Fest Rules
The Carry On AU Fest is a prompt based fest that celebrates any kind of Alternate Universe or canon divergent creation in the CO fandom. We accept any pairings or gen fics and art.
You must be at least 18 years old at the time of signing up.
We expect you to treat everyone taking part, including the mods, with respect.
All work must be your own, and we do not allow any kind of fic or art produced with AI.
You may register as both a writer and an artist, and you can claim multiple prompts as long as you have completed the first one you claimed first.
On 5th October we are going to open prompting via Airtable. You can submit as many prompts as you like, and you don't have to claim anything unless you want to. You don’t have to create for the fest to submit a prompt. You can prompt anonymously or write your AO3/Tumblr username (in which case people can gift you their works if they wish to).
On 19th October we are going to open claiming via a Google form. You can claim your own prompt or claim someone else's. Alternatively, you can self-prompt by picking the first prompt on the list.
Prompts are assigned on a first come first serve basis. The prompts will be available to be claimed once for fic and once for art. Collaborations are welcome.
If you decide to gift your work to the person who prompted it, please make sure that you stick to the preferences they have expressed and that you don't include their squicks.
What are the requirements for writers?
Writers will need to write an original fic with a minimum length of 1k.
The fic needs to be an unpublished fic and it needs to be posted on our fest collection on AO3. Your story doesn't need to be complete by the submission date, but we ask that you post at least 1k by the submission deadline and wait until the end of the fest to post the rest.
You can share small snippets and talk about your story on social media platforms.
Should you need an extension, please let us know as soon as you can.
We will reveal one work per day from 8th February.
What are the requirements for artists?
You can create a variety of original fan work, such as:
- illustrations, both digital and traditional (they don’t need to be in colour)
- moodboards (at least 6 elements)
- plastic arts (including embroidery and origami)
- playlists (a minimum of 10 songs)
- podfic (please make sure that you have the permission of the author of the fic you're recording a podfic of before starting)
You can post your work either on AO3 or on Tumblr (please get in touch and let us know if you prefer the second option).
What kind of rating is allowed?
Any rating is allowed for both art and fic, but please tag your work appropriately.
If your work is rated Mature or Explicit, the characters involved must be at least 18 years old.
We recommend that you use a beta reader.
What is the schedule for posting?
You can find the most up to date schedule here.
Please get in touch with the mods if you need an extension.
I still have a lot of questions about this, how can I contact you?
Send us an ask, a DM or contact us at and we will gladly answer.