SUBMISSIONS ARE CLOSED.
[VOTE HERE]

Original Post:
Some of you guys might have seen we are holding a contest to celebrate getting 3000 members in the transformation group. Well, in the middle of the contest one of our group members, Canary In The Coal Mine, decided the contest wasn't big enough and decided to up the ante and available prize pool. On behalf of everyone, I want to express my huge thanks for Canary for helping out the group and rewarding the contest authors. Before I go an further, let's take a look at what the prize totals have been increased to!

1st Place - $90 Cash

2nd Place - $50 Cash

3rd Place - $20 Cash

4th Place - $10 Cash

Oooo, 90 bucks for first place. That's enough for Fallout 4, plus like thirty bucks worth of oats and hoof polish. Well, regardless on what you plan to buy, I think those are some incredible rewards that you can earn just for writing a fun little transformation story for this contest. And heck, it's fun to write transformation stories even without the promise of cash, so why not use this story as an excuse to get writing? So, let's get down to it, shall we? What are these contest rules again? Let's recap!

STORY CONTEST RULES!
The theme of this contest is common transformation story tropes. Tropes are well known scenarios or "plot points" that are commonly seen in stories and movies. For example, a character in a transformation story who changes species, and then starts to act more like their new species, would be the trope called My Instincts Are Showing. That's just one example, and there are literally hundreds of tropes out there that cover every little bit of transformation stories that we all know and love. If you're totally lost and want a handy list of transformation Tropes, then check out the list on this page for a great selection of tropes you can use. Alright, now that we're all in the know, contest rules!

1: Your story must include a transformation.
2: Your story must be between 3K-15K words.
3: You may only submit one story.
4: Your story must contain at least three story tropes, and you must state what they are. At least one of the three has to be related to the transformation itself. The more creative your combination of tropes, the more interesting your story usually becomes!
5: The contest ends on December 7th, 2015. This in an extension of the original due date, and should give you plenty of time to write a story that's just a few thousand words.
6: Stories must be rated Everyone or Teen. Trust me, I love a good clopfic as much as anyone, but let's try and keep this a contest for the masses, so don't write about any explicit sexual content or gore.
7: No self insert, or deliberate bronies in the story. You can have human to pony transformation, and the protagonist can know what MLP is and know a few of the characters, but avoid writing a cringe filled, wish-fulfillment brony story (e.g. “this is the story of WoodenToaster turning into his OC!”)
8: Your submission to this contest must be an original story, and not something already published.
8b: Your story must not be made publically viewable until the contest and voting are over. Letting your selected prereaders or editors read it is fine, just don't publish the story in order to keep contest voting as unbiased as possible.

Okay, okay, jeez, enough rule talk already! Just let me enter!
To enter, please submit a link to your (unpublished) story via private message to DDRMASTERM or TwistedSpectrum . We will then upload all submissions to a google doc and post the links once the voting phase begins. Once again, for the sake of anonymity, please do not state what fic you wrote until after the contest ends. Once the contest voting is over and winners are announced, we encourage everyone to publish their story on FimFic for posterity (and, of course, to get credit for your hard work!)

As always, post any questions below, or message myself or DDRMASTERM with "CONTEST" in the subject line. I am normally completely abysmal in responding to message quickly, but I hereby Pinkie Pie Swear that I will respond to any CONTEST message within 24 hours. Now good luck with your stories everyone! Have fun with it! Win some cash! Get to writing! There's over a hundred bucks of prize money out there waiting for you to nab!

4850258 I wasn't aware that there was a contest going on! o.o I guess I should check my feed more.

Joining~

edit...

Your story must contain at least three story tropes

Damn... This is more difficult that I thought. Whew...

another edit...
wait... are these three tropes only limited to transformation-related tropes, or can they be any tropes (as long as they're not sub-tropes)?

An extension! Huzzah!

4850271
You should have at least one transformation trope, but that shouldn't be hard seeing as how almost any part of a transformation scene will fit one of the tropes listed here. Your other two tropes can be normal story tropes, or you can have all 3 be related to transformations.

In all honestly, don't let the trope rule scare you away from the contest. Our number one goal with this contest is to get more authors writing, the last thing we want to do is scare away writers because they are intimidated by the idea of trying to find tropes. If you're really having trouble trying to figure those out, just write your transformation story like normal without worrying too much about the tropes, and then after you are done with the story, ask a friend or prereader to help identify the story tropes you used. Authors end up using dozens of tropes in every story, they just don't always realize it. So long story short, write what you wanna write, if you're struggling with the trope rule ask a friend for help.

4850428
First prize is 60 pounds, second place is 32 pounds, and so on.

For future reference, Google has a built in currency converter. Just search for "$90 to british pounds" or whatever number you want. Pretty handy resource!

4850435 Well, alrighty then. Here goes nothing~

4850258

7: No self insert, or deliberate bronies in the story

Aw man... I was gonna write a self-insert where I transform into a powerful gary stu red and black alicorn with blades on the tips of my wings that are super duper sharp. And of course I'd get all the bitches, because that's what gary stus do.

For real though, I didn't know you were still around, Spectrum. How come you stopped writing?

Just saw this on destined's feed, thanks btw, 4850438 , I guess I'll let you off the hook for using my name =P Got an idea, so we'll see what I can come up with.

