shakarianminibang

[shakarianminibang]

Hello!

I’ve been wondering when (or if) authors should get in touch with the mods, because I haven’t heard from the person I’m supposed to partner with for ten days. Is this normal? Should I wait a bit more before getting in touch? Or trying to reach out to them again?

Oh, yeah, that's not supposed to happen. Please do try to reach out to the mods — maybe your partner has other contact info that you were not given but the mods do have access to? Hopefully this works out for the best!

[shakarianminibang]

Artist signups are now closed for the inaugural Shakarian Mini-Bang! A huge thank you to everyone who signed up and everyone who shared our posts, leading to all the fics getting claimed within one day! This is truly incredible.

Artists and authors will receive an email detailing who they're paired up with and what comes next sometime within the next few days (we need time to catch up after this amazing turnout!)

Until then, thank you all for supporting and being a part of this event. Meet us at the bar!

[shakarianminibang]

Artist signups are now open for the Shakarian Mini-Bang!

Contribute to our first Shakarian-centric fandom event & team up with an author to illustrate one of the SMB fic entires!

Since this is a mini-bang, artworks are not required to be fully rendered (such as full color, shading, etc.), but do have to be clean and reasonably complete. You will also have to create a header for the fic (this can be the same artwork, as long as it fits the format). For more information, see rules.

Digital or traditional, professional or hobbyist, all artists welcome! Sign-ups will remain open until May 30th or until all fics are claimed. Meet us at the bar the sign-up form! (under the cut)

[shakarianminibang]

Artist signups open in a few hours! This is your heads up to make sure to look at the fics list if you haven't already, and to follow this blog so you know when the sign-up form goes live!

[shakarianminibang]

I was wondering if, besides for authors and artists, there’s a discord for fans and stuff to hang and chat while awaiting the fics? I got into Mass Effect back in late April and wasn’t aware of the mini bang until sign ups had ended, but I wanted to see if there was a community for this.

Hi, thanks for reaching out! While we do have a Discord server for our participants, it is mostly focused on communication and updates regarding the SMB, so it might not be what you're looking for if you want to find a community to discuss Mass Effect with. However, there are plenty of servers for Mass Effect fans and even specifically for Shakarian fans out there if you want to find like-minded people to talk to <3

[shakarianminibang]

Fic summaries for the Shakarian Mini-Bang 2025 are now open for viewing!

For the next few days, everyone will be able to look at the summaries and snippets the authors provided, before artist claims open on May 15th — that way, artists will be able to get familiar with all the fics without feeling too much rush.

The fic list can be found under the cut:

1. --claimed--

2. --claimed--

3. --claimed--

4. --claimed--

5. --claimed--

6. --claimed--

7. --claimed--

8. --claimed--

9. --claimed--

10. --claimed--

11. --claimed--

12. --claimed--

13. --claimed--

14. --claimed--

15. --claimed--

16. --claimed--

17. --claimed--

[shakarianminibang]

Hi, there. How many snippets can we send?

We will be posting only one snippet per fic for artist claims. If you already sent in a snippet but want to change it, you're welcome to submit the form again, but only one snippet will be posted.

[shakarianminibang]

Hello, in your first post (/776138673095852032) it says fics are due by May 9. Does that mean they need to be posted to the collection on ao3 by tomorrow, or is that just when the call for summaries and snippets are due?

That means your fic should be ready for an artist to read, decide what art they would like to make based on your fic, and begin their work. That's also when we'll be collecting summaries and snippets.

The completed fics and artworks will be posted as pairs at the end of the Mini-Bang.

[shakarianminibang]

How long can the snippets be for author entries?

Snippets can be around 100-150 words (of course, these are just rough numbers, so you can choose a slightly shorter or slightly longer fragment, but do try to keep it in that 100-150 area).

[shakarianminibang]

Author sign-ups are now closed for the 2025 Shakarian Mini-Bang!

A huge thank you to everyone who signed up — the community's response to this event has far exceeded our greatest expectations! — and to everyone who helped spread word around about the event. Now there's nothing left to do but get writing!

As always, our ask box remains open, and we'll see you in May for the next phase of the event!

Meet us at the bar!

[shakarianminibang]

I may have submitted my author sign-up twice, sorry about that! My phone was acting weird when I went to do it so I did it on my laptop too.

Thanks for the heads up, we'll look into it and just ignore one of your responses if there are multiples!

[shakarianminibang]

So the link to the discord is in the sign up form?

Yes, the discord invite is in the signup form, and will likely also be included in a later email to participants to make sure everyone who wants to join the server has easy access to the invite link.

[shakarianminibang]

Author sign-ups are now open for the Shakarian Mini-Bang!

In order to sign up as an author, fill out the form below.

Authors will be required to write a Shakarian fanfic of at least 5,000 words between now and May 9th. There is no maximum word count, but your fic needs to be a standalone story (i.e. can't require the artist to have read any of your other works and can't end on a cliffhanger).

Author sign-ups will remain open until March 28th. Meet us at the bar the sign-up form!

[shakarianminibang]

will we all be posting our fics on our own accounts?

Hi, yes, you will post your own fics — there will be a dedicated collection on AO3, but everyone's story will be posted from their own account. You will be free to also post it elsewhere if you so wish.

[shakarianminibang]

Hi, I'm really interested & excited for this, though I'm wondering if my fic idea would count... It's very Shepard&Garrus heavy but not explicitly Shakarian yet. it's meant to be the start of an eventual series where they would get together later. I can certainly sprinkle in some tension to fulfill the brief, but there's not going to be a formal get-together. Is that allowed?

Hi! Your SMB fic has to be centered around Shakarian, and whether it's romantic or platonic Shakarian is secondary to that requirement. If this is a gen fic where Shepard and Garrus' relationship is just one of the side plots, it might not apply, but if their friendship is the focal point, it should be alright.

TL;DR, just make sure it's a Shakarian fic and not a fic that also has Shakarian in it. Hope this helps you decide!

[shakarianminibang]

Hi, there. Thanks for running this event. I'm really excited!

Anyway. Are authors going to be able to submit more than one fic? Is there a limit?

Hi, we're really excited too! Sadly because of the logistics of this event, only one fic can be submitted per author.

However, there is no limit on maximum word count, so you're free to submit a longer story if you're looking to write more than the required 5K!