Big List (glossary term)

Synonyms:	List, Main List
See also:	tagset
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

In multifandom ficathons, participants are sometimes free to make requests from whatever fandoms they choose, regardless of how obscure. This makes matching recipients with writers a nightmare for the mods, so many such ficathons implement a Big List/wildcard system.

The Big List consists of the fandoms that, in the estimation of the mods (often based on the results of a poll of potential participants) are most likely to be requested or offered. Participants are then required to offer at least one (possibly more) of the Listed fandoms and make at least one (again, possibly more) request from one of the Listed fandoms. In such ficathons participants usually have several request slots, which may be divided between Listed fandoms and wildcard fandoms in a variety of ways.

Major ficathons that use the Big List format include I Saw Three Ships, Pretty Lights, and Femslash Annual.