#multifandom prompts

[in-universe-fest]

The In-Universe Unusual Formats & Media Prompt Fest Theme Days

The prompt fest takes place November 9 through November 22, 2025. The event features themed days alternating between prompts for unusual fanwork formats and unusual fanwork media, with a free/rest/catch up day halfway through. The themes include examples, but these are not intended to be limiting/exclusive options for fills. Each day also includes two alternative prompts that tangent the theme.

Rules for participating are posted HERE. Add your fills to the InUniverseFest_2025 Collection HERE.

Images above are split up so you can click for a larger version to read easier. Plain text and more detailed descriptions of the themes and alternates below the cut!

Day 1: To Whom It May Concern

Correspondence Letters | Passed Notes | Email Chain | Chat Fic | Reply/Comment Thread | Voicemail Messages ALT: System Commands | Inspired by Dialogue

Day 1 is an unusual format theme day. To fill today's prompt, make or rec & review a fanwork that consists primarily or entirely of communication between characters. The provided "System Commands" alternate option gives some inspiration for an added twist about who or what might constitute a character that can be conversed with. The other alternate gives the option to stick with a more traditional format, but take your inspiration directly from an exact line or lines of canonical dialogue.

Day 2: It's On Sight

Visual Media Comics | Collage | AMVs | Video Performance & Essays | Fansite | Photography | Flipbooks & Animation ALT: Using or Featuring Sign Language | Fancasting

Day 2 is an unusual medium theme day. To fill today's prompt, create a piece of visual fanwork. This can be the more typical fanart of course, but this event in particular would love to see rarer works of visual fanwork! For your first alternate, you can again stick to more traditional prose fanfiction provided your fic features the use of Sign Language as a main component. Your other alternate is to make a fancast of your chosen fandom. You can fancast something that doesn't have a cast, or recast something that does. For an added challenge, make a fake IMDb screenshot to show off your cast!

Day 3: So There I Was…

First Person Accounts Diary Entries | Captain's Logs | Self-Narration | Autobiography | Today I Learned.../Am I The Asshole? | Author Insert ALT: Hourly Snapshot/Day in the Life | Trackers (ex: Swear Jar, __ Days Since __)

Day 3 is an unusual format theme day. To fill today's prompt, make or rec & review a fanwork that necessarily must be in first person point of view. For this theme, you can also do an otherwise traditional self-insert -- just make sure that shit is as self-indulgent as you can possibly make it! It should be abundantly clear that the point of view character is you, or an idealized version of yourself, or whatever. No generic, widely consumable, easily-projected over MCs here! The first alternate is like the hourly comic challenge. Put a time stamp and a quick sketch or a line or two of text summarizing what your chosen character did that hour. The other alternate is trackers such as swear jars, [blank] days since [blank], etc. You can physically make a tracker like this, or you can make or rec & review a fanwork that features one as a main component.

Day 4: Are You Hearing This Shit?

Audio Media Music | Poetry/Lyrics | Fanmixes/Playlists | Podfic | Audio Plays ALT: Using or Featuring Conlang | Script Format

Day 4 is an unusual medium theme day. To fill today's prompt, make an audio/aural fanwork. Write music, poetry, lyrics, or record yourself performing those. Make a fanmix or fannishly themed playlist, record a podfic, or write/record an audio play. For your first alternate, you can demonstrate your own fluency in a constructed language, or make or rec & review a fanwork that features conlang(s) as a main component. For the second alternate, write a fanfic in script format.

Day 5: Stay Gold, Ponyboy

The Outsiders Personal Ads | Outsider POV | OC-Centric | Crossovers & Isekai | Breaking the Fourth Wall ALT: Environmental Storytelling | Fandom of a Friend

Day 5 is an unusual format theme day. To fill today's prompt, make or rec & review a fanwork that is all about outsider characters. For the first alternate option of "Environmental Storytelling" you can use any media you want to accomplish the effect. To fill the "Fandom of a Friend" alternate prompt, make yourself the outsider! Choose a fandom that one of your friends/mutuals is into that you haven't directly experienced the source material of, and make the best fanwork you can manage with only secondhand knowledge.

