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Writers' Workshop Winter Roundtable 2025!

kintsugi

kintsugi

the beast without a human heart
Eiscue's Exciting Exchange + Winter Roundtable 2025 Nidofam Bulba Bookworm Bulba Book Club Member
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WRITER'S WORKSHOP WINTER ROUNDTABLE 2025!​
​


image id: the pokemon bergmite is skating into action

As the year draws to a close, we've got one last event in Delibird's gift bag, and it's just for you (and your friends, and your friends' friends, and ...). This event is similar to our Oneshot Contests, but with a little twist: this time, instead of judges, we'll be running a writing-review swap double header--we'll write to a theme, and at the end, drop a review for another participant in the Roundtable and spread that holiday cheer! Gather 'round the roundtable to find out more ...
  • :bulbagarden: Our themes for this event are: Trick or Treat, City Secrets, or New Year, New Me, in honor of the time of year and the new release of Legends: ZA! You may use more than one theme, but you only have to use at least one.
  • :bulbagarden: This time, our word limit is 5,000 words (maximum). Please use wordcounter.net to check your word count!
  • :bulbagarden: The writing period begins at the time of this post, and will close at midnight PST on December 31, 2025. Get cooking on your entries!
    • Feel free to discuss your stories in this thread, or elsewhere in the forums or Discord, as there are no judges to recuse themselves.
    • You may post your story at any time between now and the close of the writing period, but please post a link to your entry in this thread so we can keep track of it!
    • If you're new to the forums or feeling rusty about how to post a story, please check out our Quick Start Guide! As always, make sure that your entries are compliant with forum and sitewide rules, and contain proper content warnings at the top of the story.
  • :bulbagarden: The Roundtable period will begin at the close of the writing period (effectively January 1, 2026), and will close on January 25, 2026. Read up on your friends' entries!
    • During this time, please read and review at least one other entry in the Roundtable. You are of course free to review additional stories after your first one.
    • Stuck on finding which story to review? Consider reviewing one that hasn't been reviewed yet, and spread the love!
    • Stuck on things to say in a review? Check out @Cavespider_17's awesome Review Guide!
    • Reviews must be at least 100 words long and contain at least three specific things about the story that you're reviewing.
  • Participants will receive an exclusive profile badge on their Bulbagarden forums account! You may choose to participate either by:
    • Writing a story and reviewing one other roundtable story before their respective deadlines, or:
    • Reviewing 3 other roundtable stories before the review deadline.
    • The new badge in question:
      Image ID: a badge showing an ice floe at sunset. On the left is a round-headed Eiscue with a square present; on the right is a square-headed Eiscue with a round present. The text in the middle reads Square Sharer.

And that's all for now! Looking forward to seeing all your wonderful stories!


CURRENT ENTRANTS

The First Rule of Halloween by @Viridian Beedrill
The Devil is a Johtonian by @RichestAirPirate
The Things That Brought Us Together by @Kathylikestoread
The story of the tiny Pumpakboo by @NumberOneSpinelApologist
Happy Hate-alloween by @Ness
As Good As Gone by @Apopheniac
New Year's Transformation by @PokePal15
sovereign by @kintsugi
A Secret Life Exposed by @System Error

SUCCESSFUL SWAPPERS
@Unovia
@NumberOneSpinelApologist
@Ness
@PokePal15
@kintsugi
@RichestAirPirate
@Viridian Beedrill
@Apopheniac
@System Error
@misamisalisia
@pilosophos
@Kathylikestoread
@Welkamo
@Salmancer
 
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RichestAirPirate said:
Hm... Do we have to write to one of the themes? Or can we write something else?
Click to expand...
For the event, the themes are intended to be a starting off point, yeah--you don't have to have them permeate your work per se, and you could interpret them pretty gently (i.e. "Trick or Treat" may not be about the actual act of going door to door on October 31, but could involve something that could be interpreted as either good or bad, or could be about a magic show/magic tricks, etc.). We will not be ranking or disqualifying entrants on the grounds of theme adherence.
 
I'm already planning on writing quite a bit this season between a birthday gift for a certain Subway Master and another WIP, buuuut what's one more to add, right!?? (girl who historically writes a lot in short amounts of time and then doesn't write for months after) Funnily enough, my 'main issue' is probably going to be the 5000 word limit, LOL. I'll try my best, hopefully! If I don't... I will, sadly, have to disappear forever. smiles
 
Aozora said:
Hey this sounds cool, I might participate depending on my irl situation. I just wanted to make sure though, there's no sign-up, right?
Click to expand...
Yup, no sign-up! As this is more casual and we aren't getting a panel of judges this year, we're less concerned about trying to track entrants ahead of time.
 
I have a thing:

The First Rule of Halloween

Might take a crack at the other theme later, but I also have the other spooky one-shot that's turned into a spooky maybe-I-should-serialize-this, so we'll see. The word count for the story minus the blurb and rating/content warning stuff (which historically haven't counted, I believe?) was 4996. :enzap: I can't write anything short help.
 
RichestAirPirate said:
Can I put my entries in my main fanfic thread? Or do I have to put them as their own separate posts?
Click to expand...
It can go in either! For your own convenience, if you put it in your thread, I'd recommend that you 1) make the entry its own post so it's easily linkable and 2) put something descriptive in the post mentioning that this is your entry, just so it's easier for folks who will be using the linked stuff in this thread to find you.
 
Hello writers! Some exciting news, as we've been coordinating behind the scenes with sitewide holiday contests!:
  • The writing deadline for this contest is being extended to midnight PST on December 31--that means about 36 days left, or you can use this handy countdown timer! We have also adjusted the review deadline to midnight PST on January 25 (countdown).
  • Additionally, a new theme has been added: New Year, New Me! You may write to one or more of the current themes ("New Year, New Me", "City Secrets", or "Trick or Treat"), so no need to disrupt your old plans, but perhaps this sparks some new ideas as we close out the year!
  • Participants will receive an exclusive profile badge on their Bulbagarden forums account! You may choose to participate either by:
    • Writing a story and reviewing one other roundtable story before their respective deadlines
    • Reviewing 3 other roundtable stories before the review deadline
The new badge in question:
Image ID: a badge showing an ice floe at sunset. On the left is a round-headed Eiscue with a square present; on the right is a square-headed Eiscue with a round present. The text in the middle reads Square Sharer.


With that in mind, how are folks doing? I for one stared at my document that had one cryptic paragraph in it and beat my head against a wall.
 
kintsugi said:
With that in mind, how are folks doing? I for one stared at my document that had one cryptic paragraph in it and beat my head against a wall.
Click to expand...
I'm like 75% done with my first fic entry.
 
RichestAirPirate said:
Are multichapter/multipart fics allowed?
Click to expand...
I would say that the spirit of the rules is for just a single entry per person. If you think the chapters/parts read smoothly together as a single entry, I think it'd be simpler if you submitted them as a single entry (i.e. all contained in one post).
 
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