Anyone feeling a little anxious? Restless? Trapped? Well never fear, that’s just your brain preparing you for the flood of AWESOMENESS that is new fic about to hit the site.

We’re almost to October and that means Trapped Challenge month is about to commence. With such an adaptable theme, we’re buzzing with excitement about the soon-to-be posted gems written in celebration of the 14th birthday of Elysian Fields.

Mods Holly and OffYourBird have joined forces and combined their talents to present to all of you—the readers, writers, artists, betas and lurkers of our site—a fantabulous new skin. It will be set as the site default skin for the month of October. To take a peak or switch your current skin out, make sure to change it in your preferences page. It is called Trapped.

In order to make sure everyone understands all that's going on, we'll try to cover everything here. If there's something you're not sure about, please let us know in the comments. There's a lot of information in this post, but please read the whole thing to be sure you know what's happening in October.

How and when do I post my story so that it's part of the event?
Starting at midnight on October 1 (site time, which is Eastern US time-it's listed under the shoutbox), you'll see a new checkbox on the page where you add a new story.

As soon as you see that box, you're free to post. If you're adding a new story that is part of the challenge, check the box and you're good to go.

Your fic does not need to be complete prior to posting. In fact, it doesn't even need to be completed during October. You have the whole month, during which you only need to BEGIN posting the story.

If you requested and received a banner, please make sure to credit the artist in your story notes section. If you're not sure how to add a banner, please see this section in the FAQ.

If you have a beta that you worked with as part of your challenge story, you must credit them in your story notes in order for them to be counted as having participated in the event. If they aren't listed in your story notes, we have no way of identifying that they were part of the event.

How do I find the stories that are being added to the Trapped Challenge?
It's easy to spot fic that have been captured by this challenge because all Trapped Challenge fics will be marked with a trusty set of handcuffs (we raided Spike's stash) and the icon looks like this one here:

Also, don't forget that we have a site events browse page where you can view all the stories from previous site events, as well as the ones from this event.

Will you be featuring regular stories while the challenge is going on?
There won't be any mod-chosen featured stories in October. In the area where we usually have featured stories, we're going to begin the month by highlighting stories written in past years in honor of our 14th anniversary (the reason we hold events in October). Starting on the 1st, each day will highlight one year (1st-2006, 2nd-2007, and so on...), and will contain a random assortment of stories published in that particular year. Starting on the 14th, that section will change to feature a random assortment of fics that are part of this event.

Is there a comment aspect to this event as well?
Of course there is! If you write at least 14 comments in October that contain at least 14 words, you'll meet the requirements of the commenter challenge! You'll see a link to the comment challenge leaderboard on the homepage under the Members of the Month where the all-star commenter list is usually located.

Besides an amazing sense of pride, do we get anything for participating in the event?
Of course you do! We have some amazing awards that will be given out after the end of October. Our wonderful OffYourBird has created the following awards for participating authors, artists, commenters, and betas:

That about covers it. Please let us know if there's any additional questions. Get ready for some amazing new stories!