The deadline of 23.59 GMT on the 29th is almost upon us, which means that there's now one day left to finish your fic(s)! Technically, that is, because I'll throw in the same "surprise" mini-extension as I always do, and keep the collection open for submissions until an hour before reveals (which will happen at 00.01 GMT on the 1st).

There's currently 41 stories in the collection — what do you guys think, can we beat last year's record of 48?

Best of luck to everyone who's still writing! You can do it :Db

A little more than half the writing time has now gone by, and the deadline is starting to approach. How's it going, everyone? I hope all is well, but please don't hesitate to let me know if you have any questions or concerns. You've got until 23.59 GMT on the 20th of April to add your fic(s) to the collection — so don't panic, there's still plenty of time.

A big thanks to everyone who has signed up so far, return participants and newbies alike! I'm so happy you're all taking part ♥

If your writing is coming along nicely (or if you'd like to procrastinate), you can do some canon promoting here, or maybe just check out what others have posted.

Hi, and welcome to the eighth 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 fandoms.

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's 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! ♥

The deadline is almost upon us, which means that there's now one day left to finish your fic(s)! Technically, that is, because I'll throw in the same "surprise" mini-extension as I always do, and keep the collection open for submissions until an hour before reveals (which will happen at 00.01 GMT on the 19th).

There's already a very impressive 16 stories in the collection — great job, everyone! Best of luck to those who are still writing, you can do it! :Db

Have you already decided what fandom(s) to write for? If so, how about doing a little promoting? :D

We've all chosen tiny obscure canons, needless to say. But by posting here you might be able to entice someone else to give it a try — or perhaps you'll even run into a fellow fan, who can't wait to read your coming fic.

Your promo can be long or short, and contain whatever you feel like. Want to post a couple of intriguing screencaps from a movie? Quote a few paragraphs from a book? Rec the best episode of an anime or a TV series? Talk about why you love your favorite character and/or pairing from your fandom? It's all good; anything goes!

Hello, everyone :) This is the final reminder about the flash round, which will start in a month from now. So if you wanted to get cracking a little ahead of time, this is it!

And since I'm posting here anyway, I'll take this opportunity to shamelessly promote another challenge I'm currently running! The Hungry Ghost Title Challenge is open to all types of creations (art, fics, vids, etc.) and also all fandoms and/or original works. I've seen a few of you guys pop up already, but I'd love to see more ♥

The collection is live! I didn't think it possible, but we beat last year's record — a staggering forty-seven fics were written this round! Amazing job, everyone! *claps* ETA: And with the inclusion of one straggler, we actually ended up with forty-eight stories!

As usual, please do not check out the fics via the fandom list page on AO3. Only a couple of fandoms are listed there, due to AO3's wrangling policy, so most of the stories will not show up on said page. Instead, there's an alternative fandom list below. (You can also browse the collection via the works page on AO3, where all are accounted for.)

All stories, ordered alphabetically by fandom:

( behind the cut )

Thank you all sooo very much for taking part! I know these are all nonexistent fandoms, but I hope we can try to check out our fellow participants' stories and comment wherever possible. If you're not familiar with any of the fandoms, you can also try browsing the tag page to see if there are any themes/tropes/kinks that catches your eye.

Happy reading! I really hope to see you guys again next round ♥

There's now only a week left to post your fic(s) to the collection! Unless, that is, you guys would like an extension...? Nobody has actually contacted me about one this year, but I still wanted to ask since we've had one the last two rounds (so it'd be easy to think it was something that was always offered, rather than on a request basis).

Let me know in the comments here (or by email or PM) if you'd like an extra week to write! It'll only happen if it's what the majority wants, so please don't hesitate to weigh in with a yes or a no. I'll edit this post with the results in two days from now, so stay tuned!

ETA: Alright, an extension it is! So the new deadline is at 23.59 GMT on the 29th of April, with collection reveals happening 24 hours later as usual. Thanks to everyone who voted, I wish you the best of luck with finishing your stories!

Have you already decided what fandom(s) to write for? If so, how about doing a little promoting? :D

We've all chosen tiny obscure canons, needless to say. But by posting here you might be able to entice someone else to give it a try — or perhaps you'll even run into a fellow fan, who can't wait to read your coming fic.

Your promo can be long or short, and contain whatever you feel like. Want to post a couple of intriguing screencaps from a movie? Quote a few paragraphs from a book? Rec the best episode of an anime or a TV series? Talk about why you love your favorite character and/or pairing from your fandom? It's all good; anything goes!

The collection is live! I didn't think we could possibly beat last year's amazing record, but wow, we did! We have a total of forty-three stories this year — that's more than double the amount of fics this challenge had in its first year! Well done, everyone! *claps*

As usual, please do not check the fics out via the fandom list page on AO3. Only a couple of fandoms are listed there, due to AO3's wrangling policy, so most of the stories will not show up on said page. Instead, there's an alternative fandom list below. (You can also browse the collection via the works page on AO3, where all are accounted for.)

All stories, ordered alphabetically by fandom:

( behind the cut )

Thank you all so very much for taking part! I know these are all nonexistent fandoms, but I hope we can try to check out our fellow participants' stories and comment wherever possible. If you're not familiar with any of the fandoms, you can also try browsing the tag page to see if there are any themes/tropes/kinks that catches your eye.

Happy reading! I really hope to see you guys again next round (which, if all goes as planned, will be a special flash round later this year) ♥