Sign-ups 2026

[galerian_ash]

Hi, and welcome to the eleventh round of Be The First!

This is a low-pressure challenge to write a fic, of any length, for a fandom that previously had none. That's it! If you want to take part, just reply to this post :)

Quick rundown: You have two months to write. The deadline is at 23:59 GMT on the 20th of April, and the archive will go live at 00:01 GMT on the 22nd of April. You can submit up to four stories, as long as they are for different canons.

If you'd like more information beyond those basic points, then you can find the FAQ right here. The AO3 collection for this year is here, and I'll be putting up a fandom promo post in roughly a week.

A big thank you to everyone who is reading this, whether you're a returning participant or someone checking out the challenge for the first time. As always, I'm really looking forward to seeing what you all write this year! ♥

Comments

[marcelo]

Count me in.

[ride_4ever]

Looking forward to another round of Be The First!

If there is no fic in AO3 for a certain fandom, but there is one vid for that fandom in AO3, can it still qualify for Be The First?

[galerian_ash]

That's great to hear! :D And yes, that's perfectly fine -- other types of fanworks don't count for this challenge, only fics (regardless of where they're posted).

[ride_4ever]

Excellent! Because now I know what fandom for me for this round!

One more question: is it okay to combine Be The First with other challenges that offer prompts if the mod of that other challenge says they allow combining?

[galerian_ash]

Great, congrats on deciding -- for me that's almost the hardest part, haha. And that's totally okay, yes. The only caveat is if you add your fic to another AO3 collection, then that one must be revealed by the time the BTF collection opens (since otherwise people wouldn't be able to see your fic).

[fairyniamh]

I want to do this again.

[geri_chan]

Very excited to do this again and see what other people write, too! I haven't quite decided yet, but I'm thinking of writing something for the Deborah Knott mystery book series.

[fleetsparrow]

Ooh, I even might have a fandom in mind already! I'm in!

[shinsengumi]

I'm back in my mission to get fandom tags for all of Yanase Seno's works! o9

[ryulynn]

I plan to write something for twilight aqua city (水都は薄明) at least, we’ll see if maybe something else too

[elidelio]

Oh man time to hopefully kick my butt into gear and do this once more to continue my streak of writing for barely-existing actual play podcast fandoms (⁠ㆁ⁠ω⁠ㆁ⁠)

[celamity]

I do have a fandom in mind, so why not :)

[bring_me_sugar]

Me!

[bearixt]

YESSSS I'M CATCHING IT THIS TIMEEEEE I'm sure I can find some fandom to do... hopefully... surely right... but excited!!

[desertvixen]

Back for more, trying to decide what children's book I'll do next.

[delphi]

Fantastic - thanks for running this again! I'm pretty sure I'm going to be trying my hand at something for the game Engaging Destiny.

[corvidology]

I'm so excited to take another whack at this.

Life *mumble mumble* has got in the way the last time/s? but for someone like me this is very encouraging. ♥

[prowlingthunder]

*slaps several WIPs* I'm HERE.

[stormsyndrome]

I'd like to try this year again! The fandom I chose has a canonical tag and 1 fic, but that's a 7 fandoms mega crossover WIP and 1) the focus is on a different fandom 2) the sole tagged character from my fandom hasn't even appeared. Do I assume correctly it qualifies?

[galerian_ash]

Yup, you do. Good luck with the writing!

[sweetsorcery]

Signing up, because life sucks rn and I need low stress projects to distract me.