Claims Process

If you’ve ever taken part in a big-bang style challenge before, either as an author or as an artist, you probably know that claims day results in more nail-biting than any other.

It’s basically a fact of fannish life. Authors are anxious to share their work with someone who’s been inspired by the summary; artists are anxious to know if they were fast enough to get that fic that they just have to create art for. Essentially, everyone is a bundle of nerves.

Some people thrive on that nervous energy and spend the entire time in excited anticipation. Others absolutely loathe it, and dread claims day for weeks before it’s even arrived.

Because of the huge differences in how people approach claims, it’s difficult for challenge organizers to find a good middle ground that will please everyone. That said, the Pinefest mods have been looking at feedback and considering different ways to make claims less stressful since the first round in 2017. Based on the feedback given, the mods implemented a new Claims Process for the 2019 round, and will continue to use this model until further notice.

Below you'll find a brief description of the current process, followed in depth day-by-day outline for those who would like to know the finer details.

The Claims Process - Brief Description

 * Several days ahead of Claims Day, artists will gain access to a private blog, where they will be able to read summaries & descriptions of every available fic.
 * On Claims Day, artists will be invited to submit, in order of preference, a list of fics that they are interested in claiming. They will be assigned the first available fic from their list on a first come, first served basis.
 * Authors and artists will be informed immediately after a successful claim, on the condition that neither party publicly discusses the fact that they’ve been paired up until all other participants have been assigned partners.
 * Though artists will be informed which of their shortlisted fics they have been successful in claiming, neither artist nor author will learn the identity of their partner until all fics have been claimed.
 * Once all fics have been claimed, introduction emails will be sent to all author/artist teams, and the teams will be announced on this page as well as on the Pinefest Tumblr and Twitter pages.

The Claims Process - Detailed Description
November 21, 2021 - Rough Draft/Claims Information Submission Deadline For Authors

All participating authors submit their rough drafts by this date, using a form which will be sent to them via email. Authors are also required to supply the following information at this time:


 * Brief story summary
 * Rating
 * Current word count, and estimated final word count
 * A list of any prominent side pairings, archive warnings, or trigger warnings
 * A list of tags/tropes/visuals/thematic elements that may interest an artist

November 22 & 26, 2021 - Mods Prepare Claims Previews

Over a few days, the Pinefest mods will format all of the provided information and use it to create a private preview list for registered artists to peruse.

November 27, 2021 - Claims Previews Go Live For Registered Artists

Registered artists will receive an email with two links and an access password. The first link will take them to a password-protected list of fic previews, and the second will lead to the claims request form, which will not be open at this stage. To allow time for artists to peruse the available summaries and make their shortlists, they will have access to the previews until the claims form opens.

Fic previews will look something like the sample below:



December 4 & 5, 2021 - Claims Go Live

At 9am PT on December 4, the claims form will open for first round claims.

At this point, registered artists will be able to use this form to submit a shortlist of fics in order of their preference. Artists may include as few or as many fics on their shortlists as they would like.

Any artist who is unable to access a computer when claims go live may elect a friend to submit a claim on their behalf–if you fall into this category, you should give this friend your full shortlist & the link to the claims form ahead of time. Please also inform them of the email address and name you used to sign up for the challenge, as they will need to use these when completing the form for you. Please keep in mind that the challenge mods are not able to perform this task for you, as they will be very busy running things behind the scenes.

If any fics remain twelve hours after the first round opened, registered artists will be given the opportunity to claim a second fic. This second round will open by 9pm PT, but may open sooner if all registered artists have already responded. If this round opens sooner, an email will be sent out to all artists who indicated interest in claiming a second fic.

The second round claims form will remain open until all fics have been assigned to an artist, and will also be opened up to artists who missed the registration cutoff if any unclaimed fics remain after 9am PT on December 5. Artists may also claim a third fic if any remain after this time.

Claims operate on a first come, first served basis. If an artist’s first choice is unavailable, they will be given their second choice, and so on.

When an artist successfully claims a fic, they will be notified which of the requested fics they have been assigned immediately**, and that fic will be removed from the summaries list. The artist will not learn the identity of their author at this stage.

The author will also be notified that their fic has been claimed, but will not learn the identity of their artist at this stage.

Neither author nor artist may publicly discuss their claim status until teams the end of the claims process, when all teams have been formed and announced.

** Claims need to be manually checked for things like accidental double-submissions, age restrictions, and so on. The mods endeavor to confirm every claim as quickly as possible, but ask that participants are patient if it takes an hour or two to get through them.

All teams will be formally introduced via email by the end of December 5, or sooner if artists are unusually fast with claims. An announcement post will be published on the Pinefest Tumblr and Twitter pages, and shared in the Pinefest Discord chat.

At this stage, authors and artists may publicly discuss who their partner is, and may also talk in general terms about which fic is theirs. For the sake of clarity, “general terms” means you can say things like “I’m writing the one where Cas is turned into a sentient couch” or “I’m making art for Author McGee’s cowboy/mermaid fic”, but don’t go sharing big chunks of dialogue or prose, or your artist’s specific art plans in a public forum.

'''December 6. 2021 - Authors Share Draft With Artist'''

By the end of this day, all authors should have sent a copy of their most recent draft to the artist they've been teamed with. Teams should also begin to discuss their posting date preferences with one another, so that any limitations can be passed on to the mods during the first team check-in on December 10. Any artist who has not received a draft of their author's fic by the end of this day should reach out to mods ASAP.

'''As always, the Pinefest Mods welcome any feedback that participants may have on the Claims Process, or on any other aspect of the challenge. We will gladly consider any serviceable idea if it will have a positive impact on the participants.'''