Gabriella Guava (who most people call Gabi) is a book-lover, content creator, and photographer from Chicago. She hosts a virtual romantasy book club with over 500 members, makes silly videos, and talks about her decision to leave teaching for a more creative career.

To learn more or contact Gabi, visit https://www.gabriellaguava.com/

Nina Haines is a writer, freelance marketer & content creator, and the founder of the sapphic book club Sapph-Lit. With over seven years of experience in the influencer marketing industry, she has worked on the brand teams of Papier, Curology, Supergoop!, Package Free, amika, and Unbound. She is based in Brooklyn, New York and is currently working on her debut novel.

Sarah (aka half of Forest & Fawn) is a booktoker/bookstagrammer who creates content on her favorite fantasy reads, womanhood, queerness, ane more. Her goal is to share her unfiltered, authentic self through her platform and build a community where people can laugh, relate to one another, and talk about their favorite things together.

Sarah also runs an online community called Slumber Party where fantasy readers, swifties, and more can connect and make friends with each other from all over the world, as well as a book club for fantasy readers called the Book Fairies Book Club.

Alexandra (or Alli) is the other half of Forest & Fawn. She has a background in creative non-fiction writing, but a few years ago decided to dabble in fantasy and hasn’t looked back yet. Her first novelette, Woven, is published in an anthology by Azala Press callled Winter’s Enchantment. Alli is so excited to be building a community of fantasy writers here at Forest & Fawn.

Your story should be a maximum of 2,000 words. There is no minimum.

Online! You can write from the comfort of your own home or your favorite coffee shop. As long as you turn in your submission on time, it doesn’t matter where you do the rest!

At the start of the challenge, you’ll receive an email that will include all of the instructions for submission. In that email will be a link to a google form where you will upload your completed and edited story!

Heck no! This challenge is exactly that: a challenge. That means that no matter what level of writing you at currently at, participating in this challenge will only help you get better! This challenge is for seasoned writers and newcomers alike!

All ages are permitted. However, if you are under 18 years old, you can still participate! We’ll send over a short form that your parent/guardian will need to submit before you can participate.

YES! Forest & Fawn reserves the right to publish the story on the website, but the rights to the story remain yours.

Yes, but please remember to use the same pen name at the time of registration as well as submission.

Your file should be saved as a .doc (Word document 97-2003), .docx (Word document), or 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.

You will have exactly seven days. Submissions are due at 8:59 am EDT on Sunday August 11th, 2024. Make sure to adjust and set a calendar in your time zone!

This is:

6:59 am Mountain time

7:59 am Central time

1:59 pm in London

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

Stories should be written in 12 pt font. Acceptable fonts are: Times New Roman, Garamond, Courier, or New Courier.

No. At the start of the challenge, you’ll receive an email with specific prompts and elements that you’ll need to include in your story. So, if you start writing before receiving those instructions, you’ll likely need to start all over anyway!

Yes! You will still need to create an entirely original story for this challenge.

Yes, international participants are welcome! Just make sure to adjust the time zone so you get your assignment in on time.

Yes! Forest & Fawn is not responsible for translating your story into English. You may, however, use phrases or quotes in other languages throughout the story.

The stories will go through a preliminary round of judging based a consistent rubric with various criteria. The top stories from the first of judging will go on to be read by our review panel, which you find listed above.

We will refund the cost of your ticket minus the cost of processing fees up to 48 hours before the challenge start time. After that time, tickets will be non-refundable.