This is the voting phase for the 2023 User Choice Awards. Look at the thread titles below to select Award categories to vote in, and help your favourite threads be crowned as UCA champions!
User Choice Awards Voting: Best Ongoing Fic
- Thread starter Skippy
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User Choice Awards Voting: Best Ongoing Quest
User Choice Awards Voting: Best Completed Quest
User Choice Awards Voting: Best Ongoing Fic
User Choice Awards Voting: Best Completed Fic
User Choice Awards Voting: Best Alternate History
User Choice Awards Voting: Best GSRP
User Choice Awards Voting: Best New Work
User Choice Awards Voting: Best Original Work
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Rules and Procedures for Voting
Hello!
Voting for Best Ongoing Fic opens , and will remain open until . For those of you who are looking for more information on the Users' Choice Awards generally, you can find it in this thread!
In short, the Users' Choice Awards are about celebrating the best and most beloved quests, stories, and other creative wonderfulness on SV, as decided by SV users. The Awards take place in two phases. During the Nomination Phase, almost four hundred nominations were made across nine categories. These have been narrowed down to only five* in each category.
Now, in the Voting Phase, you get to vote to see which is crowned as champion!
*(In the event of multiple nominees tying, then the tied nominees will all go through to voting so long as the total number of nominees does not exceed ten. In this case tied or excess nominees will not be counted. We will adjudicate this so that no tied nominees are ever privileged any other tied nominees, and nominees with the lowest number of votes are always discounted first.)
Please try to take the time to read the nominees before voting. Each of them had to fight really hard to get here, and they are worth giving a chance!
At , the poll will be closed, and the thread with the highest number of votes will be the winner!
In the event of a tie, we will have joint winners.
This thread will serve as a discussion thread for the voting.
Please feel free to discuss the threads you are voting for, and why. Whether it's an impassioned argument for why people should vote for your favourite work, or just some great commentary and analysis, we love to see it, and this is the place for it!
Voting for Best Ongoing Fic opens , and will remain open until . For those of you who are looking for more information on the Users' Choice Awards generally, you can find it in this thread!
In short, the Users' Choice Awards are about celebrating the best and most beloved quests, stories, and other creative wonderfulness on SV, as decided by SV users. The Awards take place in two phases. During the Nomination Phase, almost four hundred nominations were made across nine categories. These have been narrowed down to only five* in each category.
Now, in the Voting Phase, you get to vote to see which is crowned as champion!
*(In the event of multiple nominees tying, then the tied nominees will all go through to voting so long as the total number of nominees does not exceed ten. In this case tied or excess nominees will not be counted. We will adjudicate this so that no tied nominees are ever privileged any other tied nominees, and nominees with the lowest number of votes are always discounted first.)
How Voting Works
Voting will be done via the poll you see right at the top of this thread. You can vote for as many or as few of the nominees as you like, and you can also change your vote if you wish, up until the close of voting. It's just that simple!Please try to take the time to read the nominees before voting. Each of them had to fight really hard to get here, and they are worth giving a chance!
At , the poll will be closed, and the thread with the highest number of votes will be the winner!
In the event of a tie, we will have joint winners.
Nominees
And now, without further ado, the 2023 User Choice Awards Nominees for Best Ongoing Fic:Article:
A Little Vice (Trans Magical Girl fic), by @Shadell
Illuminating Invitation (MLP:FiM AU), by @Alivaril
Hyphen (Pokemon Emerald), by @Dermonster
A Certain Mental Isekai (Raildex SI), by @Eotyrannus
Lets Read: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, by @veteranMortal
The Summoned Hero Is A Historical Materialist??, by @Winged_One
This thread will serve as a discussion thread for the voting.
Please feel free to discuss the threads you are voting for, and why. Whether it's an impassioned argument for why people should vote for your favourite work, or just some great commentary and analysis, we love to see it, and this is the place for it!
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⭐ Voting is Open ⭐
Dermonster
The Shittiest Wizard
Live Derm reaction for my third nomination in a row:
I think it's incredibly funny how often I've been on this stage. I will never leave! I will accumulate silver until the end of time! Haha!
