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The Official Authors' Hangout Valentine's Day 2018 Support Thread

I ended up dredging "Violet Valentine" out of my half-baked folder, where it's languished for a couple of years now, after sitting in my next-year folder for several years.

Like so many abandoned story starts I've looked at recently, I can't figure out what I thought was wrong with it. So, I've got a 1500 word jumpstart with all the initial setup. Now I just need to add some strength to the attachment between these two, ramp up the sexual tension, and write the naughty bits.

Much more feasible to complete before the end of the submission period than that other story, which I still think is best suited to the Thanksgiving/Christmas season anyway.
 
I dug out my old draft from 2006, finished it, and submitted it for the contest.

Now to go back to the drafts I started for this year - but not until tomorrow.
 
Mine's all done and submitted too. I don't expect to win anything being it's in the gay male category, but it's still kinda exciting to be in a contest. I think the last contest I was in was in grade school? I still fear that the story is too quirky, it makes me chuckle even after what seems like 500 reads tweaking and fixing. But I'm not sure anyone who can't hear the slang of a Texas red-neck in their head as they read it will think so. (no offense to Texans...or red-necks...or anybody for that matter :eek: )

Oh well, back to work on chapter five of the other one...
 
yukonnights said:
Mine's all done and submitted too. I don't expect to win anything being it's in the gay male category, but it's still kinda exciting to be in a contest.
Click to expand...

Don't write yourself out. Last year a GM story took 2nd in the Valentine's Day contest.
 
NotWise said:
Don't write yourself out. Last year a GM story took 2nd in the Valentine's Day contest.
Click to expand...

That is surprising, and encouraging. I haven't participated in all Lit has to offer, so it's a growing experience. I know the cream of the crop will be there too, so I'll keep a tight rein my on dreams of fame and fortune. But the kind words of encouragement are appreciated!
 
GM actually has a solid track record of winning contests. Up until a few years ago, when the variety of winning categories increased, it was 3rd in the list of most-winning categories, and those three ( Romance and Sci-Fi&Fantasy are the other two ) were well ahead of #4 ( which I don't remember off hand )

The gap has narrowed now, with new categories breaking into the top 3 on a regular basis, but GM is still in that #3 position.

EDIT: Just looked up my old notes, and it was actually #5 overall. It was #3 when you took out some outliers such as Romance dominating Valentine's Day and Erotic Horror dominating Halloween. Back when "honorable mentions" were posted, there were a large number of GM stories hitting that. Those are stories that had scores sufficient to win, but were ineligible due to recent wins by the author.
 
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I'm going to start haunting this thread, I think... My Dom has challenged me to write a Valentine's story "with a surprise." That's all the details he gave me, if I rule out his suggestion of "a florist and a vampire." (Which I ruled out because I don't find vampires remotely romantic, so if anyone needs a plot bunny, feel free.)

I used to write on here years ago under a different name, including entering two consecutive Valentine's story contests. (I didn't place in them, if memory serves.) I'm struggling to come up with something for this year's Valentine's contest, because I really want to enter. If my brain will cooperate. Some things that happened a few years ago kinda broke the erotic writing part of my brain, and I'm still trying to get it back.
 
Thanks. So far I've got a list of potential ideas, but none of them are grabbing me and saying, "Hey, idiot, write me!" So more plot bunnies must happen.
 
KCWinter said:
Thanks. So far I've got a list of potential ideas, but none of them are grabbing me and saying, "Hey, idiot, write me!" So more plot bunnies must happen.
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Feel free to stop by the bi-slut's Valentine's Contest Story Ideas thread over in the Story Ideas forum. Or my own (not so) humble offerings in the How To forum Spreading the VD Cheer where I try to do a humorous impression of the Fuck Up Fairy filling in for Cupid and swipe any ideas you find there. That's what they're there for. :cool:

(Ok, so my own efforts are more than a bit lame. But, there's some other stuff by people with wits more than half full that are pretty good. More in the bi-slut's thread than mine since most people see my name and roll their eyes and move on.)
 
