The Official Author's Hangout 2014 Halloween Contest Support Thread

[patientlee]

Sorry for the migraine, glad it's gone.

I haven't written in far longer than two weeks... wish I had an idea to get me started, but I guess one will come...

Not exactly gone. Just in check.

I've got ideas, but I'm having trouble focusing on one. I blame work. I teach 4 different classes, so my brain never has the chance to finish a thought. When I get home and try to write, I can't settle on one idea to run with. Next week we'll be 1/8 of the way through the school year. But who's counting?

 

[PennLady]

Not exactly gone. Just in check.

I've got ideas, but I'm having trouble focusing on one. I blame work. I teach 4 different classes, so my brain never has the chance to finish a thought. When I get home and try to write, I can't settle on one idea to run with. Next week we'll be 1/8 of the way through the school year. But who's counting?

Focus is hard, and I don't have it yet. I think I will have to focus on the focus, as it were.

 

[MSTarot]

Bet I get more abuse than you....I'm excited about mine, but popular it won't be. I'm writing this strictly for me and.... someone told me my stories have been to "playful" of late, so you know...

Now that's an interesting bet. I might take a piece of that one.

I think the best I have done at Halloween is a 4.45, but the lowest was in the basement with a 3.21 for most of the contest.

But I have a horror story I want to tell so... damn the score, I'll just live for the glowing comments.

(D:
06/20/13 By: VyresOfTheArt
Jesus Christ... This was just a fucking horrid story. D: And the sad thing is this shit does happen. Fairy tales usually never had a happy ending, and this was a Hansel and Gretel twist.)


(Holy cow. This was horrifying.
08/31/13 By: patientlee
I feel like I'm covered in soot and death. Amazing storytelling.)


And at Halloween I feel a need to try and top my last story. Hum... I need to be writing.

MST

 

[lovecraft68]

My issue is I want Erotic Horror....but the more I'm writing and the way its shaping up it could go into loving wives as the whole theme is adultery, but its the husbands cheating and we all know that is not how it is supposed to be over there....

I've got time to think on it.

 

[geronimo_appleby]

I have a folder of part completed Halloween stories that were to be entries in 2013, 2012, 2011...

There are a dozen or so, but apart from Miranda's Husband - which would be a sequel to my long story Miranda the Witch - I can't generate any enthusiasm for any of them.

lend us one?

 

[Swilly]

Focus is hard, and I don't have it yet. I think I will have to focus on the focus, as it were.

Lemme know if you figure that one out. I haven't written a thing since camp nano, and I've yet to edit the book I wrote then. I have an idea brewing, but it isn't a Halloween idea.

Maybe if I could just write thirty minutes a day, that would jump start me again.

 

[PennLady]

Lemme know if you figure that one out. I haven't written a thing since camp nano, and I've yet to edit the book I wrote then. I have an idea brewing, but it isn't a Halloween idea.

Maybe if I could just write thirty minutes a day, that would jump start me again.

That's probably a good idea. I admit, I've been kid of vegging out, a little bit of a home vacation now that both of my kids are in school for the full day. I intend to use some of this time for writing, but right now I tend to spend the mornings with chores and errands, and the afternoons watching "True Blood."

I do think if I made myself sit and write, like you suggest, that would help build momentum. But I must say I'm enjoying the quiet and being able to watch what I want without worrying about young ears/eyes.

 

[oggbashan]

lend us one?

You could try to finish The Sheep of Doom:

Sheep of Doom

*************************************************

Copyright Oggbashan October 2006
The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

This is a work of fiction. The events described here are imaginary; the settings and characters are fictitious and are not intended to represent specific places or living persons.

*************************************************

It was Halloween and the late evening after our friends’ wedding. They had flown off to their honeymoon in the Bahamas and the reception had ended late afternoon.

There were just a few of us staying overnight in the remote country public house that had been the venue for the wedding and reception. The sense of anticlimax was obvious. As we sat around the glowing log fire we tried to entertain ourselves with ghost stories but none of them seemed at all scary or believable. Behind the bar the aged barman watched us.

“Why not ask him if there are any local ghost stories?” Someone suggested.

We did. He agreed on two conditions. The first condition was that we would order and pay for any more drinks now, so that he could shut down the bar. The second was that we would call it a night no later than one in the morning. We agreed to his conditions. Armed with a line of drinks we settled down to listen.