Anyway I am incredibly thankful to everyone who voted me in here. Might post a summary later but for now enjoy this nomination meme made by my good pal @Dexexe1234. Cheers!
I think it's incredibly funny how often I've been on this stage. I will never leave! I will accumulate silver until the end of time! Haha!
Anyway I am incredibly thankful to everyone who voted me in here. Might post a summary later but for now enjoy this nomination meme made by my good pal @Dexexe1234. Cheers!
- Location
- Attached to a wall
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Getting nominated multiple years in a row does say something about the capacity of a story to maintain a fanbase.
My first instinct was to vote everything I read, but that would have been an anti-vote for the one thing I didn't read.
So I voted for the thing I wanted to win most and two contenders.
My first instinct was to vote everything I read, but that would have been an anti-vote for the one thing I didn't read.
So I voted for the thing I wanted to win most and two contenders.
AzureShogun
Tanks are better than Mechs
- Location
- United Kingdom
Chronically lacking in Worlds of Steel content as it might be... I'll still vote for A Certain Mental Isekai!
Great Railgum fanfic on its own right, introducing a complete stranger like me to the setting and making it all make sense while not repeating itself.
Also, a great look at what SIs (or more broadly 'contemporary OC Isekais', because the insert actually being the author is very much not necessary) can be, without all the meta stuff which more often than not detracts from the experience.
Just a great story and I'm happy to see it managed to get onto this list!
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I've not read the Magical Girl fic yet, and I might not. Unfortunately I read 'To The Stars' as my first PMMM (and magical girl more broadly) fanfic, and now I just can't go back to 'modern' magical girl settings. Without the sci-fi setting magical girl stories feel very different in my experience, and despite starting multiple other ffs to try and regain that feeling of reading TTS the first time I've always bounced off.
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Illuminating Illumination was a near choice for my vote. I've not read much in the way of MLP fanfic, but so far the only ones I have read have included eldritch/cult themes which I've enjoyed a lot. So in a lot of ways I haven't really read 'MLP' fanfic at all, so much as eldritch/cult fanfics with an MLP flavour I guess.
Either way, I'm a fan. It works! This is more comedic than the other one I read, 'house of the sun' or something, but it also works really well and strikes a good balance of not making the eldritch a joke.
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Hyphen is a story I started reading ages ago, and every few years I'll pick it back up and re-read it along with however many updates have come out since. I've not read it in a while though, and honestly I'm feeling VERY saturated on pokemon fanfics recently. Honestly though, as a story almost 10 years old and with such a large audience it's obviously doing something right! Not much to comment here because I've mostly forgotten it and I'm still waiting another few months to forget it completely before I give it another re-read.
Yeah, I like to wait and forget stories before rereading them. I think it enhances the experience!
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World War Z fanfic. Hmm. I remember trying to get into this one when it first came out. I read World War Z the book soon after the movie came out, and in comparison to the movie it was obviously a lot better. A unique style and a very different resolution to the zombie scenario than any other stories I remember made sure it stuck out in my mind.
I don't remember being a fan of the fanfic though. Iirc it's mostly around a loudly 'opposed to the source' POV who re-treads the story passage by passage, but calls the author an idiot a lot and explains how 'actually' things happened in this totally different way which shows how dumb the author was for writing the source material.
Ehh. I don't think I got very far before I dropped it. I think it's because it really just felt combative and malicious towards the source material. One quote which stood out to me (and yeah, I'm going back to see if maybe I just remembered it wrong) was:
"This is where he really starts with his pretty unpleasant beating the drum for the American Junta, but we aren't at "The Death Squads are based" yet, so please count your blessings at the moment."
Which is definitely setting the tone. As the fanfic is set from the POV of another survivor of the Zombie Apocalypse it more or less seemed to be going the route of fabricating events and world building to shit on the source which just felt uncomfortable to read on principle. When paired with how it was literally just a commentary mixed between passages from the source I ended up not reading far.
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Communist in Shield Hero is a scenario I REALLY like the idea of. It's the kind of thing you think about, and then dream about for days afterwards lol.
