OC SlamJam - Launch · 9:33pm May 15th, 2015
Hi guys. OC SlamJam's finally on. We got 62 entrants. That's a lot.
The brackets, generated using OC names (remember: anonymous entry), are as follows.
First Round, Bracket One
First Round, Bracket Two
DO NOT TALK ABOUT YOUR OPPONENT. Since, you know, that information could obviously be used to trace you.
Vanilla Skies and Lucky Stars get a by for this round, so they don't need entries just yet. 'Grats!
EDIT: WHOOPS. Sorry Lucky Stars, I missed an OC during registration (for which I'm super sorry to all involved). Lucky Stars has no by, and instead faces OC: Foxglove.
EDIT 2: Casey Regulator Trotterson drops out. Gross Product advances by default.
HERE is the Giant OC Compendium, which contains every OC entered into this contest. You'll probably want to look up the name of your opponent's OC in it, so you can write your entry effectively. Your own OC will be in there too, just for reference.
A quick reminder on what you need to do:
Once you recognize your opponent, your task will be to write a short story (500 words minimum, 2500 words maximum) of any subject matter and in any genre, involving both your OC and your opponent's OC. A comedy story where your OC gets into a piefight with theirs, a romance where they compete with each other for a partner (or fall in love themselves), a horror story with both of your characters as survivors in the post-cyberpocalypse--whatever. Once you have your entry done, send it to me as a link to an unpublished Fimfiction story.
You have until 11:59 PM CST next Friday to get your entry in. Be sure to send your entry to OBSELESCENCE, not OC SLAMJAM. It'll be much easier for everyone that way.
Entries will be posted as a compilation story on the OC Slamjam account. Both your entry and your opponent's will be posted together in a single chapter. Voting on who moves on to the next round will take place in the comments of that chapter.
-Remember to keep it PG-13 with respect to sex/gore. If your entry would need a Mature rating on Fimfiction.net, it's not kosher.
-No crackfics/crossovers, please. Write a story in good faith.
-Some overage on the 2500 word max is okay (especially given Fimfic's inflated wordcount), but try to keep that as your baseline max. You'll want to be efficient with how you set your scene and work with your characters to get the most out of your own OC and your opponent's.
-Remember anonymity. You can get your editor/discrete friend's approval on your entry, but don't let it become general knowledge as to which OC is yours. Especially not to anyone you know is in the contest.
-Voters will be encouraged to cast their votes based on general writing quality, overall characterization, and how well you used what the character sheets provided. You should ideally try to emphasize both character's strengths/weaknesses with your entry, rather than write a role that could have been filled by anyone.
Updated Prize Lists
Some really generous folks sent in with some contributions to help sweeten the prize pot. The current prize pool:
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.
Courtesy of Thorax:
A copy of Dead Space 2 and Mass Effect 2 on Steam.
Courtesy of KwirkyJ:
Audiobook-reading, up to 2500 words in length. Any genre, topic, milieu—pony, sci-fi, or standard literature preferred. Only non-copyrighted material; nothing more objectionable/controversial/explicit than Teen (PG13) rating.
Sample reading of Pinkie Pie vs. the Souffle.
Courtesy of A Rare Sight:
A paid-for flat-color OC character commission from artist Arylett.
Courtesy of Anonymous:
Fifty bucks on Paypal
Think that should be just about everything for now, guys. Go nuts.
Coolbeanz.
Oh wow! My OC REDACTED is up against REDACTED!
(It had to be done
)
so, you're up against the OC paired with your OC?
3071682
Yes.
3071687 Alright I'll get to work in a little bit.
Well, this is going to be fun! :)
[Sinister laughing intensifies]
3071687 I asked you to remove me, remember? Mine was a previously created OC. I also have a lot on my plate right now with finals, and I don't have time to write anything. Sorry.
Look at all the snazy OCs. I wish everyone the best of luck!
3071768
I don't actually seem to recall getting that PM, but okay.
So if we think we wrote the better story of the pair, we're allowed to vote for ourselves?
3071794
Other people might see things differently, but I always vote for myself in contests I've entered, under the logic that I wouldn't have submitted an entry that I wasn't proud of and/or didn't think could go all the way.
3071815
The writeoff is the anonymous contest I'm most used to, and you can't vote for yourself there because of the site architecture, so I'm kinda going off that logic. :B I dunno, I'm willing to admit when I've been defeated.
I wish I could meet my opponent, but this will do. Good luck Markiplierfanboy4live271891!
The first rule of OC Slamjam: you do not talk about OC Slamjam.
Is there any chance of us adding onto the Bio if we forgot somewhat pertinent information...? >.>
(It wasn't in the original example of what to write in, and I subsequently overlooked it like a rube. >.<)
So just so's I can be sure: is it the authors being judged, or the characters themselves?
Got a couple questions. When we send you the unpublished story, does it need all the decorum of a story ready to be published? Both descriptions and cover art, for instance? My other question: once the competition is over, may we make public any stories we've written for it independently?
3072336
1. It does not.
2. Uumm... probably not unless you rewrite or expand them significantly, since the entries will be published on Fimfiction as part of the contest compilation.
3072279
The characters themselves won't be judged. The authors' use of what the character sheets provide will be, though.
3072451
Cool, good to know. Thanks!
Question, if the author perhaps loses the round. Is he/she allowed to say what character did? Or is it completely anonymous until the end of the competition?
BRACKETS
GET YOUR BRACKETS IN
I've got Lilligold vs. Summer Heat in the Bracket 1 final and Loud Mouth vs. Mild Manners in Bracket 2.
3072621
If you're already out of the competition, what possible penalty could deter you from saying who your character was?
3072644
That makes too much sense.
3072279 Oh bugger I can't ask you to help me :P
3072640
Oh? Are we betting now?
3074084 Nope
You've got to beat me!
3074203 You're on!
LET THE WRITING BEGIN! AHAHAHAHAHAH
Okay, I do have a quick question, are the readers going into each of the stories with the knowledge of reading the OC's bio? Because, I don't want to have to drop a bunch of words at the beginning of each story detailing my and my opponent's coloring, curie mark, mane, tail, coat color, etc. if they already know what they look like.
3077764
Readers will be provided with all the OCs' bio information, yes.
This is probably a dumb question, but do we need to come up with titles for our stories?
3071820
I would have to vote against myself if I didn't like my story better, to be honest.
We submit a link to an unpublished Fimfic submission, right? Is it better to make a new submission, or can we just add a chapter to a current compilation and not publish it?
3087893
You can just continue adding chapters to the first unpublished story. Just please be sure to inform me each round when you have your entry done/reprovide a link.
3079247
I'd like to second this question.
3071681 Someone dropped a fifty for first place. That's worth.
Since this is probably the most-linked-to page for the contest, here are a bunch of useful links all in one place:
Round One Compilation - 1st Bracket, 2nd Bracket (no results visible)
Round Two Compilation - 1st Bracket, 2nd Bracket (Round One results visible)
Round Three Compilation - 1st Bracket, 2nd Bracket (Round Two results visible)
Finals Compilation (Rounds 4-6)
-Quarterfinals: 1st Bracket, 2nd Bracket (no results visible)
-Semifinals: 1st Bracket, 2nd Bracket (Round Four results visible)
Compendium (Collection of character bios as submitted by the authors)
Author Roundup (List of characters by order of elimination, and links to which authors are confirmed to be behind which characters)
Historium (Collection of summaries and links for each entry from each round, work in progress)
Group Page