#rules and guidelines

Here are some additional ideas that you can use as inspiration for each day's themes! You don't need to follow these prompts at all, but feel free to jump off of these ideas.

We didn't provide theme prompts for the Season 5 episode themes - we're leaving those up to you and your imaginations. You can make a fanwork based on s5 speculation for that episode or you can go in another direction with the episode title theme: an au or a play on words or anything else you can think of. The only requirements: make it fun, make it spooky, and try to capture some Halloween magic with your ideas.

Day 1: Sunday, October 26:

RUN!: Will lets out a blood-curdling scream to run - who is he yelling to and what are they running from? Mike and Will race through a corn maze. Will and Mike are haunted by the idea that they'll always have to keep running for their lives.

Creature Feature: Mike and Will tame dragons. What other Dungeons & Dragons-inspired beasts might be lurking in the Upside-Down? Mike and Will as vampires, werewolves, banshees, centaurs, faeries, elves, sirens, merfolk! There’s some kind of monster living in Lover’s Lake (a demo-creature from the black lagoon)! Pieces and parts of Will’s body keep falling off, what the hell? It seems those Zombie Boy taunts came true. Will makes a wish on a bolt of lightning for a boy to love him, and a Victorian-era Michael Wheeler awakens in Hawkins Cemetery.

Day 2: Monday, October 27:

Byers’ House: Mike and Will decide to investigate some strangely haunted goings-on at the Byers House. Will has a message for Mike through the Christmas lights. The Byers’ house gets TP'ed. Mike goes trick or treating at the old Byers' house after the new owners move in and finds something strange there.

Came Back Wrong: After his disappearance to the Upside-Down, everyone is so glad to have things back to normal—everything except Will’s insatiable craving for raw meat. Necromancy, seances, and zombies, oh my! The return to Hawkins after living in California is hitting Will hard - and strangely. Mike's first trip to the Upside Down doesn't affect him like it did everyone else. After the events of season 5, Will doesn’t make it. One night, when Mike is visiting his grave, a hand emerges from the soil…

Day 3: Tuesday, October 28:

Spy: Mike and Will are secret agents assigned to each other, Mr. & Mrs. Smith style. Will starts using his superspy powers to spy on other people. Spying goes too far for Will and he finds himself possessed again. An evil witch casts a curse on Mike the Paladin which forces him to read everyone's minds, and he learns some painful and intriguing secrets.

Somebody’s Watching Me: The Mindflayer looms in the sky and everyone is cracking under the fear. Mike and Will try to sneak their relationship around the surveillance cameras set up by Hawkins Lab or the military. After committing a crime, Mike and/or Will has to establish a perfect alibi. Mike is horrified to learn that Holly or Karen has been looking through his stuff. El spies and accidentally catches Mike and Will kissing on Halloween.

Day 4: Wednesday, October 29:

Hellfire: The Hellfire Club is up and running at Hawkins High, and Will has joined. What D&D campaign will the party be doing this Halloween? Will and Mike face the fires of hell as they venture into the underworld. Will gains control of his powers and casts fireball!

Witching Hour: Late at night, all manner of witches and devils emerge and create mischief in the darkness. Mike and Will stay up too late during a sleepover and find themselves in the fight of their lives. While living at the Wheelers’ house, Will begins sleepwalking in the dead of night. Will tries casting a spell in a D&D session, and it seems to work in real life. Mike and/or Will start getting nightmares.

Day 5: Thursday, October 30:

Radiowaves: Mike and Will are separated one October night and keep in touch over their walkie talkies. Mike and Will get to host the Halloween radio show at the WSQK station. Mike and Will are long distance one Halloween in college but reconnect over Cerebro. On Halloween night, Mike and Will intercept a creepy voice on the radio. On Halloween night, Mike requests the perfect song be played on the radio for the one who got away, Will.

Sci Fi Terrors: Time travel, space missions, robots, science experiments gone wrong. The Demogorgons are aliens, and the Upside-Down is another planet!

Day 6: Friday, October 31:

Trick or Treat, Freak (2x02): Revisiting our beloved Halloween episode. Let's join our boys for trick or treating in 1984. 3 Musketeers, Max joining the party, and the Mind Flayer looms in the sky. Crazy together?