And if the fanfic was written conventionally I would probably have been a huge fan. However, for me the Achilles heel of this story is that it's written as a screen-play.
And I don't mean as a low effort adaptation of a screenplay to a novel, I mean it's written like you are reading a script for a movie or play kind of thing.
I genuinely tried to get into this several times, and forced myself to read a few chapters, but at the end of the day no matter how good the plot, dialogue, and characters are if the prose is bad and it's torture to read, then I'm just going to read something else.
As far as prose goes, stage script scores negative.
Maybe I'll try it again and eventually get into it, but as long as there's pretty much anything else to read I don't see that happening.
All I can hope is that someone who is reading it is sufficiently inspired to write a derivative fanfic, but as an actual novel.
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And there's my review of stuff for this year, written on my phone at 3am.
Great Railgum fanfic on its own right, introducing a complete stranger like me to the setting and making it all make sense while not repeating itself.
Also, a great look at what SIs (or more broadly 'contemporary OC Isekais', because the insert actually being the author is very much not necessary) can be, without all the meta stuff which more often than not detracts from the experience.
Just a great story and I'm happy to see it managed to get onto this list!
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I've not read the Magical Girl fic yet, and I might not. Unfortunately I read 'To The Stars' as my first PMMM (and magical girl more broadly) fanfic, and now I just can't go back to 'modern' magical girl settings. Without the sci-fi setting magical girl stories feel very different in my experience, and despite starting multiple other ffs to try and regain that feeling of reading TTS the first time I've always bounced off.
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Illuminating Illumination was a near choice for my vote. I've not read much in the way of MLP fanfic, but so far the only ones I have read have included eldritch/cult themes which I've enjoyed a lot. So in a lot of ways I haven't really read 'MLP' fanfic at all, so much as eldritch/cult fanfics with an MLP flavour I guess.
Either way, I'm a fan. It works! This is more comedic than the other one I read, 'house of the sun' or something, but it also works really well and strikes a good balance of not making the eldritch a joke.
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Hyphen is a story I started reading ages ago, and every few years I'll pick it back up and re-read it along with however many updates have come out since. I've not read it in a while though, and honestly I'm feeling VERY saturated on pokemon fanfics recently. Honestly though, as a story almost 10 years old and with such a large audience it's obviously doing something right! Not much to comment here because I've mostly forgotten it and I'm still waiting another few months to forget it completely before I give it another re-read.
Yeah, I like to wait and forget stories before rereading them. I think it enhances the experience!
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World War Z fanfic. Hmm. I remember trying to get into this one when it first came out. I read World War Z the book soon after the movie came out, and in comparison to the movie it was obviously a lot better. A unique style and a very different resolution to the zombie scenario than any other stories I remember made sure it stuck out in my mind.
I don't remember being a fan of the fanfic though. Iirc it's mostly around a loudly 'opposed to the source' POV who re-treads the story passage by passage, but calls the author an idiot a lot and explains how 'actually' things happened in this totally different way which shows how dumb the author was for writing the source material.
Ehh. I don't think I got very far before I dropped it. I think it's because it really just felt combative and malicious towards the source material. One quote which stood out to me (and yeah, I'm going back to see if maybe I just remembered it wrong) was:
"This is where he really starts with his pretty unpleasant beating the drum for the American Junta, but we aren't at "The Death Squads are based" yet, so please count your blessings at the moment."
Which is definitely setting the tone. As the fanfic is set from the POV of another survivor of the Zombie Apocalypse it more or less seemed to be going the route of fabricating events and world building to shit on the source which just felt uncomfortable to read on principle. When paired with how it was literally just a commentary mixed between passages from the source I ended up not reading far.
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Communist in Shield Hero is a scenario I REALLY like the idea of. It's the kind of thing you think about, and then dream about for days afterwards lol.
And if the fanfic was written conventionally I would probably have been a huge fan. However, for me the Achilles heel of this story is that it's written as a screen-play.
And I don't mean as a low effort adaptation of a screenplay to a novel, I mean it's written like you are reading a script for a movie or play kind of thing.
