It's time to Smash The Champagne Bottle!

[smashthechampagnebottle]

Inspired by launchtheship *, Smash The Champagne Bottle is a low-pressure multifandom challenge to write the first fic for a ship in a fandom! Launching a ship on the seas has always been accompanied by ceremony, and our name comes from the tradition of smashing a bottle of champagne across the bow of a newly laid ship as the hull slides out of dry dock into the sea.

Have a ship you love that has zero fics on AO3? This is the challenge for you!

*Please note, we are not trying to step on any toes or replace Launch the Ship, which is a beloved event. However, since there has been no indication one way or other if the event will run this year- including attempting to ask on the LTS DW going unanswered, and people have been looking for it, so we decided to step in and create an event in the same vein with enough time for the event to take place before the year ends. We hope all is well for the LTS admin/s, and this will only become a repeated event if it should happen that LTS does not continue.

AO3 Collection. Sign Up. Promos.

 

Schedule (all times and dates are US Eastern time)

Sign up: starts now, and will run though the deadline, though last minute signups could be slightly delayed in being added to the collection
Deadline: Friday, November 15th, 11:59pm
Collection Opens: Saturday, November 16th, 12:59am


1. Qualifying Ships

Anything that currently has 0 fics in English, of any length, be it for a romantic or gen ship (/ or &) qualifies. There are also no ship requirements. Your ship can be a gen ship between two peope, or three, or four, or twenty-seven. It can be a romantic ship between two people, or a polyamorous ship between three people, or even eighteen people. The open sea is the limit.

Note: If someone else posts the ship you want to write during the creation period, that's still fine. Your ship qualified during the sign up period it qualifies. 

ETA: A question has come in regarding fics in other languages. Our stance is: the more people who can take part in this, the merrier! So with regards to language, the qualifying rule is "zero fics in the language you want to write in". If you're writing in English, it should be zero fics in English. If you want to write in another language, it should be zero fics in that language. If you'll be writing in another language, please let us know in your sign up! Otherwise we will take it to be English.

2. Fic Requirements

Your fic just has to be complete. That's it. There are no word count requirements. Your fic can be a poem. Your fic can be co-authored. Your fic can have ten different relationship tags, provided the main one has zero ships.

If you are writing for several zero fic ships, please make sure you post them as separate fics though.

All ratings are welcome as long as they are appropriately tagged.

3. Signing Up

Post a comment on the sign-up post with the fandom your ship is in, and what your ship is! That's it! You don't need to have a dreamwidth account to join us - anyone is free to post anonymously, or signed in if they do have a dreamwidth account and wish to do so.

You can list as many ships as you want, provided they all qualify. If you decide to change your mind during the creation period, that's fine too. You can do anything you want, as long as your ship qualifies!

This isn't a formal exchange, so signing up isn't mandatory. It's just a nice way to commit to the deadline and to join a small community of people working together. When your fic is added to the collection, if you did not sign up previously, we will verify that your ship meets the requirements. Please note that there is a potential advantage to signing up, as we check for the ship at the time of signup, so if you don't sign up and someone else posts your ship in the meantime, it may not meet the event qualification.

4. AO3 Collection

You can post your work(s) to our collection! Works will remain unrevealed until Saturday, November 16th at 12:59am, which is when the entire collection will open. If you’re running a little late, no problem, the collection will remain open at least a week afterwards for you to add to it. 

At the end of reveals, we’ll do a round up post here on dreamwidth to showcase all the fics submitted!

5. Promos

Entirely optional, but totally encouraged! Come share with us your squee! Tell us why you love the ship you’ll be writing for! Do they look amazing together? Did they tease at something more in canon that was just a teeny tiny snippet that left you craving more? Do they have compatible attitudes? Are they character foils of each other? Do you think the snarky banter between them would be oh so glorious? Are they two characters who never interacted in canon but definitely needed to? Two characters from completely different fandoms who absolutely need to meet? We're here for all of this...and more!

Come share, peruse, and cheer each other on as we get ready to do some bottle smashing!

6. OC's and Self Inserts

 These are great, and we completely support their creation. However, we do see them as different entities from ships comprised entirely of canonical characters, and the event will be limited to canonical characters.

7. I have a question. How do I contact you?

Please leave a comment on this post, send up a PM on Dreamwidth, or send an email to eratoschild@gmail.com. We can also be found on Discord at the Exchanges After Dark server!

Comments

[luvbarryfefe]

This sounds awesome. I love rare pairs so I am in.

[smashthechampagnebottle]

We’re so happy to hear this!!!

[resurrectfeeling]

Just posted the first fic in a tag right before I saw this ironically, and I'm excited to do it again. Thanks this is gonna be fun!

[smashthechampagnebottle]

Oh no! There's always the option of now adding in another character to make a brand new sparkling ot3 tee hee.

Glad to have you on board!!

