Link to the Official Contest Post

Hi guys! This thread's here for y'all to discuss ideas for the contest, ask questions about anything you want clarified, etc. If you guys have any questions about the rules or somesuch, feel free to ask in here!

Edit:

Most of my questions are answered in that post so my last one is:

Can we also post it here if its several parts and then to EQD when complete?

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1: After you upload your story to FIMFiction (or Google Docs), you submit it using this handy dandy form.
2: Ideally, you publish your story once it's completed. At the very least, make sue it's complete by the time submissions close.
3: Submissions close on January 24th, 11:59PM CST

So, I have an idea to go off the MLD prompt, but it's not a human finding a pony in a box. It's actually the other way around. Is that okay?

So do we use the prompts listed or rewrite/improve an old fic (Cupcakes, Past Sins, etc.)?

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The prompts, as listed, are intended as the basis for your entry (the same as they would be in any writing contest using prompts). If the prompt specifies something, such as "A human finds a young pony abandoned in a cardboard box," then you're expected to abide by that within your story. It doesn't really count as following the prompt if your story is about a pony finding a young human abandoned in a steel cage, y'know?

The old stories are there to provide the "spirit" of your entry, and are essentially an inspiration point to inform the story's tone and direction. If you're writing your entry based on the Cupcakes prompt, for instance, you should probably be trying for something closer to dark horror than a lighthearted comedy where Pinkie's darkest secret is that she loves healthy food--since, y'know, that's not particularly anything to do with what Cupcakes stood for.

So, basically, you follow the prompt and come up with your story from there (you are, of course, free to interpret and play with the wording of the prompts--the fact that Pinkie Pie invites a friend to Sugarcube Corner, for instance, does NOT have to mean that she's the one unveiling the dark surprise), using the old story the prompt was based on to inform what sort of tone your story you take.

Hope that helps clear things up a bit.

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So no Pony Rainbow finding toddler human EqG Rainbow in a box in Equestria? Awww...

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Alright, thank you.

Um, hi. I'm a newbie to Fimfic, and in general I've lurked more than I've contributed. I mean to change that at least a little in 2015. :)

I do have some dumb questions however. Bear with me please. Sorry if this is obvious and/or covered elsewhere.

--So far I've been typing up a draft on Google Docs (.docx format). How would I submit that? Is it a question of using the Share function and not the Submission form or Fimfic? Or would I copy and paste the text into boxes here? What would I do?

--I have no real clue, even roughly, how many words I've been typing. I'm currently on page 11 and will probably edit that before going further. But in general, if you have medium-density text (some dialogue) and are mostly typing in Arial font, 12 point type, single spaced, roughly how many pages equals 1,000 words, one, two? I'd like to know early whether I need to edit for "show don't tell" purposes and add more words, or to edit for "word count OMG" purposes and shorten the thing. :)

--Biggest thing though? I only have the vaguest, most general idea of what "Past Sins" is. I've read the prompt, know who/what Nyx is, get that the thing is at least a little about drama and "dark secrets". And I've decided to run with the prompt anyway since I know who my bad guy would be and know who the reincarnation is, and why. But does it really truly HAVE TO be a Nightmare Moon/Nyx combo? I do have a legitimate MLP bad guy picked, know why the reincarnation-in-Equestria proper is being done and know who it is (a filly) and how it got done. I have it figured out, but it isn't Nightmare Moon or an OC clone here. It's....a little bit more disturbing than that, potentially.

(Seriously, all you have to ask is: Is there a filly who likes show tunes, and performances of that nature? And is there an MLP bad guy who likes making ponies _sing and dance, forever_?)

I hope this can work, I really do. :)

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-The entry form for the competition would seem to let you submit the link if it's a public Google Doc, no worries there. I'd advise uploading it to FimFiction anyway, just for more exposure and giving more people a chance to read it. The 'Stories' section of the FAQ walks you through the nitty-gritty of that.
-The Tools menu in a Google Doc (and most other word processors) has a word count function. Use that, and it'll give you an exact value of how much you've typed so far. FimFiction's mechanics can sometimes appear to inflate that if it's submitted to the site, but I wouldn't worry about that too much.
-Use any villain from the show you like. You only have to follow the broad strokes of the prompt, rather than following the story to the letter. If you have a good and fitting idea that aligns with the prompt, go for it.

3943671 Hey there, thanks for the reply. :)

Sorry to go on a bit. I knew some of this was obvious but in the heat of the moment (the "OMG I have something to write, actually!!" moment), sometimes you just aren't fit for anything but typing words and more words. You know? :)

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I ken the feeling exactly. Hope the reply helps!

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Roughly 2.5 pages per 1k on a gdoc. I'm not sure how to change the spacing on a gdoc, but I'll assume medium is normal. So 11 pages is roughly 4k.

What you do is click share, click advanced, click change on anyone who has the link, and change it to anyone who has the link can comment. Be careful not to set it to public.

And your best bet is to read the fic.

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Thank you for running this again! T'was great to participate in the last time round, and I'll be doing it again.

A couple of questions. Will there be any library or group set up where participants and readers can see stories as they're submitted, rather than just the form? Seeing the other stories people wrote roll in throughout the last contest and offering feedback was part of the fun, and it'd be nice for the same system to apply again. Even if a new group's a bit of a fankle, it might be an idea to resurrect the old group or to set up a dedicated folder in this one.

Also, what's the shape of the judging process? Same judging panel/audience participation stages as the last Dangerous Game competition, or something different?

