Guys! For those of you who do not check EQD regularly, I have some news for you! http://www.equestriadaily.com/2012/10/announcing-hearths-warming-care-package.html?m=1 look at this. This could be a big chance for one of us, so I wanted to make sure that anyone participating had a place to ask for advice or help. This is for a good cause, so don't hold back.

451713

Ok. I've read the submission, and I have one thing to say that really, really needs to be said to everyone:

Your stories have to be appropriate for a six year old. If you want any reviewing help on this, then you should know that metric tonnes of bricks are poised and ready to crush you into smithereens should you deviate even slightly from 'family friendly' material.

And with that said, write on everyone.

Edit: S'also good to see Roger's website getting some use. He's worked hard on that (also, I cannot wait for Gummii).

451713
This sounds wonderful, though I wouldn't really need any delivered reward. I'm not trying to sound disrespectful, but I don't really have pony collectibles. I just follow the show and fandom, and that's good enough for me. I make videos, draw art, and write stories just to bring enjoyment and humor to my friends. Just knowing that whoever's winning story makes that little girl smile is all the reward I'd need. =)

451716 My goodness, it almost seems like you are suggesting that stories about colorful ponies could be something other than sunshine and rainbows.

451722

You still haven't read "Make You Feel Better" have you? I like to kid myself that it manages to stick to canon and yet be utterly horrifying in the same breath.

Related reading material: Story that fits this to a T. (Also on Fimfiction)

I swear I'm not just posting it because it's one of my favourites. (Liarjack.jpg)

Okay, I'm reading the info and I still can't figure out how one gets in on this contest. When do they give the prompts, and how do we sign up?

451755

There's an in-fimfic blog on the topic here, the gdocs page about it here and the contest's being held on Roger's writeoff site over here. (It'd help if you read the rules section on there too: There's important info on the format required.)

As for the prompts, I don't think there are any. Requirements would pretty much be 'suitable for a six year old'.

I'm gonna try and aim for a 'pixar' feel. If I have time. Apparently, I'm going to the pub tonight. I did not know about this.

This interests me greatly...

And yes, I have sorta, maybe returned

454732 welcome back. The insanity levels haven't been the same without you.

456800>>454732>>451755>>451721

Prompt Submission For This Contest Is Now Open, And Will Only Be Open For An Hour. Get In There Whilst You Can! Voting On The Submitted Prompts Will Occur In The Hour After That; So, Yes, This Is Happening. Go!

Also, maybe, vote on the previous contest, which I am in?

Sheesh, talk about chop-chop. Ok, I don't really know how it'll work out, but I might as well put in something.

Title: The Warmest of Hearths
Genre: Slice of Life
Characters: Main 6, Spike, CMC, other characters if applicable
Plot: Hearth's Warming is approaching, and everypony is excited...well, everypony except one. Despite knowing the historical story, young as he is, Spike wonders what the true meaning of Hearth's Warming is: the presents, the great food, the snow, etc. He goes around Ponyville, asking his friends what their take on what the holiday is really about is, but gets different answers every time, leaving him unsure what to think. Who will have the answer he's looking for?...
Note: Could be written as a regular story, or in Seussian style (rhyme )

459468
Sorry, Aquillo. I guess it was just a case of improper timing. No one else seems to be around.

459468

Dang it, I would get your notice six hours later.

I was job hunting, if that's any excuse for not participating in a charity event.

459487>>459806

Ah... Well, sorry people missed out. Prompt is now "A Day in The Life Of A Guard" (or Most Specific Prompt Ever) as can be seen over here.

Just scroll down to the bottom and click on the box marked with the prompt. You submit by clicking on that little blue link called 'Fic Submission' (I'm not sure if you need to sign up or not). Ok. Everyone got that? Good. I'm gonna vent about something.

The fact that the chosen prompt is so unbearably lame and that a fic's already been submitted within, what, a few hours of the prompts coming in stinks of someone hijacking the system to their own advantage (aka, voted their own prompt up by basically sitting in the voting section for the entire hour). That ticks me off, deeply. I don't know who this asshole is - or if they're even guilty at all - but screw it: they are going down. I'll take your stupid request for a very specific type of story prompt and I'll make it shine.

