Story contest (no, seriously!) and prompt: 6/7 - 6/30, actual 1st Prize. (Welcome to Swift Selections.) · 1:25pm Jun 7th, 2016
So here's how it works. I'm going to give you a short prompt. You write a story based on, skewed around, tilted sideways from, or generally related to that prompt. The story can be of any length, but must be complete and posted by midnight on June 30th, Eastern Daylight Time. You also must post to this blog entry's comments thread when the story goes up. It's your choice as to whether you put a blurb at the end of the story's long description: if so, I recommend "For Estee's Swift Selections contest."
Why that name? Because this is your prompt, taken from Taylor Swift's Blank Space lyrics.
I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream
For those looking for performance context, here's the video. It's your decision as to whether it'll influence you.
Now here's the tricky part:
This is a list of all the genre tags FIMFiction currently accepts.
2nd Person Adventure (BillyMorph)Alternate Universe (Snowdrop) Anthro (SongCoyote) Comedy (RaylanKrios) Crossover (FanOfMostEverything)Dark (Dieselpunk Trixie) Drama (Super Trampoline)Equestria Girls (Midnight Crescent)Horror (VladSpellbinder)Human (Brumby_Run) Mystery (Zebrarian)Random (GroaningGreyAgony) Romance (Battle Chant)Sad (Dracon_Pyrothayan)Sci-Fi (Latrans)Slice Of Life (Dafaddah) Thriller (Dramon Creator)Tragedy (BronyWriter)
Guess what?
It's one genre per entrant, and you have to choose and post your genre in this Comments section before starting your story. First come, first serve. Once a genre is picked, it is gone.
Which means:
* You have to work within your chosen genre. It can have other minor elements present: it's hard to write anything as fully genre-pure. But your chosen tag is the only one which goes on the posted story.
* I'm taking 2nd Person off the board: it's not a genre so much as a style. This means we're limited to a maximum of eighteen entrants.
So to review: stories must be complete and submitted by the posted time deadline. (There is no maximum length: minimum is whatever will get you accepted by FIMFic's submissions.) I'll read them all by July 7th and post my chosen winner on the 10th: judge, jury, and executioner. Shameless self-promotion and rallying your followers behind your cause is probably inevitable, but not necessarily helpful.
First prize is a pair of Amazon gift codes valued at a total of $20 U.S. That should put a small dent in your S5 set cost, or anything else because y'know, Amazon.
(Winner is responsible for having an Amazon account which they can redeem gift codes to. Entries can be worldwide, but I don't know what happens if, say, a Denmark resident tries to redeem a U.S. amount. Gift codes will be sent to the winner via private message using FIMFic's mail system. The codes themselves come from surveys, so for the rest of the month, I'll be answering questions about my TV viewing habits for the winner's spending pleasure.)
All questions, requests for rules clarifications, genre claims, and contest entry posting notifications go to this blog post's comments thread starting now.
...yeah, I'm doing this.
Yes, I'm probably going to regret it.
I would so love to see a new RCL inductee come out of this.
ETA: We have our field of eighteen, so genre claims are now closed.
I'll do it
Alternate Universe
4005943
Updated the main blog post with the claim. (Which shows how it'll work for each subsequent person: I cross it off, then put the claiming entrant's name next to the tag.) And I'm honestly kind of shocked to see AU go first.
Now all you have to do is finish your story while hoping no one else enters, because then you'd automatically win!
4005954 lol I already have 1 chapter 563 words on the 2nd one now, and ya I hope
Alright I'm in. Scratch romance off for me, please.
Oh no. I am morally obligated to do this and blame you.
4005969
???
...could you -- narrow that down a little? You're morally obligated to -- enter the contest? Host your own competition using the exact same format? (I think the genre first-come first-serve idea could be taken to future contests, and could also be extended to the choice of main character.) Take online surveys about your TV viewing habits in order to earn $20 in Amazon gift codes? Or you're just morally obligated to blame me for everything ever, also known as Being On The Internet?
The last one, mostly. The contest is just an excuse.
4005981
Pick a genre before I throw you out.
I always did like that song and that one particular lyric always did stand out to me.
I'll drop in on this and take the obvious choice: Horror.
4005985
I'll just take whatever's left this evening. There isn't a tag for trollfic.
4005996
Same on both. I've been thinking about doing something with that prompt for a while: I just didn't push the button on it until now. I'm currently far enough ahead on surveys that between my daily TV quiz and some hoped-for June story updates through Patreon (thanks again and always to all sponsors), I could put up an actual prize, and I didn't want to host a contest without something to actually go after.
Admittedly, I'm sacrificing surveys, but that's also one of the easiest ways to send a prize: it takes out shipping issues, and Amazon gift codes are near-universal for acceptance and usage. It had to be something I could Email. Y'all are pretty much all over the planet: sending the notorious MLP Dry Erase Board could get complicated fast.
4006005
Who wants to ask Knighty to fill in the distressingly obvious gap?
4006025
Not me. Every time I publish, Meeeeester's finger hovers over the permaban button.
DARK.
I hope that I actually get around to this one.
4006041
Oh, please. I'll get banhammered before you will. And Windlife will outlast both of us.
Speaking of Windlife, he really let me down yesterday. He posted a new story for the first time in ages. And as some of you might know/remember, he's pretty much responsible for Post Negative Comments Only, because he put up a request on one of his works for people to only post positive ones, and that touched off everything.
