April Challenge Month is just around the corner once more, so here are all the details you need to get ready.

But first, here are the awards you can win!

What was the theme again?

Unlike most of our other events, our April event does not have a unifying theme as such. If you missed the announcement, you can read it here, but the general sitch is that participating members should select a challenge (found here) and then create a work (fic or art) that answers said challenge.

Simple, right?

How and when do I post my story?

Once you have picked the challenge you wish to respond to and created your work, you will need to upload at least the first part between midnight on April 1st and 11:59 pm on April 30th, site time, which appears under the ShoutBox on EF’s homepage. During the posting window, a check box will appear on the upload page that, when checked, marks your work as part of the event. (The below screenshot example is from our October event, but the check box works in the same way.)

Important: After you have uploaded your work, you must link it to the challenge you’re responding to. To do this, find the specific challenge on the Challenges page and then click “Respond to this Challenge” at the bottom of it. Check the box next to your relevant work, and click submit. If your work is not linked to a challenge, you will not be eligible for awards.

Please note, the challenge you respond to must have been issued by another member. If you respond to your own challenge, your work will not be eligible for the event.

How do I find Challenge works?

Event works will appear on the 2025 April Challenge Month page, be eligible for awards (as displayed at the top of this post, designed by the wonderful bewildered), and get a little umbrella icon beside them (pictured below).

What should my work include?

Since artwork is eligible for this event as well as fanfic, we do not have a word count in place. All we ask is that you address the requirements listed in the challenge you have selected.

If you find a challenge that mostly speaks to you but you would like to change an element, we recommend that you contact the person who issued said challenge and ask for their permission/blessing. Indicate you have this permission in your story notes.

Please remember that EF has a strict no-AI policy for both written and art submissions.

Do I need to post the entire work before the end of April?

Nope! So long as you post one part or chapter, you’re good. (If your art or fic only has a single part, then of course that’s fine, too.) Just remember that EF abides by the EDT timezone. If you’re elsewhere in the world, and/or confused about what time the site is currently on, it is displayed under the ShoutBox on our homepage.

How do I get an award?

Below is the breakdown of how to qualify for each award:

• Author Award: Post a written story or a work tagged as Narrative Artwork.
• Artist Award: Post a work tagged as Artwork or Narrative Artwork, contribute illustrations to an event story, or create a banner for an event story. Authors must credit their banner artists and illustrators, including themselves if they are an artist for the work.
• Beta Award: Perform a beta read or sensitivity read on an event work. Authors must credit their beta and sensitivity readers.
• Comment Award: Add 15 comments of at least 15 words each during the month of April. (see below for more details). Comments do not need to be on event fics, though we always encourage people to read and comment on those!

As always, authors must credit any beta readers, sensitivity readers, or artists who contributed to their story in order for those members to receive awards. Please use the crediting fields on the Upload page to ensure everyone gets their hard-earned shinies. The Mods will not check summaries, story notes, or chapter notes for crediting, so this information must be in the crediting field. Please confirm you have the correct spelling and capitalization of usernames, as some members have very similar handles.

Are there rules for banner creation?

Yes! Banners should be no more than 920x300 pixels and include some variation of the text: Created/Designed for the Elysian Fields 2025 April Challenge Month.

How do I add a banner and/or other artwork to my work?

To add a banner to your story, you can upload it to your account in “Your Images” under “Account Info.” Banner images must be a gif, jpg, jpeg, or png file type, and under 1 MB in file size. Banners should be no more than 920x300 px. Images posted within chapters can be up to 1500x1500 px. (Note: make sure you add images to the chapter itself; any images in the Chapter Notes or End Notes won’t be added to ePubs when people download them!) You can also host your banner on an image-sharing site or your own site, especially if the file size is too big for us to host on our site.

You then enter the URL from Elysian Fields or the image-sharing site in the Banner URL field on the Add Story story page, or click the Insert/Edit Image icon in the toolbar for the Story Text box.

NOTE: The URL you add MUST be end in the image file extension (.gif, .jpg, .jpeg, or .png) or else the URL will not be saved. Make sure there are no spaces after the final character in the file extension. If you are having issues with a specific image-sharing site, please reach out to us via email or try asking for help on our Discord server.

What about adding videos? How do I do that?

You will need to get the embed link from YouTube, Vimeo, or another site (which can be a little tricky on mobile, but not impossible—google for directions if you can’t do this on desktop) and insert the html into the Source Code. You can access this by clicking the Source Code button in the toolbar. Again, reach out via email or Discord if you’re having any issues with embedding videos.

Is there an event skin?

Yes. The April Challenge Month skin (called “Kisses in the Rain”) is live if you want to make it your default. Scroll down to the skins on the main page or in the footer and select the one labeled “Kisses in the Rain” to switch. If you want to keep it, make sure you change the selection on your preferences page. (Otherwise it will change back to your saved skin the next time you access the site.) “Kisses in the Rain” was designed by kats_meow.

Will you be featuring non-event works while the challenge is going on?

Starting April 1st, we’ll be featuring works that are responses to challenges, whether or not they were written for a Challenge Month event. Later in the month, we will feature new fics from the 2025 April Challenge Month event.

Can I work with someone else on my challenge response?

Sure! The more the merrier! Whether it’s two writers working as coauthors, two artists creating a collaborative work together, or an artist and a writer teaming up as a deadly duo, we welcome collaborations for this event.

Any other questions, let us know! The EF Mod Team can be contacted via email at elysianfieldsarchive@gmail.com