Day 6: You'll Just Have To Taste Me

Edible Media Recipes (Inspired By) | Recipes (In-Universe) | Food Sculpture ALT: Drunk Review | Food-Focused

Day 6 is an unusual medium theme day. To fill today's prompt, make an edible -- or at least taste-able -- fanwork. You can make a real-world recipe that is inspired by your fandom, or write a recipe or cookbook of foods that only exist within the fictional universe in question. The first alternate is to write or record a drunk (or otherwise impaired via ingested substance) review, or an in-universe version of Drunk History, etc. The second alternate is to make or rec & review a more traditional fanwork that is heavily focused on food (or taste/flavor, even if it's not food).

Day 7: And On The Seventh Day…

Rest Day Use today to take a break, catch up, or share and celebrate what has been posted so far.

Day 8: Everyone is A Main Character

Social Media Tumblr Dash Simulation | Instagram Pages | In-Universe Live Reactions | In-Universe Discourse | TikTok Videos/Transcripts ALT: Ask Blog/Fictional Account Takeover | Not Your Friend's Fandom

Day 8 is an unusual format theme day. To fill today's prompt, make or rec & review a fanwork that uses social media as a main component or that features conflicts/mechanics/etc that can only exist alongside social media. For an alternate option, create a roleplaying ask blog (ex: ask-holmes, where you answer asks in character as Sherlock Holmes) or roleplay an account takeover by your chosen character. To fill the "Not Your Friend's Fandom" prompt, make or rec & review a fanwork for a fandom you're into that none (or comparatively few) of your friends/mutuals are also into.

Day 9: Hands-On Experience

Physical Media Sculpture | Textiles | Cosplay | Book Binding | Jewelry | TTRPG Figures & Sets | Dance/Choreography | LARPing & Reenactment ALT: Stage a Scene Using Items/Merch | No Dialogue

Day 9 is an unusual medium theme day. To fill today's prompt, create a tactile fanwork. Dance here includes dancing without structured choreography, and choreography includes dance steps as well as fight choreography and other movement direction. For the alternates stage and photograph/record a scene from canon using household objects, or make/rec & review a more traditional fanwork that has no dialogue in it.

Day 10: Whatever or Whoever He Is

In-Universe Fame Celebrity Gossip | Tabloid Cover/Article | Paparazzi Encounters | Entertainment | In-Universe Fan Content | Reader Insert ALT: Genre-bending | Expectation vs Reality

Day 10 is an unusual format theme day. To fill today's prompt, create or rec & review a fanwork consisting primarily or entirely of the publicity around characters who are (in)famous within their own universes. For today, you can also make or rec & review reader-insert fics. These should be the opposite of the author-inserts: second person point of view, and with an MC as universal as possible. The first alternate is to create a remake of your chosen source material as if it was a different genre, or write a Netflix description/critic's review style summary of such a remake. The second alternate is to make an "Expectation vs Reality" meme, comic, or another kind of fanwork with that general setup.

Day 11: Prince of The Land of Stench!

Olfactory Media Perfumes & Colognes | Candles | Bath Products | Potpourri ALT: YA Scent Profile | Follow the Scent

Day 11 is an unusual medium theme day. To fill today's prompt, create a fanwork that stinks -- literally. You can physically make your smelly items, or just list the ingredients you'd use for fragrance if you did make them. For your first alternate, write a drabble about your chosen character(s) describing how they smell using the format "[food item], [natural phenomenon], and something uniquely [character]". Fill the "Follow the Scent" prompt by making or reccing & reviewing a fanwork in which a character solves a mystery, finds or recognizes someone, something, or someplace, or otherwise saves the day using their sense of smell.

Day 12: A Study in Werewolf Transgenderism

In-Universe Nonfiction News, Ads, & Propaganda | Tutorials & Advice | True Crime & Conspiracy | Academia | Incident Reports | History | Law ALT: Lore, Data Analysis, & Meta | Two Truths and A Lie

Day 12 is an unusual format theme day. To fill today's prompt, make or rec & review a fanwork that consists primarily or entirely of in-universe nonfiction. Alternatively, share your own nonfiction fandom work collecting or analyzing lore/data or write/share some meta/interpretation. To fill the "Two Truths and A Lie" prompt, make an interactive post where viewers can vote on which provided option about your chosen source material, fandom, fanwork(s), etc is untrue.