I genuinely tried to get into this several times, and forced myself to read a few chapters, but at the end of the day no matter how good the plot, dialogue, and characters are if the prose is bad and it's torture to read, then I'm just going to read something else.
As far as prose goes, stage script scores negative.
Maybe I'll try it again and eventually get into it, but as long as there's pretty much anything else to read I don't see that happening.
All I can hope is that someone who is reading it is sufficiently inspired to write a derivative fanfic, but as an actual novel.
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And there's my review of stuff for this year, written on my phone at 3am.
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Personally, I'm partial toward "Best New Work" on account of liking how "New Work" rolls off the tongue.
At any rate, I'm quite happy to have a story be nominated, and though I'll be utterly shocked if Illuminating Invitation wins either of the two categories it's entered in (New Work and Ongoing Fic), it would be against the themes of the story for me to give up without trying. Sadly, I can't say "I have the power of Friendship on my side" because not only is the protagonist of II still a socially maladjusted mess despite ongoing efforts, but friendship is also a major theme in, uh... several of my major competitors, actually. Hm. Apparently, the power of friendship is a winning formula for fighting everything except the power of friendship.
EDIT: Oh, it's apparently traditional to put a fic summary here. Well, alright then.
In which the ambitious, angry, and undersocialized personal student of Princess Celestia, Sunset Shimmer, completely misunderstands how one ascends to divinity. One frustratingly difficult to decipher tome and related ritual later, and she's left with no wings, a (usually) pony-shaped primordial problem on her hooves, and a mother mentor figure who seems intent on giving Sunset not what she asked for, but what she wanted. It's clearly a method of trying to control Sunset and her new eldritch Visitor; sincerity and Celestia have never been on speaking terms. Sunset hates that it's working.
Meanwhile, Princess Celestia is trying to make up for past mistakes and avoid repeating even older ones, Princess Cadance hates being the only vaguely well-adjusted mare in this family, and the Voice of Imperceptible Dreams is quite happy to enjoy the utter disaster that is Her summoner's life.
Meanwhile, Princess Celestia is trying to make up for past mistakes and avoid repeating even older ones, Princess Cadance hates being the only vaguely well-adjusted mare in this family, and the Voice of Imperceptible Dreams is quite happy to enjoy the utter disaster that is Her summoner's life.
You can read Illuminating Invitation here.
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My vote goes to The Summoned ... . Picked it up either during or after the last contest and it's just really really fun. Not even due to any of the wacky parts of the pitch, there is just a nice bunch characters in that fic that are a joy to read about.
Like I have no idea about who Melty is in canon, but in this fic she is my favourite. Smartest person in the room unless she is too busy being the dumbest woman on the planet. Constantly torn between being genuinely interested in all the information about this foreign futuristic realm of earth, being quite fond of her shitty royal family and wanting to improve the country in tangible ways that don't involve just violently burning all existing institutions.
I hope this wonderful mess a person never just fully signs up with the protagonist and instead ProGamerMoves herself into being the empress of Anarcho-Monarchism or whatever.
Like I have no idea about who Melty is in canon, but in this fic she is my favourite. Smartest person in the room unless she is too busy being the dumbest woman on the planet. Constantly torn between being genuinely interested in all the information about this foreign futuristic realm of earth, being quite fond of her shitty royal family and wanting to improve the country in tangible ways that don't involve just violently burning all existing institutions.
I hope this wonderful mess a person never just fully signs up with the protagonist and instead ProGamerMoves herself into being the empress of Anarcho-Monarchism or whatever.
- Location
- Illinois
An off-site, ex-bigoted reader:
Yesterday i was going "i'm bored and depressed i need to read something comfy, like, uhh, what's a good example, ignition i guess" and then i was going "i guess she's writing about ponies now, i am not reading that because i am prejudiced against ponies" and then the next thing i knew i was reading about the ponies and i full on cried three times (appreciative) about the ponies
Look. It seems to me that there is an unhealthy number of misguided users who are placing votes for fics besides Illuminating Invitation, which is undoubtedly the one true fic of the year.
