Event overview | Review spreadsheet

Please refrain from saying anything that might compromise your anonymity. Doing so is grounds for disqualification. It's recommended you do dummy reviews of your own stories should it otherwise be easy to deduce which you wrote.

First!

But the prompt submissions are telling me to please come back later.

Well, okay...

Yeah, message #1!
At least I will have something to remember this time :B

4876150
ARGH! FDA I hate you! :BBB

It's really cool that we get a notification email about new events from the writeoff website.

edit...
Huh... How are we going to be able to publish it here on FIMFiction after the event's over? :/

4876150
I am seeing that as well.

And 4876144 , I did get the email this time (), but I noticed that it doesn't say what genre this contest is. I knew that this was a general round because I've been paying attention, but it's something you'll probably want to add in there for those who haven't.

4876152

4876160

general round

What's that?

4876144 This is my first time round the Writeoff track...Let's do this! I just hope I can keep with the veritable flood of comments...

And of course, I'm guessing General Minific means just anything. Coolbeans. Good luck all!

4876165
It means that you can write pretty much whatever you want, not just pony fanfiction.

Last time we did this, there was some confusion over whether these rounds are just for original fiction, or if fanfiction is still okay, but it looks to me like we're going with the latter (though original fiction stories will probably still score better).

4876165

Original fiction, instead of MLP fanfic.

4876173 4876174 ...huh... Interesting... Thanks for the explanations~

4876165
4876171
For example, you can write about a human starting to write about Lyra writing about a human writing about BonBon

Isn't that smashing? :B now you can be as meta as you wish! Wow.

4876150
Woops, fixed.

4876180
Sure, if you can fit all of that into 750 words without it becoming an incomprehensible mess.

4876180 Wait, so I'm new to this all. I'm probably being *that guy*, but we can start writing now, correct? We just can't submit it until the day?

4876187
Hmmm… Clarity is not enforced by The WriteOff rules, or is it?

4876190
No, but if you want people to like your story, it's generally a good idea.

4876182 Horay! I've submitted my prompt suggestion thingie! x3

Damn, I'm an idiot. I just figured out how this works. 4876190, ignore my last comment.

4876201
Okay. I'm going to delete my last comment!

4876204 Thanks for bearing with me...

4876194
Sorry to harp on, but Luna’s ache wasn't that clear, though many people loved it.

4876144 4876160
Joining voices with others, it remains unclear what exactly 'general fiction' means… wide-open to anything, or original fiction-only. Can we have some official disambiguation on that 'general' part?

4876209
There is no restriction on what you can write with respect to genre.

It's inadvisable to write something reliant on a reader's familiarity with a specific fictional world, e.g., FiM. It's not really the point of the contest, and people who are unfamiliar with your chosen dependency will be confused.

I'll be lucky to even get in this round, with a fifty-plus hour work week and any Thanksgiving stuff.

Well, I'll give it a shot. But that's all I can do for sure.

4876189
You have to wait until a prompt is given. Then you write something based on the prompt.

I feel like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football at this point, but this time I'm sure I can get the prompt done. As long as Lucy doesn't play me like a damn fiddle again.

4876157

How are we going to be able to publish it here on FIMFiction after the event's over?

You won't. You'll have to decide whether it's worth the time investment to do the writeoff knowing you won't have FimFic as a publication venue for any resulting products.

4876206
You're more than most welcome.
I love moggies anyway.

Hi,

Is prompt submission also intended to be anonymous?

Joe

4876208
That story predates my time in the writeoffs, so I'm not familiar with it. I have seen several really good unclear stories in my time here (like "Recycled" last round), but all of them have had people criticizing them for not being clear enough.
A certain air of mystery and lack of clarity can be beneficial to some stories, but you don't want to overdo it. People are generally okay with having to work to understand a story, but only to a certain point. If they don't get any payoff by that point, they aren't going to be happy.

4876423 I think you can say after prompt voting is complete, though the site doesn't reveal them to my knowledge.

4876318 I got two words for ya: Equestria Girls.

No, seriously, should be possible to write a piece with "normal" names and then pony it up after the fact...

4876423
It doesn't really matter.

I'm confused. I'm new and don't know what's going on...is there a prompt or do we suggest one and where do we suggest a prompt if we do?
-ThePortalPonies

4876473
People are so lazy those days.

But I guess you're right. It's like dark stories. Readers expect to chortle at the end of a story.

4876600

For the time being, you can suggest a prompt. Voting for the best prompt starts Friday I think.

4876605 Oh, okay! Thanks!
-ThePortalPonies

4876613
You're most welcome

To the person who submitted "I'm So Meta, Even This Acronym", I applaud you, and your reference of XKCD.

(Link provided to those unaware of the reference!)

Also, best of luck to everyone! I have no idea if I'll muster up anything worth submitting, but I might end up stalking this.

4876613
Oh and I forgot: welcome to the WriteOffs!

4876896 Thanks again!
-ThePortalPonies

Gonna have to make every word count if you're working with an unfamiliar universe.

What? Nobody entered "Ot" (yet) this time?

I thought the WriteOff was corralling the best otters.

Everything's going to the dogs, even the most established traditions.

4877069
It's not really that established. I've been around longer than Ot has. I believe it first showed up in the Distant Shores writeoff, which was only four writeoffs ago.

4876852
We need a "Thing Explainer" prompt to try to get people to write stories using onlu the 1000 most common words list.

While I don't plan on entering this Writeoff, I have recently submitted a prompt for it. I don't expect it to win, but I'll be impressed if anyone picks up on what I'm referencing—when I reveal my prompt submission, that is.

Anyway, best of luck to all of the entrants.

I am entering this writeoff to chew bubblegum and kick flank...

And I'm all out of flank.

4877498
Four WriteOffs is forever in this ever-changing world of unbridled creation!

4878111
Not when you consider that there have been 42 writeoffs before this one.

Also, it looks like someone has submitted Ot.

4878344
Better late than never, uh?
(No, it's not me. Ask Roger if you doubt it. I plumped for a musical prompt this time.)