Day 13: Now For Something Completely Different

Misc & Mix It Up Day Multimedia | Games & Challenges | Technological Creations | Roleplay & Round Robin | Fic Remix/Fanwork of a Fanwork ALT: Off Fanon Model | Character/Trope Roulette

Day 13 is a whatever-goes day, and can count toward either completion award! To fill today's prompt, make or rec & review a fanwork that uhh... is any of that shit. Games could be board games, could be drinking games. Tech could be apps, extensions, video game patches/skins, fansites, bots, girl I don't know. A fic remix is when you put a (respectful) spin on someone else's already-written fic, such as writing it from a different character's point of view or writing an "extended version". Other "fanwork of fanwork" would be like fic written for art/art drawn for fic, fic sequels, etc. To fill the "Off Fanon Model" prompt, make or rec & review a fanwork that goes against a non-canon detail that is pervasively present in other fanwork. To fill the "Trope Roulette" prompt, find or make a roulette wheel of fic tropes or of your chosen source material's characters, spin it, and make or rec & review a fanwork that features you got as a main component, even -- in fact, especially -- if it's a trope or character that you usually don't fuck with.

Day 14: Sharing is Caring

Rec Lists Fic Recs/Reviews | Art Recs/Recs Gallery | Fanvid Playlists | Themed Masterlists | Follow Forevers | Creator Spotlight ALT: Comment On & Share Other Participants' Works

Day 14 is the final day, and can count toward either completion award! To fill today's prompt, make a rec list or write a detailed review/recommendation. Your rec(s) can be for fics, art, videos, creators, or even other fans. Make a masterlist or a collection on a theme, spotlight your favorite AO3 author, make a powerpoint presentation about why everyone should play the cool game you found on itch, or gas up the weird artist you follow on bandcamp. The only alternate for today is to share and leave a comment on the works other participants have posted for this event.

Rules for participating are posted HERE. Add your fills to the InUniverseFest_2025 Collection HERE.

[in-universe-fest]

The prompt fest will take place November 9 through November 22, 2025. The event will feature themed days alternating between prompts for unusual fanwork formats and unusual fanwork media, with a free/rest/catch up day halfway through. The theme list will include examples, but these are not intended to be limiting/exclusive options for fills. Each day will also include two alternative prompts that tangent the theme.

RULES/HOW TO PARTICIPATE

These rules only apply to participants who want to submit their works to the AO3 Collection, who want their work(s) recognized by this event, who use the participation flare, or who want to earn the completion award. The themes/prompts are free to use to anyone, with credit appreciated but not required.

Length Requirements

To qualify for the completion award, non-poetry text-based works must be at least 100 words long, poems must be at least 3 lines, and audio/video works must be at least 6 seconds. Rec lists may be only one work if a 1+ sentence review is included, otherwise must be at least 3 works long.

Length requirements only need to be met to qualify for the completion award. Even if one applies to your work and your work does not meet it, you can still add the work to the AO3 collection and/or tag it to be shared to this blog.

Themes

Themes alternate between unusual formats (ex: chatfic) and unusual media (ex: crafts) by day. You do NOT need to post/share your work on the day of the theme it applies to in order to qualify for completion, you only need to have all of your works posted/shared or submitted directly to me by the deadline to be awarded.

The themes include some examples, but those examples are not intended to be the only ways to fulfill the prompt. There are simply too many options for mod to list them all out, not to mention that part of the goal of this event is to encourage the creation of works I might have never seen before or ever thought of myself!

Each theme also includes two alternates adjacent to the theme. One of the alternates for each day is either a little bit more conventional or extra simple. This way, there's more of a chance that everyone has something they can make for each day.

Collection

The Archive Of Our Own Collection for this event is titled In Universe Unusual Formats and Media Prompt Fest 2025, and the Collection tag to use to add your work to it is InUniverseFest_2025. The Collection will remain open until the end of the year, meaning you can continue to add your fills to it even after the event is over and the deadline to qualify for completion has passed.

Only add new works of your own creation to the Collection. If you want to recommend someone else's or an older work of yours that fits the theme, save the fic as a Bookmark to the Collection instead of adding it as a Work.

Participation

Anyone who is following the rules can use the participation flare. You can add a border or sticker to your PFP/icon, header/banner/blog theme, or wherever else you like. There doesn't need to be any "evidence" that you are participating in the event otherwise; if you say you're participating, you're participating!

Completion

There will be three options for completion. You can be awarded completion for making a work for all of the unusual format theme days, for making a work for all of the unusual media theme days, or for making a work for every day of the event. If you are seeking one of the former two, you must let me know that and which one when requesting your award.