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For the first question, there's a folder in this group titled 'Contest Entries.'

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We'll add entries to this group (you can see there's now a Contest Entries folder) as they pour in, so if you have notifications for this group turned on, you'll see stuff as it comes in.

As for judging, it's going to mirror Outside Insight's process more than the original Most Dangerous Game. The entries will be split up into pools, and teams of three judges per pool will vote Yay or Nay on the stories. Majority Yay votes moves the story on to the next round. Rinse and repeat until we have a reasonable pool of finalists, at which point the judges will start ranking a Top X list for the finalists, which'll give each story points based on how high that judge ranked it, and this'll be used to determine who wins and where everyone places and whatnot.

There'll be a post a bit further down the line that'll explain the specifics and who exactly is judging, but that's about the gist of it.

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Ah, much obliged. Definitely a folder to keep an eye on, and thanks for clarifying.

I just got my idea for my story but I'm pretty nervous about it. :/ I'm going to go with the My Little Dashie prompt.

Questions:
When writing the "spirit" of the story, does that mean sticking with the timeline of the story or does that count as plagiarism? (In Past Sins, a cult tries to revive Nightmare Moon and later on there's the Reunion of the Royal Pony Sisters. So is it fair game to use a different cult to revive a different villain and later on have some play not about Celestia and Luna but maybe about the defeat of Discord to change it up lightly (in our own words of coarse)). I feel like that would have the spirit of the story but would that be considered plagiarizing?

Stupid question: Can we have proofreaders for these fics?

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When writing the "spirit" of the story, does that mean sticking with the timeline of the story or does that count as plagiarism?

Nope and nope.

Can we have proofreaders for these fics?

Sure

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Thanks

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What is the spirit of the story? The best way to answer that is literally. Spirit is sometimes also called soul. So it's the soul of the story. The heart, if you will. Does that help?

Now of course everyone is going to have a different idea on what the spirit of the story is, but that's what makes writers different, how we interpret the spirit of a story. So no one can tell you what to write, nor how, it's up to you to interpret it.

But that's where writers shine.

3942336 Quick question, how far does the grace on the word count extend? I've got a story stubornly sitting at 15,200 words and was wondering if that'd still squeek through.

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200 words here or there will probably be fine.

Hello. I've been spending my time writing for the contest, and I hope you don't mind me asking you guys a (very late) question. I took up the FoE prompt, and well, part of me fears I might be going a bit too far.

I don't show anything explicit or graphic, but I imply and explain quite a bit. My story contains the equine slave trade, forced prostitution of said slaves, in a whorehouse which is seen but never explored. The first person POV narrator does not candy coat their situation and seeing it angers the POV at the exploitation of the girls and that she's in no situation to save them, she has to leave them be, which frustrates her.

The story is effectively hardboiled POV infiltrates slaver encampment to save a pony from equine-trafficers. I know there is no way this story's gonna be rated Teen and it's not for kiddies. I was aiming for a low M / 17+ (if that makes any sense). Outside of this scene, there's nothing really too suggestive, and it does contain violence and killing, but goreless and not very bloody killing. I've read the rules and think it's ok, but it's better I ask.

Is acceptable by EqD's standards?
If you have any questions, want more clarification, or want to see it for yourself just ask.

3984345 Hi Nick, could you pm me a couple excerpts so I can see how graphic it's gonna get? I don't want to say yes or no without seeing how bad it'll be first.

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PM sent, fingers crossed.

4000812 Got it and shall ask the consensus asap!

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Is there a way to see the list of submitted stories? Or just to verify that my entry was indeed added to the list?

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You're in

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I second this
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????

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I just want to check if mine went through. I sent it yesterday and newer stories than mine are being added to the contest folder

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Yours wasn't published when I checked, and I haven't checked since. I assume, then, that it's been published?

4007106 It's published now! Thanks for the quick response

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I just wanted to make sure my story went through. It's pretty close to the deadline, now, and I haven't seen it show up in the folder yet. I wouldn't want to miss the deadline due to technical shenaniganry of some kind.

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Don't worry, it went through.

4007796 Alright. Thanks for the response!

Just a few minutes left. Good luck to everyone who entered! (Including me. What, am I not allowed to wish myself good luck?)

And now we play the waiting game.
...I hate this game.

Ey yo, where do I gets me a list of all the entries? :B

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I'm with him. I submitted mine through Google Documents (I'll do the fimfic version later), I wanted to confirm that you guys got my submission. I'm kinda sad I can't do some editing for it to the entry, but it is what it is, and I'm quite happy I finished what I did.

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I've added all the published entrants to the folder. There a few unpublished stories and a bunch of GDocs entries, so the folder has maybe 60-75% of all entries? On top of that, I think Obs is coming up with an official list of all entrants he's gonna be posting soonish.

And Nick, I saw your thing, so you're good to go.

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My entry was originally submitted in gdocs. But the Fimfiction part just passed moderation.
Here's the link to it if that helps.
I hope it could be switched around which one is shown in the master post. Thanks. :)

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Same dealie with me. Mine went up earlier today, and here it is.

Much appreciated if you'd add it to the folder.

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And the same with me!

We've got some solid entries here. Best of luck to everyone!

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The entries can be found here, if no one else ever pointed them out to you.

3942336 Quick question. A few gramatical tweaks have been suggested to me since the contest deadline, should I hold off on any changes to the text until juding is over or are slight alterations allowed?