Magical but Mundane: TR Zine 2024

[Negrek]

Magical but Mundane: A Pokémon Fanzine​

Since our yearly contests already bring together a lot of fanworks on a common theme, I thought it would be fun to expand that idea into a full-on zine! This year's contest entries will provide the zine's backbone of the zine, but if you weren't into writing a one-shot (or even if you were), you can still get in on the action with some of your own art or writing.

In order not to overwhelm people during the busy contest season, sign-ups won't open until August; the thread is being posted early just so people know what's coming! Another announcement will be made once sign-ups open and zine organization proper begins. This is my first year organizing something like this, so I expect there to be some rocky patches, but I hope you'll all enjoy the ride!

This informational post got pretty long, so I've included the basics about sign-ups and timeline in this post, with the second in the thread reserved for more detailed guidelines and FAQs. I'm sure more questions and answers will be added later; I'll open this thread up for discussion as the zine sign-up period approaches. For now it's more of an FYI for people who might be curious about how it's going to work as a result of the one-shot contest.

How can I participate in the zine?

You can contribute to the zine in a number of ways! The most obvious is through submitting either art or writing.

Anyone who sends in an entry for this year's one-shot contest can choose to have their entry included with the zine. When sending an entry, please indicate whether you would like to have your story included in the zine; it's opt-in, so if you say nothing, your story will not be included.

In addition, any person can submit up to two fanworks on the theme of "daily life in the Pokémon world" to be included in the zine. These can be any combination of written works up to 500 words long or some form of visual art.

Finally, let me know if you'd like to help out with creating the feature articles for contest winners! I would love to include some in-depth interviews with the winning authors about their stories and their writing process, but if you know me you know I have been extremely bad about actually getting these done when I've taken them on in the past. Please help. ._.

What is the timeline for zine creation?

The planned timeline is as follows:

June 1st, 2024: One-shot contest announced
June 30th, 2024: All contest entries due
August 1st, 2024: Zine sign-ups open
August 17th, 2024: Zine sign-ups close
~First week in September, 2024: Contest results posted
Three weeks after contest results posted: Final deadline for zine submissions
Six weeks after submission deadline: Zine released

How can I sign up to be in the zine?

If you participated in the one-shot contest and indicated that you'd like your story included in the zine, you're all set! I will contact you during the judging period with some interview questions, and if you place I'll also check in with you for more in-depth information about your fic to create a feature for the zine, but these are both optional activities. As long as you said you'd like to be in the zine, you'll be in the zine!

For all other submissions, please reply to this thread, indicate how many of each kind of submission you'd like to make (writing, art), and throw an "x" in all the boxes that apply on the form below:

I would like to submit this many written pieces (500 words max): 0

I would like to submit this many pieces of artwork: 0
[] I would like to illustrate my own story
[] I would like to illustrate someone else's story
[] I would like to illustrate the cover of the zine

[] I would like to help with writing winner features for the zine

Here are what the options for artwork mean:

- I would like to illustrate my own story If you submitted a one-shot to the contest and would like to create an illustration to accompany it, that's great! All you've got to do is check this box

- I would like to illustrate someone else's story Also very cool! If you select this option, I'll reach out to you for more information about your illustration preferences (e.g. would you prefer to illustrate a story featuring Pokémon or humans? any content you would prefer to avoid/anything you would actively be interested in illustrating?). I'll then present you with a couple choices along the lines of, "Would you prefer to illustrate a story about a druddigon baker or one about a promoter in Nimbasa City?" Depending on what you choose I'll send you a copy of one of the contest entries for you to illustrate, with the identifying information removed.

- I would like to illustrate the cover of the zine What it says on the tin! I have not yet decided how I would like the cover illustration for the zine to be selected; look out for more information about how this will work when sign-ups go live!

You can choose as many of these as apply! You can also choose none of them if you like--then your submission would be up to two pieces of Pokémon fanart on the theme of "daily life in the Pokémon World."

 

[Negrek]

In-Depth Guidelines​

What are the content guidelines for this zine?

The zine will adhere to TR's standard fiction posting guidelines. For visual art, the guidelines are similar: your artwork should not contain more than minor levels of blood, injury, or violence, and no nudity or sexually explicit elements.

The overall theme for the zine is daily life in the Pokémon World, and all submissions should reflect that theme in some way.

If you have an idea for a piece you'd like to submit to the zine but aren't sure whether it would be acceptable under these guidelines, feel free to run it by me, and I'll be happy to let you know whether it will work!

What kinds of art can I submit to the zine?

If you can take a picture of it, you can submit it! Digital artwork, traditional artwork, photography, comics, fibercraft--all of these and more are welcome! Due to the nature of of the zine, we can't accept anything animated or involving music, but all static images are welcome.

If you choose to take a picture or scan of artwork done in traditional media, please do your best to make a good digital version of it before submitting. I will make minor touchups to images if necessary to get them looking good for the zine, and I'll let you know if I can't work with an image and give you the opportunity to try again, but ultimately I won't be able to do much with an uncropped photo of a pencil sketch set on your dining room table in bad lighting. If you're not sure how to take a good picture of traditional artwork, there are a number of guides available online, such as this one.

What are the formatting guidelines for artwork submissions?

Please submit your artwork as either a PNG or JPG. Because the zine will not be printed, specific dpi is less of a concern, but high-resolution images are still preferred to make it easy for me to resize them as necessary to fit the layout. More specific information will be made available when sign-ups open.

What kinds of writing can I submit to the zine?

Aside from one-shots for the one-shot contest, you can write more or less whatever you want, up to the 500-word limit! This might be a drabble/flash fic, a piece of meta or worldbuilding about daily life in the Pokémon World, a faux journal entry or news article from an in-universe publication... as long as it fits the theme and meets the content guidelines, the sky's the limit here!

What format will the zine be in?

This will be a purely digital zine, made available as a PDF at the end of the process.

I want to have my contest one-shot included in the zine. Can I edit it in response to judge feedback?

Yes! The final submission deadline will be three weeks after the contest judging is posted, so if the judges pointed out an embarrassing typo in your story (or you found one yourself), you have time to zap it before sending in a revised version to be published in the zine.

What are the guidelines around AI-generated content?

The art or writing you submit to the zine should be your own work and not incorporate AI-generated content.