459811
That does stink, I agree. Still, I can see this working. In my mind's eye, I can see the stoic, stone-faced Canterlot guards...but who knows what goes on inside their heads? What thoughts or emotions pervade the helmet-clad skulls of these stallions who give their lives for the princess?...

459813

Big T for time out there: it's for a six to seven year old. Nothing worthy of the [Dark] tag.

And that's not just me being overly protective/applying generalisations. One of her other favourite shows is Hey Kitty. We're aiming for Pixar level entertainment here.

(Which, granted, can get dark at times.)

459824
Oh, I wasn't thinking of anything dark, Aquillo. I meant, what of his family back home? Perhaps he has a little daughter whom, even if he can't see her often, can still protect her by protecting the Princess. I meant no darkness.

459811
PonIver asked me to override the prompt back to the default title, so you don't have to use that prompt in particular.

About the submission that's already up: it was submitted by someone who neither participated in the voting nor submission of prompts. (It's also only 1,000 words.) No biggie there.

PonIver has the ability to view, edit, and delete submissions, and since he's the organiser for this event, if you do happen to see any rule breakers, you ought to report them to him.

Don't forget that the preliminary voting is crowd sourced from submitters. You have to participate in the preliminary voting round or your submission won't pass through to the next round.

If anything about the site is unclear, I'm more than willing to answer your questions.

459811 Sorry I didn't get the message earlier, I was out doing vacationy things. Such as practicing to join the wonderbolts. That went well, the loop-de-loops were fun, but the coaster rides are always too short.
459827 Hello, new face. You joined at just slightly past the right time. We are just about to start up our monthly Practice SALT, and you are more than welcome to join in. I'll throw the rules up on the correct thread for you, so you can follow along. Even if you don't have a summary, which is possible due to joining on the day they are due, you should check back daily so you can join in with the rest of the event.

459827

I had no particular proof that any rules had been broken; it was more of a deep suspicion over the sheer speed of the submission compared to the apparent interest in/awareness of the event given by the number of prompts submitted. I felt that any complaints made about it would've seemed rightly unjustified given that it was only a suspicion, which is why I chose not to cause a fuss over nothing and just stick with the given prompt.

One thing which I'll admit to being unclear about is whether or not an account needs to be created in order to submit. I'm guessing that it probably is required, due to the need to track who has and hasn't voted in the prelims. Apart from that, your site's mainly clear about what exactly's going on, so I probably won't be abusing your appearance to prod you with questions all the time.

I'm also surprised that my rant carried far enough to reach your ears. I've got a guess over exactly how (the link) but still: it's a nice reminder that this is a public forum.

Oh, and one last thing: I was surprised that the requirement to vote on submissions included prompts. I checked your faq, and - to me at least - it appears to be giving the impression that it refers to stories only, as it uses entries only once and then switches to stories throughout the rest of the section. That the requirement extends to prompts as well as stories is certainly news to me.

459838

*cough* Roger's just here to shout at me, Fire. I doubt he wants to get involved in SALT business.

459857 Maybe yes, maybe no. Still, I will extend hospitality anyhow.

459857
Yeah, you need an account. (I know people need new web accounts like they need kicks up the bum, but what can you do, eh?) If you go to the /fic/submit page while not logged in, it'll tell you that guests can't submit fics.

I found this thread while snooping through the site logs and saw it in one of your referrer headers, so yep, it was that link you posted.

I was surprised that the requirement to vote on submissions included prompts.

Not sure what you mean by this. Could you clarify? There's no requirement to vote other than loading up the page when it's open and filling in the boxes. (Well, that's for the public voting, anyway.)

Anyway, I'd love to stick around, but I'm a little swamped with work right now (development of the site notwithstanding, even). I might swing around later in the Summer, though. (That's December for us down under.)

459826

Gotcha. Probably just me being overly cautious; I haven't quite recovered my wat supply yet from when this fandom decided it was a-ok to give Fallout: Equestria to Tabitha St Germain.

459879

That might be me making assumptions (again). I had assumed that the quote on the left referred to the prompts. If not, then any confusion on this probably sources from me.