Hello Fanprose!

Are we excited? Are we ready? From the host of the Sliding into DMs Challenge and your favorite interjection, I bring to you…

PAIR-AGRAPH.

It’s around this time where you might be asking yourself some questions such as “what is wrong with this person?” and “why are you so lame?”. Fear not! I shall do my best to explain below.

The premise and basis of this challenge revolves around COOPERATIVE WRITING. Scary, I know, but that’s why it’s a Challenge! In other word, you and one other Author will work together on a story. You’re more than welcome to divvy up the work as you see fit — the creative freedom is entirely in your hands.

For sign ups, you will have TWO WEEKS to find a partner. Check the new Town Hall area underneath the Community tab in the Discussion section where I will be making a thread to hopefully aid participants who don’t have someone to work with. I will update once the thread is up after I confirm with the Mod team that it’s an appropriate use of the feature.

Do not be afraid to reach out, I have full trust in the community and hope everyone will be respectful. Even if you’re a brand new writer, I’m certain there will be other new writers to work with and also some experienced writers who might be willing to take you under their wing. Take a small step out of your comfort zones for this one! Just remember, it’s a short, low-stakes Challenge, let’s all keep this positive!

Once you have a partner, both of you will enter the Challenge and enter your partner’s name in the note. If there’s a match, you will both be accepted into the Challenge and are free to begin working on your submission. If your partner does not reciprocate your request… let’s just hope this doesn’t happen.

When you are ready to submit, pick one of you to submit your story INCOGNITO and include the other participant as a co-author. Between the two of you, I trust you will be able to pull this off. Once the submission deadline passes, I will reveal the stories. Please give it just a few days before you turn off incognito on your stories so that readers can enjoy without any bias! I’ll double check this area with the Mod team to see if there’s an easier way to do the reveal, stay tuned.

Beyond that, I don’t think I’m going to add any more restrictions. I want to see your creativity spark. I want to see how you approach the idea of co-authoring a short story. Don’t feel locked into a specific style or format!

I’ll post the occasional announcement when I inevitably adjust the Challenge, please try your best to check your notifications when possible! I expect a few road bumps along the way, but we’ll get through them together.

I wish all participants the best of luck! I can’t wait to see what you manage to pull off!

Housekeeping details:

• It’s “pair”-agraph, not “group”-agraph, meaning only pairs are allowed.

• Please try to avoid revealing your partnership.

• The submission must be brand new, I will not be accepting any stories that are already posted.

• Capping the word limit at 5000. There’s no lower limit.

• Do not plan on the deadline being extended. If you cannot finish in time, the world will keep spinning.

• Coordination is up to you and your partner. Use the Fanprose co-author system, use Google docs, use Discord, proceed as you see fit.