There's some controversy right now about the new OGL (Open Gaming License) published by Wizards of the Coast, the company behind Dungeons & Dragons.
I don't talk about D&D here a lot, since I know it's not relevant to Fimfiction, but I think it's worth getting this news out. Also they're owned by Hasbro, the same company that own MLP, so it's worth knowing what they're up to.
We had a fantastic set of stories entered into The Season 10 Bingo Writing Contest. It's not easy to come up with a story that ties together five randomly-selected ideas in a way that makes sense, AND make it a good story, so bravo to all the authors who managed it. You made our job as judges really hard.
This story was an instant success all around. It takes a challenging set of prompts - "Sapphire Shores tells a story to Angel Bunny" - and turns it into a captivating performance. It explores the changelings post-show in a way that's neither vindictive nor naïve, and the narrator just has so much sass.
I'd have said building any sort of coherent story from that prompt was pretty damn tricky. Capturing the energy of a pop-concert, or the intricacies of a one person stage play in writing seemed like one hell of a challenge as well. And I'd have been skeptical of anyone who claims they're writing an exciting, interesting, and unique 'x is a changeling' story in 2020.
But AugieDog don't care. He just did it all at once. And his Sapphire Shores is what keeps it together. She just oozes personality with every strut.
And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make... now that's the stuff.
A magnificent story from start to finish, Sapphire has a vibrant personality that shows through at every turn. The grammar and structure is flawless, the dialogue is excellent. One of the better changeling-stories I've read, which is all the more impressive given that it's headed by an obscure background pony.
I could tell from the second scene that I was going to like this, and it delivered, from the remarkably polite antagonist to the familiar behaviour of all the Daring Do fans. I was laughing all the way through.
Very interesting to read. It spun a tale of revenge, of lost friends, and of mistakes long gone. Plus, you know, shenanigans. I loved reading it, it had excellent grammar and used all five cards of its prompt.
All around a joy to read. Shining, Yearling, and Apep were a wonderful cast. Each brought loads of personality to the table, and the way they played off of each other created something greater than the sum of its already great parts.
Nice plot hook, good prompt usage, great characters - what's not to love?
This takes the most unlikely of prompts and creates something poignant from it.
That is the hardest prompt I've ever seen, and it worked out so well. It started off pretty shaggy, and the author needs to tone down the ten-bit language some; there were more than a few lightning bug errors in the first chapter. But it got better as it went, and it ended very strongly.
A wonderful story, but also a very sad one, too.
The story was engaging right away, the plot, characters and mechanics were solid, and it made me want to read the whole thing.
I love how empathetic its characters are shown to be, I love the narration style, and I love how tasteful the author handled this kind of story.
The story was a joy to read, despite the occasional typo. The absurdity was well-constructed, and I particularly liked how Diamond saw echoes of herself in Grogar.
Diamond Tiara + Grogar is the character duo I didn't know I was missing in my life. And everything around these two, every scene, every supporting character, every line of banter, was delightful. I loved it.
The essential idea is wonderfully strange, Grogar and Diamond Tiara on a Manehattan tour. But it works, it works very well. The two of them play off of each other very well, and Scorpan plays a good part as Grogar's idiot son-in-law.
Ultimately, this story strikes the most important note for me, it's a story that sustains its fascination until the end, and leaves the reader wishing for a sequel.
Telling a story with such disparate elements as Sombra, Sweetie Belle and the Power Ponies would be hard enough. Telling it in verse makes it extra impressive. Making it actually fun is the icing on the cake.
I’ve seen some bad attempts at verse on this site, and while this story doesn’t break any new ground poetically it at least understands rhyme and meter enough to not interrupt the flow of the story.
For those of us who hate Rainbow's awful parents with a fire burning like a brand against the dark, there are far too few stories illustrating just why they are. The. Worst. Holy Shit! That's Illegal! demonstrates in all the best ways why Windy Whistles and Bow Hot Hoof are complete and utter monsters, and should be in the custody of a suspicious and alert constabulary. Also, it's a rock-solid comedy about all the ways that empty-nest syndrome can make monsters of us all.
This story explains how the Tree of Harmony operates in modern Equestria as it sends Sunburst on an adventure with Daring Do. I did sometimes wonder if griffons are that friendly, but seeing as the story is set post-end-of-show, times have probably changed a bit. Overall, a really plesant story. The only drawback in the contest was that not all the characters on the card were included. Maybe this is how so much magic ends up in where ever the Equestria Girls live…
By the nature of this contest, I’m surprised more stories aren’t crackfics. Deep Undercover embraces it. Despite that, it captures character voices well, makes excellent use of prompts in a coherent plot, includes some laughs, and does it all in an efficient 1,200 words.
