FAQ

[galerian-ash.livejournal.com]

How do I determine if a fandom has no fics? Must I look absolutely everywhere, including old personal websites and zines?

The general guideline is to check AO3 and fanfiction.net, and doing some quick googling. The latter is just to make sure there isn't a fandom-specific archive hiding in plain sight. If none of those bring up any results, then you're in the clear. I don't expect you to spend hours digging through the dark corners of the net, don't worry!

All in all, we're operating under the honor system here. I trust your judgment when it comes to your chosen fandom, and will not go double-checking anything. If there's a mistake made and a couple of fics do exist after all, well, it's not the end of the world :)

What is the minimum/maximum word length?

There is none! Your story can be however long or short it needs to be.

Where should I post my completed fic?

Anywhere you want! I'll create a collection here on AO3 where you can post your fics. Said collection will be hidden until the deadline/reveal date, and is totally optional. I'll also post a list on the DW community with all the fics, regardless of where they're hosted.

How much time will I have to write?

Two months. The AO3 collection will close at 23.59 GMT on the 20th of April. It'll go live — and I'll round up links for all fics in the community — at 00.01 GMT on the 22nd of April.

When is the deadline for signing up?

There won't really be one, actually. I'm sure we've all been bummed out over discovering some awesome exchange or challenge just days after sign-ups closed. I wanted to avoid that here, by simply not having a cut-off date. So if you stumble upon this challenge the day before the reveal, and still want to take part? Write like the wind, buddy!

I can't decide what fandom to write for!

Then pick two! Which is to say, you can submit up to two fics for this challenge — just as long as they're for different fandoms (since otherwise one of them wouldn't be the first, y'know?). ETA: As per requests and subsequent voting, this limit has now been raised to four!

What if someone else writes a fic for my chosen fandom in the interim between signing up and the deadline?

Then that doesn't count. So even if there are suddenly ten fics posted after you've signed up, they won't affect you. Just keep working on your story and don't worry about it.

Can I write for a franchise, where some parts have fics and others don't?

That depends a bit... If the parts are separate enough to basically be different series, then yes, that's perfectly fine. But if they're very closely connected — with the same set of characters and continuing plot — then it's not really suitable for this challenge, sorry.

There are fics for my fandom, but only in Japanese/German/some other language.

For this challenge only fics written in English count, so go right ahead and ignore those.

I have an old WIP that I started writing ages ago, but never finished or posted anywhere. Is it okay to continue working on that for this challenge?

Yup! :Db

The fandom I'm thinking about has fanfiction, but not for the particular characters/pairing I'd like to write about. Is that okay?

I'm sorry, but no. This challenge is specifically to write the first fic for a rare fandom.

Can I combine this with another writing challenge, such as Yuletide's NYR?

Sure thing!

Fanfic exists for my chosen fandom, but it's a crossover. Does that mean I can't write for it?

That depends on a lot of different things (like which fandom is in focus), and as such the answer is on a case-by-case basis. Please ask and we'll talk about it.

Can I write a crossover?

If none of the fandoms have any fics, then yes (it'll be a double win in terms of you being the first!). Otherwise, for now, the answer is no.

Can I write RPF?

By definition that would be more about people, than a specific series. So it's the same as wanting to write for rare characters — and the answer is the same, too. Sorry. ETA: It turns out that a few people had their hearts set on writing RPF, and felt that my view on it was wrong. I don't want to disappoint anyone, so I'll rescind the rule and trust your judgment when it comes to this.

I don't have a DW account, can I still take part in the community?

Oh yes, absolutely. You can either post anonymously, or with OpenID. The latter enables you to use some other social-media account you may have, such as Twitter.

I'd like to post my finished fic to the AO3 collection, but I don't have an account.

Let me know and I'll do my best to get you an invite.

I have another question/problem/suggestion/comment.

Please comment on the FAQ post or drop me an email at galerian.ash@gmail.com, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!

Comments

[galerian-ash.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry for the late reply! RL stuff has kept me away, which is also the reason why the collection wasn't set up when you went looking. It is up now, though -- right here: http://archiveofourown.org/collections/bethefirst2016 (http://archiveofourown.org/collections/bethefirst2016)

[candyflosskillr.livejournal.com]

No worries, thanks so much!

[candyflosskillr.livejournal.com]

Just had a minor panic, I posted to the collection and the story disappeared from my account. It's in the challenge collection though. Can you advise if it will reappear in my account when the collection is revealed on the 22nd? Sorry, just being over anxious for no reason probably.

[galerian-ash.livejournal.com]

You don't have to worry! Unrevealed stories aren't displayed on your account until the collection goes live -- at which date the notification email will also be sent out to anyone who's subscribed to you. I don't know why you, the writer, aren't able to see the fic, but that's been my own experience with other exchanges (like Yuletide and such). So as long as you can see it in the actual collection it's all good :)

[(Anonymous)]

Can we sign up for a particular short story from a collection of shorts? Some of the stories from the collection have fanfiction online but the one I'd like to write for does not.

