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Destielfanfic is breaking with tradition to weigh in on an important issue that is going to shape the future of challenge fics - serial posting of DCBB and other challenge fics on AO3.



The DeanCas Big Bang brings out some of the best works in our fandom. Writers and Artists have to meet stringent deadlines and post according to a schedule designed to be fair and equitable. This collaboration is also between the creators of fanworks and the audience - Readers, like us.

This year a 65k fic was posted as a single entry on tumblr and then cross posted to AO3 as a WIP. It was added to the DCBB Collections during the active DCBB posting season. There was quite the stir as confused readers tried to figure out what was going on. A few days later, it happened again with a 67k fic.

Times change and technically posting on tumblr and then cross posting as a WIP on AO3 is not against the rules of the DCBB. The authors of these tumblr fics were vehement in defending this practice and are encouraging others to join them, using the Weekly WIP updates on AO3 as an opportunity to drive up readership, increase kudos, and allow the fic to stand out amidst so many other DCBB offerings.

We enjoy serial postings in general. That said fics that are part of a fandom challenge like the Big Bangs enjoy a lot of free promotion and in turn, these fics are intended be posted in full, on the due date, and on a platform that is both accessible and readable. There lies the rub.

Tumblr is not for readers. Small fonts, colorful, low contrast themes, a lack of chapter breaks, an inability to mark your place, and other similar issues make reading more than a few thousand words on tumblr a miserable experience. A 65k word fic posted on tumblr is not meant to be read and actively discourages readers. That is why DFF has a longstanding policy of not linking to works on tumblr.

So this is our opinion: Long fics that are part of a challenge should be posted all at once on a readable platform. Posting serially on the most popular platform, AO3, is unfair to readers expecting a full work, artists who had to complete the work on time and other writers whose work will be superseded on the community collections every time a new chapter posts.

We followed the comments on the first DCBB WIP with its increasingly vicious wank and have seen ripples of this discussion on tumblr. Some of the comments were frankly shocking. You may not like our opinion, may disagree, may think we are stuck in the past, but in our view the DCBB is a special and wondrous collaboration that should benefit and respect us all: writers, artists and readers.

Under the cut are links to the fics in question and to the discussion posts made by those involved. We have also provided a handy guide on how to make your own PDF/ePub from a fic posted on tumblr.

I. Posts from people involved in the discussion

Post that quotes first 6 comments from the first serially posted DCBB fic. One of the DFF mods is listed, which is why we were alerted to this in real time. Judge for yourself how “rude” those comments are.

Post by the author of the first fic about the controversy. The fic has since been deleted from AO3 because the comments became about the process and not the fic.

Post with the opinions of people who believe that fandom challenges are about collaboration, and that DCBB spirit is more important than a letter of law.

Post where one author states that they posted their DCBB 2016 fic on LiveJournal only to comply with DCBB rules and to discourage people from reading it before they’ve finished posting it as a WIP on AO3.



II. Fics that posted on tumblr in their entirety and then on AO3 as a WIP.

We will add any additional fics that post this way here. We couldn’t include them in our DCBB 2016 weekly bulletin because we don’t list tumblr fics or WIPs under a certain word count on the bulletins.

Different Class by casandsip with Art by deanicanfixthat

[NC-17, 65,000 word count]

DCBB post on LiveJournal with links to tumblr for the fic and art

This fic was removed from AO3.

The Profound Bond by aria_lerendeair with Art by disizletzi

[NC-17, 67,000 word count]

DCBB post on LiveJournal with links to fic tumblr post and art The fic is currently posted on AO3 inside DeanCas Big Bang 2016 collection as a WIP, 2/24 chapters, 4,382 word count. If you’re using this collection to check out the latest dcbb fics, please don’t be surprised when the fic which was scheduled to post on November 4, is on top of recently posted fics with every new updated. You can check the box for completed works to remove this from your list. Important note - this fic credits fan made video The Profound Bond as an inspiration, but the links provided are not associated with the fanvids creator. See this destielfanfic post about the video with links to creator’s blog and some other fics that were inspired by it.

ETA - the author still links to the gif collecting blog but at least credits the author by their name.



III. Make your own PDF or ePub

If there’s a demand to read these publicly available DCBB fics, we will also provide ePub or PDF versions privately to readers who ask. You can make your own easy peasy as described here and in this post:

Copy the post (seriously, just select the text and hit copy!)



Paste into google docs (it’s free)



Make changes for readability (bigger font, chapter break, no color)



Download as ePub or PDF (it’s under the File menu)

Calibre can also be used, but the process is more involved.