4850435 Thanks for linking them.

Just thought of this; one of the tropes is mistaken for own murderer. Since we're talking changelings and everyone seems to agree that they kidnap and replace, or at least everyone's heard it a few times, could we use mistaken for own kidnapper? I didn't see it on there, but it seems close enough.

4850258
How many submissions do you have so far?
Maybe I'll throw one in as well.

4851283 As of when we discussed this yesterday, neither of us have received any submissions.

4851879
Wahaha! All I need to do is write a story, and the prize is mine!

4852059 Don't get too excited. There will almost certainly be other entries by the time the voting phase begins. As such, you'll need to give us your best effort if you want a shot at winning the prize. The best of luck to you.

Hello! I was wondering how the prizes would be delivered.

4855310 My portion of the prize money ($40 to 2nd place) will probably be delivered through mail as a check. Can't speak about the rest.

What's a "trope"?

4863829 It's a storytelling convention and trend. They exist in (literally) all of fiction and you've probably seen some in use. Some examples include the damsel in distress, faster-than-light travel, the ditz, etc. Tvtropes is a website which catalogues them and is a good place for more info on what tropes are. We also have included the transformation/shapeshifting index in the main post for your convenience.

Hope this helps. If you have other questions, feel free to ask.

Edit: grammar fail in second sentence.

Thanks! (I am emoji crazy )

4855310
DDRMASTER already sorta answered this, but I can fill in the rest. It sorta depends which prize you win, but up to $120 of the prizes can be delivered via Paypal right to anyone's account. If you don't have Paypal or would prefer a check, that can also be arranged.

Oh wow! An extension!

I guess I don't have any excuse not to finish my story then.

4850258 Say, could you clarify the submission rules for me? If I want to submit a story, must it be an unpublished story on fimfic? Can't I just give you a link to the actual gdoc I wrote? I mean, it might just be me, but I thought formatting from fimfiction to gdoc was much harder to keep than the other way around. Granted, I think I can do both.

And, as an aside, how long is the judging period estimated to last? Just curious.

Hm... I'm not sure if I have enough time to finish writing. Already wrote 1044 words, but that was just only for the intro, and I'm still not done writing the intro. I think this little idea of mine is too big, but oh well, I'll try to reach the deadline.
Kinda not sure what trope I'm going, so I'm kinda hoping to figure what the tropes I chose are after I'm done writing ('cause I'm not really familiar with what all the tropes are) (also, I'm kinda writing on impulse.).

4877729
Submitting a Google Doc is ideal, but submitting it as an unpublished FimFic could work if you can't get Gdocs to work.
As for how long the judgin will last, hard to say, usually a week or two. I think we'd be done by Christmas at the very latest.

4878218
I added one final extension (ends Decmeber 7th now) simply because a lot of writers got caught up in Thanksgiving plans. So keep working goal, the universe worked in your favor and you got a bit of extra time!

4881135 I sure hope that the new extension will be enough though. I kinda like this story I'm writing and no longer care about the contest. xD
So uh yeah... Whether I'll make it or not, I'll finish writing it one way or another and add it one of the folders in this group. :3

4881128 I see. So, the private message I sent I think yesterday, did you get that? Or would you rather I try to make gdoc work for this?

Oh boy. I can't wait to show off my skillz from constantly writing in the PTFG threads.

4850258
My entry should be submitted now! Please let me know if the PM didn't go through.

4885172
hmm, I haven't gotten a PM from you yet, though I have received a submission from someone else. Try again I suppose?

I'll write somethin'
I'm late but oh well

4885511
See, this is why I confirm. It didn't appear in the sent mail last time, but it did this time. Hopefully that means it made it.

I have two possible stories in mind: One would feature a rather predatory Rarity struggling with quasi-vampiric instincts and the associated physical transformation. The other would feature a 50ft Rainbow Dash (or possibly Applejack, but I have trouble finding her voice). Any thoughts as to which, if either, of these, would go down well?

Is it ok if I submit something that isn't completed yet? I'm not sure I will be able to finish my story by the deadline.

4850258 Let me know if you have received my submission

4888423
I think the corrupt/vampire Rarity story would find a better audience.

4890979
I'd probably just suggest making the story shorter and ending it at a spot earlier than your originally planned. Even if we allowed incomplete fics to enter, I don't think anyone would really vote for an unfinished fic. You've got five days yet, just write as much as you can and then end the story with a little conclusion.

4892951
Got it coach, thanks!

4893221 Did you get my message?

Contest ends tonight, get your submissions sent before sunrise tomorrow!

I have replied to everyone that sent me their story, so if you haven't heard back from me after you thought you sent it in, let me know!

4905999

Sunrise in what time zone?

4906005

Sunrise in what time zone?

Outer space!

wait a second...

Heh, but to be serious just get it in as soon as you can. I live in the US and won't be checking my inbox till mid morning. That gives everyone plenty of time to burn the midnight oil if they have to. I can't imagine anyone would be desperate enough to pull an all-nighter working on their entry story, so realistically just send it to me before you go to bed on 12/7/15, regardless of whatever timezone you're in.

4906659

I'm not even in this one, but hey, thank you for clarifying.