Ask a clarifying question, talk about my own time use, and mention an idea for testing something out: 1 upvote.

Give a link to a process document explaining how a very good writer writes paragraphs: 2 upvotes.

Mention blood sacrifices: 4 upvotes.

Good to know where we stand.

In the Aztec Empire, apparently.

4377504
Are you kidding? We're on the internet. The Aztecs had civilization.

4376130
I have absolutely no problem with people entering multiple stories as long as:

1) They all get written in the time allotted for the competition
2) They all stand on their own
3) Multiple stories weren't entered at the expense of taking the time to do some basic polish on the others.

Your multiple story entry was fine - nothing wrong.

The spoon fics might have been okay if the second one (in three parts) wasn't included. That's the one that got on my nerves as it doesn't actually fit the story into the word limit. It actively went around it.

Wow. Uh.

So this whole thing happened while I was out at a convention and only now am I even finding out this was being talked about.

I feel like I'm being called out here, but I'm not sure what to say. So. Uh.

Believe this or don't, but my actions are coming from a place of fundamental insecurity … but also from a place of wanting strong institutions. The M/J idea was a fusion of the two. The notion that I might be hurting someone by my actions is practically a paralytic agent. I have no problem with competing with people who want to compete with me, but take one look at the comments of the M/J thread and it's pretty clear that not everyone does. And frankly I resent the attempt to make me feel like a shitlord for proposing a system that offers additional recognition to novice authors while changing nothing about the competition for the folks who want it to stay the same. (Seriously, that's why I went out of my way to note that Master tier was available to everyone on an opt-in basis. That's non-negotiable. Something that labels authors as inferior until they prove themselves is exactly the opposite of the problem I was trying to solve.)

4372544

Usain Bolt doesn't sit out the hundred because he wins too often.

I acknowledge that my insecurity drove me to a suggestion that was stupid, and I acknowledge that it was stupid.

Are you willing to give me a moment of empathy here? If I keep winning — and let's look at the fucking statistics and say that, on the whole, I will; the only short-story round I haven't medaled is the one I deliberately went for Most Controversial, and over time I have also begun medaling in the minifics, so if anything I appear to be improving even as the competition grows — then I get to hear all the sideways comments about the medalists looking familiar, and the disappointment over getting knocked out of the finals, and people saying that having a chance to actually be recognized with Golden J's might actually get them writing for the Writeoffs again, and all I can think is, "There's only so much recognition to go around, and I'm vacuuming it up." Yes, yes, that's a tragic problem, and fuck me for having it, how dare I not think I deserve the acclaim.

So I speak up, and that's worse, because now trying to solve what I perceive as a problem has become bragging, and people resent me for it more.

Did I mention that the idea of dropping out to encourage competition was stupid? Would it help if I flogged myself even more?

Even this post is probably going to make things worse, because now I'm getting upset at people for getting upset with me, and down the downward spiral we go. But I'm forcing myself, against my usual style of "see commentary on an important topic and then overanalyze it to death until my brain locks up and then end up staying silent", because a large and normally-sensible part of me is saying that silence here is worse.

4373535

CiG and horizon, by the very idea of sitting out a competition, is an arrogant way of saying, "We're too good for everyone else." If they truly believe the point of this group is to improve and become better writers through competitions, this shouldn't even have crossed their minds. The only reason they win is because they know their audiences and write what they like to read. My response: SO WHAT? I've written stuff my audience likes and have gathered probably the second highest follower count in this group, but I adamantly refuse to believe that, because I know my audience, I need to give others a "fair chance". If this is how they think, they should be banned from this group for exerting their elitism to make us all feel inferior.

I do have to say something while I've got the inner editor suppressed …

Fuck you. Just, fuck you.

Fuck you for projecting. For talking about bans without giving me the benefit of the doubt. (Not that I'm seriously worried others here will listen to you; and not even then, because if the Writeoff collectively really would feel better without me here, I'd be gone before they could boot me.) Fuck you for assuming my self-doubt is incompatible with a desire to help.

And fuck you (this is where I insert tongue firmly in cheek ) for having more FIMFic followers than me, because it's a reminder that everything I've learned about writing isn't translating into Internet fame, and if I want to become an actual writer instead of That Guy Who Wins The Writeoffs, I've got a hell of a long way left to go.

If you all will excuse me, I'm going to go ignore both this thread and my FIMFiction notifications for a couple of days now. Oh, hell, who am I kidding, this is going to eat at me so badly I won't make it that long. I'm gonna try for 24 hours though.

h

Wait, what? No. I came here because there's competition, guys! I want to give Cold in Gardez and Horizon a chance to win too, but I'm not going to bow out just to let it happen! They are too awesome for me to do that to them.

I haven't been able to participate in an event for a while, but unlurking to toss in my two cents.

A while ago, I wrote an entry for this group that won gold medal. The fic went on to be featured by the Royal Canterlot Library.

I also wrote a story called Further than Before. It's only 700 words. Go ahead and read it. Did you notice how the central plot element relied on Rainbow Dash—a pegasus who flies on a daily basis—not understanding the basics of how a horizon works? Can you feel the viscous angst in RD's monologue? Did you catch that unfortunate subtext of Rarity hoping RD died? This story is a train wreck.

I am not telling you this as a rags-to-riches story. Further than Before was written 10 months after All of It, for Her. Getting a shiny gold sticker from The Writeoff Association and from Royal Canterlot Library did not turn me into a literary god. I can write good stories, and I can write awful stories. Because I'm human.

Have you thought about why the competition is anonymous? It's because it's not about the authors. It's about the stories. It doesn't matter if you look up to me, or if you think I'm an overprivileged piece of shit, because you're not competing against me. You wrote a story. I wrote a story. We're discussing what we did right. We're discussing what we did wrong. We're improving, every one of us.

Don't be insecure. Don't be spiteful. Don't be needy. Don't be cynical. Don't be callous. Don't be disheartened.

Let's make art together.