It’s hard to believe, but it’s time to announce our next event! 

Due to popular demand, we’ll be bringing back one of our most beloved events, Pen and Paint!

For those who may be new to the event or need a refresher, the goal of this event is to let our incredible artists steer the ship. So often, artists bring to life what a writer dreams up, but for this event, the artwork will be the fic-spiration!

Artwork may include drawings, paintings, video edits, comics, movie posters, banners, manipulations, whatever strikes your fancy! (All Spuffy-focused of course.) Artists will post their new artwork and the authors will write a corresponding piece inspired by that art. The length of the writing is up to each author. Drabbles, poems, singular scenes, and entire one-shot stories are all acceptable! Just please keep it under 15,000 words as that is the maximum length of a chapter/one-shot.

To make the tag-teaming nature of this event work, certain important formatting rules apply.

First, artists will need to post their submission, checking the box that tags it as a Pen and Paint event piece. Immediately upon posting, you will then create an open series. Include your artwork’s title in the series for clarity. Then, make sure you add your art piece to the series. That’s it!

For writers, you will be adding your fic to the corresponding artwork’s open series. To do that, post your story as normal, making sure you check that event box. Go to the artwork you are responding to and click on the series link. It is highlighted in orange in the example below:

Once on the series page, click Add to Series. Then choose the fic you are connecting to that series.

More steps than normal, but we promise, it isn’t as complicated as it may seem! Formatting our event pieces this way will help everyone find the art inspiration for each submission. If you have any issues with posting, please contact one of the admins to fix it for you. Stories cannot be removed from an open series once added by anyone other than the initial author and the admins. We’re here to help!

We encourage everyone to post as many submissions as they wish, to respond to as much artwork as they like. Fellow artists may respond to other series with additional artwork. Authors might continue writing another author’s scene if that’s what inspires them. The only rule is that each series must begin with artwork. Everything following that is free game!

Because of the responsive nature of this event, we like to allow two months for participation. So, you may start posting in June and will have until the end of July to participate. Only art/stories which are connected to a series will qualify for awards. Awards will be given to credited betas, artists, authors, and commenters who comment 15 words or more in both June and July.

We can’t wait to see what our amazing artists do this year! Let the creativity commence!