Season 10 Bingo Writing Contest · 9:08pm Nov 16th, 2019
Do you feel like a challenge? Do you need to step outside your writing comfort zone? Or are you just curious what fate has in store for you?
This is a writing contest with an unusual premise: each writer gets a random prompt card.
Prompt cards look a bit like this.
Interested? Comment on this thread to sign up.
This contest is now finished.
Authors who sign up will be privately sent a prompt card with five ideas varying from the commonplace to the obtuse. They might be characters, places, or abstract concepts. Your story should incorporate as many of the ideas from your prompt card as possible. You won't know what your prompt is until your card is allocated. Even I don't know in advance what they'll be.
This is a sequel to the Season 9 Bingo Writing Contest - you can find the winners here.
I've made some improvements to the process this time, such as the addition of combo tiles like the above, as well as adding in a lot of characters from the latter seasons of the show, and removing ones that were comics only. I've also made the randomiser slightly more fair, so there's less chance you'll be stuck with something unhelpful.
I'd also like to have some editors available for writers to call on, since I personally like well-edited stories. To offer your services as an editor, drop a comment on this thread.
Prizes
$75 for the 1st place.
$45 for the 2nd place.
$30 for the 3rd place.
Prizes are in US Dollars, and will be delivered via PayPal. If more prize money is contributed it'll be distributed in a 5:3:2 ratio.
No more than one cash prize per author.
Timeline
- APPLY NOW! - Comment below to enter the contest.
- Prompts - 8 December 2019 - All the contestants will be sent their prompt cards.
- Check-in - 19 January 2020 - I'd like all authors to give me the title and description of their stories (if possible - this is optional).
- Story Deadline - 1 March 2020 - Stories must be published and added to the contest folder.
- Editing Deadline - 22 March 2020 - Stories must be completed.
I'll keep giving out prompt cards until the mid-way check-in date, but you won't get any extra time for starting late.
Contest Rules
Rules for prompts
- There are 200 prompt cards. Once they're gone, that's it.
- You may NOT request a replacement for a prompt card you dislike.
- You may only submit one entry for your prompt.
- You can reveal your story prompt if you wish, but nobody is obliged to.
- If you enter a finished story with time to spare, and it meets all the rules, and there are places left, you may request a second prompt card. You may only do this once.
Rules for stories
- Your story should incorporate at least two of the ideas from your prompt card, and up to all five. You'll score higher if you can use all of them well.
- Stories must follow all site rules.
- Stories should be between 1,000 and 20,000 words.
- Mature fics are permitted, but are likely to be judged harshly.
- Stories should be tagged appropriately, in case there are subjects any of the judges wish not to read.
- Add your story to the contest folder.
Rules for judging
- You may not be a contest judge if you have submitted a story.
- The judging process is private.
- Reading and judging a lot of stories takes time. Please be patient.
Final rule
Don't be unpleasant. I reserve the right to exclude anybody caught being nasty to anybody else, without explanation or appeal.
Questions
How do I sign up?
Comment on this thread. I'll PM you a prompt card on 8 December.
Can I sign up late?
I'll accept sign ups until 19 January, but you won't be given any extra time to write.
What's with the three deadlines?
I like reading stories that have all the typos fixed and punctuation in place, so I'm giving your an extra few weeks to get your stories ship-shape.
- By the check-in date (19 January), you should PM me your story's title and short description.
- By the story deadline (1 March), you should have published at least the first chapter of your story on Fimfiction, and added your story to the contest group.
- By the editing deadline (22 March), you should have published all of your story and marked the story as "complete", as well as completed any revisions and edits.
If you'd like to offer yourself to other writers as an editor, comment below. I'll be publishing a list of volunteer editors later on, and I encourage writers to make use of them.
What does this white tile mean?
Some of the prompts this time include combo tiles. These link two other characters in specific ways, such as "Sandbar remembers Smolder" or "Dr Cabelleron gets revenge on Quibble Pants".
If you aren't able to use the combo idea, you can still use those two characters in your story.
What if my prompt isn't something I want to write?
You may NOT request a replacement prompt card. The card you're issued is final.
There's always more than one way to interpret a given prompt, so if the obvious idea doesn't appeal to you, try twisting it in a different direction. If you can't use all five of your ideas, you can still submit a story that use at least two of them (although it probably won't be judged as highly).
Do I need to have watched season 9? The movie? The specials? Equestria Girls? The comics?
Your prompt may include recent characters from the show, including the movie, season 9, Rainbow Roadtrip, Equestria Girls, etc. It's entirely the luck of the draw whether you end up with one of them.
It will not include characters from the comics, or anything else outside the show.
I finished my story already! Can I get another?
If you enter a story that's completed and meets all of the rules, and have time to spare, you may request a second prompt card. Only once, though.
Can my story be a sequel to another story?
