Contest - The OC Slamjam · 5:25pm May 10th, 2015
Hi guys. Contest time. Hopefully you saw this post (or this one) earlier, so this probably won't be too big a surprise.
Incidentally, before I go any further, the official contest account where entries will be hosted is OC Slamjam, so go make sure you're keeping track of that and stuff if you're interested. I've also made a ramshackle group you can use for discussion and asking questions.
The OC Slamjam
What this is
The primary idea behind this contest is to get everyone working their character-making muscles. A lot of people like fanfiction because it allows them to work with pre-established characters and settings, but being able to build and work with your own characters is also a very important skill for writing! Not to mention that sometimes it's just fun to be able to work with pieces of your own design. It's also just a fun opportunity for you to design the best OC you can imagine, and it'll be kind of neat to see how everyone manages to bring their OC of choice through the contest.
Structure
To that end, the basic framework of this contest is as follows:
-Contestants will create an OC of their very own to use for the contest, using the provided character sheet. To enter, send me a PM with all the relevant details for your entering. You'll have three days to enter, so the window closes at 11:59PM CST on Wednesday.
I'll announce further details on the bracket pairings, the submitted OCs, etc. once this is over, but for now, focus on getting your OC to me by Wednesday.
-Contestants will be paired up in a tournament bracket (bear in mind that it's going to be tough to get a round number of contestants, so there'll probably be some first-round bys, which will be awarded randomly). They'll be be given a week to write a short bit (500-2500 words) involving both their own OC and their opponent's. Bits can be of any genre and involve any subject matter... within reasonable limits. No crackfics, please. PG-13 at maximum.
-The entries will be hosted anonymously as part of a compilation story, which will be hosted by the official contest account, OC Slamjam. The winner of each pair will be decided by audience voting between the two entries, based on factors such as overall writing quality, general characterization chops, and how well you worked with what was on the character sheets.
-Winner of the pairing moves on to the next round.
-Repeat until someone comes out on top.
The Character Sheet
Send this in to me via PM:
OC's Name: Obviously.
Pony Species: Pegasi, Unicorns, and Earth Ponies ONLY. I had to think really long and hard about this one, but I think it's ultimately necessary to keep this contest to OCs of the three major pony species. This contest should be more about character-building than world-building for species, and I'd really rather prefer people explore what can be done with OC ponies, rather than expanding on griffon or changeling culture through original characters. No alicorns as a fairness metric to all competitors -- it's going to be really hard to write good scenes involving your opponent's OC without needing to focus on the fact that they're a freakin' alicorn.
Appearance: Yadda yadda yadda. Coat color, cutie mark, scar on their left buttcheek, etc.
History: A short bit about your OC's background, past and present. Were they orphaned at a young age? Do they work as a bodyguard for Canterlot celebrities? Whatever!
Personality: The rough outlay of what your OC thinks and acts like. I personally like the recommendation that you try to address H.A.T.: what makes them Happy, what makes them Angry, and what gets them into Trouble.
Rules
-No joke/parody/crossover/Mary Sue OCs. They'll seem hilarious at first glance, but trust me, it's going to suck for everyone if these are allowed. Try to make an OC in good faith--remember that your opponent will have to write them too, and that this is supposed to be fun for everyone.
-No Pre-existing OCs. Everyone should be inventing a new OC for this one. If you've written your character into a story before, you should leave them at home for this one.
-Entries should be between 500-2500 words. I'll give some leeway for going over the limit, but you should try to stick to ABOUT a 2500 word limit for your entry. It's going to be key to hit the ground running.
-Entries must involve both your OC and your opponent's for the round. Beyond that, you're free to write them in whatever situation you'd like, with any genre/tone. Please no out-and-out crackfics, though.
-Teen ratings, please. For the sake of the audience, It'd probably be best if you don't write your OC mutilating or having sex with someone else's OC, or vice versa.
-Don't break anonymity. It's fine to tell people you're in the contest, and okay if you want to tell your editor or a couple close friends (assuming you can trust them and that they're not entering the contest themselves) which OC is yours, but do try to avoid any sort of public disclosure about who you are in the contest. That kind of ruins the point of the anonymity.
Prizes
So far, we've got a few prizes on-deck:
Courtesy of WIL_I_ZIN:
To First place: a 10,000 word story commission.
To Second place: $30 in Steam Money
To Third place: $10 in Steam Money
Courtesy of nand:
A copy of Star Wars: KOTOR, and Magicka on Steam.
The prizes are obviously a bit Steam-heavy, but it's tough for me to sweeten the pot in other ways at present. If you've got something you'd like to offer to the winners, and are feeling generous it enough to offer it, contact me and we can work things out.
I think that's just about everything for now. I'll field questions in the comments. Have a nice day, guys.
Best of luck to anyone participating!
I may as well enter, even though I probably lose immediately
Good luck to everyone participating in this!
Here's hoping I can come up with an OC in time.
DEUS VULT
Ugh. I REALLY wanna participate in this, but I fear I won't have the time, what with my current side-projects, full-time job and very-soon-to-be gaming stream.
But you may receive an OC from me yet.
AIP§
Remind me...
It can't be a preexisting OC, right?
3059740
Oh, yeah. Right. Lemme just add that to the rules real fast.
I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this already, but this is a "one-entry-per-person" type deal, right?
3059791
Ayup.
Do bat ponies fall under the Pegasus category?
3059852
They do not, sorry. I'd really like to avoid the various head-canons and world-buildy aspects of things like Bat Ponies or Changelings with respect to this contest. Both because it's kind of the point to focus more on the building of a character than a species, and because I'd like to minimize the odds of throwing two people with wildly different ideas of what a batpony is against each other.
