Can you sense the danger in the air? That's just your slayer sense letting you know that a whole lot of big bads are on the way! That's right, we're almost to October, and Big Bads challenge month. We've never been more excited to know that villains are just around the corner. We're even marking the event with a spooky event skin, which will be our featured skin through the entire month. If you want to make it your default skin for the month, make sure to change it in your preferences page.

In order to make sure everyone understands all that's going on, we'll try to cover everything here. If there's something you're not sure about, please let us know in the comments. There's a lot of information in this post, but please read the whole thing to be sure you know what's happening in October.

How and when do I post my story so that it's part of the event?
Starting at midnight on October 1 (site time, which is Eastern US time-it's listed under the shoutbox), you'll see a new checkbox on the page where you add a new story:

As soon as you see that box, you're free to post. If you're adding a new story that is part of the challenge, check the box and you're good to go.

Your fic does not need to be complete prior to posting. In fact, it doesn't even need to be completed during October. You have the whole month, during which you only need to BEGIN posting the story.

If you requested and received a banner, please make sure to credit the artist in your story notes section. If you're not sure how to add a banner, please see this section in the FAQ.

If you have a beta that you worked with as part of your challenge story, you must credit them in your story notes in order for them to be counted as having participated in the event. If they aren't listed in your story notes, we have no way of identifying that they were part of the event.

How do I find the stories that are being added to the challenge?
It's easy to spot the danger lurking in our Big Bads challenge stories because they'll be marked with a skull and crossbones icon like the one here:

Also, don't forget that we have a site events browse page where you can view all the stories from previous site events, as well as the ones from this event.

Will you be featuring regular stories while the challenge is going on?
There won't be any mod-chosen featured stories in October. In the area where we usually have featured stories, we're going to begin the month by highlighting stories written in past years in honor of our 13th anniversary (the reason we hold events in October). Starting on the 1st, each day will highlight one year (1st-2006, 2nd-2007, and so on...), and will contain a random assortment of stories published in that particular year. Starting on the 14th, that section will change to feature a random assortment of fics that are part of this event.

Is there a comment aspect to this event as well?
Of course there is! If you write at least 13 comments in October that contain at least 13 words, you'll meet the requirements of the commenter challenge! You'll see a link to the comment challenge leaderboard on the homepage under the Members of the Month where the all star commenter list is usually located.

Besides an amazing sense of pride, do we get anything for participating in the event?
Of course you do! We have some amazing awards that will be given out after the end of October. Our amazing angelic_amy created the following awards for participating authors, artists, commenters, and betas:

That about covers it. Please let us know if there's any additional questions. Get ready for some amazing new stories!