“Well, young masters, and young mistresses, this area is sheep country. It wasn’t always sheep country. The population used to be much larger than it is even now, with many small farms making a basic but reasonable living for those days. The landlord decided that sheep would produce more money than the tenant farmers could pay as rent and over a period of five years he evicted the lot of them, keeping just a handful as shepherds.

The land agent carried out the landlord’s orders except for one cottage that was occupied by Annie Blacksmith who was old and expected to die soon. The agent thought she would survive but a month or so and it wasn’t worth turning her out to starve. When the landlord saw that Annie’s cottage was still occupied he disagreed. His agent tried to explain and was dismissed for failure to execute the eviction.

On the day that Annie was to be removed from her cottage she got out of her bed for the first time in several weeks, dressed herself, and sat on a bench outside the front door. As the landlord approached with his bailiffs she stood up and shook her fist.

“Sheep is all you want,” She yelled, “Sheep you shall have. Sheep will bring you pelf. You and your heirs will answer for what you have done to the people of this land. The sheep of doom will come. That fate you cannot evade.”

Annie swayed on her feet.

“The sheep of doom will come…” She said before falling dead across the threshold of her cottage.”

The barman paused and drank some of his beer. We looked at each other. ‘The sheep of doom?’ seemed very far-fetched. The hound of doom; the wolf of doom; but a sheep?

“Of course the landlord thought that Annie had been raving and her threats were the delirium of a dying woman,” the barman continued, “but that very night in this house as the landlord settled himself down to sleep he heard the scrabble of sheep’s hooves along the corridor outside his room and a faint baaing. He dismissed it as a fantasy brought on by too much wine.

The sounds continued all night long. He made a joke of it at breakfast the next morning. After breakfast the landlord was due to join the local hunt. On the way to the meet he jumped his horse over a wall. They landed in a flock of sheep, throwing the landlord to the ground. The sheep, panicking, trampled him to death. He was found with his head resting on a dead sheep.

An unfortunate coincidence, people thought, until Master Jeffrey, the landlord’s heir came to the valley and stayed in this house. He too complained about the noise of sheep in the upstairs corridor. The next morning he went for a walk to inspect his newly inherited lands. As he crossed a stream a flock of sheep, panicked by a swooping eagle, rushed into him and knocked him down. He was found face down in the bed of the stream, drowned in a few inches of water.

After two deaths people began to wonder if there had been anything to Annie Blacksmith’s prophecy about the sheep of doom.

 

[lovecraft68]

Goddamn you Ogg! Now I want to write a story revolving around these guys!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L336cJMYkuM

 

[ScouriesWorld]

NO MANU AWARDED!!!!!

WILL the HALLOWEEN CONTEST PRODUCE ONE???

[size=+2]ASSOCIATION of INDEPENDENT READERS (A.I.R.)[/size]

[size=+2] LIFETIME ACHIEVMENT AWARD[/size]

Unfortunately none of the five nominees whose names were on the "Back to School" contest ballot received the requisite minimum of being named on 75% of the ballots returned and hence NO MANU AWARD WILL BE ANNOUNCED for this contest. Instead we will now move on to the HALLOWEEN CONTEST which hopefully will produce a 26th winner to join the giants who've already won one.

the [size=+2] MANU [/size] award

These prizes will be awarded based on the author’s complete body of work.
We are now accepting nominations for the twenty-sixth MANU to be awarded.
And the opportunity to join these great writers:

[size=+2]the MANU
LITEROTICA’S LIFETIME ACHIEVMENT AWARD[/size]

BarondeSade
BOSTONFICTIONWRITER
Brodosist
Cphucker/_
ColleenThomas

Daniellekitten
DG Hear
Goldeniangel
Harddaysknight
Just Plain Bob

Many Feathers
masterhypnotist
nikki_2021
PacoFear
rgjohn

ronde
samslam
SamuelX
Sarahhh
scouries

Slickman
TryAnything
Tx Tall Tales
Wm_Sexpear
youbadboy​

 

[oggbashan]

Goddamn you Ogg! Now I want to write a story revolving around these guys!

How about these?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2FX9rviEhw

 

[Saucyminx]

Goddamn you Ogg! Now I want to write a story revolving around these guys!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L336cJMYkuM

I really wish you would.

How about these?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2FX9rviEhw

That was completely amazing!

