So, for those of you who have been members (or lurkers) here at Elysian Fields for a while, you’d know it’s not exactly a secret that we love Challenges. 
And for anyone who was unaware, all you have to do is check out our Site Events page.
We went ‘live’ as an archive in October of 2006, and it’s become somewhat of a tradition over the last few years to celebrate that fact with a site wide event. And the response has always been phenomenal, from authors, artists and readers.
We look forward to these Challenges, and seeing and reading what our wonderful talented members come up each year is awesome. So awesome in fact, it made us mods ask the question, “Why can’t we do this more than once a year?”
Well, there isn’t a reason to not host a site challenge more than once a year. And as it happens, you lovelies--our members--have already planned it for us. Our site has a veritable treasure trove of inspiration in the form of member-written fic challenges, and they are just dying to be responded to.
And so the April Challenge Month was created.
Buffy didn’t get a choice in her calling, but your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to scan the Challenges page(s) of the archive and find something that sparks the muse to action. Any fledgelings to EF, the Challenges page can be found HERE. Word count doesn't matter--one-shots or epic-length, the responses for the challenge are not genre-specific, or tied to a given theme. So long as the fic meets the requirements as set by the original poster, you're golden.
No sign-up necessary, just hold off on posting your new Challenge inspired creation(s) until the clock strikes midnight (EF site time) on April 1st. Any fic posted within the month that is a direct response to a Challenge from the list on the archive will be considered part of the April Challenge month, and will be marked with an icon to differentiate it and make it easily identifiable, as with the past site events. And as with previous events, participating members will receive an award on their profile page. Also, the fic do not need to be completed within the month of April.
Any questions? Comment on this news post. We look forward to seeing your responses!
--Amy on February 20, 2019 07:28pm 13 Comments
Count me in! I actually just picked out a challenge about a week ago and made a banner for it, so this should be fun. :)
I'll look at the Challenges. I'm not saying I'll be doing the challenge.
Cool idea!
Ooo! Oh, dear. I'm usually a one-story-at-a-time type -- and super slow even at that -- but this is tempting. There's a challenge I've sketched out a whole story arc for.
Started a new challenge this week!. I should be able to have enough to start posting by then :)
Woohoo Challenge Month!!! I am so excited!
Oh cool idea! I don't tend to do challenges cause I've already got more fic ideas than I know what to do with bouncing around in my head. But I'll look at the challenge page anyway and see if anything strikes my fancy!
I think this is a great idea. There are so many interesting challenges out there. I can’t wait to read all the new stories. Thank you for this.
I'll do my best to contribute if I can fit it in around my studies. Sounds like a fun idea! :)
I've spotted a challenge I like, are we including artists in this one? Our banner artists always come up with something amazing, perhaps we could ask if anyone is free to make some designs if contacted?
@Carrie-Ann: Great question! There will be no formal artist sign-up, but you can contact anyone for a banner as you normally would. When the artist is given credit in the story notes/summary, they will receive an artist award! (More formal details on that soon)
@Carrie-Ann- I'm glad you asked!! I was wondering. Thanks for answering, @OYB. Looking forward to more deets. :-)
So exciting!! ❤️❤️