You can of course make however many works for whatever days you want, but completion awarding will be based on checking the theme day boxes, not on the total number of works submitted. As such, mixing-and-matching is allowed, but a la carte fills for one theme type will not count toward completion of the other; only unusual format fills count toward an unusual format completion award and vice versa.

Not Accepted

These restrictions only apply to using the flare, qualifying for the award, submitting to the Collection, or having your work(s) recognized by this event. You can still use the prompts if you don't follow them, but your work(s) will not be considered part of the event and this blog will not directly interact with you. If you do not follow these restrictions but still attempt to participate in the event, you will be blocked from accessing the event and its work(s) to the fullest extent possible. Mod will give any violators ONE good faith warning before implementing this consequence.

NO work for any Harry Potter property or featuring any Harry Potter characters, settings, or any other recognizable features, including in crossovers, fusions, Hogwarts AUs, OC-centric works, etc, or any other JK Rowling properties or any properties under any of her pseudonyms. Mod will also not interact with any url that I recognize as a reference to any of these properties.

NO RPF specifically of any currently in-office politicians. Other RPF, including RPF of any living or dead out-of-office politicians, is fine.

NO use of generative AI.

You MUST use the following content warnings if they apply: graphic violence, major character death, underage sex, rape/non-con, flashing lights.

NO harassment of any other participant for any reason.

NO kink shaming, "discourse", wank, rage-baiting, etc. This event wants to encourage, share, and reward fanwork, not hot takes.

Mod will not interact with any user that I notice is a TERF, SWERF, or any other kind of exclusionist or bigot in real life. (This will not be informed by the content of works, which Mod acknowledges are fictional.)

Mod reserves the right to enforce these rules, or not, through work removal from the Collection, disqualification for the award, and/or blocking, as I see fit.

COMPLETION DEADLINE

In order to be sent the completion award, you must submit the relevant collection of your works to me by 11:59 P.M. on Sunday, November 30, 2025 (Central time).

You must include whether you are submitting for the Unusual Formats award, the Unusual Media award, or the Unusual Universal award. You must include either a link or an attachment to each or to a collection showing at least one fill fitting the above requirements for each theme day applicable to the award you are seeking. You do not need to post or share your works publicly, but I need to see them all to be able to award you.

You MUST send an award request in order to be sent an award! Award requests can be sent via email to [email protected].

[in-universe-fest]

The first In-Universe Prompt Fest will take place November 9 through November 22, 2025.

The event will feature themed days alternating between prompts for unusual fanwork formats and unusual fanwork media, with a free/rest/catch up day halfway through. The theme list will include examples, but these are not intended to be limiting/exclusive options for fills. Each day will also include two alternative prompts that tangent the theme.

If you would like to volunteer to design the participation and/or completion award graphics, please shoot me a message to discuss!

I will post the rules and entry deadline for completion award by September 20.

Theme list will drop on October 5.

[in-universe-fest]

Participation flare!

Anyone who is following the rules can use the participation flare. There doesn't need to be any "evidence" that you are participating in the event otherwise; if you say you're participating, you're participating!

[in-universe-fest]

I made a Trope Roulette wheel for anyone who wants to do that alternate prompt for Day 13 but doesn't want to make their own. Might fuck around and make a character wheel as well...

https://wheelofnames.com/apw-36u

[in-universe-fest]

Day One approacheth!

Remember, you don't have to post your fills in order according to the day's theme. If you post your fill here on Tumblr, @ this blog in your post and/or tag the post #in universe fest 2025 so mod can see and reblog it. If you post to AO3, you can add your fill to the official collection using the Collection tag InUniverseFest_2025. You can also don some flare to announce your participation!

Don't forget to double check that your work follows the rules before you add it to the tag or collection.

Here is a helpful collection of guides to coding & formatting on AO3, here is a playlist of tutorials for photographing art & crafts, and here is a roulette wheel maker for anyone who'd like to make one to use for Day 13's alternate prompt.

[in-universe-fest]

The In-Universe Prompt Fest is a potential week long multifandom prompt fest themed around unusual fanwork formats.

Should themed rec lists be accepted as entries for this event?

Yes

No

No Opinion

Voting ended onAug 27, 2025

Submit a more personalized answer HERE.

[in-universe-fest]

The In-Universe Prompt Fest is a potential week long multifandom prompt fest themed around unusual fanwork formats.

Should there be length requirements for entries to count toward event completion?

Yes

No

No Opinion

Voting ended onAug 28, 2025

Submit a more personalized answer HERE.