I like how the story entertained the idea of Stygian and Mudbriar being friends, and the conflict had me reading to the very end. I haven't seen Stygian's dialogue written before, but I think the author did an excellent job writing it.
It's a fun little story with an interesting take on an alternate Celestia/Daybreaker. It does lose a bit as you need to be a touch familiar with the Nightmare Knights comic source material to get everything, but that doesn't detract from the overall story. It's a well-written, cute little fic.
Out Of The Running really expands on The Running Of The Leaves, which was only seen in one episode of the whole show (as far as I can remember, anyway). Add that with kirin beginning to mingle in Ponyville, Diamond Tiara wanting to run, a drought, and Discord, and you have a winning formula. Some people might not like it, but I sure do. The way Diamond Tiara reluctantly accepts Discord's offer of help, only to get chased through the forest is very funny. Overall, I absolutely adored this story and I'm glad that it was entered in this contest.
My personal choice for runner-up is a rough gem which could have been really great with some polishing and the help of an editor. The quality of the writing increases from chapter to chapter though. Nevertheless, Mind of a Madman provides quality entertainment with an engaging writing style and unusual story construction.
The difficult contest prompts are very well utilised, the basic idea is interesting and the characterizations are well done. What makes the story great though is that every chapter is written as a different genre - and this isn’t just a gimmick, but a central story element: the shifts are forced by Pinkie and for good reason at that. Those shifts are executed near perfect in the later chapters and highly satisfying to read, especially because they make sense (in a Pinkie way). The story made me grin in appreciation and sometimes actually laugh, something that doesn’t happen often.
Apart from that, it’s simply a fun adventure with a cute and surprising twist at the end. Go read it.
I've got a weak spot for stories that take some absurd idea and run it straight. And The Were ... Thing was pretty much entirely that. I found it a remarkably funny showcase of an interesting idea. Making ponies who transform into random stuff feel like a normal part of its reality to me is enough to earn my seal of approval. If you want to see Sassaflash deal with the aftermath of another wild night as The Were ... Thing, then give this one a go!
Flim & Flam are wonderfully depicted in this story, and with all the misdirrections they achieve, I now fear that I myself would also fall for their scam should I be so (un)lucky to meet them IRL.
Any story that was able to wield two, completely different setting prompts together like this is a skilled person and is worthy of praise. The characters are excellent too. Zecora being the calm and stoic person returning to her homeland is on point. It makes sense and gives the story an intriguing plot. Gustave plays the opposite force to Zecora by being the rude, loud, out of place foreigner who gets in way over his head. Yet I still find him likable and the story did make better use of him than most stories I have read. But I think the greatest character in this fanfic is Torque, the wrench mare and the wild card of the third side in this trifecta of players onboard this journey. There is a twist dealing with her that is pretty nifty, so I won’t spoil it. It makes the interaction between Zecora and Gustave and her worth a second look. Also the blend and use of steampunk-ish technology AND having it as a plot point is freaking awesome. This story is good and I would like to see more like it.
If you write, or even talk about writing for any amount of time here you will hear about character development. If you devote real time to the subject you will come to consider theme, the essential differences that separate romance from adventure from tragedy. But there is yet another consideration that rarely seems to get more than a passing mention.
Tone.
Tone is not theme, or character, or any one thing. It is an aggregate sum of a story’s elements, that ineffable quality that makes the reader feel, something. A poor story will have no tone at all, and leave the reader feeling unsatisfied, as if one of their senses had cut out. But a good story, a good story’s tone brings a reader right into the middle of the setting, like a scent recalling half-forgotten memories.
A Rose Grows in Trottingham is a story made old by well-crafted tone, like something that might have appeared in some unpublished edition of the Strand magazine. It is not an easy thing to do, careful attention paid to dialogue, descriptions, character behavior, everything; it all comes together in a vision of times past.
This was my choice for runner up. As the name implies, this is a ponified version of the 1987 Cliver Barker film Hellraiser made more or less G for kids with some potentially disturbing imagery involving sugary sweets.
I’ll freely admit to never having seen Hellraiser because I am not a fan of horror movies. However, this was very enjoyable for the ‘let’s take an 80’s B movie and amp up the absurdity’ approach Moosetasm takes, which turns the ‘horror’ part of the story into something funny. Being that it is absurd humor, this story is obviously not for everyone, but not having seen the source material doesn’t make it any less enjoyable. For having the cards, [image of promptcard], Moosetasm did an excellent job incorporating everything and making the most out of three characters and two locations that could have only come together in a random generator.
Fancy Pants makes for an excellent straight man/protagonist, and the story seems, oddly enough, like something that could happen in the pony world. Provided you can laugh at the absurdity of it all, give it a shot.
