What’s that you say? Things have been a little calm and orderly around here? Well, we know just how to fix that. It’s time for the madness of March’s annual Short & Spuffy drabble event! 

If you’ve never participated before, we encourage you to give it a whirl this year! So many members point to this event as their Sunnydale After Dark gateway event— and for good reason. Drabbles are an excellent way to flex a new muscle as a longtime writer or to dip your toe in as a new one. They’re short and sweet and easy to comment on for readers who maybe haven’t wandered out of lurkdom before.

What exactly is a drabble? Definitions vary, but for the purpose of this event, it is a 100 word chapter. Not 101 words, not 98 words, 100. If you’d like to see some examples of how this is done, refer back to last year’s Short and Spuffy fics.

Keep in mind, various word counters might count your words differently, but our site has calibrated our word counter to match Google Doc’s interpretation. You can use the word count preview in our text editor before posting to make sure you’ve hit that 100! 

Every day for thirty days in March, a new prompt (submitted by January’s Top Commenters) will be chosen at random and revealed first on Discord and then in the Scooby Chat here on the site. We highly encourage you to join us on Discord for the prompt reveal if you’re able to, as it is a lot of fun for all the event participants to discuss the day’s prompt together!

Drabbles do not have to be posted on the day that prompt is revealed. Prompts do not need to be used in the order in which they are revealed. Your only goal is by the end of March to have 30 drabbles, 100 words each. There will be no prompt on March 31. Consider it catch up day!

Your story should be a new story (it’s fine if it is a sequel to something else, or if your story is more of a collection of drabbles than one connected narrative). And it should finish by the end of the event. If you find you aren’t able to write all 30 drabbles in March, that’s okay! You will still receive an award for participating and you can finish your 30 drabbles after the event. But please do not extend a story beyond the 30 drabbles with prompts. Feel free, of course, to write a sequel story if you wish to continue your storyline.

Speaking of awards, let’s discuss those! We’ve altered our award tiers from past years just a bit. There are now seven awards up for grabs and you can earn them in the following ways:

15-49 Comments = Comment Champion
50-99 Comments = Comment Slayer
100+ Comments = Naked Buffy 

1-15 Drabbles = Drabble Champion
16-29 Drabbles = Drabble Slayer
30 Drabbles = Naked Spike

You might be wondering about these Naked awards, and the explanation is simple. We like them. They’re funny, they’re pretty, and nobody wants to miss out on a Naked Spike for their award collection. Duh.

Artists will also receive awards for any banner contributions! Please don’t forget to credit your banner artist.

As always, awards accumulate. As you climb in comments and drabbles, you will add to your total award count. And you want to add to your award count because our beloved and talented scratchmeout has designed some ultra sexy good awards for this event that we know you are all gonna LOVE. Trust us on this. Just look at the banner she made!

And that’s it! As always, remember to check the event box when you post! And reach out if you're unsure about anything. Happy drabbling!