Seasons Greetings all you fine colts and fillies! It’s that time of year again where we snuggle up to a fire with a mug of cider and sing carols under a tree. Possibly. But in this little corner of the internet, we here at No Author Left Unnoticed prefer to buckle down in front of a computer screen and write, write, write!

This is the official announcement thread for our latest writing contest. The last competition went so well, we figured another one was due! But this time, we’ve heard your cries for longer stories, and that’s exactly what we have planned.

This competition will run through the entirety of November and December 2019. That means the deadline for this competition will be the morning of January 1, 2020. Our theme for this competition shall be:

Got a romantic comedy bouncing around your mind set during Hearts and Hooves Day? Great! Want to write a spooky, scary tale of horror and woe about Nightmare Night? Fabulous! Thinking about writing an Equestria Girls Save Christmas fic? Go for it! Want to make Fluttershy cry? Well, okay then...

The only limitation is the word count, and that the story must be a new story created for this competition. And that brings us to a unique twist for this competition…

There are actually two competitions! If you are feeling laconic this holiday season, we will be accepting any Holiday-themed fic into a “Short Entry” folder. Stories entered here should be between 7k and 10k words long, though we’ll forgive missing either one by a hair.

If, however, you are feeling verbose and have a longer tale to tell, a second folder called “Long Form” will be there for your works that go over 10k words, with a soft cap at 30k. Which means we’ll, again, forgive you going just a hair over.

We ask two things of our competitors. First, please allow the Admin team at least two weeks to read through all the entries. And second, we ask that you only submit to one folder, or the other. If you write two fics, then make sure to pick your favorite for contention.

So, in brief:

• The story must be themed after the Holidays (your choice of holiday)!
• The story must be new!
• The story must be submitted by New Year’s Day!
• Short Stories between 7 and 10 thousand words in the Short Entry Folder
• Long Stories between 10 and 30 thousand words in the Long Form Folder

Finally, there is a prompt this time, but only to inspire those who don’t already have an idea ready to go! Said prompt shall be three pictures placed below this post, depicting our favorite ponies and pony-turned-humans enjoying the holidays!

So, let’s get scribbling, my little authors!

I was actually going to ask later today if there was a another writing prompt around the corner and if not to offer to run one, hehe.

7040497
I've been looking for an excuse to use some of my characters in a Hearth's Warming story, and you have just given me all the motivation I needed.

7040512
We had this planned since people here showed interest in a longer writing competition. We just needed October as a breather space.

7040536
Glad we could help!

I think I'm going to try to enter this competition and join the fun this time!

7040545
So you're saying I should ambush you after this to steal all your breathing space, got it!

7040497 As with all the contests on this site, I'll promote this one on my user page in an attempt to get you more contenders. Good luck!

7040588
Thanks very much! We always appreciate more contenders!

7040497
Count me in.

Ooh, fun!! Since the deadline is a couple months away, I'm definitely gonna try for this one

7040555

7040760

7040928
Looking forward to reading what you come up with!

7044757
Can we submit before New Years Day?

7044814
If the story is complete, yes, you may.

7045142
Thanks.

7040497

Stories entered here should be between 7k and 10k words long, though we’ll forgive missing either one by a hair.

Is 5200 words more than "a hair?"

7048478
If you're submitting for the shorter story, yes. That's a bit more.

If it's for the 30k-limit? Nah, you're good.

7048486
Just to ensure I wasn't ambiguous, what I mean is, the fic is 5200 words total--not 5200 over.

Thanks

7048490
Oh. Yeah, if hour fic is 5k words, I’m sure it’s fine for the short story entry.

7048543

7040497

I have a Hearth's Warming Eve story planned for this year again. Something very long this time. If it fits the wordcount, I'll submit it to the contest.^^

6900 words.... close enough!

TFor Better and for Worse

• MLP: FiM
• Romance
• Drama

It was the best of Hearth's Warmings, it was the worst of Hearth's Warmings. Actually, no: definitely the worst.

• Sex
• Rainbow Dash
• Rarity
• Sweetie Belle

SockPuppet · 6.9k words  ·  209  15 · 3.1k views

I was going to enter this... but it doesn’t look like I’ll finish in time. Oh well.

I'm surprised by the small number of entries. Is everypony waiting for the last minute?

7094320
Heh, I do want to but unless I can do ten chapter in five days it's not likely lmao.

7094320

I have my story written and I'm working on editing it now. Looks like it'll be ready in time.

TThe Legend of Daring Do

• MLP: FiM
• Adventure
• Sad
• Slice of Life

As Hearth’s Warming approaches, Rainbow Dash seeks Twilight Sparkle’s assistance in retelling an adventure story in an effort to bring back the sister she never knew.

• Alt. Universe
• Rainbow Dash
• Braeburn
• Daring Do
• Nurse Redheart
• Fleetfoot

The Red Parade · 40k words  ·  33  4 · 833 views

Okay, so far so good, I've reached the minimum word count. I've got like six more chapters to blaze through before it's done. Here's hoping I can type as fast as I can talk.

Edit: that was... quite the ride, but I have actually completed it!

7040497
Yeah, so upon completion I now realize I went just a tiny bit over the soft cap... and by a tiny bit I mean ten thousand words over the soft cap. Is that, er... acceptable? Or do I have to take my story to the sawing board?

7100996
I think that will be acceptable. Congrats on making it under the line!

7101035

Oh awesome, thanks. And yeah, it was a wild ride!

Good luck everypony!!!!