[flo_nelja]

Hello! Launch-the-ship used to accept fics in non-English language (provided no fic exist in English and in this language either), and be-the-first accepts only fics in English. What is your decision on this point?

[smashthechampagnebottle]

Our stance is the more people who can take part in this, the merrier, so the qualifying rule is "zero fics in the language you want to write". If you're writing in English, it should be zero fics in English. If you want to write in another language, it should be zero fics in that language. Hope that clarifies!

[janey_p]

If we sign up now, do we have to create something by the deadline?
I'm asking because I have an idea for a fic with a new ship, but since I'm working on something with a deadline only 2 weeks before the deadline for this event, I might end up running out of time.
I'd love a chance to participate, though.

[smashthechampagnebottle]

Hey there! So this isn't an exchange: there is no "must create" deadline. It's more of a "hey let's all get excited about this super rare and brand-new ship together!" type of thing, because often launching a new ship can be lonely, especially if it feels like you're the only one excited about the ship. Signing up just means you want to commit to the ship, hopefully cheer other people on and find other people cheering you on and hope to write the first fic ever for said ship by the deadline proposed. If you sign up and don't manage to finish your fic by the deadline, that's completely fine. As long as you had fun while writing your piece, we'd be very happy if you joined us for this event! Also, we won't be closing the collection on reveals day - it'll be open for a month or so after, so if you want to add your fic to the collection later that's fine too.

[maevedarcy]

hey quick question, can I post a fic for this even and another event if the other event allows it?

[smashthechampagnebottle]

Hello! Once again, apologies in the delay in getting to this. We’ve replied to your comment in the sign up post!

[bradygirl_12]

Okay, maybe this is an odd situation: I was thinking of taking part with a very rarepair from an early '60s TV show, but I have posted 2 stories and 1 poem for it in the past few months, so the requirement of zero fics probably disqualifies this pair. Though the fandom, Naked City, doesn't even show up on AO3's search engine in Browse Fandoms because it hasn't been made a fandom tag yet.

Basically, it's an obscure fandom and I haven't found fic for this pair except mine, a very small amount posted. Would this pair be eligible? Thanks! ☺️

[smashthechampagnebottle]

Hi there! Thanks so much for your interest in this event.

Unfortunately, the relationship tag has to have zero fics. So even if all the fics for the ship are currently all written by you, it wouldn’t be eligible.

You’re more than welcome to join with a ship with current zero fics though!

[bradygirl_12]

Okay, thanks! ☺️

[(Anonymous)]

Hi! Can we write more than 1 fic for the same pairing? Like launching a ship with 2 (or more) fics from the get go when the collection is revealed?

[smashthechampagnebottle]

Ooh good question….go for it!

[(Anonymous)]

!!!! neat, thank you!

I forgot to ask if we can combine our fics with ongoing events that don't have deadlines as long as the other event(s) allow it. I'm currently doing a title centric bingo and I found a title that fits one of my ideas. Would it be okay to use my fic as a fill for that bingo?

[eratoschild]

Sure, no problem! I’m all for double dipping on events if the offer event is cool with it!

[(Anonymous)]

Would an & ship qualify that already has some fics in the ao3 tag (7 in my case) but they're only tagged as side stuff in shipfic focusing on different characters?

[smashthechampagnebottle]

Hi there!

Yep, if your ship has only ever been used as a side ship tag, then it qualifies for this event!

[beshrew_my_very_heart]

Hi there! I love the idea of this challenge. I just wanted to check in regarding crossover fics and pairings? Is that allowed? Many thanks!

[smashthechampagnebottle]

Hello! :D

Yes, crossover ships are welcome!! :D

[whimsicalmeerkat]

I just had the perfect idea for the ship I signed up with for one of yesterday’s Kinktober prompts. Can I write a second fic for them for this event since I signed up and it was approved, even though I’d be the one posting in the tag before this event reveals?

[smashthechampagnebottle]

Yes that’s fine. As long as your proposed ship had zero fics at the time of sign up, you can still add it to our collection even if you or someone else posts a fic for it in between sign up and collection reveal.

[what_happens_to_the_heart]

Hi there! I just wrote a fic for a ficathon and I had meant to submit that fic for this challenge too as it fits. But I didn't realize the fics for this would be kept hidden until the challenge is over, so I couldn't tag the challenge on AO3 as I would miss the ficathon closing date. So I was wondering: is it ok if I add this fic to the collection and register it to the challenge closer to the date when the fics are revealed? Provided the ship is still unused at that time, obviously.

[smashthechampagnebottle]

Hey there! We're happy for your fic to be part of both events and collections so long as the ficathon event is also happy for you to do the same. As for our collection, it will open on November 16th 12:59am EST and remain open for a month or so after, so you're welcome to post your fic to the collection before it closes. Pending, as you say, that the ship still has zero fics.

Hope this helps!