MY hypothesis is that you heathen malvotes have not read Illuminating Invitation, the one true fic of the year.
Some of the other entries are quite good. Really. I've read almost all of them and I follow most of them, particularly Shadell and Hyphen.
But Illuminating Invitation is simply S-tier. It is a sink-your-battleship quality work and it is a TRAVESTY that SO MANY OF YOU STILL NEED TO READ IT RIGHT HERE!
Yesterday i was going "i'm bored and depressed i need to read something comfy, like, uhh, what's a good example, ignition i guess" and then i was going "i guess she's writing about ponies now, i am not reading that because i am prejudiced against ponies" and then the next thing i knew i was reading about the ponies and i full on cried three times (appreciative) about the ponies
Look. It seems to me that there is an unhealthy number of misguided users who are placing votes for fics besides Illuminating Invitation, which is undoubtedly the one true fic of the year.
MY hypothesis is that you heathen malvotes have not read Illuminating Invitation, the one true fic of the year.
Some of the other entries are quite good. Really. I've read almost all of them and I follow most of them, particularly Shadell and Hyphen.
But Illuminating Invitation is simply S-tier. It is a sink-your-battleship quality work and it is a TRAVESTY that SO MANY OF YOU STILL NEED TO READ IT RIGHT HERE!
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Winged_One
Head Engineer of ATHENA
- Location
- Low Earth Orbit
Are you tired of Isekai characters who tolerate the institution of slavery, as opposed to burning it to the ground? Have you ever wanted to know what the hell socialism is about, beyond jokes about "seizing the means of production" and something about Hegel? Are you interested in reading a story that plays with metafictional themes, inspired by critically acclaimed narratives like Disco Elyseum? Would you like to be one of - by now, something like two dozen people - who message me in horror, remarking that despite their initial distaste for the script fic format, now they cannot tear their eyes away, even as they weep tears of blood and stumble on the centrally-formatted scene descriptions and dialogue tags, their voices hoarse as they shout "What did you do to me, @Winged_One , I am supposed to hate script fics, why are you doing this to me?"
Then come read
Warning - the fic has been called mildly political by some, though I have no idea where that comes from.
P.s. Thanks for everyone who voted for me in the nomination round! : P We are here for the second year in a row - last time, I think I got second place, but we'll see where we'll end up this time. Pretty cool to know that a lot of other people seem to like the same thing as what I like to write.
Then come read
Warning - the fic has been called mildly political by some, though I have no idea where that comes from.
P.s. Thanks for everyone who voted for me in the nomination round! : P We are here for the second year in a row - last time, I think I got second place, but we'll see where we'll end up this time. Pretty cool to know that a lot of other people seem to like the same thing as what I like to write.
Dermonster
The Shittiest Wizard
Summary time! Copy-pasted mostly wholesale from past years.
Hyphen is set inside the game of Pokemon Emerald, and involves the would-be starter pokemon of the MC's 'rival' Wally, a Ralts. In this fic, Wally gets too throw-happy and whiffs the capture, letting the Ralts escape. Shortly afterward, the Ralts discovers the lost ball that was thrown at her, igniting a fierce curiosity. This Ralts is our protagonist, later named Astra, and soon after this she decides to disguise as a human and become a pokemon trainer herself. This is reportedly the first pokemon fanfiction plot of its kind, and many followed in my footsteps or have elsewise been inspired by my story since then, such as Friendly Necromancer and others.
The main selling points are the concept itself, the top-notch characterization, thorough consistency, slow-burn tension from Astra's hiding her true nature, and some hilarious culture clash. The intractions between Astra, May, and Brendan have been hailed as exceedingly well done, and the art I recieve from my friend @Dexexe1234 enhances the story many-fold.
Also, I don't assume you know what anything is. I've had a few readers who've told me they knew nothing of the source material beyond the obvious and found it perfectly understandable. Game and setting logic is handled in a reasonable manner. Six pokemon limit? Some idiot brought a wheelbarrow of exploding voltorbs to one of the first championship bouts so they limited what you can use in official fights, but you can still carry more if you can afford to feed and enrich them. Different pokeball effectiveness? Complexity and specifications of the hardware / size, shape, and features of the virtual room they make. Things like that.