So upon seeing his name in the New column, I eagerly went to his story to see what he'd wrought. And this is what I got.
I can't title with that.
So we're four entrants in (because I can't count the Admiral until he actually, y'know, picks something), and both Comedy and Mystery are still there...
For the absolutely nothing it's worth: if I was entering this, I would have grabbed Slice Of Life and done a character study for the Continuum's version of Fleur. If you've read Trav(ap)est(r)y, you know that when it comes to that lyric line, she qualifies.
Hmm. Between F*CK THIS PROMPT! 11 and the Luna story I want to get out by or before the summer solstice, I may not have enough time to get something out.
On the other hand, I do have until the end of the month...
Well, let's see what happens. I thought about Equestria Girls—lovely bit of low-hanging fruit with Daydream Shimmer—but I think I'll play to my strengths. Mark me down for Crossover.
I'll take Adventure in that case. Should be a fun dndesque prompt.
Random, please. Or comedy.
4006088
It's one or the other. Commit or get off the po
st.ETA: RylanKrios has now claimed Comedy, which puts you on Random.
How random.
I think I can do Sad.
A 1-shot might be better for my writing skills than "Plan an epic adventure, be disappointed with second chapter, and stop writing for a few years" that I've been doing :)
I've got an idea for comedy
4006114
And that locks Groaning into Random.
Mystery is still available? I would love to swoop in for it if I could.
Currently down to the following genre options:
Anthro
Drama
Equestria Girls
Human
Sci-Fi
Slice Of Life
Thriller
Tragedy
If Admiral Leftovers gets stuck with Tragedy, you'll find me in the corner. At least until the laughter stops.
I have to get into the habit of writing again. I must do this.
I'll take "Human."
I need to get back into practice. I'll take 'Equestria Girls' if it's not too much trouble.
4006166
I'm surprised that one lasted as long as it did. It's one of the options which offers a lot of flexibility.
Suddenly I see the flaw in picking romance. Now I have to choose a pairing.
4006197
There's always textbook narcissism!
The question of picking pairings leads to which main characters we're most likely to see across the entries. Given the prompt, I'd be surprised if we didn't get Luna at least once.
4006205 I can tell you you'll be seeing Rainbow Dash. From me
4006171
Honestly, same here, but I made sure I had an idea set in stone before claiming it.
It's all a question of whether my near infamous writer's block can stay away long enough...
I know you put in the rules that a little flexibility is allowed, but I am very amused at the notion of a human/anthro story which has no genre beyond the shape of the characters.
4006238
"Let it be a challenge to you."
4006046 Windlife is an inspiration for me. Some days an inspiration to aspire to and some days and inspiration to avoid.
4006041 I know that feel.
I'll take drama.
Can I do Thriller? I'm hesitant to do this, since it would be my first story, and I've always had a hard time writing, but the prompt gave me an idea that I think could really work. I can't guarantee that I'll be able to finish it, or even write it well, but I want to try. Think you could give me the chance?
4006283
You're in.
Still available are:
Antro
Slice Of Life
Sci-Fi
Tragedy
I can hear Admiral Biscuit sweating.
A writing contest from Estee? Well, my Muse has been feeling rather energetic lately, I have a fair bit of respect for you, Estee, and a genre that I actually enjoy is still available, so I'll throw in my hat and see what I can come up with.
I would like to attempt to write an Anthro story that you would enjoy
and will have fewer run-on sentences than this post!
Ideas are already fomenting....
Light and laughter,
SongCoyote
4006257
Well, my one attempt at writing a second person story (hi 4005969!) began with me thinking "so wait, when I write this am I commanding the reader to think and feel certain things?", and from that it quickly turned into a story about Star Swirl the Bearded gratuitously mind-controlling everyone around him. It was fun.
As for this... Well, 4006301 just nabbed it while I was pondering. But mine would have been Lyra (easy, lazy choice) meticulously discussing why nothing they were doing qualified for any sort of genre, while reveling in bipedalism and fingers. And then at some point I'd try to find something more interesting to slather in a layer on top of that. And the tie to the prompt would be reeeeaaaally strained, most likely.
4006313
Remember: I'm sole judge, jury, and executioner on this, mostly because I felt that for a first-time contest, I really couldn't ask anyone else to volunteer their time. So in general, it may be a good idea not to go in attacking the judicial branch on the setup of the law, followed by waging a battle in the press wherein you demand I recuse myself from the contest due to being capable of reading.
But there's still two options left, assuming we all want to see the Admiral biting his own fingers off.
I'll take Tragedy, if it hasn't been taken already
4006414
It's yours.
Darn it. I really wanted to see some finger-biting.
4006324
So, you don't think Murdocks is going to make Equestria great again?
4006431
It might be something great by his standards, but it would no longer be Equestria.
4006427 Finger biting?
I've never submitted anything before, so this might be interesting to try.
Sci-fi, if you would please.
So all that's left for me is slice of life.
So, how do I do slice of life with a dramatic prompt like "I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream"
4006497 , you wanna swap?
4006460
Admiral Biscuit said he'd take whatever was left at the end of the day. I was hoping he'd get stuck with Tragedy because he just might have wound up biting his own fingers off.