 

[loquere]

Let's say the contest submission is a first chapter requiring additional future chapters, is such an entry allowed?

 

[sr71plt]

Let's say the contest submission is a first chapter requiring additional future chapters, is such an entry allowed?

If it truly requires additional chapters to be a story, then I think not. It should be a standalone story in itself.

 

[AMoveableBeast]

Sheep of doom. *snort* Good stuff, Ogg.

 

[MSTarot]

Here you go LC. I found the theme song for you sheep story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFzgYeUN6iQ


Keep it clean.

MST

 

[oggbashan]

Sheep of doom. *snort* Good stuff, Ogg.

All someone needs to do is add some sexual encounters and how to avoid Annie Blacksmith's curse - but the story needs yet more sheep...

 

[patientlee]

Working on mine now.

Going the serial killer route.

And no, the killer didn't take out Captain Crunch or Tony the Tiger.


Just needed to head that one off because its a joke I would make

Thanks for sticking another plot bunny in my head.

 

[Hypoxia]

Let's say the contest submission is a first chapter requiring additional future chapters, is such an entry allowed?

REQUIRING additional chapters, no.
RESPONDING to requests for sequels, yes.

My A TASTE OF INCEST: LEMONADE was a quick standalone stroker last-minute entry in the Summer Lovin' Contest, and sequels were demanded, so it becomes ch.01 of 03. (I will steadfastly resist going beyond there.) The original stands on its own; the sequels (from alternate POVs) just ice the cake,

One of my Hallowe'en Contest entries started as a segment in a trilogy of short episodes, but outgrew that format and now looks like the midpoint of a longer saga. But I'll write the contest entry, not as the beginning of a series, but as a pivot around which that the saga can hang. Each following saga story will be standalone, with maybe references to other tales. But they're NOT just chapters in a longer work.

If your contest story is a first chapter, IMHO you should write the rest of the story and submit it all as a novel.

 

[PennLady]

The official announcement is up: http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=1083919

 

[PennLady]

Let's say the contest submission is a first chapter requiring additional future chapters, is such an entry allowed?

According to the rules (link is in my previous post):

- All submissions must be stand-alone stories created for this contest theme. We will not accept individual chapters of a larger work submitted separately. If you have a multi-chaptered contest-themed submission, please submit all chapters together as one story submission.

 

[patientlee]

According to the rules (link is in my previous post):

But as Laurel told me when I asked about stories with links to a previous chapter, as long as the story can work as a complete story on its own, it's acceptable.

 

[SecondCircle]

I try to avoid it personally. I just write a singular, one deal story for that contest when it approaches. It just challenges me to do so, I think.

There's one I'm writing now that technically could fit the bill for Halloween, and it is a standalone story in its own way. But it's really a part of a larger picture, a compilation of related "standalone" stories. It briefly crossed my mind that the subject matter would fit nicely, but I shrugged that off.

I guess for me personally (speaking for myself only) it's more in spirit of an actual contest to have the competition open, then work from scratch to concoct an idea around the theme, and toss it up with the others. To produce something new, that no one (fans or follow alongs) have seen, an original tale from the author made specifically for that monthly contest.

I guess if an author's story did well, and wanted to continue it into a series after the contest closed, that makes sense. I just like the idea of creating something for the contest in question.

 

[PennLady]

But as Laurel told me when I asked about stories with links to a previous chapter, as long as the story can work as a complete story on its own, it's acceptable.

I think it's one thing to set a story in an existing universe, with ties to other stories, so long as the contest story can stand on its own. I did this with a Christmas story (Unexpected Gifts) and a Valentine's Day story (The Relationship Business).

It's another, I'd think, to write something that "requires" more chapters. That implies to me that the story they're talking about submitting would be incomplete.

 

[patientlee]

I think it's one thing to set a story in an existing universe, with ties to other stories, so long as the contest story can stand on its own. I did this with a Christmas story (Unexpected Gifts) and a Valentine's Day story (The Relationship Business).

It's another, I'd think, to write something that "requires" more chapters. That implies to me that the story they're talking about submitting would be incomplete.

I agree with you, but there were two in the summer contest that suggested that readers read another story before reading the contest story. I asked Laurel about it. She said that the rule was put in place to keep authors from submitting multiple entries that were chapters of the same story. As long as what you submit has a beginning, middle, and end, it counts.