What is a 24 Hour Zine?
The 24 Hour Zine Thing is a challenge to create a 24-page zine in 24 hours straight.
The creator, Julie at rockscissorspaper, was inspired by 24 Hour Comics. This site has hosted since 2007, and you can see the two years previous to that here.
Do I register or something?
Sign up here. We’ll put you on the participants list, which will help you be accountable for getting your zine done!
Is there an LJ community for it?
Yup! It’s at www.livejournal.com/~24HZ. It’s not necessary, but you can join if you like so that you can post your progress, ask questions, and commiserate. If you don’t have an LJ account but want to set one up, just go to livejournal.com and set up a new account.
Is there a 24 Hour Zine Day?
No. This was created as a July project, and it’s hard to organize an event like this to happen on one, single day. It’s easier if individual zinesters picked a day when it’s convenient.
Can I think about what my zine will be about?
Nope! You can have goals–”I don’t want to be political” or “I want to make a perzine,” but you can’t have your specific theme or have anything written or collages made for this. Spontaneity is part of the challenge. You can get your materials ready–your typewriter ribbon changed, your collage
magazines piled up, your scissors oiled–and have prompts or music or something around that will inspire you to come up with an idea, but the entire conception should happen inside those 24 hours.
So you mean the whole zine … ?
Yup! From the zine’s concept to a final copied, folded, bound product — 24 hours.
How many copies should I make?
You should make at least one to send in, but you can make as many as you like. They don’t have to be photocopied, either. You just need to have a final folded and bound product at the end of the 24 hours.
Can I work with other people on my zine?
No. This is an individual challenge.
But 24 pages is eeeeasy!
It’s up to you to make it challenging. If zines are hard for you, do a 1/4 size and focus on the little spaces. If they’re a piece of cake, challenge yourself to do a biggie size without leaving any white space or using simple background fillers. (Thanks to Tricia of Art by the Inch for the idea on how to keep it challenging!)
So … we can choose our theme now and then build our 24 Hour Zine on it on our day, right?
No. Nope. No! The point is to have a completely spontaneous zine. If you pick your theme now, you may as well be writing it in your head for the next three weeks before the day. By the time your day comes along, you’ve got the layout planned, half the writing done, and all your pictures and whatnot picked. Where’s the challenge? Where’s the fun? What’s the point? This is going on the honor system, but I do know that some of the greatest things have been created on the fly, and that’s what we wanna see–stuff made on the fly, whether it sucks or is amazing. When Julie did a 4-hour test drive, she started by choosing a picture out of a magazine and pasting it onto the cover. Then a title. And it went from there.
I’m not in the U.S. Can I still participate?
Absolutely!
Are you forgetting something?
Possibly. Probably. If you see something that needs attention, please let us know!
What happens to the zines when they’re finished?
The same thing that happens to all zines–they’ll get sold, read, traded, etc. When you send us a finished copy, we’ll scan the cover (or you can submit your own scan) and create a showcase of those who have triumphantly completed their zines. Depending on how many people complete the challenge, we’ll either do trades, and maybe even a distro. That’ll be decided on and updated later in July.
Did Julie invent this?
Nope! She read about Scott McCloud’s 24 Hour Comics Day and decided to run with it!
Okay–what again am I s’posed to do?
The 24 Hour Zine Challenge asks zinesters to create a 24-page zine from conception to final product in 24 hours straight. Zines should be of suitable size and technical difficulty so that this truly is a challenge for individual zinesters. Feeling adventurous? Make an oversized zine! With collage material, all typewritten, with a blockprinted cover! Coptic-stitch bound with silver thread!
Okay, so everything we do for our zine has to be done within those 24 hours?!
Just about. I mean, if in the course of your conceptualizing during those 24 hours you think of an old photograph you want to use or a picture out of a magazine you saw awhile back, then use it. If you’ve got an old poem that just happens to fit … well, it would be prefered you wrote something fresh, but that’s up to you. If you just pull a dozen essays off your hard drive, then we’ll frown, shake our heads, send you your button, and tell you that we hope you come back next year. Do you want inspiration? Read one of the 24 Hour Comics anthologies and see just how much one person can come up with entirely withing a 24-hour span. It’s fan-friggin-tastic!
When’s the deadline?
July 31, 2007!
Where do I send my finished zine?
Avocado Tree Distro
PO Box 2001
Abingdon, Va 24212
After the deadline, there will be a gallery of the finished zines, featuring the cover of your zine. If you’d like to provide your PayPal link and have copies for sale, we’ll set up a PayPal button next to your zine.
Do we get any more incentive than just personal gratification?
Also, a shiny one-inch button sporting the chosen logo.
Who’s making the design for the button?
We’re hosting a design contest! If you’d like to submit a design you can email it to us.
