The Official Authors' Hangout 2023 Valentine's Day Contest Support thread

[Nellymcboatface]

Well, in for a penny... In for a pound... Pressed the button on my story...
Mixed reception from beta readers... Maybe too long, maybe I could have done more and yes, predictable... but with only 2 days to go, I managed to squeeze it in - without having to rush the ending...
Time now to read all the other entries and relax...
Been looking forward to this moment for a while now...
Good luck to everyone.

 

[ChloeTzang]

G...g...g...got it in with 7 minutes to spare....no editing, no spellcheck, oh well... managed the theme song tho. Wow, my first competition entry for a couple of years.

 

[SomaSlave]

When I saw all the 750 word stories in the New Story list this morning, I briefly feared that, maybe, the quick acceptance was not such a good thing. Fortunately, there're still enough people to vote for mine. Very quickly, six people were generous enough to give me a 1*, and from there, the score even gradually increased, which is nice.

It seems that there are even some enthusiast readers that were sufficiently engaged to also visit my other LW story. Based on those votes, they might have been a little disappointed to go through all that trouble, only to find a Christmas contribution.

I just finished reading your story...and the comments. The story was well crafted and worth the read. The comments were...interesting. This was my first foray into reading LW stories. I see comments in AH about the denizens of that category were well founded. My condolences.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

It's not the category I normally write for, but if that's where the story belongs, then that's where it should go.

I was prepared for the comments and score, so that's okay. The story wasn't extreme of offensive, so the nastiness didn't spread to stories in other categories. For me, a good thing about LW is that your work gets lots of attention. Few of my stories have received as many 5* votes as this one, and it feels good to be appreciated. I also got (mainly positive) attention to several other stories, and even some additional votes for my poems (!), which is really rare. For sure, not all LW readers are trolls.

Oh, and it is useful to keep in mind that LW is for Loving Wives, and not for Loving Girlfriends... Good point from 'Impossiblefuture' (silly me)

I probably would have tried getting it posted into Erotic Couplings if it had been my story. Not as much attention as LW. but a friendlier audience as a rule. I too liked your story and commented as such.

 

[PennameWombat]

My Erotic Horror tale has, as I expected, not had an enormous number of views and thus, not that many votes. But, most of the voters have been quite enthusiastic about it.

 

[SomaSlave]

You only need 25 votes in the contest.

I've been stuck on 17 for the last 4 days. Is that sort of drop-off the norm for contests? Does it pick up on the weekend?

 

[SomaSlave]

My Erotic Horror tale has, as I expected, not had an enormous number of views and thus, not that many votes. But, most of the voters have been quite enthusiastic about it.

Count me as one of them. That was quite a story and the perfect Valentine's Day tale for our twisted times. Well done!

 

[KeithD]

I've been stuck on 17 for the last 4 days. Is that sort of drop-off the norm for contests? Does it pick up on the weekend?

There aren't that many readers/voters in the last week. Mostly if your story is seen as in contention. Then there will be a couple of down votes. 17 doesn't bode well for having over 25 on accounting day. Usually a couple of votes will be lost to the sweeps as well.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I've been stuck on 17 for the last 4 days. Is that sort of drop-off the norm for contests? Does it pick up on the weekend?

Give us a link, sweety, and I'll give you a vote. And I know a few people who know folks who vote and aren't assholes.

 

[SomaSlave]

Give us a link, sweety, and I'll give you a vote. And I know a few people who know folks who vote and aren't assholes.

Thanks, @MillieDynamite; I hope you enjoy it. Give it your honest rating and, if you wish, a comment. I love constructive criticism.

https://www.literotica.com/s/the-last-time-we-met

 

[Jackie.Hikaru]

Thanks, @MillieDynamite; I hope you enjoy it. Give it your honest rating and, if you wish, a comment. I love constructive criticism.

https://www.literotica.com/s/the-last-time-we-met

I gave it a read and voted as well. Not my preferred type of erotica, but it was very well written and I really loved how you started the story too. Certainly a 5* effort by my standards. Hope my vote doesn't get swept!

 

[SomaSlave]

I gave it a read and voted as well. Not my preferred type of erotica, but it was very well written and I really loved how you started the story too. Certainly a 5* effort by my standards. Hope my vote doesn't get swept!

Your entry was excellent: well plotted, well-written and well-rounded characters. I enjoy realistic dialog and situations. "Star-Crossed" satisfies on both counts. Definitely 5 star.

 

[Duleigh]

I thought I had a winner but occasionally my story got hammered... I guess some folks don't like twincest.

 

[Jackie.Hikaru]

Your entry was excellent: well plotted, well-written and well-rounded characters. I enjoy realistic dialog and situations. "Star-Crossed" satisfies on both counts. Definitely 5 star.

Thank you!

