Sparktober

The annual Sheppard/Weir month of squeeing and flailing. From the 1st to the 31st of October we celebrate the relationship of John Sheppard & Elizabeth Weir of Stargate Atlantis with graphics, fanfiction and fanvids. Tracking #sparktober & #john x elizabeth. ao3 | discord | events in pinned

[sparktober]

We’re delighted to announce Catch A Spark!

This is a low-stakes exchange for John Sheppard/Elizabeth Weir fans who can’t wait a full year for the next Sparktober! All creators are welcome, regardless of level of experience or how long you've been Sparky fans.

Quick Information

What You'll Exchange

Fanfic: one complete standalone fic, minimum of 500 words

Fan art: one original, finished work on unlined background (manips are okay for treats but do not fulfill your assignment)

GIF set: minimum of 2 complex GIFs (overlaying multiple scenes, adding thematic quotes etc.) OR 4 simple ones (maybe recoloured, and/or captioned, but otherwise visually the same as canon)

The Key Dates

Sign ups open: March 1, 2026 Sign ups close: March 15, 2026 Assignments out: March 22, 2026 Fanworks Due: May 3, 2026 Works Revealed: May 10, 2026 Creators Revealed: May 17, 2026

All deadlines are at 9am UTC

Full information and guidelines can be found at the AO3 collection.

[sparktober]

Creators are revealed now!

Our work is done, folks! We have now revealed the creators for the exchange: Catch A Spark Exchange 2026 works list

Thanks again for everyone who has participated. You have all been amazing!! 👏

[sgabalconyviews]

Shortcuts to our lovely fanworks

We have some truly lovely Sparky fanworks to share with you all from sweet little oneshots to almost epic fics and some beautiful artwork, too. For easy access, here's a list (in release order and divided into fanfics and fanart) - creators are still unrevealed at the moment, but they will love to hear from you, so don't hesitate to leave kudos and comments when something brings you joy:

Fanfics

Invitation Only

Held Up

Déjà-vu

The Honored

The Longer Goodbye

Dinner

Back Home Again

Past the Breaking Point

When I Wake

Butterfly Effect

Fanart

Queen and Her Knight

Conversation

Where They Fit They Sit

✨Thanks to all our lovely creators for spreading the joy that is Sparky! ✨

[peridotbelle]

More deserved happiness with Sheppard family downtime. Sun, sand and surf (with John involved probably lots and lots of surf).

John, Liz + my Sparky babies Connor and Emily. ❤️

[mnamosyna]

LADIES MEME | DAY EIGHTEEN - a non-warrior female character ↳ Elizabeth Weir (Stargate: Atlantis)

[sparktober]

Urgent call for last minute pinch hitter

One of our recipients has lost a gift, so we're looking for a fast fic writer who can help out!

If that might be you, please contact us here on Tumblr or the Sparktober discord server or send a dm to @sgabalconyviews .

THANK YOU!!!

[sparktober]

Claimed! Urgent call for last minute pinch hitter

One of our recipients has lost a gift, so we're looking for a fast fic writer who can help out!

If that might be you, please contact us here on Tumblr or the Sparktober discord server or send a dm to @sgabalconyviews .

THANK YOU!!!

[sparktober]

Catch a Spark is live!

The Catch A Spark Exchange collection has now been revealed and our participants have outdone themselves with some absolutely amazing new Sparky fanworks! Creators will be revealed next Sunday, May 17th at 9am UTC but feel free to peruse the collection now and give the creators some love. CATCH A SPARK ON AO3

[sparktober]

Hi! Sorry for the very last minute question but is there a way to post images on ao3, or should fanart be submitted a different way? Thanks!

Hi there!

You can host the image somewhere like Squidge.org, copy the URL, and then link to it with the AO3 editor Insert Image option. More options and step-by-step help is available here. (Reddit post)

Hope that helps!

[sparktober]

One Week Left!

Catch A Spark exchange works are due in one week and we are so excited to see what our participants have come up with! If you've already submitted your work we love you for it! We're planning to add them all to the collection in a batch, so don't be concerned if it looks like there hasn't been movement yet.

[ghostlyfanparadise]

[teh-nos]

about twenty years ago i gave a stargate atlantis pairing a stupid name in a conversation somewhere - probably livejournal - and they're still using it but they don't know why it's called that. i'm not even in that fandom anymore but occasionally i see the name and think 'oh wow, that really did stick'. so. don't do things like that.

[mylittleredgirl]

it was somehow even more 00's than livejournal... it was a yahoo group

[sparktober]

Please DO do things like that! We have a whole month named after it now! ;-)

[sparktober]

CLAIMED Pinch Hitter Needed!

We are looking for one lovely Sparky writer or fan artist to help us out and claim a defaulted assignment. Recipient open to fic, art, or GIFs. Assignment due: Sun 03 May 2026 09:00AM UTC

Exchange profile on Ao3

Contact us on Tumblr or at [email protected] to claim pinch hit or for more information.

[sparktober]

Assignments are out!

Signups have closed for the Catch a Spark exchange, and we are happy to announce that we were able to successfully match all creators, so assignments have been sent out well before our deadline!

So, to all our lovely creators: HAVE FUN!!!

Assignments are due on Sunday 3 May 2026, 9:00am UTC.

P.S. for all those who didn't make it to signups but would still like to contribute: Treats are always welcome! Just check out the requests summary on the exchange profile. You can also contact the mods if you are interested to stand in as pinch hitter in case we need one.

[sparktober]

Two Days Left to Sign Up!

Time is running out to join us in this gift exchange and create wonderful new fics, gifs, and art celebrating our beloved Atlantis couple, John and Elizabeth.

Sign ups for the Catch A Spark exchange will close Sunday, March 15, at 9am UTC.

Catch a Spark exchange on AO3

[sparktober]

ONE WEEK LEFT!

Say YES to the CATCH A SPARK gift exchange and create wonderful new fics, gifs, and art celebrating are beloved couple, John and Elizabeth.

Ready? Then sign up now:

👉 Catch a Spark exchange on AO3

[sparktober]

Sign-up is open!

So it begins!!!

Come and join us in this gift exchange to create wonderful new fics, gifs, and art celebrating our beloved Atlantis couple, John and Elizabeth.

Ready? Then sign up now 👉 Catch a Spark exchange on ao3