first i’ll say, check out this recent answer from the mod blog, coz it covers some things. 

second, technically speaking, i’ve only written for resbang once, in 2015, and i missed my posting date entirely. my fic is not part of the masterlists. it’s not even listed as a late entry, because i couldn’t make that date either.

so. as a mod, i can tell you what the mod blog tells you, which is: there’s time to think. you have options if things don’t go the way you plan. dropping out is ok, and you can always try again another season.

but as a resbang writer, i can tell you this: failing my resbang was worth every second of participating. every one.

i was like you – i had an idea of what i wanted to write, but i had NO idea what the plot would be, who the main characters would be, what ships i wanted, or how long it would actually end up being. but i signed up and gave it a go.

it was my first time really attempting a plot that complicated. it was my first time trying to seriously use timelines and outlines and character sheets and god knows what else. results were mixed, but some results were very good. i even had to make a map of a continent so i could accurately scale the distance and time it would take to travel between places to feel realistic.

obviously (or not), you don’t have to go full throttle on a resbang fic. you don’t have to write a 100k epic, or some world changing magnum opus. resbang’s minimum wordcount is 10k. that’s all you need to qualify as long as the fic is complete and spit-shined. i didn’t really think i’d write more than 15k or so, initially.

but see, resbang sets you up with artists, AND you can bring in betas yourself. so you get this team, right? and you’re all sworn to secrecy for months. you interact and build ideas and sometimes your group just meshes and creativity gets turned up to 11. so my little princess mononoke au turned into a 74k monster, and listen to me when i say, hands down, that story would not have existed at all if i hadn’t signed up for resbang. even though i had thought about writing it for a long time, i just never got around to it. but i signed up. and if i hadn’t, if i hadn’t met my artists, if i hadn’t yelled for months at my betas, Swallowing the Brimstone would not exist.

they were fundamental. they literally shaped the plot into what it became. what i think a lot of people don’t realize until after the fact is that resbang is built to be collaborative. partnerships are formed to make unified efforts, and my partnership with the #dream team in 2015 helped me learn so much about writing and storytelling and how people receive and perceive the things i write.

and i didn’t make it in time. i was the very last person scheduled, and i didn’t make it. i had worked SO. HARD. and i was emotionally devastated. i even told my artists they could post without me because they should at least be honorably mentioned– they did such incredible work for the story, and i wanted them to be proudly represented – but they didn’t do it. the team stuck with me, and i got the fic out about a week later. they waited for me and i still get really emotional about it??? and i’m emotionally illiterate most the time, so it’s a big deal for me to still have these feelings about my team, 3 years later.

anyway, the point is this: if you ask me whether or not you should sign up for resbang, even though x, y, and z, i’m going to tell you to sign up. because it’s worth it. even if you disqualify, it’s worth it. resbang grants you experience you might not otherwise get, for something you love doing. you are welcomed into an amazing community, and meet new people. you aren’t toiling along alone, you’re supported by your partners. 

there is so much potential in you and your future team, and to me, it’s too heartbreaking to not take the chance to grow, you feel me?

so, tl;dr: sign up dude. do the thing. be the thing.

(shoutout to @tilliquoi and @blackstar for choosing my fic that year. you helped me so much.)