement is 2 pieces of art that are more developed than a sketch.

Artist timeline: 1 April - 14 April: artist sign-ups (based on writers’ 50% check-in and summary) 24 April: writer and artist matches will be sent out by this date 15 May: 50% check in 7 June: deadline for submitting art 21 June: posting begins

Check-ins: The check-in dates listed in the timeline are the date by which you MUST have sent us your work in progress/completed piece. We will send out reminder e-mails a week in advance of the check-in date, and if we have not heard from you by midnight EST on the date of the check-in, we will assume you are dropping the fest. Please note that we are always happy to work with creators to sort out extensions provided creators get in touch to request them BEFORE deadlines have passed. Because this is a matching fest, and the nature of a Big Bang results in the mod workload getting heavier closer to posting, it is imperative that all participants follow the check-in schedule. If we don’t hear from you by a check-in or extension date, especially for final submissions, we will have to make alternate plans, which are very time sensitive — we will not have time to follow-up with you or hound you via e-mail.

Collaboration and communication

Because the purpose of this fest is to create written works that are minimum 25k, accompanied by 2 pieces of art, communication is extremely important. We don’t want any writers or artists to be left in a lurch, without a story or art to go with their creation. Moderators will communicate with participants via e-mail. If we require a response, that will be clearly indicated in the subject header. If you do not reply to one of these emails within two days you will be assumed to be dropping the fest.

Please remember that artist/author matches will be sent out by 24 April. Once you have received your match, you will be expected to get in touch with your collaborator within 2 days. Please also be respectful of your collaborator by responding to their messages in a timely manner.

If you know you’re going to have unreliable internet access etc. at some point during the fest, please let mods and your collaborators know IN ADVANCE so that we can plan accordingly.

A final note: Please communicate with moderators if you encounter any issues, think you will need an extension, are having trouble finding an alpha or beta reader, etc. We want to help support you and make sure you are successful, but we can’t do that if we don’t know what’s going on. You can email us at [email protected]. 

Postscript: Want to squee with other HP WLW enthusiasts about the fest and our favourite wlw ships of the HP verse in general? Come hang out with us on the discord server.

And thanks again to @banana-ge-ge and @showknight for the fest banners! (Are you digging these bamf Ravenclaws that showknight drew as much as we are?!)

Posting for the HP WLW Big Bang will begin in just a couple short weeks, and we are SO excited to share what our wonderful artists and authors have been working on! As we prepare for posting to begin on 21 June, we are now opening sign-ups for Hype Readers.

Inviting Hype Readers to join the fest was an initiative we began last year. Our motive in creating the role was two-fold. Firstly, we know that some people want to support the fest but weren’t able to participate as a writer or an artist; being a hype reader is a way for anyone to show support of our creators and the fest as a whole. Secondly, we know that wlw ships tend to get less attention than other ships in this fandom, and we want to make sure that our wonderful creators get a good response to the work they’ve spent so much time on!

What are the requirements to be a Hype Reader?

First off, we want to note that some of the works in the fest are 18+. If you are 14 or older you may sign up to be a Hype Reader but PARTICIPANTS UNDER 18 MAY ONLY ENGAGE WITH WORKS RATED ‘T’ OR LOWER.

As a Hype Reader, you pledge to read and leave a substantial comment on at least two stories from the fest between Sunday 21 June and Sunday 5 July. We don’t expect you to annotate every line or write paragraphs and paragraphs - by “substantial” comment, we mean at least a few sentences directed to both the writer and the artist(s), something longer than “This was sweet!” or “I love it!” (although those comments too are superb and eternally cherished!). The time frame is designed to give you a week after posting ends to finish reading and commenting on your chosen stories. We would, of course, love it if you commented on as many fics as possible, but given the restrictions of available time and what genres/pairings folks might be interested in reading, we require Hype Readers to comment on only two fics.

What do I get for being a Hype Reader?

The satisfaction of knowing you’ve made fest creators very happy, and a few more tangible things! Before posting begins, you will receive a preview list of the fics, including summaries and pairings, so you can plan which stories you’d like to read. You’ll also get a Guide to Commenting for the Shy But Squeeful Hype Reader written by frnkly. We also encourage you to come and squee with us in the Hype Reader channel in the HP WLW Chat Discord. And, if you complete your Hype Reader Pledge and are comfortable sharing your address with us, the mods will send you a thank-you note featuring one of our amazing banner art pieces from the past 2 years.

That sounds awesome! How do I sign up?

Follow this link to fill out the Google Form! All we ask for is your name and email (so we can send you the aforementioned preview list and commenting guide).

Artist sign-ups for this year’s fest are now open! You can sign up through Tuesday 14 April.

Click here to fill out the sign-up form!

(or, if that link doesn’t work, try here: https://tinyurl.com/sbkp2tb)

You will receive a confirmation e-mail from the mods within a few days of signing up, and you’ll receive your author matching info on or before 24 April.

Please make sure you review the rules before signing up :) And as always, contact the mods if you have any questions or concerns. Our tumblr askbox is open, or you can e-mail us: hpwlwbb(at)gmail(dot)com.