What about Crystal ponies, then? Because there are Pegasi, Unicorns, and Earth Ponies who happen to be Crystal Ponies. I ask because the Crystal Empire is kinda separate from the rest of Equestria.
3059888
Iiii'll allow Crystal ponies, since they seem basically equivalent to Equestrian ponies. If that happens, though, I'd really prefer that the profile doesn't include any Crystal pony specific headcanons like being able to mindmeld with other Crystal ponies in a vast neural network or anything like.
So it can be an OC we've designed, etc, so long as we haven't WRITTEN about them, is that right? Because I have a number of characters I haven't written about yet.
And how many rounds is this going to be?
3059917
Yeah, so long as you haven't written about them previously, you should be fine.
Number of rounds will be based on the number of contestants. Not sure how many that'd be yet, so I dunno exactly how many rounds we're talking about. Maybe 5-6ish, if we get a lot?
I think this is a better test of skill than the whole contest. Dear Jesus, 10,000 words of a story that isn't your own idea? I don't know how anyone can manage that.
3059945
My average chapter length beats that. Its really enough for a short story, in my opinion at least.
3059945 All it says is that the winner would get a 10,000 word story commission. Nowhere does it say that story had to be a good one.
3059897
Gotcha.
3059684 Nevermind.
You now have an OC to work with from me.
AIP§
that feel when prize for second place is the one you want :P
that feel when half the people make red and black striped ponies for the lulz anyway.
3060066
You, sir, are crazy. But the good thing is that you could tell one hell of an epic, I'm sure.
3060069
You sir, wound me.
Just submitted my OC, I've thought of him since I saw the last post.
goddammit obs
No spot on the character sheet for gender?
3060341
You can just feel your future free time draining away, can't you?
3060384
No, I'm almost predisposed to ignore this, but it means missing out on all the fun too. :(
Two questions.
Does it have to be a pony? Could it be some other race or something fictional that fits in the poniverse, provided it's not alicorn-level Mary Sue?
Can it be a character I plan to use in a separate story?
Intrigued.
Though, let's say that while I have an OC planned for a future story, but they haven't shown up in a story yet. Mostly just the framework of the character without all the details hammered out, but still the basic idea is already solid in my head. Would that be going against the spirit of the rules you set-out concerning pre-existing characters?
I'm just not entirely sure what I'd write since this isn't combat focused. But I suppose it would be good practice, since I wanted future OCTs to involve something other than fights on the occasion.
Why not. I've spent a year putting together an OC competition, why not join one? Now who to use...
3060566
3060575
You must use a pony, of either the Unicorn, Pegasus, or Earth Pony race.
As for "What if it's an OC I'd be planning to use in a future story?" I'd say that's all right if you haven't already published a story involving whatever OC you submit, but if you do this, then I'm going to say you should not publish any story involving that OC while you're participating in this contest. If not for any reasons involving the spirit of OC character-building, then because it'd be an incredibly quick way to break anonymity.
I Write a fic about the two characters interacting yes?
When we're writing the bit with our own OC and the opponent's OC, how much info are we getting ? Full info sheet?
Well, I'd probably better enter this. Time to think up a new OC.
Just a double check Obs. Characters set into Equestrian History can be used correct? Or can they not? I mean someone can do a time-travel or out of place fic with an OC like that, but I can see some difficulty with that.
How many OCs can we enter?
Should the person submitting an OC also submit an age?
Also, how set-in-stone is that age? Like, if someone wanted to write a story in which the character is 80—even though the OC was created as a pony in his late twenties—could he?
3061426
One. See 3059842
3060806
Yes. I'm not going to fully forbid a scenario where both OCs are important to the entry even if they're not specifically interacting, but you do need to feature them both in a fairly significant capacity, which usually involves them interacting.
3060870
You'll be told your opponent's OC, yes. And consequently, you'll be able to find their full character sheet.
3061077
I'd prefer the characters all exist (at least by default) in modernish Equestria. If you want to make a character From Equestria's History but was transported into the modern world via time shenanigans, though, that'd be cool.
3061587
You don't need a direct age, but an indication of whether they're a kid, adult-but-young, adultish, old, etc. would be good.
It's not necessarily set in stone, but given that one of the criteria the audience will be asked to cast their votes based on will be "How well you used what the character sheet gave you" messing with a character's age and all the changes that'd force onto the character could feasibly cost you.
I just realized.
You could seed the participants in the tournament by posting the OCs and asking the audience which ones they like best.
It'd be better than random, at least, and wouldn't require additional writing rounds.
3060656 That's fair. If I do submit my OC, I might be riding close to the deadline on Wednesday. Busy week and all that.
This sounds like an interesting contest, but I'm not sure how much time I will have. Specifically, I will be attending college in the fall; if the contest lasts that long and I no longer have time to write, could I concede my position? Also, could I PM you with a character idea, to see if it would pass? -Justin
3060374
I would assume gender would fall under appearance. No spot for sex, though...
Sigh. I drew up a character sheet and everything, but I'm not going to be able to participate. Free time is way too limited right now
How commital is this thing? I'd love to do it, but I also have adult type stuff to do.
If I can't finish due to whatever reason, will my opponent advance automatically? I just don't want to join and screw up scoring if I have to drop out.
3066320
Yeah. If you fail to have an entry ready for a round, it's just an auto-DQ and your opponent passes.
I haz mades a ahk.
And actually I like mine. This will be fun!