932351
You're right that it has as much to do with writing as blitz does with classical chess—that is to say, quite a fair bit. They certainly aren't the same thing, but they're close enough. Quickly recognising tactical motifs and positional strengths and weaknesses, a repertoire of openings, and precise endgame technique are all useful at all time controls. Classical requires deeper calculation, patience, physical endurance, and sounder planning, but the patterns are still the same.

The purpose of write-offs has always primarily been to encourage people to bang out a first draft as quickly as possible. In that goal I think it usually succeeds. I certainly wouldn't expect something polished after only 3 days. Revision can come later.

In any case, the time for writing can be as long or short as desired. Because so many participants are horrible procrastinators, though, anything longer than 3 days doesn't seem to improve the quality all that much. It even seems to hurt participation. I'm guessing a lot of tentative entrants put it off a few days, then think they've got to have five days' worth of work written in two and just quit.

I'm interested if there have been any developments in your "Beyond Ponies" project.

I added "Has won a gold, silver, or bronze in a fic write-off" to the list of ways to qualify to submit to "Beyond Ponies".

I love what I see on the write-off site, but I don't understand why the time for writing is so short. It makes it a sprint that has as much to do with writing as speed chess does with chess.