Writer FAQ

November 2024 Short Story Challenge

Please read through all of these FAQ’s before reaching out to us. If you still have a question that is not answered here, please email us at hello@forestandfawnretreats.com and include your full name and email associated with your Submittable account.

General

  • 9:00 pm EST on Wednesday, November 13th, 2024.

    Please check the time in your time zone. It is:

    6:00 pm PST

    7:00 pm MST

    8:00 pm CST

  • No, all submissions must be original to this challenge! That is how we keep the challenge fair for everyone participating.

  • Your story short must be written specifically for this challenge. If you want to use the same world and characters from your novel, you are welcome to do so as long as it was written between November 6-13.

  • No. For this challenge we are not recognizing fanfic. This is because not all of our readers will have read the original series and therefore wouldn’t understand the full context of the characters.

  • You may not share the title of your story with any of the review panel or on social media before the results are announced. This is to ensure that the judging process remains strictly anonymous.

  • We have a rich grading system that calculates based on the following elements:

    How well a story read as a comprehensive, standalone short story

    How strong was the theme is in the story

    How creatively the story utilized the theme and prompts

    Overall use of imagery

    Overall character development

    How cohesive the story felt

    How the pacing was

    How the world building was

    Whether there was an appropriate amount of worldbuilding

    Whether or not the story read like an edited piece

    Whether or not the story felt unique

    How enjoyable and easy to following along the writing style was

    The use of prose and whether it enhanced or detracted from the story

    How likely we would be to recommend this story to a friend in the target audience

    Whether or not the story included elements of the fantasy genre

    Whether or not the story followed the formatting guidelines

    Whether or not the story included all of the required prompts

    Whether or not the story sent some kind of message to the readers

  • Each story goes through an initial round of review where they are graded against 19 other stories (20 total). The top 5 stories from each set will move on to the next round of review where they are each graded against another 19 stories (20 total). Finally, the top stories from each set will be sent to the final round of review where they will be read by the final review panel and ranked in order.

  • Yes, you will receive your rubric and short comments from the reviewers. Feedback will be sent within 1 week after the results are announced.

FOrmatting

  • No! The title and short synopsis does not count toward the word maximum of 2,000.

  • No! We need to keep stories anonymous for our judges.

  • The title page should include only these things:

    1. Title of the story

    2. A short 1-3 sentence synopsis

    DO NOT include your name on the title page or in the name of the file.

  • After the title page, you have 2,000 words to do whatever it is you wish. You can use those words to put in a glossary or a quote or whatever you'd like. But keep in mind that it does count toward your word count.

  • You sure can! When you submit your story, you'll have a chance to list any trigger warnings. Please do so there!

  • Trigger warnings are meant for your readers. They are there to warn the reader that there will be content that might elicit a harmful physical, psychological, or physiological response. Some examples are:

    • Suicide

    • Accidents

    • Rape

    • Bondage

    • Blood

    • Drowning

    • Burning

    If you have a question about whether something should be labeled as a warning or not, please reach out!

  • Size: 12 pt

    Fonts: Times New Roman, Courier, New Courier, Garamond

    Italicize, bold, underline are all allowed.

  • Double-spaced!

  • Cussing and swear words are allowed. However, using slurs or hateful language of any kind in your story would disqualify your story from the final review panel. Forest & Fawn is an inclusive and safe space, and we want all of our readers to feel that way.

  • Everything after your title page counts. That includes glossaries, poems, opening quotes, footnotes, anecdotes. Be as creative with these elements as you’d like, just do so within the word limit.

  • You can include a map that takes up no more than 1 full page. The judges will determine if the map added to or detracted from the overall short story.

  • You file should be saved as a pdf (Portable Document Format).

  • The name of your file should be the title of your short story. DO NOT include your name in the file name. This is to ensure that we keep submissions anonymous for our readers. For example, if the title of your story is “Wicked,” your file should look like this: wicked.doc or wicked.docx or wicked.pdf. Do not worry, we will be able to cross-reference your story back to you after all of the judging is complete.

Prompts

  • The interruption should be significant to affect the plot. The rest is open to interpretation! Some writers will base the entire plot off of the interruption, and some will use it to simple segue into a different area of the story.

  • This is entirely up to you! The placement of the interruption in the story will depend entirely on what impact you want the interruption to have on your plot.

  • The interruption should be UNEXPECTED to the character who is experiencing the interruption. However, if there is foreshadowing to hint to the reader that the interruption is coming, that is fine!

  • No, the time crunch can be interpreted through pressure that a character feels. You do not need to have a physical clock be present.

  • That is up to you! It can be for any of the above.

  • Nope! It just needs to be there.

  • What we are looking for is that some part of the plot is dependent on the animal companion. The animal companion should offer some value to the story. In some stories, that will mean that the animal companion is adventuring beside the protagonist at all times. In others that might look like a character being reminded of particular event when they look at their animal companion. This is largely open to interpretation and depends on the individual story.

  • Not necessarily, but the animal companion should contribute something of value to the plot.

  • No. If it serves your story to have an animal companion that is no longer on this side of the veil, then go for it! As long as it still plays a role in the plot.

  • Sure, go for it!

  • For this challenge we are defining animal as any creature or critter that is in a non-humanoid form.

theme

  • Cozy fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy that offers a comforting, magical escape from reality. It's often has by a slower pace, relatable characters, and a focus on personal growth and community. Cozy fantasy often includes elements of mystery, romance, or humor. It is less focused on epic battles and conflict, and more so on feel-good elements like friendship, connection, and relaxation.

  • Yes! Cozy doesn’t mean boring. It just means that is more focused on feel-good elements rather than dramatic, intense, or epic experiences.

  • Your story must include elements of the fantasy genre. For example, epic themes, mythical creatures, magic systems, world-building, quests, fantastic objects, mythology, etc.