Yes, but stories should stand on their own. They may technically be sequels, or parts of your AU, as long as the story you enter is enjoyable on its own without any prior reading.
How will the stories be judged?
Each story will be scored by:
- Whether the judges enjoyed reading it.
- How many of the story ideas from your prompt card it incorporates, and how well it uses those ideas together.
- Correct use of the English language.
Remember, you must use at least two of the ideas from your prompt card. The more of them you use, the better your story will score.
Can I be a judge?
Please do!
Judges will, of course, need to read a lot of stories. The more people join in to help, the fewer stories each judge has to read. Judges may refuse to read mature-rated stories, or those to which they have a severe allergy - let me know what your limits are when you sign up.
You cannot be both a judge and a contestant. However, this rule only kicks in if you actually submit a story, so you don't need to decide right away. It's also best not to judge if you think you have a bias to one of the writers.
Judging does take a lot of time, so don't volunteer if you're going to be busy with exams or work around April 2020. If you're interested in judging, comment below. I'll check in with each of you closer to the time.
You do know there isn't a season 10 of the show, right?
Yes. I do know.
I'm in.
Oh good, little to no Jinglemas overlap. Count me in.
Also, "Sombra pranks Flurry Heart" sounds like an intriguing prompt in and of itself.
I love random challenges!
Come on baby, gimme a good prompt!
Count me in.
I wish to take part in this contest.
5156519
I could have chosen almost any of them as examples - those combo tiles do make for a lot of intriguing combinations. But that was a particularly nice one.
Could I give a gander?
Seems like a fun idea. I'm in.
I can do it over winter break instead of dying in finals week? SURE, SIGN ME UP!
-GM, master of BRING IT.
I'd love to participate!
I'm in. I've got a good feeling about it this time.
Came here from FoME's re-blog.
I'm in.
I'm in.
Sounds like fun! Count me in!
Hit me!
Can you volunteer as an editor if you're also writing an entry?
Couldn't get anything done last time around, but I’m ready for Round 2!
See you in December!
:)
Hell yeah, count me in
Count me in!
I'm in, if you'll have me this sounds too fun.
Deal me in!
I'd like to join up, too.
5156519
But what about "Sombra pranks Flurry Heart, Discord and parasprites"?
[Edit: Looking at that example card, Flurry Heart's face is exactly how somepony would look if Sombra was trying to prank them]
Well the judging was fun on the last go around, I'd be happy to help out again if you'll have me.
I think I'll give it a try.
Sure, why not. If I can't come up with something based on the prompt, oh well.
5156553
Yes, you can be a writer and editor. The only exclusion is on judges, to prevent awkward conflicts of interest - and even that only counts once you've actually submitted a story.
5156601
Absolutely. I look forward to seeing you in April.
Ooh, a contest with a prompt that's not the traditional impossibly vague and a deadline that plays nice with slow writing speeds? Sign me up, please!
I may also be able to help with editing for people. Is there any specific date we have to let you know by?
5156625
Not really. The writing time on this is quite long, so some people will write really quickly while others will push the deadlines.
Crunch time for writers is going to be February and March; but any time you can offer is good.
Yay! This was lots of fun last time. Sign me up!
Not sure how good I’ll be, or how well I’ll write it, but I am interested. Let’s see if I can Frazzle and Dazzle whoever the judges may be...
This will either be a tremendous trainwreck, or fabulously fantastic.
Let's do it.
5156674
It can be both.
5156677
There can only be one.
I can be a judge!
5156682
Roger, Roger!
Last time, this contest helped me create one of my best stories.
I’m in.
5156622
Groovy.
I'll take a prompt.
I'm in.
Sounds fun. Can I get a prompt when the time comes?
I’d like to join please
Count me in please!
I'll give it a shot. Sign me up.
I'll volunteer for editing and judging
Ah yeeeeeeeee boi let’s do this. I’m in.
Oh this looks fun. Sign me up
Not sure if life will let me complete it, but I'll give it a shot. Hit me!
I think a rules clarification needs to be made here.
On my entry in the last one, I had the "Pony on Earth" tile, so I had a pony character go through the mirror to the EqG world. I was told I had misinterpreted the tile, but I didn't receive a reply as to how I'd misinterpreted it until today. Apparently the tile was supposed to mean a pony remaining a pony as they appear on our Earth, not transforming and going to whatever EqG world is. That's fine, but I wish it had been made clear. Nowhere in my card did it say what interpretation I was to use, and nowhere in the rules blogpost did it say. Somehow I was expected to know I should visit the site where the cards are generated and find that they had notes on how to interpret the situational ones. Nowhere in the contest rules were we directed to do this.
If you're going to enforce the interpretations from that site, you need to make that a rule now, not after the fact.
I'm in for a bottle of gin.
Sounds like fun.