The RariDash Spooktacular Writing Contest: A Retrospective · 6:40pm Nov 9th, 2013
As most of you may know, I'm one of the admins at the RariDash group—less because of my actual administrative abilities, and more because I founded the thing. Recently, we held our first contest. The theme of said contest was Nightmare Night, and while the number of fics submitted was a bit smaller than I had hoped, they were—for the most part—not bad (though I was a bit disappointed at the lack of dark shipfics).
Now, as with most contests, this one had its fair share of benefits for the winner (so much ego fuel), one of which was having their fic spotlighted in a blogpost by the judges. So, without further ado, I give you the winner of the first RariDash contest.
The Wrong Kind of Scary by Lion
Now that the formalities are out of the way, I'd like give my thoughts on the stories submitted to this contest. Why? Because I haven't made a needlessly rambly in a while. Find my thoughts below the break.
I can never tell if the "page_break" bbcode is going to work, so have an adorable picture in case my ability to use proper coding is still, in fact, terrible
So, the first order of business is answering the following question: "Did the right fic win?" After all, the results of this contest came from the rankings of three* different judges. It's very possible that my number one may not have been the actual winner.
Luckily for Lion, that is not the case here. The Wrong Kind of Scary was my pick for first place, and it was more than deserving of the title.
The first aspect that led me to making this decision was the fact that it fully fit both of the "requirements" for the contest. First, it was definitely a RariDash fic, and second, it got the "Nightmare Night" theme down. Most of the other fics struggled in that regard—including one theme, but struggling with the other. Jondor's A Nightmarish Double Date is a really sweet, enjoyable fic, but the Nightmare Night themes felt rather tacked on to me (also, it was more a TwiJack fic than a RariDash fic. As much as I love me some TwiJack, it was a RariDash contest). On the flipside, Titanium Dragon's The Wraith of Ponyville fit the Nightmare Night theme rather well—though the atmosphere was a bit weak, which is crucial for a "horror" story—but failed to be much of a shipfic. The only two that felt like both a RariDash fic AND a Nightmare Night fic were "The Wrong Kind of Scary" and "Fast. Awesome. Hot."
Now, both of these fics were very enjoyable (as were the previous two I mentioned). They had a few problems both in mechanics and storytelling that probably would have been avoided if the writers weren't on a time limit, but made up for those flaws by grabbing hold and never letting go. Deciding the winner between these two was very difficult.
In the end I chose "The Wrong Kind of Scary." I would be lying if I said one of the main reasons for making this decision was the fact that it was complete while "Fast. Awesome. Hot." was incomplete... and boy did it feel incomplete (Hoof, finish it, pls. I want more). However, that was not the only reason.
"The Wrong Kind of Scary" was just plain fun. It had style, it built a solid atmosphere (immersion is key in something like this), and it got the characters down perfectly. Also, while the ending could have been better, I was actually a fan of the direction it took. It was nice to see Rarity's actions have consequences instead of it just ending with a giggle and a kiss.
So, in the end it was a solid contest. The stories I linked here are all worth a read if you're a RariDash fan, so any of my followers looking for more Dresshorse x Fasthorse shipping whilst they wait for me to finally get an update out for my own RariDash fics, go ahead. Give these stories a look!
* You had one job, Cyne (still love you though)
And while I have your rapidly-faltering attention, I want to assure everyone that I'm not dead. Yeah, I've been on a bit of a hiatus for the last half-year or so, but that doesn't mean I've left the fandom or quit writing. Rather, real life has hit hard over the last few months (thankfully, not in the "bad" way, but the "I have a job now" way). I ask you to please be patient with me. I write when I have the time, and at the moment I simply don't have much time to do so.
I'm very angry myself that real life medical issues came up in the family. If I had started a week or two sooner than I did, I would have had a final product. But I lost nearly two weeks, and by the time I was free to focus again, I had only three days, and I did not want to write in such a rushed timeline. It isn't fair to the group or you, the person who got me into the ship.
Regardless, I found The Wrong Kind to be funny, well written, slightly sexy - oh flirty/horny Dash - and overall extremely enjoyable. Maybe I'll write Nightmares, Nemeses, and Neighgerbombs, but most likely the notes will stay mostly notes.
I am looking forward to where you take Reconstruction Site. You have the honor of writing only one of three stories - the other being Ardenfax's Bluebird's Song and AbsoluteAnonymus' The Games We Play - that has made me weep like a child. Reconstruction has too.
You, are awesome. Never forget that you inspired me to write to begin with.
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>also, it was more a TwiJack fic than a RariDash fic.
I knew it!
1494614 And that is why you merge both into one fanfic, and the world becomes a better place.
Pinkie can't be tied down. And Fluttershy is the guide of love.
I'd meant for them to be the impetus, but they did kind of steal the spotlight. All in all, I'm pretty happy with third place.
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My personal philosophy when choosing the orientation for characters is to have a ratio of two straight characters for every openly gay/lesbian/bi/pan character. This is about the same ratio that I've noticed in the people whom I've met in my life. I've thought about characters this way ever since I read Perks of Being a Wallflower. A large part about it is how straight characters get along with gay characters.
From what I read of "A Nightmarish Double Date" it only had seven characters, so...
1495230 When I do a real story that isn't a comedy, I see Twilight being bisexual due to loving a pony for their heart. Rainbow is bisexual because she just likes everything. Pinkie is bisexual because the fun doesn't matter who or what it taps. Applejack is straight, Rarity is straight, and Fluttershy might be asexual.
Way late to the party here, but is Fast. Awesome. Hot anywhere besides Drive? If there's been more, I'd adore reading it
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Unfortunately, it's not been uploaded to the site (yet).
2271965 sad day. Thanks for the update~
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HoofBiting's got another RariDash story called Spring is Dumb that is very good and in a very similar style, so if you haven't read that yet... it's not Fast. Awesome. Hot, but it's close.
2272011 I read that one before it hit the featured box