Ahead of the site’s anniversary next month, it’s time for another writing event!

Participating
Anyone can participate as a writer and/or a reader, and all skill levels and types of interests are encouraged. Prospective writers are to submit a piece by the end of the submission period and everyone, both writers and readers alike, are encouraged to comment about the stories and discuss them. Feedback and critique is always appreciated! As with most site events, the idea is to have the community participate and make things lively.

The tradition is to have people submit entries anonymously, so as to not taint perceptions and color feedback, but this is just a suggestion. The main goal of these events remains to encourage the community to create and for everyone involved to have fun.

Submission period
Submissions will be opened around a month from now on 2026-04-01. A thread will be created for entries and there will be a 2-day window for any stories to be counted as part of the event. You can post something later than that, but the idea is to have everyone on equal footing when it comes to getting comments and feedback.

Themes
These events are normally centered around some theme. Entries ideally should contain elements of either or both of the themes. These themes are meant to spark inspiration or help writers along and how broadly or specifically they are implemented are up to the writer.

This time around, the themes are comfort and community.

Comfort can mean anything ranging from a prosaic, physical, sensation but it is probably best read as something (or someone) that provides solace, consoles, provides relief or enjoyment; a small ritual enjoyed by a character after a long day of work, catching up with an old pal to put things into perspective or distract, or appreciating the effort put into a special meal would all qualify here. This can be something abstract and mostly intellectual, it can be something pertaining to the senses, or both and/or something in-between—whatever makes the most sense for the scenario and character.

Community can mean any number of things—those who share interests or hold certain knowledge, neighbors or inhabitants of an area, individuals that do similar sort of work, the same kind of creatures, or any other grouping with some sort of identity. Some examples are the kappa, the regulars at Geidontei, humanity, the disciples at Myourenji, magicians, Gensokyo’s sages, or punk rock enthusiasts. An implementation of the theme might be how a character might relate to a community or why they would seek to join one and participate. Or the influence the community might have over certain people and places. Else, the reasons a community is constituted a certain way, any expectations or objectives its members may have might be good fodder. The absence of a community also qualifies; a willful disregard, a casual indifference, unwilling isolation, or any other type of relationship are valid ways of exploring things as well.

There may be synergy and crossover between the themes or they could very well be in opposition. It is up to the writer to decide which to implement in their story, how they are are present, and why.

Length and format
All the entries are meant to be standalone and self-contained stories. They should be as long as they need to be to tell the story and not be needlessly long. That’s up for the author to decide and entrants are free to make multiple posts, splitting up the entries across multiple posts if needed.

My general advice is to spend some time during the month refining and polishing entries. Cutting out excessive or unnecessary parts and focusing on what is really important to tell the story will make for a stronger result.

The spirit of things
In case it isn’t clear, the idea here is for people to participate and have fun, generating interesting and different stories. There aren’t very specific rules as to what does and doesn’t count in terms of entries. There are no real stakes as there will be no voting at the end to find a “winner” nor will there be a discrete prize. In other words, writing and sharing your thoughts on stories should be the goal unto itself.

Of course, should anyone in the community wish to write, draw, or otherwise create something as a reward to the participants, they are welcome to do so.

Both writers and readers are encouraged to read and share their thoughts at the end of the exhibition, critiquing, offering opinions and how they felt, or just celebrating new and interesting stories.

If there are any questions or clarifications needed, feel free to post in the thread and I’ll try to answer them as clearly as possible.