THERE IS NO GOD NOW (But there's a contest!) · 7:50pm Sep 1st, 2017

EDITS: NorrisThePony is judging in Word Worthy's place, and the deadline is the same time, but the date is Jan. 10th, 2018.

Hello everyone! I'm hear to announce that the first Lunbra contest is officially a thing! Thank you to everyone who promoted this and expressed interest. Some of the names I saw on announcement blogs had me feeling faint and left me slack-jawed! I originally only expected maybe ten participants and thought I would struggle to find judges. This was originally going to be a purely for fun thing, but wowza! Look like there's gonna be actual friggin' prizes now.

I was pretty sure it was only myself, maybe two other people, a half dozen weird alts, and maybe a smidge of cat barf who were interested in this pairing. After all, it's a pairing with an underrated character who can be written in an array of ways and a character who is usually snatched up by fandom (many) tropes as much as her sister and apparently unable to be shipped with anyone other than Twilight BECAUSE REASONS. It's also M/F! Oh nooooo~!

I don't know why you showed interest, exactly. I can guess. Not all of you like the pairing, and that's cool, but I hope all of you like writing!

Anyway, all the information you need to know about the contest is below the break. If you still have questions, PM me or send a friggin' smoke signal.

THE FRIGGIN' LUNBRA CONTEST!

Rules:

1) All stories must have an E or T rating. This is a SFW group, after all. If you want to write NSFW side material, that is allowed, but it must be posted separately (such as in an anthology) and will not be judged with your entry. If you write a NSFW version, there must be a SFW version to be submitted and judged. A Teen rated story with the 'Sex' label is allowed.
2) Your story must be completed and submitted into the contest folder before November 17th, 2017, 5:30pm EST. If required, because of national holidays, natural disasters, travel, or everything you love suddenly bursting into flame, there have been a maximum of two extension dates selected (the time will remain the same for both): Dec. 12th, 2017, and January 10th, 2017.
3) Your story must be between 3,000 and 16,000 words according to FimFic's word count thingy.
4) Your story must incorporate a romantic relationship between the characters (Princess Luna/Nightmare Moon and King Sombra) in some fashion, as long as it isn't in any way abusive (I shouldn't have to put that here, but I did). That means if you want, an unrequited romance is allowed, as long as it is given large amounts of focus/depth or the plot of the story. Duh. Star-crossed/tragic romances are also allowed, in case you needed that made clear, just as long as they don't break anything else in this rule. It is probably best, though, if you do a requited romance. This is a shipping contest!
5) Your story may not be one that already exists. It must be a new story entirely! It is also not allowed to be a sequel to an existing story, but if you want to make it related in some kind of standalone way to an existing one, then that is allowed.
6) Worldbuilding is friggin' encouraged if you choose to incorporate such themes.
7) Your entry must be readable. That means an editor is encouraged to improve your grammar, as well as make a few suggestions and help with brainstorming. If you want someone else to write your story for you that is not allowed. If you need help finding an editor, try looking through a group like this.
8) Have fun!
9) Rule nine is a lie.

Your prompt for the story is: 'An Unexpected Meeting.'

For those of you who are new to this, all you have to do is use this prompt in your idea. It can be a theme, title, or something, but it has to be related to your story and the events in it.

The contest judges are: CoffeeBean, Pearple Prose, and Word Worthy!

They will being judging your story based upon a rubric designed by yours truly. The guidelines and information about that can be found below, so this way you know what your story will be judged on and how it will be scored:

(It is possible to win up to five points in each category, which means that a story with a score of twenty will win. I'm just gonna put this here anyway, but 1 is poor, 2 is eh, 3 is average, 4 is good, and 5 is really fucking great, yo!)

Your story's final score will be the result of all three judges adding their scores together after arguing among themselves, flinging poo, and all sorts of other judge things. The story with the highest score wins. If two stories have the same score, and end up tied, the authors of those stories will have to face one another in gladiatorial combat. Very simple stuff.

Grammar/Mechanics: This is for the technical aspects of your story and why you should have an editor if you need one because your story will be judged on how readable it is. Don't write like Tara Gilesbie. I don't care if you have a fucking medical excuse.

Originality: The overall creativity and heart of the story. Serious or silly, a unique and well-written tale will score high here, especially if you have an unusual idea or other story elements, like worldbuilding and descriptions. Think of this as the score for the 'stage' you've set, if that helps.

Characterization/Romance: The personalities and portrayal of Luna/NMM and Sombra, as well as the dynamic they have and how they interact with each other. Your build up or romantic development for them will also go here too. This would be for the 'players' to the Orginality category's 'stage' if you're new to this kind of thing. And again, serious or silly, as long as you write well, you should have no problem with this part!

Usage of Prompt: That little prompt I provided as a basis for the tale? This category will be for how well you've used it and its relation to your story.

Prizes:

The prizes for the winners will be:

3rd Place: The judges will offer a brief little summary of their thoughts on each of the 3 winners, like a little mini-review. Like something here. While 2nd and 1st place will go on to get the prizes listed below, 3rd place will enjoy a spot here!

2nd Place: A blog series from me that offers an in depth review of any completed SFW story you've written of your choice, provided you haven't written something akin to the length of 'Fallout: Equestria' and I've never read the story before. Free of charge. Will contain sass, sanity slippage on my part, and critique on how you can improve your story/as a writer/human being/whatever, and this will be almost line-by-line too, hence why it'd be a series. If you want a single blog, that's totally possible too.

1st Place: Free art from Multiversecruise! (Their DA is here) The choice of one full color shaded image with a background (think something like custom cover art for your story, if you don't have any) or one short comic with dialogue and action of your choosing! (No violent or sexual scenes permitted. Real people and symbols are also not permitted in the artist's work.) Also, a place on the front page of the group.

Honorable Mention: Points for this spot are irrelevant. This is the story that was my personal favorite, who I will display on my page. If my personal favorite was among the other rankings, then I'll select another story I greatly enjoyed - and the results blog will get a mention from me.