Thanks :) I did check out the Valentine's Story Ideas thread. There were a couple there that might have sparked something in my brain. I'll check out the other thread too.

I'm probably overthinking this whole thing. I'm really good at that. If I just back off and decide to write something, at the very least I'll end up with a story, even if it isn't a Valentiney one.
 
RubenR said:
I would say, what more do you need... A writer, trying to get inspiration for a Valentine Story, unable to get ideas, until she starts thinking of her own situation and friend(s)
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That could be fun and it could be funny too. You could even include a character who kept making bizarre story suggestions...:D:D:D
 
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Sometimes it just takes the first sentence to get things going. The little attempt I just submitted for the contest is something I've never really done...it was sort of a "stream of thought" thing, like a little movie playing inside my head. I wrote it in one sitting (and later agonized over it for many days of edits and tweaking).

I've done the "first sentence" thing before, but never followed up and wrote it out...anyway, just a thought wishing to help you get back into it. And welcome back!
 
Rather than try to come up with a "Valentine's Day" story, per se, I worked on ideas within the particular erotic interests I have, and I came up with an idea and then gave it a Valentine's Day twist. I liked the combination that I came up with.

I can't yet say this is a good approach, because only about 5% of the story is written so far. But I expect I will get it in by the deadline.
 
Is anyone else having formatting issues?

When I copy/paste from Google Docs, all the paragraphs bunch up together without spacing. Now sure why this is suddenly happening.
 
Why the hell not?

Despite second (and third and thirteenth) thoughts, I lost all sense of reason and submitted that mess I came up with back almost when this thread started, a sweetheart and beau of a livestock show.

"Yippee kay yay, Cow Pattie!"

I doubt it will do well (non-erotic and a mess besides), but maybe now I can focus on something a little sexier and get it done before closing.
 
HeyAll said:
Is anyone else having formatting issues?

When I copy/paste from Google Docs, all the paragraphs bunch up together without spacing. Now sure why this is suddenly happening.
Click to expand...

I used to have that problem when copy/pasting from Word. I changed the default line spacing and it doesn't happen any more except when I forget to do a carriage return or two.
 
HeyAll said:
Is anyone else having formatting issues?

When I copy/paste from Google Docs, all the paragraphs bunch up together without spacing. Now sure why this is suddenly happening.
Click to expand...

I'm having good results from the text edit program on mac. It's RTF format, and as I recall that was mentioned on something I read on the Lit site info stuff (can't remember where though). Never used Google Docs, but maybe check the format settings????
 
A failed Christmas story idea finally came together well enough for me to finish it as a Valentine's Day story. Not the best thing I've done, but the sex scenes are hot anyway.
 
I think the contest part of this is adding a whole degree of difficulty/doubt for me. Is it long enough, is the sex hot enough, are the characters believable...

Ughh I don't enjoy the stress! Do you guys polish or do you just say fuck it and post??
 
Fuck it and post. Always.

I think I’ll be submitting mine tomorrow.
 
JennaMonroe said:
I think the contest part of this is adding a whole degree of difficulty/doubt for me. Is it long enough, is the sex hot enough, are the characters believable...

Ughh I don't enjoy the stress! Do you guys polish or do you just say fuck it and post??
Click to expand...

Ah! NOW I understand why I went ahead and posted mine. To show you how to say "Fuck IT, Drive on!" (I call it the FIDO principle.)

You're welcome! :D

Seriously, don't let the whole "contest" aspect influence you at all. When you get right down to it, that part doesn't matter as much. The whole thing is designed to a) get Literotica more traffic by being festive and b) challenge writers to explore the holidays when they might not otherwise. That's it.

Don't get me wrong. Some of us could probably do with just a little more care before we post (*raises hand guiltily), but there comes a point where you aren't polishing, you're working it like a worry stone. And obsessing over this one, may be keeping you from doing something else that will eventually be even better.
 
electricblue66 said:
And now I've just finished a little something in time for the Valentine's Day comp. How did that even happen? I've only ever entered one themed comp before.
Click to expand...

That's not right. A competition story from me, running from Day One?

24 hour posting time, by the way, for those that want to know.
 
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