While it is in essence a Journey fic, and has followed Emeralds plot so far, it sets up motivations and characters right from the start, featuring a modest prologue before the idea of journeying even blossoms. Astra's main goal is an urgent matter for her, and becoming the champion is the best solution she has to mitigating the dire situation approaching her home—a hidden colony of Ralts and Kirlia in the forest, whose defences are failing and whose territory the nearby city is about to unknowingly encroach upon for land. And through all this, she is haunted by an artifact bestowed upon her by her grandfather for her own protection—a mysterious shadowy orb—which had previously caused her parents demise—left behind by the villages vanished founder, an astonishingly ancient Gardevoir known as the Ancestor.
Also cataclysm inducing eco-terrorists, constant paranoia about discovery, terror at the horrific capabilities of her Doom Orb, and ancient memories and visions assaulting her very soul. You know, the usual.
But it's not just about that. It's also about a girl sheltered from the world discovering everything there is to offer, from food to music and even to the surprisingly exhilirating thrill of battle. And I haven't even mentioned the hot mess her friends make of things!
I've been writing this story since the September of 2014, a month and change before OR&AS. It's been with me through some tough times, and no matter how long it takes—my update rate is legendarily glacial, but averages out to around four a year, or, at least it used to—I fully intend on seeing it through to the end. I've improved massively since I started, and I intend on improving further as I go.
Is it the Best Ongoing Fic? Enough people thought so to let me into the finalists every single Winterfest thus far, and I was and am still amongst hefty company. I certainly love it, and opinions tell me my quality and character writing is top-notch. My wonderful betas @Oh I am slain! and @IronyOwl do fantastic work keeping it all coherent, and I will never be thankful enough.
Can it win, though? Well, as I'm in 4th right now and down over 60 votes it'd be one heck of an upset, but hope springs eternal. Consider checking it out, and toss me a vote if you feel like it.
Have a wonderful winterfest!
Hyphen is set inside the game of Pokemon Emerald, and involves the would-be starter pokemon of the MC's 'rival' Wally, a Ralts. In this fic, Wally gets too throw-happy and whiffs the capture, letting the Ralts escape. Shortly afterward, the Ralts discovers the lost ball that was thrown at her, igniting a fierce curiosity. This Ralts is our protagonist, later named Astra, and soon after this she decides to disguise as a human and become a pokemon trainer herself. This is reportedly the first pokemon fanfiction plot of its kind, and many followed in my footsteps or have elsewise been inspired by my story since then, such as Friendly Necromancer and others.
The main selling points are the concept itself, the top-notch characterization, thorough consistency, slow-burn tension from Astra's hiding her true nature, and some hilarious culture clash. The intractions between Astra, May, and Brendan have been hailed as exceedingly well done, and the art I recieve from my friend @Dexexe1234 enhances the story many-fold.
Also, I don't assume you know what anything is. I've had a few readers who've told me they knew nothing of the source material beyond the obvious and found it perfectly understandable. Game and setting logic is handled in a reasonable manner. Six pokemon limit? Some idiot brought a wheelbarrow of exploding voltorbs to one of the first championship bouts so they limited what you can use in official fights, but you can still carry more if you can afford to feed and enrich them. Different pokeball effectiveness? Complexity and specifications of the hardware / size, shape, and features of the virtual room they make. Things like that.
While it is in essence a Journey fic, and has followed Emeralds plot so far, it sets up motivations and characters right from the start, featuring a modest prologue before the idea of journeying even blossoms. Astra's main goal is an urgent matter for her, and becoming the champion is the best solution she has to mitigating the dire situation approaching her home—a hidden colony of Ralts and Kirlia in the forest, whose defences are failing and whose territory the nearby city is about to unknowingly encroach upon for land. And through all this, she is haunted by an artifact bestowed upon her by her grandfather for her own protection—a mysterious shadowy orb—which had previously caused her parents demise—left behind by the villages vanished founder, an astonishingly ancient Gardevoir known as the Ancestor.
