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Announcement
Hello everyone! This year we’ve gotten a headstart on preparations in order to hold the festival to a more accurate timeline of the book.
The seventh annual Scorpio Races Festival will be held in October.
Registrations open October 1, and the festival will conclude on November 1.
Week 2
Character Challenges
Training challenge #1: “There is an old wives’ tale that capaill uisce caught at night are faster and stronger.”
How was your capall caught? Are there any old wives’ tales surrounding this situation? Do these tales ring true?
Training challenge #2: “They are every color of the pebbles on the beach: black, red, golden, white, ivory, gray, blue.”
Describe your capall.
Tourist challenge #1: “Even before I get down the twilight-darkened lane to the Malvern Yard, I can see evidence of it--the fields and fields of horses--and I can smell it--good horses making good manure from good hay.”
Visit the Malvern Yard.
Tourist challenge #2: “It’s all cliffs and horses and sheep and one-track roads winding past treeless field to Skarmouth”
Have an encounter with some of the less dangerous creatures Thisby has to offer.
Reading Challenges: chapter 17 - chapter 32
The festival sets up a lot of Thisby’s deep history and traditions. What’s your favorite tradition in the book, and why?
Who do you think the Mare Goddess was? Does it matter who was behind the mask?
Any favorite quotes from this section? Favorite scenes?
Talk a little about the conflict in the story. What kinds of conflict are there in the story? What are our character’s goals, and what stands in the way?
Creative Challenges
Create-a-capall! Fill in a coloring sheet to represent the water horse you’ll be training, or one you’ve seen on your tour of the island.
Reading Challenges: prologue - chapter 16
Introduce yourself! Who are you, how many times have you read The Scorpio Race?
Any favourite quotes from this section? Favourite scenes?
What initial impressions do you have of our main characters? The world?
Any favourite worldbuilding features?
Week 2 Creative Challenge: Create-a-capall
Select a coloring page below to represent a local water horse!
The Scorpio Races Festival 2020
If you’re participating in the Character Challenges, sign up as either a Rider or a Tourist.
Reblog Gratton’s Chalkboard with your character’s name, your capall’s name, and your url to sign up as a Rider.
About / Ask / Submit
Week 4
Character Challenges
Training Challenge #1: Killing sands, that was what my father called a day like today. Today the riders would die because they didn’t know or because they were desperate or because they were foolishly brave.
Post about the day before the race.
Training Challenge #2: It’s the surf in your face, the deadly magic of November on your skin, the Scorpio drums in the place of your heartbeat.
Post about the races!
Tourist Challenge #1
Cliff shopping. Visit the vendor stands between races. What do you buy?
Tourist Challenge #2
The ferry. Does the island have its hooks in you? Will you take the ferry home or are you here to stay? What were your takeaways from this year’s races?
Reading Challenges: chapter 56 - chapter 66
The final build-up and the much-awaited race! This is another peak into tradition on Thisby and Puck’s clashes with it. How has Puck’s relationship with tradition (and specifically Thisby’s traditions) changed over the course of the story?
Did the goals of the characters shift? Did they achieve their goals?
Final thoughts? Any favorite quotes from this section? Favorite scenes?
If there was an opportunity to learn more about one thing in the book, what would you choose?
Creative Challenges
Charms! Post pictures of the items you would use to protect yourself on Thisby during Scorpio season.
Welcome to the seventh annual Scorpio Races Festival!
“Threes. Sevens. Iron across my palm.”
Sign up as a rider or a tourist
Are you ready to listen to the scorpio sea whispering “shh, shh,” and push a water horse widdershins? Join us as we relive the events from Maggie Stiefvater’s The Scorpio Races. Participate in challenges to earn entries in a giveaway: create a character, follow a read-along, make art, and play games of chance! Find updates with #TSRF2020 and #2020 announcements.
Challenges, reading reflections, and games will be released each week following the timeline of the book. If you don’t care for surprises and want to plan ahead, find the full schedule of challenges here.
Sign-up (October 1-9) prologue - chapter 16
Beach Training (October 10-16) chapter 17 - chapter 32
The Scorpio Festival (October 17-23) chapter 33 - chapter 55
The Race (October 24-November 1) chapter 56 - chapter 66
The festival isn’t only about writing. We have created prompts to lead you in experiencing the Scorpio Races, but how you respond is up to you. Respond with:
Text: traditional fanfiction/roleplay, poetry, etc.
Audio: playlists, edited or original music/audio, etc.
Photo: physical or digital graphic art, edits, mock social media, etc.
Video: edited or original video, vlog, skit, gif, etc.
Crafts: food, cosplay, decor, accessories, etc.
Ask a question / Submit a post / Submission tutorial
Art designed by @mounted-archer
Week 3
Character Challenges
Training Challenge #1: Everything about me is exactly the same as it was five hundred years ago, when Thisby priests would stand in the frigid, dark sea and give themselves over to the island.
Do you have any rituals, beliefs, or good luck charms?
Training Challenge #2: Threes. Sevens. Iron across my palm.
Describe your capall’s relationship with the ocean
Training Challenge #3: “Its strategy,” I add crossly. “I’m devising strategy. Not all of racing is riding you know.”
What is your strategy for the race to come? How is training and how is planning?
Tourist Challenge #1: “I believe in the same thing they believe in,” I saw, with a jerk of my chin toward town and St. Columba’s. “I just don’t believe you can find it in a building.”
Do you spend Sunday at St. Columba’? If so, describe your experience. If not, what do you spend your Sunday getting up to?
Tourist Challenge #2: The road from Skarmouth clear on the to the cliffs is lined with tents and tables of ever sort.
Have you picked up any souvenirs, and for whom? Where did you get them, why?
Reading Challenges: chapter 33 - chapter 55
The first two chapters in this section touch a little on Puck and Sean’s respective relationships with spirituality & faith, did you notice any defined similarities or differences between them?
Training starts in earnest! Our main characters are committed to their paths now, how does this impact how the story progresses?
Any favorite quotes from this section? Favorite scenes?
This section has a lot of shifts in character relationships. What are some of your favorite character relationships in The Scorpio Races?
Creative Challenges
Recreate something from your favorite place on Thisby. Compile pictures of your ideal training location or the best place you visited on the island this week, make a soundtrack for that location, try out Malvern’s butter tea, anything you can imagine!
