The second prompt for this year’s mystery month is… another choice of three! (In weeks three and four, there will be two options to pick from, with week five’s prompt having already been stated from the outset of the event.)

But enough preamble, here they are: 

• Object Prompt: A Sportsball (any kind is fine) (as suggested by DarkVoid116)
• Character Prompt: Dawn (as suggested by Wonder and Ashes)
• Location/Setting Prompt: A Blackout (as suggested by efffi2117)

REMINDER: First chapters must be posted (or submitted for validation) by 11.59pm site time on Thursday 7th at the absolute latest. The option to join the Mystery Fic-a-Thon will vanish from the story submission page at that time.

Posting of second chapters opens the moment we’ve ticked over into Friday 8th (not before!) and closes on Thursday 14th. 

To be eligible for an award, there must be a brief explanation in the chapter end notes explaining how the prompt was satisfied, with a quote from the chapter to illustrate, if necessary. (This is so mods can easily see who’s playing by the rules. We don’t want to have to kick anyone from the event, but we also sadly don’t have the time to read every single submission to find the relevant parts ourselves.)

For the rest of the event, our homepage Featured Stories will feature a rotation of Mystery Fic-a-Thon submissions. If you’re interested to see how the challenges have been answered thus far, here’s where you can get started!