Also cataclysm inducing eco-terrorists, constant paranoia about discovery, terror at the horrific capabilities of her Doom Orb, and ancient memories and visions assaulting her very soul. You know, the usual.
But it's not just about that. It's also about a girl sheltered from the world discovering everything there is to offer, from food to music and even to the surprisingly exhilirating thrill of battle. And I haven't even mentioned the hot mess her friends make of things!
I've been writing this story since the September of 2014, a month and change before OR&AS. It's been with me through some tough times, and no matter how long it takes—my update rate is legendarily glacial, but averages out to around four a year, or, at least it used to—I fully intend on seeing it through to the end. I've improved massively since I started, and I intend on improving further as I go.
Is it the Best Ongoing Fic? Enough people thought so to let me into the finalists every single Winterfest thus far, and I was and am still amongst hefty company. I certainly love it, and opinions tell me my quality and character writing is top-notch. My wonderful betas @Oh I am slain! and @IronyOwl do fantastic work keeping it all coherent, and I will never be thankful enough.
Can it win, though? Well, as I'm in 4th right now and down over 60 votes it'd be one heck of an upset, but hope springs eternal. Consider checking it out, and toss me a vote if you feel like it.
Have a wonderful winterfest!
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Personally, I'm partial toward "Best New Work" on account of liking how "New Work" rolls off the tongue.
YOU SAW NOTHING
(Thanks for catching that. 😅)
Gave 'A Little Vice' a read and it really really rocks, so I am adding it to my votes.
Also had a look at 'Certain Mental Isekai', but that one kinda feels like it's missing a chapter 1. I get that it's fanfic, so it doesn't strictly need to actually introduce characters and stuff, but 30k words in there is just like no attempt at an exciting hook or a personal conflict or whatever at all.
Also had a look at 'Certain Mental Isekai', but that one kinda feels like it's missing a chapter 1. I get that it's fanfic, so it doesn't strictly need to actually introduce characters and stuff, but 30k words in there is just like no attempt at an exciting hook or a personal conflict or whatever at all.
I didn't and still don't know anything about MLP. Nor do I desire to learn more about this show. But Illuminating Invitation is simply brilliant. I've read many great works for the last 10 years, but it may be one of the best. Characterizations, jokes, internal conflicts, pace. If you don't care about MLP, or even actively hate it, give this fic a try. You will not be disappointed.
@Alivaril thank you for this masterpiece. That's all I can say.
o7
@Alivaril thank you for this masterpiece. That's all I can say.
o7
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Read through Illuminating Invitation and really enjoyed it. It's actually pretty similar to Hyphen. It only has a pretty abstract far-off conflict and doesn't show sign of intricately planned pacing or whatever, but the basic hook and the characters just make chapters incredibly fun on their own.
Like, stakes are definitely ridiculously low with an immortal protagonist that is kinda just vibing and has multiple other competent immortals that are dedicated to stubbornly shepherding them towards happiness. The author however manages to make each individual moment engaging, so stuff still just kinda works.
(I actually kinda hope we get more politics soon, since something like condemning a dozen additional generations to a shitty education by fucking up your reform would be a genuine meaningful danger for the protagonist that's already very close to the existing narrative.)
It doesn't inspire some 'OMG I can't wait for the next chapter'-reaction within me or keep me at the edge of my seat, but I absolutely clicked the Watch button and am not perplexed at all by its current position.
I also want to shoutout how fast the author has been writing it. I was in disbelief when I saw Nov23 on like chapter 4 despite there being a dozens of threadmarks. Doesn't feel like something that should be """graded""" within this contest, but I am pretty jealous of the ability to produce this quality at that speed. (My own attempt at a single chunk of stuff for the New Chapter contest is currently on track for failure lol...)
So, in summary: I won't change my vote to it because the competition is too strong, but I will echo everyone's recommendation to check it out, even if you, like me, don't have any existing fondness for the setting.