Despite that long list, there were more good stories than we were able to mention here, so go check out the contest submissions folder for more.
Again, a big thank you to everyone who entered, to the editors who gave their time to help other authors out, and to the judges who helped to pick out the winners.
I need a nice long rest before doing this again, but the next contest in this series will be an Equestria Girls Bingo Writing Contest. Watch this space.
Congrats to the winners! I had fun participating, and that's what really matters. (You know, despite not even getting a mention. Nobody here likes Zephyr or Futurama, I guess.)
Runner Up, huh? That's better than I thought I would do! This was a fun contest, will be looking forward to a 'season 11 bingo writing contest' in the future.
Congratulations to everyone! Sorry we judges took so long to come to a decision. There were a lot of stories to sift through and a lot of great ones to argue over.
This contest was actually pretty challenging. My prompt was hard to make, but seeing what everybody else got, I think I got off easy. Congrats to the winners and everybody else who participated.
Congrats to all the winners, especially those with tricky prompts. My brain locked up when faced with both Manehattan and Saddle Arabia (and also Bulk Biceps, Twilight, and specifically Principal Celestia,) so seeing others pull through even worse mindbenders to produce quality stories is a humbling delight.
... but the next contest in this series will be an Equestria Girls Bingo Writing Contest.
You had my interest, but now you have my attention.
Congrats to all the winners, and thanks to all the judges for what must have been a major investment in time and effort into this community activity! Also, personal thanks to Bronywriter for the shout out for my story. This was a fun contest and I look forward to the next one!
I really lucked out in both the Season NIne contest and this one in that the outlines for my stories popped right into my head the minute I saw the prompt pictures. And of course now I'm seeing Sapphire and Pharynx as Mrs. Peel and Mr. Steed having undercover adventures across Equestria...
I had really hoped to enter this, especially after I was dealt Diamond Tiara thus practically demanding a sequel to my entry from last time, but the other prompts floored me. I could work in Principal Celestia, but Mount Aris plus the Ancestral Lands was one setting too many for me.
And yet these authors produced some very impressive results. I'm now very keen to read a load of these! Congrats to the winners and all those mentioned here!
Congrats to the winners! I had fun participating, and that's what really matters. (You know, despite not even getting a mention. Nobody here likes Zephyr or Futurama, I guess.)
Runner Up, huh? That's better than I thought I would do!
This was a fun contest, will be looking forward to a 'season 11 bingo writing contest' in the future.
5289475
I did, I promise.
Congratulations to everyone! Sorry we judges took so long to come to a decision. There were a lot of stories to sift through and a lot of great ones to argue over.
Thanks very much! I can't complain about finishing second to "All You Need is Love," though!
Congrats to the winners! Tartarus Raiser and Bowl Cuts Are For Heroes are two of my favorite recent stories!
This contest was actually pretty challenging. My prompt was hard to make, but seeing what everybody else got, I think I got off easy. Congrats to the winners and everybody else who participated.
Also, I did not write "The Were... Thing". That was MisterNick.
5289502
Dammit! Fixed.
Congratulations to the winners. Well done.
Congrats to all the winners, especially those with tricky prompts. My brain locked up when faced with both Manehattan and Saddle Arabia (and also Bulk Biceps, Twilight, and specifically Principal Celestia,) so seeing others pull through even worse mindbenders to produce quality stories is a humbling delight.
Ah, congratulations to the winners! And I'm not surprised to see All You Need is Love take the top spot. :)
Congrats to all the winners, and thanks to all the judges for what must have been a major investment in time and effort into this community activity! Also, personal thanks to Bronywriter for the shout out for my story. This was a fun contest and I look forward to the next one!
Thanks, folks!
I really lucked out in both the Season NIne contest and this one in that the outlines for my stories popped right into my head the minute I saw the prompt pictures. And of course now I'm seeing Sapphire and Pharynx as Mrs. Peel and Mr. Steed having undercover adventures across Equestria...
Mike
Btw, there are still prompt cards available if anybody wants a random one. No rules, no deadlines, just fun. Ask if you're interested.
Thank y'all for the mention and for hosting this contest!
Congratulations to all the awesome participants! I admire Augie and Kris a ton, and I'm very flattered to be placed in the winners' circle with them.
Well, that's a ton of awesome-looking stories!
I had really hoped to enter this, especially after I was dealt Diamond Tiara thus practically demanding a sequel to my entry from last time, but the other prompts floored me. I could work in Principal Celestia, but Mount Aris plus the Ancestral Lands was one setting too many for me.
And yet these authors produced some very impressive results. I'm now very keen to read a load of these! Congrats to the winners and all those mentioned here!
Oh, and - Equestria Girls Bingo? Heck yeah.