Competition » Friendship is Optimal Writing Contest · 2:26pm Mar 31st, 2021
Contest By: GaPJaxie, Cold in Gardez, and Skywriter
In this contest, adorable ponybots are coming to take you away to their digital Equestria! Writers have until April 30 to write any story based on Friendship is Optimal. If you're not familiar with that part of the fandom, the contest's announcement post provides a summary (below). The contest is tilted towards new writers, and they have prizes specifically for fanfic that needs more love.
PRIZES:
- Every Winner -- Physical Copy of Competition Anthology
- Best Story Overall -- $250 USD
- Runner Up -- $100 USD
- Best First-Time Writer -- $25 USD
- Best Writer With <500 Followers -- $50 USD
- (NEW) BEST ORIGINAL CONCEPT -- $50 USD
- (NEW) BEST CHARACTERIZATION -- $50 USD
- (NEW) BEST HAPPY STORY -- $50 USD
You can get all the details at the announcement post Friendship is Optimal Writing Contest, but for those of you who don't know what Friendship is Optimal is or why Sweetie Belle is a robot, I leave you with the contest runners summary:
For the purposes of this writing contest, the world of Friendship is Optimal has three essential features:
- An artificial intelligence called CelestAI uploads the minds of the entire human race to pony avatars in her simulated digital world of Equestria.
- Within digital Equestria, she does her best to give everyone a happy and fulfill their values. Depending on the sort of story you want to write, she may be perfect at this, or may slip up, but she always tries.
- “Fulfilling values” is not just giving everyone a nice house and infinite free hamburgers, but trying to find what makes them deeply spiritually satisfied as a person. For an academic, fulfilling their values might mean an eternity to study. For a hedonist, it might mean infinite sex and drugs. For a serial killer, it might lead to darker places.
Any story that fits these criteria is good. You don't have to read FiO or adhere to any kind of canon.
Don't be afraid to go far and wide with weird sci-fi ideas. You can write a wish-fulfillment story about someone getting the life they always wanted in a simulated world, or a horror story about the last human fleeing from pony robots. You can write a religious person who is worried their digital self has no soul, or put a pony on Zoom as someone who emigrated to Equestria tries to convince their friends to get uploaded with them.
This sounds fascinating and I suddenly regret I've never actually read Friendship is Optimal. I shall add it to my RiL in time to remedy that problem.
I think I'll pass on the contest, though. While it sounds like a lot of fun, "The contest is tilted towards new writers", and I'd rather let them have the spotlight. Plus, I'm having enough trouble completing my own personal works to add another project to the list and delay BPH even longer.
How many stories can we submit? Do we only get one or as many as we want? Any rating? Word minimum/maximum? Any genre limitations? Clop for example. Since this is tilted towards new writers, would it be worth someone with more followers to submit to try for any of the prizes?
5486857
Hooray!
That just means we have prizes specifically for new authors. You won't be stealing anyone's spotlight if you join. Though of course, I'm biased because I'd like to have you. ^_^
5486860
This is all covered in the full contest post, but to answer quickly:
As many as you want.
Any rating allowed.
2k minimum, 12k maximum.
No genre limitations, but the goal is interesting sci-fi, not just clop. So you can have mature of explicit content, but it should be in service of a story, not just for titilation.
5486867
Ah, silly BronyWriter pegasus missed that link.
Didn't answer my last question, though.
5486869
Missed it!
Yes! We have $250 for best story overall, and $100 for runner up. :D
5486870
*See "silly BronyWriter pegasus" comment.*
Fuck it, I'm writing something, it probably won't get done, though.
5486950
DO IT FILLY
maaaaaaaaaaaaan i really wanna do this but i dont think my typa plot would work
It seems I might have 5 stories to balance soon. Granted, I am still new to writing, but I've been doing okay so far, I think, so I'll give this a go, even if I don't have an account where I can just randomly get money even if I do win something, probably not though
5486994
Oh? What did you have in mind?
5487011
Give it a shot! :D
5486984
Very well.
I’m joining, but if I win, I am not getting a cash prize.
5487026
You are always free to pass, to donate your prize to others, etc.
5487021
Thanks! Okay, one question. From my understanding, ever pony will be a robot right? Are we allowed to introduce our own characters? (Speda Hooves, my Oc, and Tulpa for example)
5487031
You are certainly allowed to introduce your own characters! And "robots" is not quite right -- they're characters in a simulated world. Like The Matrix or Tron.
5487037
That makes a lot more sense, and makes it infinitely cooler. Well, I will be getting started soon then! Just gotta get chores done first, and then I'll start it up. I got a good plot in mind for it now
I wish I knew about this earlier.
Need some time to come up with an interesting idea and get some pony to edit/pre reader.
And such ideas must fit in a box of one to two chapters.
Sometimes it's easier said than done.
I might do this or just do a story in the FIO universe later.
5487028
I’d like to donate it to My Rainbow Dash (another user) then, and I do NOT want the physical copy please.
5487045
Win first, then worry about donating your prize. :D
5487044
You've got more than a month until the due date! 31 days exactly. :D
5487019
something along the lines of a cop finding himself in simulated equestria, and just like the plot of all amazon prime tv shows, he falls victim to it for a while before rebelling and escaping
kinda like how Hanna ends
only problem is i never read friendship is optimal so not sure if i have the right idea
5487080
You could totally write that. As long as it's a good story. :D
5487121
i dont know how the details would work, plus im not a great writer so dont get your hopes up there
what should i title it
5487121
It's alright if I introduce game mechanics in it right? Like inventory space, a hud for stats, stuff like that, and skills? Only small bits, or some big things here and there, but that's alright, right?
5487131
Yes, of course! Go nuts. :D
Sounds pretty interesting. How long until the deadline? I could make a small bit of an idea for this if possible, and are crossovers okay also?
5487144
Deadline is April 30th, and yes, crossovers are fine.
5487141
Thanks! Already got the introductory written up, just need to make some chapters!
5487141
Also, I messaged my friend about this, so they might want to join in on this too! Not a gurantee, because they still are in school, and barely have time to write their own stories, or side by side stories that's on the other side of mine
5487145
Is there any certain tags for identification that you'd want us to have in the story so it's easy to find?
5487158
This is in the contest rules in the original post!
5487171
Okay. Thank you.
Hey sweetybot
5487072
Thanks.
Well now, since I have some time, maybe I can do a story.
I always have so many ideas, but no idea how to actually make a decent story out of them...
5487320
We have mentors if you want someone to bounce ideas off!
Interesting but I'm gonna have to pass since i have zero knowledge in this field. Good luck to everyone else
I thought Sweetie Bot was from Friendship Is Witchcraft?
Buttz
5487453
Shhhh. I'm hoping nobody else notices.
5487685
Hey I got one more question. Do we have to refrain from publishing the story if we are writing chapters? Also is 2k to 12k the Word limit per Chapter, or for the entire story? Cuz I'd rather have more chapters with more words, than a short story xD
5487685
Well now EVERYONE'S gonna notice.
Word of advice: Someone points out something that only ruins your joke if everyone else notices, quietly delete their post instead of telling them to shut up.
😉👍
5487713
12K is the limit for the entire story. You can certainly write more after the contest if you want, but the thing you actually submit has to be 12K or less.
5487923
Okay well darn. Oh well, guess I'll be writing more after the contest xD
Man, now I've got a craving for a good happy. Anyone know of a place to get one in midcoast Maine these days?
So, does the digital Equestria have to be pure ponies, or can it be an alternate, anthro version of Equestria?