Ghost: Mike and Will’s first apartment is haunted and they have to get rid of the spirit. Young Will makes a friend while swinging on the playground… who died over 10 years ago. Mike is haunted by his childhood friend who vanished one November night, never to be seen again. At a sleepover, Mike and Will’s accidentally summon a ghost.

Day 7: Saturday, November 1:

California Screamin’: How did Will's Halloween in California go between s3 and s4? What if Mike had visited for Halloween? What if the Byers stayed in California? A presence from Lenora Hills followed the Surfer Boy van back to Hawkins and is now haunting the party. The boys run into trouble in Hollywood. Mike and Will go to Disneyland! Wait, is it haunted??

Whodunnit?: The Party is invited to a Murder Mystery party! But when guests start dying one by one, it’s starting to look like someone is a little too committed to the theme. Someone stole all Reece's Pieces from the communal party trick or treating haul - who is guilty? Detectives Mike and Will put their heads together to crack the latest case.

Day 8: Sunday, November 2:

Satanic Panic: At a sleepover one night, the Party experiment with a Ouija board but accidentally conjure a spirit that is hungry for blood… A rumor spreads around Hawkins that the Hellfire Club is preparing for the arrival of the antichrist, AKA Will Byers. Mike and/or Will is a fallen angel. Mike and/or Will find themselves tangled up in a Satanic cult.

Join the Augustellar Community Server!

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🎶 Prompting:

Prompting opens Sunday January 11th 2026. 

You may submit up to five (5) prompts. These can be named or anonymous. We trust our prompters to abide by this, even if they are prompting anonymously. You do not have to be creating a work for the fest in order to post a prompt. Anyone can prompt!

All prompts must be a SONG. Instrumental songs are allowed. All songs with lyrics must be in English. 

There is a space to include any extra prompt details that you would love to see incorporated. If you wish, you can also include a maximum rating and any squicks you would prefer not to read/see (for example, Maximum Rating: Explicit. No MCD).  Please note that these are for inspiration only and creators may not fulfil all aspects of your wishes.

We also allow self prompting! You can either prompt the song you wish to write, and then take your chance claiming it (but bear in mind, someone might beat you to it!). Or you can simply wait and submit your self-prompt as your claim when claiming opens.

We allow multiple prompts for the same song as long as the prompts themselves are significantly different to each other. If we receive a prompt twice, one with additional information and one without, we’ll remove the prompt without any additional information, even if it was the one submitted first! Therefore, we encourage you to include additional information with your prompts. 

➡️ You can find the Prompting Form HERE. (Prompting opens January 11th, 1pm GMT - (what time is that for me?)

➡️ Prompting closes on the 26th of January OR when we reach 300 prompts, whichever comes first. 

➡️ Prompts will be available to view HERE. The Mods will check and approve each prompt, therefore there may be a small delay before they appear in the prompt gallery.

🎶 Claiming:

There is a cap of 80 claims for FIC. There is no cap for ART or PODFICS. The Claiming Form opens on 1st February and will remain open until the 31st May. If we reach our cap of 80 claims for fics, we will close claiming for fics, but claiming will remain open for other media.

This is an 18+ fest, and we will require all claimants to confirm that they are aged 18 or over.

Prompts will be awarded on a first come first served basis. 

Please choose your top three prompts when claiming, in order of preference. This is in case your first choice has already been claimed, we can offer you your next preference. However, if you’ve got your heart set on just one prompt, you are welcome to submit the form with just the one prompt! You might be lucky!

You can only claim one prompt at a time. If you finish creating the work for your prompt and have posted it to the fest collection on AO3, you may claim an additional prompt in the normal way, if claims are still open at that time. If you are unsure please email us at [email protected].  

If you claim a prompt and subsequently feel unable to complete the work, please inform us as soon as possible at [email protected]. We understand that life can get in the way! Unfortunately, however, in such circumstances, you won’t be eligible to claim a further prompt for 2026.

➡️ You can find the Claiming Form HERE. The form will go live on 1st February, 1pm GMT (what time is that for me?).

You will receive an email within 48 hours confirming your successful claim. Please respond to this email within 72 hours to confirm your participation in H/D Wireless.

Writers and Artists: 

Each prompt can be claimed once for fic and once for art.

