Announcing the next Shareverse Anthology! Artwork also accepted!

The world has changed, and creatures from myth walk among us. When a research experiment revealed the existence of hidden folds and pockets in reality, the monsters, mythical beings, and cryptids came into the open. No longer the stuff of legends, they now integrate into everyday life.

And that includes High School - as if school life wasn't challenging enough!

In this anthology, teen protagonists will wrestle with the addition of monstrous beings to the classroom. They'll navigate school dances, homework, and football games while learning about their new classmates.

Note: This anthology call is for Teen Writers and Artists Only!

Setting and Background

The fabric of reality is not smooth. Instead, it twists and folds like a fractal curve. Though humanity has believed themselves the only denizens of the Earth, monstrous creatures from myth and folklore still exist, their societies concealed in hidden fractal pockets.

Three years ago, a reality-shattering experiment revealed their existence. Now, mythological beings and races from folklore walk among us, learning about human culture and trying to integrate into our society. And that includes high school.

Welcome to Fortuna High School, a charter school that welcomes non-humans. Fully 25-30% of students and faculty are something other than human, from the minotaur gym coach to the siren who teaches choir and music. And the unique mixture of teens and teachers means each school year will face a bewildering array of challenges!

Additional Details

• The school is a 4-year American high school, with approximately 250 students in each grade. Class size is around 25 students in each classroom.
• Fortuna High School's mascot is the Firebirds. School colors are red, yellow, and white.
• Fortuna isn't the only school with monster students, but as a charter school, it has the highest percentage of them.
• Fortuna is located in Maryland, in the suburbs between Washington, DC and Baltimore. If you want more details about Maryland for your story, email us!

Read the initial draft of the opening story Here!

Faculty and Staff

	Principal Melissa Doyle Melissa Doyle has been teaching or working in the school system for over twenty years, and she had her life planned. But the appearance of monsters has thrown everything into chaos. Now Principal Doyle desperately tries to keep a sense of normalcy despite the strangeness around her. Portray her as yearning for peace and calm. She wants to help the students, but has no idea what to do with all the new beings she now deals with every day.
	Coach Monu Tuntagar A minotaur gym coach, he joined the Fortuna faculty two years ago. A gruff, imposing being, Coach Tuntagar has adapted well to the competitive nature of high school sports. Portray him as a bit of a hard-ass, but with a hidden heart of gold. He'll drive the students hard, but won't demand they try something physically impossible.
	Ligeia A siren who teaches music to students; this is her first year teaching at Fortuna. She's not actually a good teacher (yet), but students flock to her anyway because of her unearthly beauty and charisma. Miss Ligeia can't quite understand how some students simply have no musical talent. Portray her as a naive diva, new to human society. She is unfamiliar with many common elements of human daily life..
	Henry Powell A human chemistry and physics teacher who transferred to Fortuna over the summer. He's been teaching for about five years, but some of the monstrous students frighten him. Mr. Powell reads myths and folklore about the different creatures to understand them, but usually gets his facts about them wrong. Portray him as a good-natured but timid man, fine with human students. But his attempts to understand the monstrous students (and faculty) frequently lead to humorous misunderstandings.

These are ideas for characters you can use in your stories. As we explore story ideas from teens, the editors may add more faculty for everyone to use. More information will be coming on the Discord server (ask for access).

Story Ideas

Any challenges of high school, complicated by the introduction of monstrous students. For example:

• A harpy wants to join the cheerleading squad.
• A track & field athlete worries that a new centaur student will outshine them
• A monster-student's first high school dance or party
• The perils of dating a monster girl or cryptid boy.
• Putting on a school play, concert, etc.
• Feelings of isolation seem so much worse because you're a...
• Chemistry experiments can go very wrong when your lab partner breathes fire or freezes everything with her touch.
• The school nurse quits because of the stress of all the new problems she has to treat.

For additional inspiration, you can look at properties like Monster High or any of the hundreds of monsters-in-class anime or manga series.

Submission Guidelines

For this collection, we are accepting both fiction and artwork.

General Guidelines

• No outright sorcery or magic. You can include magical effects (like a medusa's gaze or siren's song), but no wizards, witches, or sorcerers.
• No extreme violence or sexuality. Keep it clean (PG-13 level at most).
• You may use creatures from any mythology - Greek centaurs, Japanese kitsune, Cornish spriggans, Slavic rusalkas, etc. Exception: no named gods (e.g, no using Zeus, Anubis, etc.).
• You may also use classic monsters (e.g., vampires, werewolves), but keep their abilities in check with their weaknesses. Stay away from "named" creatures (no daughter of Dracula).
• Cryptids (e.g., sasquatch, Jersey devil, etc.) are also fine.
• The existence of monstrous beings has only been known for three years, so no hybrid characters (half-dragons, etc.).
• Remember 75% of the students and faculty are human, so don't have monsters exclusively.
• Deadline for Submission: June 1, 2026
• Absolutely no AI-generated stories or artwork.
• Any submissions sent before April 15th will have a chance for revisions, increasing the likelihod of acceptance.
• You may submit multiple stories or artwork, but we prefer quality to quantity. Send us your best work.
• Authors and artists must be at least 13 years of age, and no more than 19 years of age, on May 31, 2026.
• Submit via email here: wordsbyedward@gmail.com.

Fiction

• 6000 word limit
• You can use any of the faculty listed above in your story, or create your own. You can also collaborate, creating characters for each other to use.
• Don't do anything permanent or drastic to one of the listed faculty or any character you borrow from another writer.
• Do not use existing characters from a franchise. Create your own.
• To increase the variety of creatures, we will (probably) only accept one story focusing on any particular creature type. So explore more obscure folklore.
• Absolutely no modern politics. Focus on the story.
• We prefer stories written in 3rd Person, Past Tense. But if your story works better in 1st Person, that's okay, too.
• We will edit stories for continuity as well as grammar. We may alter the names of minor characters in stories, particularly when their roles overlap.
• Teen writers under 18 must have permission from parents, and we strongly recommend working with writing mentors. Editors can offer guidance as well - please reach out with questions, rough drafts, etc. (email here)
• You cannot submit the same story to Creatures and Teachers and another anthology at the same time. Any story using elements of the shared universe (faculty listed above, school name, etc.) cannot be submitted to other publications because of intellectual property rights.
• Payment: $25 (US), payable at the time of publication, plus one physical copy of the book and an electronic copy. You can opt for four extra physical copies instead of payment.

Artwork

• Artwork should be in PNG or TIF format. Minimum resolution 2550 pixels wide by 3300 pixels high. Use a portrait orientation so it can take up the page of a book.
• Line drawings or shaded preferred. The interior illustrations will not be in color.
• Art style can be anything. The cover will use a manga style.
• Absolutely no AI-generated artwork.
• Payment: $15 (US), payable at the time of publication, plus one physical copy of the book and an electronic copy. You can opt for two extra physical copies instead of payment.

We have set up a Discord server for young writers to collaborate on stories or seek advice from the editors. Email your questions or requests for server access to:
wordsbyedward@gmail.com