Dean/Castiel Big Bang

Journal Community
Name:	Dean/Castiel Big Bang
Date(s):	2010-current
Moderator:
Founder:
Type:	Challenge, Big Bang
Fandom:	Supernatural
URL:	deancasbigbang (LJ) (2010-2016); archive link deancasbigbang (tumblr) (2017-)
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The Dean/Castiel Big Bang is a Big Bang specifically focusing on the characters Dean Winchester and Castiel from Supernatural. Like most other Big Bangs, the fest is a collaborative effort between authors who write fics with artists who create accompanying artwork (art and/or vids) for said fics.

The fest was hosted on livejournal at the community deancasbigbang.livejournal.com which was created on February 7, 2010. After its 2016 round, ownership of the community changed hands to new mods, and promotional/administrative activity moved to tumblr at deancasbigbang.tumblr.com, although content was crossposted to livejournal as well. The mods changed again after the 2019 round.

Rules and Requirements

All fanwork has to be centered on either Dean and Castiel, or the actors that portray them, Jensen Ackles and Misha Collins. The primary focus of the fest is on slash so Dean/Castiel fics dominate the output, but gen and threesome fics that include the main characters are also allowed.

The fest originally had two tracks for participants, a Mini-Bang track and a Big Bang track. The minimum requirements of the two fics are as follows:

Track	Author	Artist	Vidder
Mini-Bang	10,000 words	1 piece	1 min. 30 secs.
Big Bang	20,000 words	2 pieces	2 min. 30 secs.

Although participants are free to do more than the minimum requirement. Writers choose which track they'd like to join in their sign-ups, and are able to upgrade or downgrade their choice until a specific date determined by the mods, which is just before drafts are due. Artists/vidders need not declare their track in sign-ups, but choose it based on the work(s) they pick during claims.

The first round of the fest was held in 2010, in which the Mini-Bang works were posted earlier than the Big Bang fics, on the grounds that the Mini-Bang works were shorter and could be completed faster. The Mini-Bang posting period was from 16 to 26 August, while the Big Bang posting period was from 1 to 29 October.

After getting feedback from followers of the community, in 2011 the second round of the fest had the Mini-Bang and Big Bang fics posted together, from 3 to 31 October. Subsequent rounds continued with this practice of simultaneous posting.

After the 2016 round was complete, the fest was given to new mods, and the main activity moved to tumblr, though content was also crossposted to livejournal. Some changes were implemented to the format of the fest. The Mini-Bang track was removed, and instead of the author/artist creating the shared fic & art masterpost, the mods would do it instead. The mods encouraged posting to AO3, specifically to an official Dean/Cas Big Bang collection, while previously there was no mention of AO3 specifically in the fest, which resulted in multiple overlapping collections created by individuals not affiliated with the fest. It was also made compulsory that all fic posted to the fest had to be posted in its entirety, for in previous years some authors posted their fics in a serialized format with chapters released over a period of time.

Controversies

At the time that the Dean/Cas Big Bang was set up in 2010, the SPN fandom only had one Big Bang fest, the Supernatural and J-Squared Big Bang Challenge! (simplified as the SPN/J2 Big Bang), which had been established in 2007. On the spnpermanon anon meme, there was backlash to the Dean/Cas Big Bang from some anonymous commenters, who considered the pairing-specific fest as being exclusionary and unnecessary, seeing as that Dean/Cas writers could write fic for the SPN/J2 Big Bang. Arguments for the fest include the different posting periods of the two fests, that there was no limitation to how many Big Bangs a fandom may have, and that an increased number of fests result in an increased number of fanwork for consumption. Following the launch of the Dean/Cas Big Bang, numerous other specific SPN fandom Big Bangs followed, such as the SPN Slash Big Bang, Supernatural Gen Big Bang, Supernatural Femmeslash Big Bang, Supernatural Mpreg Big Bang, Sabriel Big Bang, Dean/Benny Big Bang, and more.

There has been a practice by some authors to post their Big Bang fics in a serialized format, i.e. to release chapters in intervals instead of posting a fic in its entirety, so to increase reader exposure and interest for the fic. During the 2016 posting period, this was brought to the attention of the mods, who declared that as long as a fic is posted in its entirety on at least one platform, it has complied with the rules. Some authors had followed the rule to the letter by only posting their complete fics on tumblr, while posting in a serialized format on AO3. After the fest changed hands, the new mods announced that this would no longer be acceptable, and that all fics must be posted in its entirety on AO3.

Fanworks

2010

A total of 79 fics were posted for the 2010 round.

The Mini-Bang had 25 full fic/art sets, in which 15 were canon-based Dean/Castiel, 2 canon-based Dean & Castiel Gen, 6 Dean/Castiel AUs, 1 Dean/Castiel/Jimmy AU, and 1 Jensen/Misha RPF. One art set was posted without fic due to the author dropping out, that was a canon-based Dean & Castiel gen. Of the 25 fics posted, 6 of them had word counts that exceeded 20,000, but the authors opted to remain in the Mini-Bang track, which had earlier posting dates.

The Big Bang had 54 full fic/art sets in which 24 were canon-based Dean/Castiel, 2 canon-based Dean & Castiel Gen, 19 Dean/Castiel AUs, 6 Jensen/Misha RPF and 1 Dean/Misha canon/RPF crossover. Two sets of art were posted without fics due to their authors dropping out, these were both Dean/Castiel AU sets.

2011

A total of 70 fics were posted for the 2011 round. This was a drop from the previous year, and of note where the 2010 round had 7 RPF fics, the 2011 round had only 1 RPF fic.

The Mini-Bang had 14 fic/art sets in which 9 were canon-based Dean/Castiel, 1 canon-based Dean/Castiel/Jimmy, 1 Jensen/Misha RPF and 3 Dean/Castiel AUs.

The Big Bang had 56 fic/art sets in which 25 were canon-based Dean/Castiel, 5 canon-based Dean & Castiel Gen, 1 canon-based Dean/Castiel combined with French-Mistake!Jensen/Misha, 24 Dean/Castiel AUs and 1 Dean & Castiel Gen AU.

2012

A total of 105 fics were posted for the 2012 round. This is an increase from the previous year, which is partially due to promotion of the fest on tumblr, inviting writers and artists who don't have or don't use livejournal much to participate. There were 21 fic/art sets in the Mini-Bang track, and 85 in the Big Bang track.

2013

A total of 135 fics were posted for the 2013 round, an increase from the previous year.

Meta/Further Reading

• Writers pitch all-out meltdown during annual fanfic event by highwaywitchery on r/HobbyDrama