You may claim for BOTH fic and art at the same time, either as an individual or in a collaboration with another creator. If you are doing a collab please email us at [email protected] to confirm.

Podficcers:

We will be allowing people to enter podfic recordings of fics from previous years of HD Wireless fest. To enable this we have compiled a list of previous Wireless fics where the creator has indicated to the mods that they give permission for their work to be podficced. 

➡️ You can access the Podfic Prompt List HERE.

➡️ To sign up to create a podfic, please claim the fic you wish to record by completing the Claim Form.

Each fic can be claimed once for podfic. We will inform you by email if your claim has been successful. You may indicate a second and third choice, on the off-chance that your first choice is unavailable.

We are not accepting podfics of any fics that are not on our podfic prompt list. However, if you see that any author (not on our list) has written a fic for Wireless and who you believe does consent to their fic(s) being podficced (either by having confirmed to you directly, or they have a blanket permission statement on their profile), please email the mods with the name of the author, evidence of the permission, and we will make a determination on a case by case basis.

🎶 Creating:

Fics and art should use the song prompt in some way, but this is very fluid, so feel free to interpret it in your own creative way.

For fics, there is a minimum word count of 1,000 words and no maximum.

HD Wireless is a Harry & Draco Fest, so the main pairing should be Drarry. However, you are welcome to include any other pairings too! That includes past relationships for either Draco or Harry. It is not mandatory for your fic to be endgame Drarry, but we would ask that you tag the fic clearly if that is the case.

All fics must be beta-read (If you are unable to find a beta please let us know), and podfics should ideally be beta-listened for accuracy and audibility before submitting. 

Submissions must be completed works. Please do not submit a draft for a fic that has not been completed (e.g., single chapters of a chaptered work).

All submissions must be in English or include a translation.

Podfics: Please state the Title, Author, Rating and any Major Archive Warnings in the audio intro of the podfic. Any music used within the podfic should be copyright-free or have the permission of the recording artist.

We do not accept any works created with AI.

As this is an anonymous fest, all creations must be individual works, and cannot be part of a series, or a prequel/sequel to an existing work. If you are planning to continue the work with either of these, please do not reference this in your creation (including in your creator notes) until after the works are revealed and the fest is over.

❗ Please be aware that AO3’s Terms of Service only allow for ‘short quotations’ from copyrighted materials. For this reason we ask that you be mindful about your usage of lyrics in your creation. For more information, and for links to further information, please see our previous post on the issue HERE. ❗

We encourage you to be inspired by the prompter’s additional details, but these are not required to be incorporated into the creation. You may also wish to take into consideration your prompter’s squicks when creating. This is not a requirement — but we ask that you do not gift the creation to the prompter if you are not taking the squicks into consideration, and as always, be sure to tag your work appropriately.

This fest employs a mixture of both anonymous and non-anonymous posting for creations: All fics are posted anonymously, however for art we allow artists to include watermarks on their creations if they so wish. Podfics will also be posted anonymously, but podficcers are allowed to state their name in the podfic recording itself (not within their notes on the post). Due to the anonymous nature of the fest, we wish to keep all creations completely anonymous until reveals (for fics) or posting (for art and podfic) and as such we do not allow for works to be discussed prior to the relevant reveals. This includes discussing it in a public forum while creating it or while the fest is underway. If you are looking for an alpha or beta reader in a public forum please keep the information provided in public channels to a minimum.

🎶 Submitting:

Once you have completed your work, it’s time to submit! Submissions are due June 14th, but if you are finished before this date, you are welcome to submit early.

Submission Requirements:

➡️ All works must be posted directly to the HD Wireless 2026 AO3 collection HERE.

You are required to add ‘hd_wireless_mod’ as co-creator when uploading your fic, art or podfic. This is primarily so that we can change the posting date, add in the standard fest end note, as well as a tag for HD Wireless 2026. We will not make any other changes to your work, and we will remove the mod account after reveals

Podfics should be linked to the original work using the AO3 ‘Inspired By’ function, i.e: “This work is a remix, a translation, a podfic, or was inspired by another work” and pasting the URL of the original fic. Any art or images used for cover art should be copyright-free or have the consent of the artist. Any music used within the podfic should be copyright-free.