 

[MillieDynamite]

Thanks, @MillieDynamite; I hope you enjoy it. Give it your honest rating and, if you wish, a comment. I love constructive criticism.

https://www.literotica.com/s/the-last-time-we-met

Loved the story. I left a comment and gave you a quick review.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I thought I had a winner but occasionally my story got hammered... I guess some folks don't like twincest.

I liked your story, but I think it relied too heavily on existing characters from stories that readers of contest entries might not have been familiar with. Just my two-cents.

Good luck.

 

[KeithD]

I thought I had a winner but occasionally my story got hammered... I guess some folks don't like twincest.

You won't know until the last sweep to what extent your story has been effectively hammered.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

It will be interesting to see what the sweeps leave us with. Looking at all of the entries:

The largest drop in rating I have seen from the time a story was posted until today was -0.42.
The largest jump in rating I have seen from the time a story was posted until today was 0.99

Some started out strong and remained steady, but there has been a lot of consistency as a whole.

I have focused more on how submitting a contest entry had affected my other stories. The most telling for me is how much the average views per day for all my other stories decreased almost by half during the contest period. I haven't tracked this during other contests, so I don't have enough data to attribute the drop to the contest running, me having an entry in it, or coincidence.

Has anyone else seen this?

 

[Kumquatqueen]

My other stories have a slight increase in views, especially similar ones to my most recent.

Thanks to a sweep mine jumped from 4.3 to 4.5 and got its H back with only one vote. I'll take that. Probably should have removed any mention of a man not being 100% straight, if I wanted a higher score. I figured I'd used the character before, but of course this was a separate story with new readers, so I could have just left that detail out.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

My other stories have a slight increase in views, especially similar ones to my most recent.

Thanks to a sweep mine jumped from 4.3 to 4.5 and got its H back with only one vote. I'll take that. Probably should have removed any mention of a man not being 100% straight, if I wanted a higher score. I figured I'd used the character before, but of course this was a separate story with new readers, so I could have just left that detail out.

As I mentioned with Duleigh' story, I question whether readers of contest entries who might not be familiar with your characters for other stories fail to appreciate them as much as an author night hope. The character development for re-used characters is often assumed by an author. Readers of new stories might not see it that way.

 

[Duleigh]

I liked your story, but I think it relied too heavily on existing characters from stories that readers of contest entries might not have been familiar with. Just my two-cents.

Good luck.

I completely understand, and will work on that. However when a character comes from an existing universe the writer has a choice, do I back off on character development or do start from scratch? My April Fool's day story is a follow up fifteen Years Later from a prank pulled in last year's popular On The Job story. I'm hoping readers are going to enjoy the payback.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I completely understand, and will work on that. However when a character comes from an existing universe the writer has a choice, do I back off on character development or do start from scratch? My April Fool's day story is a follow up fifteen Years Later from a prank pulled in last year's popular On The Job story. I'm hoping readers are going to enjoy the payback.

I think this plays somewhat into the debate about what is a chapter story versus a series story, and where readers' expectations might be with contest entries.

In your author notes for "Valentine's Dance", you state: "For readers of We're a Wonderful Wife this story occurs about a half of the way into Chapter 4."

To me, this hints at your entry not being the stand-alone story that the contest rules specify, or what I would expect for a contest. I don't think I was alone in this, and, while I rated your story a 5* effort, it may have suffered from other readers being confused.

Keep in mind, details that you as an author think are redundant in series stories can be enlightening to readers new to your work. Author notes directing readers back to previous stories are not a substitute for basic details about characters or plot that are carry-overs from other works. For example, describing what a character looks like once in a series is probably not enough if you are now in the fifth or sixth part of the series.

Readers should be expected to start at the beginning of chapter stories where they get the benefit of the developing plot and characters. With series stories, readers expect to be able to start anywhere. I treat stories in a universe the same as series stories.

 

[SomaSlave]

I guess the sweep has started. I just dropped from 25 to 24 ratings. My score went up slightly, but I'd be glad to trade the lower score for that 25th rating. I suppose that's life on Literotica. I'll just walk calmly out the door and scream in frustration to the heavens. There...I feel much better.

 

[SomaSlave]

Can't give you another five. All I can try to do now is persuade others to read your story and vote. I don't think this story works for everyone, but for those who appreciate a good story with depth, featuring characters with feelings, and fears, and hopes, ... Those who're not afraid to try something different, and who like to read something that's more than just a quicky ... I'd definitely recommend it.

Thanks. The most important part of the contest is that it helps drive readers to the stories. I appreciate your words of encouragement and your comments. I suspect most of us are hoping for readers who are willing to step outside their comfort zones for the sake of a good story. Frankly, if my stories worked for everyone, I'd be disappointed in myself.

Besides, the contest has introduced me to a wonderful, caring group of folks called AH, so I guess I'm the real winner after all.

 

[Jackie.Hikaru]

Besides, the contest has introduced me to a wonderful, caring group of folks called AH, so I guess I'm the real winner after all.