[galerian-ash.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's perfectly fine! Thanks for asking :)

[princess-lirin.livejournal.com]

If the only fic for a fandom is a crossover, does that disqualify the fandom? (Specifically, I was thinking of writing Danny Dunn, for which this fic (http://archiveofourown.org/works/4693697) exists.)

[galerian-ash.livejournal.com]

Ooo, that's a very good question -- one that totally should've been in the FAQ to begin with, so I'm really glad you asked!

I guess maybe it should depend on whether or not your chosen fandom is the focus of the crossover or more of a cameo thing. But that requires participants to spend time checking, and opinions might differ as well, so... Let's just say that crossovers don't count. So you're good to go!

[synergic.livejournal.com]

Would the serial novel series Tremontaine be acceptable for this challenge? I'm guessing it's a fringe case at best.... It's a prequel to the extremely well-loved Swordspoint, but is set decades earlier, written in collaboration with six new authors, and much of the focus is on entirely new characters.

[sanguinity]

What if two people want to sign up for the same never-before-written fandom?

[galerian-ash.livejournal.com]

I've read Swordspoint once, a million years ago, but this is the first I've heard of Tremontaine. So I'm sorry, but I can't really give you an educated answer here. Ultimately I'll leave it up to your judgment. That said, the rules about franchises is that if the parts are separate enough to basically be different series, then it's fine. But not if they're closely connected, with the same characters and continuing plot. I'm taking it you were planning on writing about the new characters you mentioned...? If so, I think it's fine!

[galerian-ash.livejournal.com]

Then it's a funny coincidence, nothing more! You don't need to worry about that at all; just write for whatever you want, even if someone else already mentioned the fandom in the sign-up post.

[ricardienne.livejournal.com]

May we double up this challenge with another? Specifically, the fandom I want to write for has been requested in Yuletides past but never written for -- if I'm inspired by a past Yuletide prompt, may I give the story as a gift and put it in the NYR collection a well as in the Be The First collection?

[galerian-ash.livejournal.com]

Sure, why not! I'm sure that whoever you're planning on writing for will be thrilled :)

The only thing I'm a bit concerned about is the fact that the BTF collection will be unrevealed until the 22nd of April. I'm genuinely not sure what happens if you put your fic into the NYR collection as well -- will that mean the story is visible from the get-go? If that's the case, I'd simply ask you to please not add it to that collection until after reveals.

[ricardienne.livejournal.com]

Absolutely! I'll wait to add it to any other collections until after reveals.

[galerian-ash.livejournal.com]

Great, thanks!

[synergic.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Definitely planning something with the new characters, so I'll take the plunge.

[avon.livejournal.com]

Hi!

I have a work that is done and currently saved in drafts.

I have an AO3 question. I have never run anything on AO3. If I had this probably would be obvious, but since I haven't I figured I'd ask. The story I wrote is a gift work, based on a Yuletide prompt. I know most of the BTF stories won't be gift stories. So, I was just wondering, will the recip get the notification about the story when the collection reveals, like what happens in exchanges? Or, have you not set that in settings because this is not a gift exchange?

Does that question make sense? Thanks!

[galerian-ash.livejournal.com]

Hi there! The question makes perfect sense, no worries :) I'm in no way affiliated with AO3, but I'm still pretty certain that the recipient will get a gift notification. There is no option for me to turn it off, in any case! However, users themselves can edit their settings so that they won't receive gift notifications -- they could also have an unused email address connected to their account, which could prevent them from seeing the notification. I'm just mentioning these things in case you get no response from your recipient, as it could very well be that they simply weren't aware that someone had written them a gift.

If you scroll up a bit you can see someone else asking about Yuletide, and adding a BTF fic to the NYR collection as well. My response to them goes here as well: As I'm not sure if the fic will be revealed right away if added to another collection, please wait to add it to the NYR collection until after reveals (but be sure to include the gift recipient right away). Thank you!

[avon.livejournal.com]

I did not see that this question had been asked! Sorry for asking again. I will indeed wait. All is good. Thank you!

[(Anonymous)]

Hey there!

I was just wondering whether Be the First was going to run again this year? It was a lot of fun the last couple of times.

[galerian-ash.livejournal.com]

Hi! Thank you for asking, I'm really glad to hear you had fun the previous years and would like to take part again ♥ The challenge will run again this year during the same dates -- so sign-ups will open around the 20th of February, with the usual writing time of two months. I hope that works for you!

[(Anonymous)]

Will be a Dreamwidth community for this?

[galerian-ash.livejournal.com]

No, sorry, not this year at least. But there is a DW feed (https://be-the-first-feed.dreamwidth.org) that a kind participant set up, if that's helpful to you?

[(Anonymous)]

If we’ve signed up before and failed to write anything will we still be allowed to sign up this year or will we need to sit out a year?