Artworks and images: We encourage all artists and creators who use images in their works to utilise alt text for image descriptions to support accessibility and inclusion.

Please tag appropriately: Be sure to include all appropriate warnings, tag your work correctly and please be mindful while choosing your tags. We enjoy a fun tag as much as the next person, but customised tags may be recognisable to some readers, and give you away. As such we ask that you think carefully about your tag usage and whether it could identify you.

Acknowledge your creative team in your notes! We want you to acknowledge the people who supported your creation! This includes alphas, betas, cheerleaders, and anyone else who helped you along the way! However, as this is anonymous, please do not mention these people by name, as this can sometimes be a way that creators can be identified. A good way to do this is to use a pseudonym for them, or simply refer to these individuals with an initial. Please do remember to come back and fill in the real names after reveals!

Please include your song prompt (artist and song) in the creation notes at the beginning of the work to share the inspiration of your work.

➡️ Complete the Submission Form with all the header details for your work. The submission form requires a YouTube link to the claimed song. We can not accept Spotify links on the submission form as not everyone has Spotify and we want to make this as accessible as possible.

NOTE: If, at any point, you decide to change any information in your submission header after completing the form (e.g. word count, summary or title) let the mods know the updated details at [email protected]

The mods will proof all fics and podfics and inform you if there are any additional requirements or suggestions. Please check your emails regularly to see if we’ve sent you a message regarding your work.

Please don’t change the date on your creation. The mods reserve the right to remove your work from the collection if we see that the date has been changed during or after the fest.

Your work must remain in the collection for at least six months. If you remove your work from the collection before that, you may be banned from participating in the fest for the following year/s. 

Please contact the mods if you have any issues posting your work.

🎶 Extensions:

You can contact the mods at:​ [email protected] if you need an extension. For extensions we may require you to provide your WIP document, an estimate of how much you have left to go (such as the estimated final word count), and how much time you think this will take you. Please do not be afraid to reach out about this, we are always happy to hear from you!

🎶 Dropping out:

We understand that life gets in the way and you may not be able to complete your work in time to submit. Or the muse just up and leaves. It happens! If this is the case for you for whatever reason, please let us know as soon as possible at [email protected]. You do not need to provide a reason for withdrawing.

While dropping out is fine, if you ghost us (i.e. fail to respond to our check-ins or communications), we may not allow you back the next year. We understand that things come up, but we expect our participants to show us the respect of responding to our emails, including letting us know if/when they are no longer able to participate.

If you have ghosted us in previous fests, please reach out to confirm your eligibility to participate. If you informed us you were dropping, you’re fine. But we need to know that our participants will respond to emails and reserve the right to exclude you from the fest based on past fest behaviour.

🎶 Posting:

Posting will begin on July 1st.

The mods will post your creation on the scheduled day. We do not release the posting schedule in advance as this is subject to change.

Once your creation has been posted please be mindful not to reveal yourself as the creator.

We ask that you do not respond to comments on your creations until after reveals. This is to ensure that you do not identify yourself in your response. Additionally, responding after reveals can be a lovely way for the commenter to find out who created the work they loved so much, and discover your other works!

While we hope that it will not happen, sometimes creations receive negative comments. If you receive a nasty or critical comment, please contact the mods via email asap. We have a process for handling these events, but we will work with you to do so, and only step in to deal with it if that is your wish.

🎶 Further information:

The prompts are not available to be claimed unless you are participating in the H/D Wireless Fest itself. Once we post the final reveals, the prompts are no longer being used by the fest, and if you have found something you are particularly inspired by, please message the prompter to ask for their consent for a work to be created outside of the fest.

For general questions about the fest don’t hesitate to contact the mods at [email protected] (we don’t regularly check Tumblr for new messages and asks, so sending an email is the best form of communication). But keep in mind that we’re operating in multiple time zones, that we need to eat, and sleep, and take care of real life responsibilities, hence we aren’t available 24/7. We will aim to respond within a reasonable timeframe.

Please note that should there be any disputes regarding the interpretation of the rules, the decision of the mods will be final.

Your mods

@gnarf @candybarrnerd @maesterchill @evaeleanor🎶

⬩➤ AKOTSK

⬩➤ BUCKY BARNES

⬩➤ BOB REYNOLDS