Like, stakes are definitely ridiculously low with an immortal protagonist that is kinda just vibing and has multiple other competent immortals that are dedicated to stubbornly shepherding them towards happiness. The author however manages to make each individual moment engaging, so stuff still just kinda works.
(I actually kinda hope we get more politics soon, since something like condemning a dozen additional generations to a shitty education by fucking up your reform would be a genuine meaningful danger for the protagonist that's already very close to the existing narrative.)
It doesn't inspire some 'OMG I can't wait for the next chapter'-reaction within me or keep me at the edge of my seat, but I absolutely clicked the Watch button and am not perplexed at all by its current position.
I also want to shoutout how fast the author has been writing it. I was in disbelief when I saw Nov23 on like chapter 4 despite there being a dozens of threadmarks. Doesn't feel like something that should be """graded""" within this contest, but I am pretty jealous of the ability to produce this quality at that speed. (My own attempt at a single chunk of stuff for the New Chapter contest is currently on track for failure lol...)
So, in summary: I won't change my vote to it because the competition is too strong, but I will echo everyone's recommendation to check it out, even if you, like me, don't have any existing fondness for the setting.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
SV isn't always a great place for original fiction. A Little Vice has beaten the odds as the only work of original fiction on the list in any category where it was nominated besides Best Original Work. And, frankly, even as a fan of a few of the fanworks nominated, I do think that it's a bit of a shame that original works have such a tough time gaining visibility on SV, for all mine has somehow been lucky enough to beat the odds.
So, what kind of story is A Little Vice?
A Little Vice is a story about learning there is magic in the world and feeling like you're not allowed to have it.
It's a magical girl story told through the eyes of someone who doesn't believe they could ever be magical or a girl, who admires heroes even as the heroes right next to them seem unreachably distant. It's a story about burying your bad feelings and living as a side character in someone else's sotry because that's what you're convinced you deserve. It's about what happens when those those buried feelings explode. Ultimately, A Little Vice is a story about a person growing up and learning to face themself even when the person in the mirror isn't someone they like.
It's also a send-up to the genre at its most fundamental. This is a story where girls are heroes and that isn't a trap or a tragedy, but where they still do struggle and grow, where the battles they fight are as much about their own issues and emotions as they are about the getting to light silly DJ-themed monsters on fire.
Lastly, it must be mentioned, A Little Vice is a trans story. Specifically, it's about the psychology of discovering yourself as someone completely different from the person you were supposed to be and how that too can feel impossible.
If any of that seems appealing, give it a look.
So, what kind of story is A Little Vice?
A Little Vice is a story about learning there is magic in the world and feeling like you're not allowed to have it.
It's a magical girl story told through the eyes of someone who doesn't believe they could ever be magical or a girl, who admires heroes even as the heroes right next to them seem unreachably distant. It's a story about burying your bad feelings and living as a side character in someone else's sotry because that's what you're convinced you deserve. It's about what happens when those those buried feelings explode. Ultimately, A Little Vice is a story about a person growing up and learning to face themself even when the person in the mirror isn't someone they like.
It's also a send-up to the genre at its most fundamental. This is a story where girls are heroes and that isn't a trap or a tragedy, but where they still do struggle and grow, where the battles they fight are as much about their own issues and emotions as they are about the getting to light silly DJ-themed monsters on fire.
Lastly, it must be mentioned, A Little Vice is a trans story. Specifically, it's about the psychology of discovering yourself as someone completely different from the person you were supposed to be and how that too can feel impossible.
If any of that seems appealing, give it a look.
⭐ Voting Is Now Closed ⭐
Dermonster
The Shittiest Wizard
Can't say I didn't expect this result, heh. Though there wasn't quite as much voter discussion as there has been in previous years, I will take my 4th place with gratitude for all those who enjoyed Hyphen enough to vote for me.
Congratulations @Alivaril! I never got around to mentioning it here, but I've been enjoying Illuminating Invitation since you started it and I can't wait to see where you take it!
Congratulations @Alivaril! I never got around to mentioning it here, but I've been enjoying Illuminating Invitation since you started it and I can't wait to see where you take it!
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